Features

• Executes log cuts, compound angles, bandsaw cuts and more
• Works with all 7 1/4 inch & 8 1/4 inch worm drive saws
• Footplate & built in site ensures glide management
• Vertical blade allows smooth, exact, square cuts
• Will cut angles up to 45 degrees

Reviews (3)

Great plan poorly designed
I have a great collection of tools but this was one I regretted buying... It was a poorly designed setup. the first clue was that the main attacnment bolt (that comes in kit)that holds the chain spocket to the saw motor shaft. had damaged threads and you can't use the saw without that bolt...can you say Q.A or Q.C ? The beam saw once it was attached and working was not really centered with the Milwalkee worn drive saw shaft,which was bought new with this Prazi beam saw(it was to be a dedicated combo unit)The beam saw would operate with a sort of concentric motion around the center of saw shaft.
The saw kept loosing up locked down saw parts, bolts would back out of the Prazi unit.. I was not impressed with this tool but then again maybe I'm just a picky General Building Contractor.

Beam cutter not compatible with DeWalt DW378G
Although this product is advertised as working with "ANY 7 1/4" Worm Drive Saw" I discovered the blade guard of the DeWalt DW378G prevented the installation of the Beam Cutter. Upon talking with the manufacturer I found they were aware of the problem and had no plans to modify the product as they would have to change the head casting. They also pointed out that the DeWalt model was a hypoid drive and not a worm drive.

timber frame necessity
Recently bought the beam cutter from Tool Crib to use on old barn restoration. It cross cuts timbers and rips them with ease. Some roughness due to the chain style cut but more than satisfactory for frame work. Speeds up the job 300%. Am now using it to restore a 300 year old home. ... Read more

Features

• Replacement chain - for PR2000
• New style

Features

• Replacement chain for PR2000

Features

• Fits Makita 5007NB, 5007NA, 5007NK, and DeWALT DW360, DW357, DW358, DW361, DW359, and DW362 saws
• Will cut angles up to 45 degrees and 12-inch cutting capacity
• Vertical blade allows smooth, exact, square cuts
• Footplate & built in site ensures glide manageability
• Executes miters, stairs, arches, log cuts, and more

Reviews (6)

MORE TROUBLE THAN IT'S WORTH
I got it in record time with cheap shipping and the price was great too. I bolted it to a new Skil mag 7 1/4 wormdrive saw. The mag is not light by any means but it shook badly. After dismantling and reassembling no less than 10 times I determined the part that bolts on where the blade usually is was .010 loose. Fortunatly I had my vernier caliper stuck in there with the socket set, allen wrenches and a set of feeler guages now minus the .005 which is cut and wrapped around the bolt to take up the slop. Ah, smoothe running. Now don't forget to stop and oil the thing every couple minutes and check the chain that is about to fall off. Oh, the adjuster/ chain tensioner is useless, and, keep the work area free of all wood chips so you can find all the bolts that continue to fall out even after they have been secured with thread locking compound. I had to remove the safety bar for the plunge cut I was doing and you could really impare/and or/ improve your love life. Prazi would do well with an electric chainsaw fitted with a plate similar to a circular saw. But, I'm no expert, I've only been doing this for 30 years. Anybody want to buy a Prazi Beam Cutter... cheap?

The Prazi -- good saw.
I was skeptical when I ordered this saw from Amazon a few weeks ago. BTW, Amazon has the best price on this, and appears to be the only way you can buy the PR2000 on the West Coast, lumberyards only seem to carry the worm saw version.
OK, the blade looks strong, its heavy and appears to be good quality. We have been using this to cut stair stringers out of 2x PT and it works great. By setting up guides, we accurately cut 6 - 2x12's at a time and they all come out the same in about the same time it takes to cut one. It saves a lot of time. The downside is that it makes a rough cut, very comparable to what a chain saw would do -- cause this is a chain saw for your circular saw. Therefore, you can not use this for open stairs or any finish work.
The saw is fairly accurate and easy to control, though as another reviewer said, you should use extra caution with this blade cause it could do some damage.
Overall, we have been very impressed, it is certainly worth the money.

Not a Miracle but a God Send
The Prazi beam cutter is not a miracle tool. It won't give you ideal results without any effort or skill on the part of the operator but it is a valuable piece of equipment that can cut a beam easier and better than most alternative ways to go about the job.

I bought the Prazi beam cutter to attach to my old Milwaukee worm drive saw. It arrived complete and took about 25 minutes to install. If the instructions had been easier to interpret, the installation would have gone smoother. Never the less, if you are the type of person who is at the point of carefully cutting large beams in your building career, you will be able to figure out how to install this tool onto your worm drive saw, no sweat. The only major problem I had was the fact that the older Milwaukee saws do not come equipped with a blade lock button. In order to tighten the beam cutter properly, you have to be able to lock your motor shaft down. I ended up opening my oil filler hole in the gear housing and jamming a hardened steel pin into the drive gear. This worked well but I felt that I could have sheared off the pin with just a bit more torque.

Starting the saw surprised me because I expected an out-of-control chain saw feel to it but instead I was pleased with the speed and overall stability. I typically have been cutting 8 inch spruce beams. I always nail or clamp a fence to the beam to guide the saw. This allows me to concentrate on pushing the saw without worrying where it is going. Crosscuts (6 to 7 seconds per inch on my 8" beams) seem to take less effort than rips as I will often find myself pushing the saw hard on a long rip to keep things moving. The cuts are sometimes hard work -but a breeze compared to any work with a handsaw on the same piece of wood. Again, the Prazi beam cutter is not a miracle tool: you still have to keep it sharp and oiled, you have to make sure your saw's plate is at 90 degrees to the blade. I draw a line where I anticipate the blade will enter the wood and then, after a few moments cutting, verify that the blade entered the wood at the angle I desired. You may have to shim under your plate to achieve the desired results but I find that at the bottom of an 8 inch beam, the blade usually enters the wood within an eighth of an inch of my target. When I am careful I can get the far end of the blade within a sixteenth. Once the cut is underway, the blade hold fairly true to a plane and does not wander from the top to the bottom of a cut as is typical of a reciprocating saw in a deep cut.

The resulting cut is chain-saw smooth. That is to say that it is a bit bumpy and yet consistent. My blade creates ridges and valleys about a sixteenth of an inch high and wide across the cut. It can easily be smoothed with a few passes of either a power plane or a block plane which will produce a very respectable finish. There is no way to get as good a cut with a regular chain saw. It just jumps around too much and the cutting angle is usually inconsistent. I know this first hand.

By and large, when I need to cut a beam I use the Prazi beam cutter. I will not go back to any of the hand tools I used or even the "cut both sides half way with a circular saw" method because the results I get with the beam cutter are better. Not perfect, and not effortless but better and faster. Bottom line: if you need to cut beams, buy it. The price is right. So it may not be a miracle tool but it is somewhat of a God send.

Other notes: You must remember that your converted saw is no longer the safe worm drive circular saw it once was. There is no blade guard that automatically sweeps down every time you finish a cut. The saw is long and can easily slice through a saw horse, work boot or thigh should one get in its path. Cuts must be planned more carefully and the setup should be stable and accessible. This is a different tool. Take some time to evaluate your safety before using it. Secondly, after you install the beam cutter, you'll be thinking about getting a new worm drive saw so you can leave the beam cutter on your old saw. Finally, when you pull this puppy out of your tool box be prepared because a lot of people on the job site are going to jump back and say "Whoa, what is that thing?"

Tom Sadowski
sadowski@tidewater.net
11/23/2002

don't rip cut
I purchased the PRAZI PR2000 Beam Cutter for the expressed purpose of ripping 8' x 8" x 8" western red cedar beams down to 7" x 7" and for saddle notching the top of the beams to accept a 4" x 6" lintel. I found the PR2000 did a fine job on cross cuts but was not suitable for the end grain rip cuts. The tool became very difficult to control and hold on line and the tear-out is completely unacceptable. I am sure there are applications where this tool shines but for my saddle cuts and ripping applications in this particular material (Western Red Cedar) it receives a failing grade from me.

Prazi beam cutter
We saw the Prazi beam cutter on tv & ordered one. My builder used it to cut 8x8 pressure treated pine beams on our porch. It cut them like butter. We were quite impressed. The only drawback is that we had to buy a new saw & since we live in a remote area we had trouble finding one that would work. ... Read more