Telephone: 01444 440188
Fax: 01444 414813
Email: info@airstream.co.uk
Independent Tool Review
by Peter Brett - February 2005
For more information call Christine
01444 440188
Elektra Beckum KGS 303
Quality and capacity from Metabo
The range of mitre saws available is bewildering and it can sometimes be hard to decide on a machine that will be of good enough quality, be good value for money, will have and maintain accuracy and have enough capacity to satisfy the demands of its users. Professional quality machines are usually expensive and this gives an indication that making a good mitre saw is not as simple as a trip to China. To be honest, I have been disappointed by far more mitre saws than I have been satisfied with. Most of my woodwork demands consistent accuracy when cutting mitres and angles and this has been remarkably absent from some mitre saws I have tried. There are a number of reasons for this. Sometimes a saw can be immeasurably improved by simply getting a new, better quality blade. Or ensuring that the saw is set up properly in the first place, as they are often knocked about in transit and the factory settings are lost. At worst, there are some that will never cut accurately because everything about them militates against it. To be fair, these are usually at the bargain end of the spectrum so not much is expected of them.
The ELEKTRA BECKUM KGS 303 retails at around £449 exc.vat so it is not cheap, and it joins a range of other ELEKTRA BECKUM mitre saws that have already proved their worth, so the pedigree is very promising. First impressions are hugely positive. It is well made, well finished, has a subtle colour scheme and is very well specified. The soft start motor is belt driven, with a full 1.8 KW available in the 230 volt version and 110 volt version. Blade diameter is 250mm, and the capacities for cuts of all types is very good. A straight cross cut of 285mm at 89 mm depth is possible, so even roofers and shopfitters will be happy. Two hundred mm mitre cuts 81 mm deep at 45 degrees are possible. Compound cuts of up to 200mm wide and 45mm deep are proof that this is a professional tool with serious capacity. ELEKTRA BECKUM have also realized (they are not alone in this) that not all walls are at ideal right angles so provision is made for bevel cuts of up to 48 degrees. The table also rotates from 50 degrees to the left and 60 degrees to the right. Combine this with the bevel capacity and you have the widest range of compound cuts available at the moment.
All the functions work very well. Starting with the new type handle that is suitable for left or right hand use, and incorporates an easy to use safety switch. It is instinctive to operate and yet prevents the operator from working on autopilot. The KGS 303 has a good cutting capacities because it has a sliding facility. This can be a source of almost built-in inaccuracy, but the double tube system is solidly built and slides easily on its bearings. It is possible to induce some twist into the saw head by hand, but then that is possible on all the other mitre saws I have tried. The trick is to ensure that you aren’t building in some torsion via your hand when you make your cuts. In use the head of the KGS 303 remained remarkably stable and accurate. Letting the blade cut smoothly without forcing it through the wood produced accurate, nearly planed quality cuts in hard and soft wood.
In some ways the KGS 303 does not follow other designs. It has a base with four feet rather than a flat footprint. These feet extend outwards to the corners, making it very stable in use. The feet also correspond to the hollows in the collapsible workstand supplied. The saw can be bolted to this or merely stood on it. Either way, my preference was to use it in the workstand because the saw is presented at the right height and it has an adjustable leg so that it can be made stable on uneven surfaces. The stand is also rugged and strong, without being so heavy or unwieldy that it cannot be carried and set up where it is needed. Indeed with the saw weighing just 19 Kgs it is possible for one person to carry it wherever it is needed.
Very usefully, in my opinion, there is also a stop for setting the depth of the cut, so that it is possible to cut accurate crosscut trenches and grooves. A hand-turnable plastic wingnut or similar would have made the job of adjusting it a bit easier, but space under the arm is slightly limited. In many ways this mitre saw has many of the functions of my old radial arm saw, and will I am sure, find users amongst keen DIYers who find the adjustments on certain radial arm saws fiddly and unreliable. The ELEKTRA BECKUM saw certainly has very similar crosscutting capacities to many radial arm saws.
In use this saw is a real joy. The standard TCT blade is high quality and cuts soft and hardwood easily, leaving a smooth almost planed surface. I tried mitre and bevel cuts with some very dry and hard 50mm thick oak. The saw worked effortlessly. The soft start function allows a smooth, jolt free and relatively quiet start, but the motor does develop the usual high pitched noise associated with brush motors as it reaches full speed. But the power is there on demand, and even the oak didn’t phase it.
As mitre saws go, this one is up there with the best. It is well-made, well -finished, tough, light, versatile and accurate with very good cutting capacities. It will be a good saw for the jobbing builder or carpenter, and not at all out of place in a small workshop either. It goes a long way to confirm my prejudices about well designed European machines that are produced to a standard not a price.

Brilliant.
Airstream Communications