Hand held circular saws...

[Steve (Correze)]

Any recommendations?

Please don't say Festool... we use them at work and they are indeed the dog's wotsits, but not without their problems. Just ever so slightly out of my price range.


I'm currently using, struggling with and cursing at a no-brand cheapo saw. It's ok, really, plenty of power, shame it can't cut straight. The base plate is my biggest issue, given that this is a fairly important part of any circular saw, it should, at least in my opinion, be solidly made, preferably machined or cast and of rigid construction with an accurate index for 90 degree cuts. Not flexing when normal pressure is applied to the tool would be a good idea too. I'm not even going to start on the blade.

Any recommendations for a decent saw? I'd like to spend as little as possible for a decent tool.

I'd like a good rigid base plate that will run nicely along a straight-edge (2m aluminium builder's rule is a lot cheaper than Festool...), a depth of cut setting that stays where I set it, a stop (set screw or similar?) at 90 degrees so I don't have to set the saw up with a square every time I use it and at least 38mm depth of cut.

Not getting a face full of sawdust would be a bonus.


I'm restricted on price because, once things go much above 200 Euros, I'd be better off spending the extra on a site saw like the Kity 415.

Another point, I'm on a low-powered 3-phase system, the most I can draw is 3,300W on a single phase, so I don't think I should be looking at anything over 2kW to avoid tripping the power on start-up. Hence why I can't really consider cheap table saws, I need 3-phase for anything powerful and that isn't offered on the cheaper brands.



I also have a 12V Ryobi trim saw, which by comparison is brilliant. Not very fast, but gives a nice clean cut, has an index stop at 90 degrees and despite the pressed steel base is able to give repeatable square cuts on a straight-edge (probably because it weighs nothing but has a more substantial construction than the bigger saw). My only complaint is the 24mm maximum depth of cut, otherwise I'd use it all the time and junk the corded saw.

 

[MikeG.]

I have had a couple of Skil saws and got on OK with them......and a friend has a Hitachi which has been suffering abuse on a building site for about 12 years now but still has all its functions (and a 65mm depth of cut).

Mike

 

[Ironballs]

I have a Skil saw too, 30 quid purchase second hand off ebay, does what I need it to and will follow a straight line on a guide clamp. For me this tool is only for doing rough-ish cuts so that I can take the timber to the band saw, table saw or P/T

 

[Steve (Correze)]

I'll have a look at the Skil saws, got some of their other tools and am impressed.


Tolerance wise, I can live with 1mm ( +/- 0.5mm ). Repeatability is more of an issue, I don't care if everything is a bit out, so long as it's all out the same way. Wandering both sides of the line of cut and both sides of vertical is getting frustrating, even if I can clean it up afterwards.

I'm not a perfectionist, just so used to the kit I use at work that anything done at home seems to take 10 times as long and nowhere near the same results.


Example, and the exercise that generated this rant/consideration of new tools:

This evening I needed to make a simple tray, one board and three edges. A total of 5 cuts from a single panel. Probably longer to program than cut on the beam saw at work, a bit longer on the formatting saw, but 5-10 minutes max. By the time I'd finished faffing around with the handheld saw, setting it straight, planing down all the cut edges, over two hours.


Should probably just get the Kity 415 and be done with it...

 

[pooka]

Home-made cutting guides are a perfectly viable alternative to the commercial options such as the Festool, as described here. I was producing excellent results from the guides that I built from that article until I went the Festool route. The only reason that I went the commercial route at all was that I reckoned I needed a new saw and eventually decided at the same time to opt for a cutting rail(s) that was lighter and more convenient than my home-made guides. The Festool doesn't produce radically better results (once you are getting clean straight, and square, cuts there is little you can do to improve on that), it just saves me time and some sweat.

My previous saw was a Hitachi C7U, and fitted with a Freud 40-tooth combination blade that was able to produce perfectly clean cuts with the home-made guides. After a few years of occasional use, it seemed like I had to adjust it on a regular basis to make the blade square to the plate, but that was my only issue with it. It's dust extraction port is not in a very convenient place either, so I tended not to use it at all and just cut outdoors. I was very happy with it overall though.

 

[mailee]

I use a Skil saw and it is now 20 years old and still going strong. I remember buying it new along with a lot of other tools and getting it for just under £75 which was very cheap at the time. Mind you I had bought a couple of machines at the time. I don't know what make the blade was in the machine but I am only on my third blade now. The others haven't lasted as long as the original though. :roll:

 

[matt]

I used a Makita. Can't remember the model number - something like 5703 I think (can check if you're particularly interested). Got it for about £100 several years back. I use it for cutting up sheets mostly, using a home made guide. Can't fault it.

 

[toysandboats]

Steve,
I bought the Skil Classic from Axminster last year: Skil Saw
It was on offer with an extra 40 tooth blade.
The laser is a bit of a gimmick as I use a saw board but it is a very powerful saw.

David

 

[FatFreddysCat]

I think the Makita 5703 is a cracking site saw. No frills, but simple and indestructable. Its' one big advantage over the Skil is that it has two bevel locks, one at the front and one at the rear. The Skil has only one and I think it suffers from a slightly flexy base plate so bevel ripping never quite works out on the one we have at work. It's so bad that I now have my own saw, a Hilti, which is nice, but a lot more expensive that the Mak it replaced

 

[Dalboy]

Use to repair tools and sell them, the Skill saw was the most favoured by a lot of people. Did not repair many either speaks for itself. I now have one as well even though it only cost me £16 second hand still cuts lovely

 

[wizer]

Can highly recommend the Hitachi range. I have 2. The Braked 9" and the cordless 7". Both are perfect. I have Freud blades on them but the original blades were fine for ripping.

 

[OPJ]

I bought a 9" Hitachi not long ago (I think it's the CU9? 9CU?), mainly for ripping down 3" timber when it's too long to go through my bandsaw. I've only made a couple of test cuts with it but, so far, I'm very impressed. As wizer says, the supplied blades are good quality.

Until now, I've solely been using a 190mm Makita (5704?). I may consider selling this soon, purely because I'm now likely to use it less... It's been a good servant for the past 2½ years. Again, the supplied blade was pretty good; haven't felt the need to replace it.

 

[misterfish]

Another vote for Hitachi. I had a 7CBU (?) for a few years and it has always done a good job. I've once had to strip down the blade guard mechanism to remove embedded sawdust as depth adjustment got a bit stiff.

If i had to get a replacement I'd buy another Hitachi.

Misterfish

 

[Krysstel]

I am in what sounds like exactly the same situation. See this earlier thread of mine https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=31011

After seriously considering the 12V Ryobi trim saw you have I finally went for this http://www.mtmc.co.uk/product.asp?n...History=cat&strKeywords=&SearchFor=&PT_ID=166
When it arrives I'll be making a luxury version of the wayneofthewoods cross-cut jig suggested by "beech1948".

I too have been struggling with an inaccurate c/s and what I liked about the Dewalt was (a) the cast aluminium base (b) the general build quality (c) the affective dust extraction (d) the price.

I can recommend MTMC, especially when ordering from outside the UK. They're one of the few ouitlets that have an automatic ordering system for anywhere in the world

 

[Dave S]

After seriously considering the 12V Ryobi trim saw you have I finally went for this http://www.mtmc.co.uk/product.asp?n...History=cat&strKeywords=&SearchFor=&PT_ID=166
When it arrives I'll be making a luxury version of the wayneofthewoods cross-cut jig suggested by "beech1948".

I too have been struggling with an inaccurate c/s and what I liked about the Dewalt was (a) the cast aluminium base (b) the general build quality (c) the affective dust extraction (d) the price.

Hope it's better than the 3650 which I have.

I've been rather disappointed with mine - a lot of flex between the saw and the base due to a rather poor mounting design, which means it is difficult to get a square edge.

I've seen the Worx recommended in a few places, and it came top in a GWW comparison a while back. In fact, Colin Cotteral, who used to post here, uses one on his EZ guide, as I recall.

Dave

 

[OPJ]

I've once had to strip down the blade guard mechanism to remove embedded sawdust as depth adjustment got bit stiff.

I bought my 9" Hitachi off one of the guys on this forum after only a few months use and I've also found the height adjustment to be quite stiff. Been wondering what to do about it so, thanks, I might give that a try.

One other things I've noticed is that I can't get the blade to come up flush with the sole plate so, I'm stuck with a minimum depth of cut of roughly 1" or something... Does that sound right? Or, could it be the sawdust again?

 

[Steve (Correze)]

One other things I've noticed is that I can't get the blade to come up flush with the sole plate so, I'm stuck with a minimum depth of cut of roughly 1" or something... Does that sound right? Or, could it be the sawdust again?

Doesn't sound right, you'd cut the trestles in half when cutting thin boards.

 

[misterfish]

I've once had to strip down the blade guard mechanism to remove embedded sawdust as depth adjustment got bit stiff.

I bought my 9" Hitachi off one of the guys on this forum after only a few months use and I've also found the height adjustment to be quite stiff. Been wondering what to do about it so, thanks, I might give that a try.

One other things I've noticed is that I can't get the blade to come up flush with the sole plate so, I'm stuck with a minimum depth of cut of roughly 1" or something... Does that sound right? Or, could it be the sawdust again?

Sounds just like my saw was. I reckon it was a well spent (but fiddly) half hour to dismantle and reassemble to get rid of all the compacted sawdust. I also used GT85 (PTFE spray) on the slidy bits before I put it back together. Since doing this I've had no further problems.

Misterfish

 

[tigerturnings]

I bought myself a 7" Hitachi (brand new) based on a dealer's recommendation a few years ago and it proved impossible to line up the riving knife in the kerf without the guard then jamming open. For the guard to work smoothly the knife had to be bent aside from the blade so much that it was impossible to begin a cut properly.

I took it back and bought myself a Makita 5703, which has been excellent. I've used it fairly lightly, but it's definitely accurate enough for my purposes, has decent angle adjustment, and is sufficiently powerful. It's even taken the abuse of cutting some small (up to 2" or so diameter), wet branches I trimmed off the fruit trees into manageable/kindling length pieces.

HTH

Neil

 

[crazylilting]

Normally I wouldn't recommend Dewalt but in this case I would. It is the most comfortable saw i have every used and lots of power. If you look at a lot of saws the handle is to high putting strain on your wrist and being left handed it just seems to make it worse. I've had my Dewalt now for about 2 years and very happy.

The only other Dewalt tool i'd recommend is there biscuit joiner. I used to use the Lemello when i worked in a cabinet shop in Canada and to be truthful there isn't enough difference between the two to justify the cost of the Lemello one.