Rutlands Plunge Saw

[El Barto]

I've owned this for about a year but it hasn't had regular use. It has to be hands down the worst tool I've ever bought.

https://www.rutlands.co.uk/sp+power-too ... R_EALw_wcB

I'm not a plunge saw/power tool expert; I don't know whether the blade is terrible or if the machine in general is underpowered but it struggles to cut through anything thicker than 18mm ply.

Going through inch thick green ash yesterday it created so much smoke in the cut that the smoke alarm went off.

Is this normal?

 

[sammy.se]

If I'm not mistaken, this is the same at the Aldi saw, which a lot of people including myself have, and without too much complaint (for the money).

Are you ripping or crosscutting?

What I've learned from the forum is that having the right blade is important.

If you are ripping, you need a ripping blade because it has large gullets which carry away the waste.

The wood being green might have an impact also - someone with more knowledge will be along soon, I'm sure.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[El Barto]

Interesting. It's green but has been air drying for a number of months now.

And yes I'm ripping - good shout about a ripping blade. Can you recommend one if you've used one with the Aldi saw?

 

[sammy.se]

Hi, I'm afraid I don't have a ripping blade for that saw, so couldn't really recommend a specific one. Brands which are popular with the folks here are Freud, Trend, Makita, Festool - I don't think you can go much wrong with any of those. I use Bosch and Axminster blades, and they work well for me - no complaints.

 

[El Barto]

Thanks pal. Will head to Axminster tomorrow. Have you had any issue with narrower kerf blades not fitting and such?

 

[finish_that]

My Parkside - Lidl version happily cuts through 2x 18mm ply ,
using a trend blade , I think they were the easiest to get in the correct size , thats with a 42 tooth , not pushing letting it cut , a ripping blade is best for raw wood - it also could be pinching and moving due to being cut half seasoned.

 

[El Barto]

My Parkside - Lidl version happily cuts through 2x 18mm ply ,
using a trend blade , I think they were the easiest to get in the correct size , thats with a 42 tooth , not pushing letting it cut , a ripping blade is best for raw wood - it also could be pinching and moving due to being cut half seasoned.

It's done the same thing with kilned stuff too.

 

[finish_that]

If it reliably makes smoke from the wood then it likely has enough power, sounds like the blade - or possibly the alignment with the track, if that is out of whack then the saw will be toed in/out too much.
The Festool supplemental TS55 manual from the USA has a description of alignment - its not dissimilar .
The blade teeth should be sharp to the touch.

 

[sammy.se]

Thanks pal. Will head to Axminster tomorrow. Have you had any issue with narrower kerf blades not fitting and such?

No issues with different kerfs that I know of. Most blades seem to be about 0.4mm to 0.6mm variance from the original supplied blade. Thinner (1.2mm) blades, are usually used with cordless saws. If in doubt, get a blade of similar thickness to the existing one.

There's a thread on here that goes into detail about this. Conclusion was that the impact from changing the kerf is minimal unless you are going for super duper precision. E.g if you had a 2.8mm blade, and went to a 3.2mm blade, the kerf differences is 0.4mm, which is divided between the two sides of the blade, so your cut line is now 0.2mm different to before. But - easy fix - you can just push out the splinter strip a little (maybe 1mm), and re-trim with your new blade, so that you have an accurate cut line.

 

[Eric The Viking]

A couple of words of caution:

1. It doesn't look like the saw has a riving knife: neither does my Makita SP6000, and the time I've scared myself (the most) using it was ripping old skirting boards, which turned out to have a lot of twisty grain in them And that was using a "proper" rip blade, which brings me onto...

2... thin kerf blades are a bad idea unless the saw is supposed to use them (and you get the right ones). They have been introduced mainly to help battery life in the battery versions of the popular designs, but they often have really thin saw plates, which in turn mean that the teeth overhang the saw plates more than the standard thickness blades.

This means such a blade will re-trim your rubber splinter strip in a way you don't want it to - probably rather roughly (it being a rip blade 'n'all), and so that the splinter strip no longer matches the edge of the normal blade's kerf.

Track/plunge saws are not really intended for deep ripping of natural wood, which is probably why you don't see lots of rip blades for the mainstream models (only "general purpose" blades). Having tried it, I now think it's a risky operation I won't repeat on long bits of stock.

 

[Bodgers]

I've owned this for about a year but it hasn't had regular use. It has to be hands down the worst tool I've ever bought.

https://www.rutlands.co.uk/sp+power-too ... R_EALw_wcB

I'm not a plunge saw/power tool expert; I don't know whether the blade is terrible or if the machine in general is underpowered but it struggles to cut through anything thicker than 18mm ply.

Going through inch thick green ash yesterday it created so much smoke in the cut that the smoke alarm went off.

Is this normal?

Blade sharpness and/or alignment to the track.



Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

 

[MikeJhn]

I have the Rutlands Plunge Saw and the blade is only good for about a dozen cross cuts, then it needs to go in the bin, mine is now fitted with a Freud blade 24 tooth for ripping and 40 tooth for cross cutting, although the 24 tooth will cross cut if the workpiece is not very thick, changing the blade transformed the Saw into something very good.

 

[El Barto]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Mike, is this the one you're using? https://www.screwfix.com/p/freud-tct-ci ... lsrc=aw.ds

 

[MikeJhn]

Yep it looks like that with the strange teeth, not 100% sure, but think the extra bit on each tooth is to clear cut material from the gullet.

 

[El Barto]

Thanks Mike.

I’m going to sound like a real dunce here but I cannot get the blade off, despite following the instructions in the manual. Either I’m doing something very wrong or the bolt is very torqued...

 

[MikeJhn]

Or maybe left hand thread?

 

[Distinterior]

Facing the blade on any Tracksaw, undo the locking nut/bolt by turning it anti clockwise.

 

[sammy.se]

Have you double checked whether it's clockwise or anti clockwise to remove?

 

[Distinterior]

Have you double checked whether it's clockwise or anti clockwise to remove?

It has to be Anti Clockwise to undo, due to the direction of rotation of the blade. If the motor is on the Left and Blade on the Right, the nut/bolt has to undo Anti Clockwise.

 

[El Barto]

The blade spins anti-clockwise actually, so therefore the bolt should loosen clockwise...

Should have thought of this earlier!!! (hammer)