Makita 18v Circular Saws - Good for Fine work?

[singlecoil]

Slagathore said:

Does ragging up mean tear out?

I have the Bosch linked above with the standard blade and the cuts on Birch ply even without a backer board are completely clean. The end grain is so smooth, it almost doesn't even need sanding. I would assume quality of cut is down to the blade and how powerful the motor is so you can cut at an even pace.

Maffell make one with a scoring function, but it's silly money.

You can do decent work with a cordless circular saw and a straight edge, you just need to work out the distance from the straight edge to the blade and then if you are going repeated cuts, some sort of way of keeping the straight edge consistently at that distance.

If it has to be dead on accurate, I would just get it cut at a local timber yard or pop in to a joiner and ask them to cut it.

If you were really very short of money and happened to already own a circular saw this would be the way to do it. But you would have to be seriously skint to even consider it, when Festool track saw copies can be had so cheaply.

Even the real thing can be had for less than £400

https://www.toucantools.co.uk/festool_ts_55_req-pl...

[jas xjr]

as i always preface anything i say diy related , i am a bodger . so feel free to ignore my thoughts.
i use a circular saw with clamps and achieve decent results by making sure i cut the piece with the finished face upside down and always tape the area to be cut. in my mind this helps produce a smoother cut.
i have thought about turning my circular saw into a table saw , but have never got around to it. for reference i have been cutting glossy kitchen cabinets.

[Slagathore]

singlecoil said:

If you were really very short of money and happened to already own a circular saw this would be the way to do it. But you would have to be seriously skint to even consider it, when Festool track saw copies can be had so cheaply.

Even the real thing can be had for less than £400

https://www.toucantools.co.uk/festool_ts_55_req-pl...

It's different if you're going to use it a lot, but if it's just 1 project, £400 is a lot to pay for something that still wouldn't give perfect results. A track saw with a Festool MFT type table would be better, but that's a £1000 setup.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Festool-Makita-DeWalt-T...

I have one of those to improve my cuts, but the next project I'm working on, I've given the cut list to the ply supplier and they're cutting it. Every order is perfect and the cost for them to cut it is about £20, so a no-brainer.





I

[bagusbagus]

Cheers, I ordered this 136mm beast ,had some credit at the place where I wanted to buy it so It ended up costing me only £64,not bad.


I will make a guide rail like this myself



Can anyone suggest what blade I would need to get a smooth cut in ply with this saw?
The saw comes with 16tooth standard makita blade, I really like Freud blades for my other tools but seems like they don't make it in this 136mm size, what's the next best thing?
I found this 36tooth makita blade myself https://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Makita-B-09210...

Edited by bagusbagus on Sunday 26th November 13:07

[singlecoil]

Slagathore said:

It's different if you're going to use it a lot, but if it's just 1 project, £400 is a lot to pay for something that still wouldn't give perfect results. A track saw with a Festool MFT type table would be better, but that's a £1000 setup.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Festool-Makita-DeWalt-T...

I have one of those to improve my cuts, but the next project I'm working on, I've given the cut list to the ply supplier and they're cutting it. Every order is perfect and the cost for them to cut it is about £20, so a no-brainer.

Actually a Festool saw with a Festool blade in good condition will give perfect results. I can only surmise that you have never used one.

[B17NNS]

singlecoil said:

Actually a Festool saw with a Festool blade in good condition will give perfect results. I can only surmise that you have never used one.

Still remember my first cut. 3mm to nothing scribe off a veneered tall kitchen end panel. Looked like it had come from the factory that way.

[Slagathore]

singlecoil said:

Actually a Festool saw with a Festool blade in good condition will give perfect results. I can only surmise that you have never used one.

Not to improve the quality of cut, but to guarantee you are cutting parrallel/square or whatever you want to call it, rather than relying on lining up the pencil marks each time. It's OK accurate lining up pencil marks, but not perfect.

Squaring the piece along 2 dogs and then squaring the track on 2 dogs should give a perfect square cut. That table is just a cheaper version of the Festool MFT, in theory!

Found a video that sort of explains it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxIkut7-nl4

It doesn't matter how good the saw is if user error in lining the track up puts your cut out. And even though most of the time you can get a nice parallel cut that's uniform width, if you're making 3 pieces the same, that's 3 times lining it up which can add a little error each time.

[buggalugs]

Aye how ever good the tool is if you don’t use it with care you won’t get a good result

[singlecoil]

Slagathore said:

Not to improve the quality of cut, but to guarantee you are cutting parrallel/square or whatever you want to call it, rather than relying on lining up the pencil marks each time. It's OK accurate lining up pencil marks, but not perfect.

You make a good point, I had forgotten that people might be inclined to use pencil marks with rack saws. I use steel rules with stops like these

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-precision-rul...

I find that if I add 185.5mm to the required width, set the rule to the total then place the stop against a good edge and use the end of the rule against the back edge of my Festool track at each end of the board then I can cut a panel with great accuracy. If I need to rip a piece that's narrower than 185mm then I place the track the other way around and use whatever the offset and run the end of the rule against the splinter guard and the stop against the good edge. I would only use pencil marks if I didn't need high accuracy.

Cutting at right angles to a good edge requires a different strategy but that's true of any saw.