makita 18v circular saw differences???

[tinytom]

hi, ive recently changed all my cordless gear from old style makita to the new lithium gear, ive been looking at the circular saws and just wanted some advice before buying anything,

the main 18v saw makita do has the blade on the left, i personally like it on the right, the only saw ive seen with the blade on the right is the same design as the metal cutting saw, which means there is a shallower depth of cut, what do people think of the saw?, is it worth buying?

thanks in advance

tom

 

[Deleted member 174758]

the main 18v saw makita do has the blade on the left, i personally like it on the right, the only saw ive seen with the blade on the right is the same design as the metal cutting saw, which means there is a shallower depth of cut

Hi Tom

The larger (165mm blade/66mm depth of cut) saws I know about are the BSS610 and BSS611 - both blade left (which makes them ideal for cutting framing in conjunction with a speed square). The main difference is that the BSS611 lacks the light and dust blower. There is also the recently introduced BHS630, effectively a BSS610 turned right way round - which makes it more awkward to use on framing work with a speed square as you can't see the cutting line all that well. There aren't too many people stocking these, yet

 

[tinytom]

hi thanks for the advice, that saw would be perfect if it was quarter of the price, how the hell is it so expensive??, is that saw or the left handed equivelent much better than the 136mm blade ones?, or is the left handed saw easy to ger used to, with or without a swanson type square???

thanks tom

 

[Deleted member 174758]

that saw would be perfect if it was quarter of the price, how the hell is it so expensive??

The price in the link I gave for the BHS630 included 2 batteries, case and charger. I agree that it's still expensive against the equivalent BSS610 kit, but only about £20 more. Compare that with the price difference for the BSS611 from the same supplier (about £30 cheaper than the BSS611) - surely a blower and an LED light can't cost that much? I suppose the right hand version costs more because it is a new model and not many outlets list it - yet. Forget about it ever being 1/4 of that price, though, the cheapest BSS610 bare is around £100 whilst the BSS610 is £10 less.

is that saw or the left handed equivelent much better than the 136mm blade ones?

I reckon the bigger blade saws are better - for starters with the 165mm blades you have enough depth of cut to saw 2in thick stock which means the saw can handle framing work (and I do lots of framing, boxing-in, etc) - the 136mm saw has 51mm depth of cut (square) but that drops to 35mm at 45° (the 165mm saws do 57 and 44mm respectively, so 2in PAR which is actually about 44mm is just possible). The 165mm saws also tilt to 50° - not a clincher but on odd occassions very handy. I believe that the 165mm saw also has more power, but another clincher might be blades. Ever tried finding 136mm blades? You might get them mail order, but none of the local tool shops I rang round here carried them whilst they pretty much all had 165mm ones (especially the Dart ones). Made the case for me

is the left handed saw easy to ger used to, with or without a swanson type square???

Yes it is. The saw still comes with a rip fence (which incidentally works both sides of the saw and is the same as that supplied with the corded 5704R rip saw) so it works just as well in that respect, but I find it a great plus having the blade on my side where I can watch the cut line much more easily

 

[tinytom]

hi thanks again, your deffinateley starting to sell me on the 610, how does it handle cutting on a sawhorse or something, like if your at the end of a cut on a piece of 4 x 2, does it stay square?, i would have thought the weight of the saw on the offcut of timber would tip the blade?

if you understand what i mean

thanks tom

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Not really. These saws are very small and light if you compare them to say my standard site saw (a Makita 5704R). They can easily be handled single handed if guided against a fence (or speed square). You always need to fix the wood is some way when you are cutting it and I generally just plant my knee on it. Don't have problems with offcuts tipping anything

 

[tinytom]

hi, iv just been to my mates and tried his L/H saw, it was a ryobi cordless not makita but i it dosent really matter just wanted to try a lightweight L/H saw out, i just cant get away with the lade being on the left, i might just wait another month or so and see if the 630 lowers in price at all, if not i might have buy the 610 and try it out and if i still dont like it, swap it for the 501, R/H side saw, thanks for the advice and explaning which saw is better out of the 610/611

tom

 

[shagster]

hi, iv just been to my mates and tried his L/H saw, it was a ryobi cordless not makita but i it dosent really matter just wanted to try a lightweight L/H saw out, i just cant get away with the lade being on the left, i might just wait another month or so and see if the 630 lowers in price at all, if not i might have buy the 610 and try it out and if i still dont like it, swap it for the 501, R/H side saw, thanks for the advice and explaning which saw is better out of the 610/611

tom

I've now bought and tried the 610. I got it bare unit only, and it comes without any box, they just supplied the unit with manual and allen key. The manual says to only use the saw with the offcut on the saw side (left), so I guess J&K is breaking that rule? I did the same and didn't see any problem - it's not a heavy saw but you might risk a less accurate cut that way round.

In fact, in order to use the saw as Makita intended, with offcut on the blade-side you have to clamp the wood, draw two lines, the first where you want the end of your piece of wood, the second ~2mm into the offcut, then run the blade between the two lines. This way the 2nd line stays visible in the notch through the cut, which IMHO makes it much easier. I hope my unit isn't misaligned, but it does look like it was supposed to be that way.

I didn't find the job light much use when cutting, I didn't think it added much, chances are you already have light over your bench. It's not like the ones on the Makita drills, which are invaluable and in my view a major selling point. Can't comment on dust extraction, I'd need to try one without to understand if that's needed.

Once thing I did notice, is that unlike the Makita LXT hammer drill there is no third connector to the battery, only two. The impact driver also has only two connectors. I am guessing that the third connector is for monitoring the battery temperature and allows the hammer drill to cut out when it gets too hot (it's done this on me when drilling about 6-7 wall plugs in a row). The 610 is missing the third connector, and that says to me that you should only use it for short cuts. If you're doing longer cuts take regular breaks or risk your battery. It will be interesting to see if the 630 has the third connector.

regards,
S.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

The manual says to only use the saw with the offcut on the saw side (left), so I guess J&K is breaking that rule? I did the same and didn't see any problem - it's not a heavy saw but you might risk a less accurate cut that way round.

Yes I am ("misusing" it, that is), but this is a small, lightweight saw, when I use it it is always supported on a part of the base but MOST IMPORTANTLY the workpiece is always properly supported and FIXED DOWN leaving me with two hands free to operate the saw - the right hand on the saw which runs against a speed square held firmly in the left hand. No need to draw loads of lines, a tick to indicate wher the cut is, offer the notch in the base up to the tick, slide the speed square up to the opposite edge of the piece using the left hand to hold it in place and make the cut. No cut made this way is going to be brilliantly accurate, but if you want micrometric accuracy, USE A MITRE SAW. It's what they're for. That said this saw isn't that sloppy, either. Today I skirted about half a classroom using my saw, a coping saw and a cordless pinner, screwdriver and SDS when we lost the mains power for several hours - that was two buttresses, 4 mitre joints, two butt joints and 5 mitred then scribed joints in 4in softwood skirting. Not bad for a small saw IMHO, although I wouldn't recommend trying to make a living this way!