battey recipricating saw or wired?

[Eugene]

I have a small cordless one and plan to get a larger corded someday. Do you have any other cordless tools? Chances are if you have a drill already you can pick up a saw that uses the same battery or even a kit with a matching battery so you have a spare. Cordless stuff really becomes the most helpful when you have a few things all sharing the same battery so you only have to have one type of battery and one type of charger and can just swap tools on and off the batteries without plugging in and unplugging cords. For example I have two drills, a reciprocating saw, circular saw and flashlight all in one small box. I plug in one cord for the chargers somewhere out of the way and swap between drilling and sawing as needed. If its just going to be one job use a saw you may already have such as a jigsaw but if your doing this as a job where you may need to install more doors later then buy a cordless and put the chargers in your truck so when you have the small one or two door jobs you can just grab the saw, get the doors installed and go and not spend time unpacking and packing extension cords and such.

[wooliewillie]

I am going to be installing dog doors. These are frames which go into existing doors. I was told that a recipricating saw is the way to cut these holes. I am wondering if it makes sense to get a wireless saw instead of a wired one. The less time I have to look for an outlet the better. I only expect to do two or three holes/day. The doors will be either solid, panel, or hollow core. Sometimes they will be of aluminum covering wood. Any bad news about wireless models?

[mare]

They run out of juice pretty fast, but two dog holes is certainly within limits of one battery charge. And they're more expensive.

[Searcher]

Personally, I feel that once you have a recip saw you will find many many uses for it. A battery powered one really does not cut it. I would go for the corded. I have both a Dewalt cordless and a Craftsman corded, The cordless gets used mainly out in the field but the Crapsman gets the most use.

Searcher1

"mare" wrote >

[DSphotog]

FYI - I have a Milwaukee Variable-speed Sawzall in lightly used (around the house only) condition that I'm looking to sell. They sell new for $130 and up. You can have this one for $75.00 plus shipping.

Remove "Knot" from E-Mail to reply.

Best, Dave

[J]

You just need to do the math. is

(Dog doors * time spent looking for outlet) greater than or less than (Time to find and recharge the saw when you run out of juice on the third door * number of times you run out of power)

I'd go with an extension cord and a corded model as I'd hate to have to wait around even once. Cordless would be great for light duty or when you are working far from power (maybe crawling in an attic.. or working outside) but for a dog door installation when you have a few of them scheduled in a day, you need to be certain that you won't have any unexpected down time.

-j

[Old Nick]

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 14:19:22 -0800, "J" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

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I tend to agree on the corded model, but the cordless stuff has a lot of advantages. One of the greates with jigsaws is the cord not getting in the way when you are sawing.

So, if you want the "convenience" of a battery model, get three batteries, make sure they are at least NiMH, not NiCd (much bigger capacity on the former), find out how long a charged battery should last in fiull use in the saw, and try to organise a fast, intelligent in-car charger for the unit. Make sure you rotate the batteries, as they aren not fond of "sitting". If all that's too much then go for a corded model.

Also price replacement batteries. One day, that will bite.

I bought a quite cheap 14.4 V drill. It came with a fast charger and 3 batteries. That setup is fine. I can keep drilling. However, a jig/sabre saw often gets more use than a drill in a short time, so as I said above.

[Leon]

If you are not going to use the tool very much, get the corded one. For sure you will have more power, buy it cheaper, and it will last a very long time, no batteries that will eventually have to be replaced. You cannot say that for battery operated one on any of those 3 counts.

[mac davis]

having put in a few doggie doors, I'd say that in most cases a recip saw is going to be overkill.. A good sabre/jig saw should work fine, my 30 yr old B&D just cut the opening for a medium door in a friends solid core back door... Mine's not cordless, but if I was doing these doors for a living, I'd either get a very good cordless with a cheap corded for a backup, or 2 or 3 cheap cordless and a keep all charged..

For either cordless or corded, you might consider a voltage inverter in your truck.. plug in an extension cord or charge the cordless's batteries.. You can get a decent 600w inverter for less than $80 and it's a great investment..

[Bob G.]

Maybe a little late replying....BUT I have one of each.... A Milkaukee Sawzal (now quite old) and the following...

I needed one for a weekend Project at my daughters place out of state ...on the back 40 so to speak ...

I knew it would see very limited use around the house so I went a purchased the 18 V Roybi "kit" .... Recipicating saw, circular saw, drill. flashlite and a litt;e vac that I have never even used....

It worked...BUT oh my ... lol... It may last thru 2 dog holes...maybe

3 if you buy a blade that is a lot better then the supplied one...

No comparason between the 2 saws......other then the looks from 50 feet away... The Circular saw on the other had works BUT even with that I would not want to have to make more then a dozen cuts even on a

1x6... no more then half a dozen on a normal 2x4...

All is not lost because the drill is just fine...and if I only need to make one cut on a fence post etc I would grab it rather then haul out the Cord and drag the Real Sawzal out....

Bob Griffiths

[Eugene]

not quite a fair comparison though when you have the cheap crap battery tools. A decent brand the cordless will work near as well as the corded.

[Bob G.]

..

=============================== lol... You are right of course... Comparing a Roybi to almost any brand ...except maybe HF....Chicago Electric etc... is definately not fair...

Bob Griffiths

[Richard Cline]

I have both the Ryobi battery powered recipricating saw and the Sawzall corded saw. For a big job there is no comparison and the Sawzall gets the job. However the Ryobi has proven reliable and I often use it. I find it great for pruning branches in the orchard. You need to get some good multipurpose blades. For cutting a dog door, particulary on hollow core doors, you need to be careful not to splinter the wood too badly. Use a backup board to reduce splinters.

Dick

[J T]

Wed, Dec 8, 2004, 12:47pm (EST-3) [e-mail] (wooliewillie) says: I am going to be installing dog doors.

Both my sons use the battery models. However, they both use them in their work, and seldom have access to power. So, that's pretty much a given they'd use 'em.

Me, I don't have that need, and wouldn't buy anything but a corded model.

JOAT Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind dont matter, and those who matter dont mind.

- Dr Seuss

[Leon]

I have used a DeWalt battery operated and found it pretty much worthless also. Brand makes a difference but little difference when compared to corded.

[ranck]

I just recently bought a cordless reciprocation saw when I was doing some remodelling on my wife's new chocolate shop. I was mostly interested in cutting through wallboard to access plumbing and opening a doorway in one wall. Anyway, I bought a B&D "Firewire" (or somesuch name) 18V model because it was on sale for less than the cheap corded model I was looking at, and there was a cordless drill in the same series which used the same batteries which I thought I might want/need later on. I have used it to cut through 2X4s without any trouble, and had to use it quite a lot before the battery wore down, but again this was mostly wallboard. I later decided I needed the drill sooner than expected, and purchased that. The drill came with 2 batteries and another charger, so I can keep two batteries charging while I am working with the other one. I seem to be able to drill and saw all day without swapping batteries. Of course, that's only intermittent use. All this is basically to say, I think a cordless would work out OK for you.

Bill Ranck Blacksburg, Va.

[Bill]

I guess it depends what you are doing with it. I have the Ryobi battery one and really like it. BTW, I bought a long tree trimming blade and it is incredibly handy in the yard. The hacksaw blades work pretty well also. I do more building than destructing, so it does not get real heavy use.

Sometimes it is just so much easier to use a portable tool - you don't have to drag out the extension, etc. .