Have a really old B&D jigsaw and looking to replace, certinally wont be used a great deal so cant justify paying top dollar for all singing dancing.
Can someone recommend a good budget one, preferably one that easy to get decent blades for, hoping to trim some laminate worktop at the back due to wall not being square.
Have seen the Skil 4160 for about =A312, any good?
In article , Gogs writes
I bought a friend of mine a Bosch one for around 29 quid IIRC a year or two ago and it was superb!. I reckon a few more bob is money well spent on such tools:)
I have cut the worktops to size using my makita circular, also done ti with a standard blade (about 12 tooth), and zero chipping to the laminate.
I did buy a 40 tooth blade but tested the stnadard one first and it was fine.
At one side of the kitchen I had to cut back a base unit to about 450 in order for it to sit flush and sitll be able to open the back door so I had to cut back the worktop, I just cut this sqaure as I thought the walls were pretty square.
They are not as square as I thought, so need to cut the worktop a little and have been told to do this with a jigsaw, is this correct?
If so for such a small job I dont want to spend a fortune but the B&D is not up to much.
Is there another way of doing this, can you sand that laminate worktop down or maybe plane it, it just needs minimal work
I'm afraid you tend to get what you pay for with jigsaws perhaps more than most power tools. And you pay for getting a decent square cut.
Jigsaws and worktops don't mix IMHO. Any change of cutting direction and the blade bends the opposite way, making a non-vertical cut. A cheapo circular saw would cost the same and give a more accurate finish.
john2
Some years ago, I had an old B&D jigsaw like you and it suffered from the typical problems of blade wandering, sloping cuts, the lot. I formed the opinion, after trying out alternatives that they were all like it and that fundamentally, this was a limitation of the tool type. Therefore, it was really a tool for doing relatively rough work.
I then had the opportunity to try out a Bosch GST series jigsaw. The difference is like chalk and cheese. Very accurate control can be achieved in terms of positioning, accuracy of cut and speed. Completely different outcome.
I bought one because I do use it a fair bit and it was also really a decision between having something that will do the job I needed and something that really could not. However, this is in the north of £100 range.
I've tried out a few jigsaws since and Makita and Festool also do good ones, but at the same price point or more.
I can understand your not wanting to spend this type of money for occasional use, but I think that it would be pretty unwise to attempt to cut a worktop with one of the cheapies. There is a high chance that you will be replacing the worktop - doesn't matter how careful you are. Basically the problem is about proper blade support.
If you want to look at buying one, the Bosch green range has the best outcome of all that I've tried. Otherwise, I would look at renting a professional type jigsaw just for this job.
I have a dcent Makita circular saw but that doesnt do good for doing the back end of a worktop that needs cut to compensate for a dodgy wall.
Any tips on best way to do it, sure have read that you need to do it with jigsaw
Why not chisel out the wall a little? less work and cheaper than faffing about with the worktop (or have I misunderstood the problem).
Dave
The message from "Gogs" contains these words:
If you can slide the worktop forward a bit you can run a router along using the wall as a guide. Takes a bit of thought and perhaps a couple of screws into the underside from the carcasses to stop it moving, but it worked for me.
If you are going to try this then you need to scribe the line to cut on the *underside* of the worktop. Then cut from the underside to prevent chiping the laminate (you can get downcut blades - but these are harder to use).
Acquire/borrow the best jigsaw you can, with a really ridgid cast base if possible, and use a new sharp blade. Use a small amount of pendulum action if the saw has it and do not force the cut. Change the blade for a new one after every couple of feet of cut (worktops will kill blades very fast - and the blunter they are, the more likely they are to wander and give a slanted cut.
For some general background on jigsaws, see here:
Did you not mean Bosch blue?
Never had the funds for an expensive jigsaw but will take some convincing that cutting from underneath will produce the line you want on the top surface on something as thick and dense as a worktop. Yes you have to cut from underneath to avoid laminate breakout but since its the top edge that's visible cutting from underneath seems screwy to me. I would do a rough cut any which way and then plane. That way you cut to the top surface line with a very controlled depth of cut and can easily control the squareness of cut. Edge planing even with a cheap planer gives a very clean laminate cut. Of course you need to avoid end breakout.
Jim A
Jim A
With a decent jigsaw it will work ok - you don't get the same blade wander problems unless you apply latteral force to the blade.
If you plane "in" from the ends that will save the breakout problem. Much depends on how wavey your scribed line is (and hence your wall!) You may also be able to achieve the same result tidying up after a rough cut using a big router and a long fluted cutter.
I like the Screwfix descriptions of Bayonet and Universal jigsaw blades:
"Bayonet - fits Bosch, Freud, Makita, DeWalt and Hitachi. Universal - fits Ferm."
In article , Jim Alexander writes
FWIW they do have blades that are designed for laminate that cut on the down stroke!...
It's up against a cavity (fire) wall, probably not a good idea?
could so this with a budget one.
Maybe not ideal of course but then I asked advice before cutting the worktops to size and the message was only use mega tooth blade, infact some even said dont go near with circualr saw, only use a router but after doing a test on the end with a 12 tooth blade, it was perfect, so did the other cuts with same blade and they were all fine too.
I was really talking about the price range.
Of course the blue range like the GST is a lot better, but if one has to go for something more modest, then Bosch's green offerings like the PST750 are much better than the typical Techtronics offerings.
Ah, sorry, me getting the wrong end of the stick.
It won't be worse than the one you have when that was new. Most of the cheapo's get metal fatigue. Jig saws fail at the blade clamp as they insist on using zinc alloy in the cut price ones. Or did.
Something has to be done with all the scrap that the 5 year old children at a certain Indian dock give their lives collecting.
By the way if you insist on supporting the Chinese slave trade instead, you might like to know where the gangsters get a lot of their funding, or at least get a grasp of the style of how things are remaining the same though changing:
I have no idea where they are made, though I know that B&Q are active in China. But I don't know where DeWalts are made either. I do know that high tensile bolts designed for aircraft are often swapped for knock off by unscrupulous suppliers or moles in their agencies. So nothing is ever what it seems.
You might want to reflect on that the next time you are looking out at the propellors of El Cheapo Airlines' next flight to Spain.
I had just written the above when a news item on BBC 24 gave an account of the warrant for extradition of the head of one of Bolivia's airlines for fraud and jeapardising air safety.
Old Weatherlawyer -still dancing a beat ahead of the bar.
A router (even a cheap one) does a far better job and is the normal way of trimming worktops on site. A moderately good one can produce work to 0.5mm accuracy. OTOH it is taking you into the =A350+ price bracket for a basic cheapo.
Try Homebase which had a 12mm cheapo on offer some time ago - it was OK but the vertical plunger guides tended to stick. With care 1mm accuracy should be possible with a cheapo. On the plus side, once you've used a router you'll find no end of other things to do with it.
50mm deep cutters (nb these need a router able to take 12mm cutters) are sold for worktop routing, but with care marking out + firmly clamped work+well placed firmly clamped timber guides+ working from top & bottom, you can do an acceptable, if slow, job with cheaper ordinary cutters.Tip for marking out for a router - use a 0.5mm semi-disposable pencil as sold on cards in stationers.
HTH
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