New jigsaw

[Jeff Layman]

I just tried to use my old B&D KS633£ jigsaw, which I haven't needed to use for years. Needless to say, it was as dead as a doornail. Open circuit (fuse checked ok). Absolutely impossible to remove the screws to check inside. I was able to turn the motor via the vent slots, and tried again, but despite that it still doesn't work.

So I need to get a new mains jigsaw, but only for very infrequent use. The Screwfix Energer

gets good reviews, but is out-of-stock everywhere. Most of the other "own-brand" jigsaws from Argos, Homebase, etc get very mixed reviews from "fantastic" to "junk".

Any recommendations for a cheap jigsaw, or to avoid?

[meow2222]

Cheap jigsaws are disasters. To be worth having, one needs a blade restrain ing system to keep the blade straight. Look at used tools if it needs to be cheap.

NT

[meow2222]

ining system to keep the blade straight. Look at used tools if it needs to be cheap.

a left handed drill bit should open almost any stuck screw.

NT

[Bob Minchin]

+1

[Jeff Layman]

Never knew they existed! I have some stud removers; might try the smallest one, but on previous experience they are very brittle and often snap when anything more than slight force is applied.

I finally got one screw out - steel self-tapper, pointless, 20mm long by about 3mm diameter. Pozi head. There are 7 others, 3 of them sunk around

20 mm down.

[tony sayer]

In article , Jeff Layman scribeth thus

Yes simples ... avoid cheap Jigsaws period;!.

Save up a few quid or nick some money and get one of these and have pleasure in using it:)...

[RJH]

Not so sure. Maybe because I don't know any better, but I find my 30-odd year B+D just fine. It did baulk at some 18mm oak mind.

Makes by my standards straight cuts.

[The Other Mike]

Rubbish! A left handed drill just cuts a hole the same as a right handed drill. For removal of stuck fasteners they are even worse than a piece of slightly melted blue cheese.

[stuart noble]

B&D did some decent trade tools back then. The "you get what you pay for" rule has always applied to jigsaws. Cheap drills or circular saws will do the job if the cutting parts are sharp, but a cheap jigsaw is no use to anyone. Well, laminate flooring possibly, but certainly nothing thicker.

[John Rumm]

I think that is a common situation. Until you use a good one, you simply don't appreciate what a vast difference there is.

[john james]

That's not right.

And neither is that. I have used a cheap jigsaw to cut 12mm copper tubing that is where a hacksaw is very much harder to use and for cutting 12mm flat aluminium which you have a bench grinder to use to square the ends with. Works fine.

[John Rumm]

I don't think anyone is suggesting a cheap jigsaw won't cut stuff - it will. Its just the level of control and finesse is vastly inferior.

[tony sayer]

+1 !....

[dennis]

8<

I have a ryobi one+ jigsaw and I don't think much of it. I prefer to use a hand saw.

[Bill Wright]

Cheap jigsaws are dreadful. You're better off without. If your use is very occasional, why not hire?

Bill

[Jeff Layman]

Decided to get a Bosch PST 65 (PST 650). Just used it, and it seems OK.

By the way, I freed 7 of the 8 screws holding the B&D together. Looks to me that something like Loctite had been used on the final 2 or 3 mm of the screw. No wonder they were so hard to turn! Unfortunately the head is buggered on the last screw, so I'll have to drill it out.

[john james]

Sure, but plenty of jobs don?t need any finesse at all, all that's needed is the cut done and the cheap jigsaw does a quite adequate job.

[john james]

Don?t agree with that. They are much better than a hacksaw when cutting copper tube that?s buried in the ground because you don?t need to dig anything like the same depth hole.

Much quicker than a hacksaw if you have quite a lot of say 12mm flat aluminium to cut too. I use those as shelf supports in 25mm vertical steel slotted rhs tubing where the ends of the aluminium flats aren't even visible and easy to get flat with the bench grinder.

Because the cheap jigsaws are so cheap that its not worth farting around with hiring if they do an adequate job and they do for some stuff.

[meow2222]

They work very well for me. They either bite into the screw and undo it, or if its severely corroded in they just drill the head off.

NT

[John Rumm]

True, but use a decent one, and you want want to go back to the cheap one even for rough work. It just so much nicer using something that cuts fast and smoothly with no vibration. (and where you can change blades without tools)