(Makita 4340TC Jigsaw 240V)
Thats certainly one of the jobs I'd want it to do John, but how good is that cut? My current m/c would just about cut that with a struggle and the blade would wander about all over the place giving nothing like a square cut. Not expecting it to be dead on like a chop saw.
Choice seems to be between the Bosch GST 135 & the Makita.
So if your aspirations are low, this may be fine. However, it is incorrect to assume that everybody else has low expectations of outcome, and for jigsaws especially there is a large difference between the £15 and the £125 jigsaw.
Cutting cross grain like that, the cut will be very good - no struggle at all, and it will remain nice and square.
The only time I have suffered from any blade wander on thick stuff is when I was cutting through an egg box door (i.e. two thin pannels with large air gap and cardboard honeycombe between).
With pendulum off, or on setting one, the cut quality is also very good
- in fact as good as a circular saw if you have a steady hand. I have found if I cut out a template in MDF, give it a very quick and light sand, and then use it to guide the router, I get none of the tell tail ripple in the finished routed surface that I used to get when I did similar things with an "ordinary" jigsaw.
I can't see you being dissapointed with either of those.
There is also a Freud one that is a little cheaper - not used it but the constuction quality looks pretty good. I also noticed a Hitachi the other day. Never used one of their jigsaws, but I have used one of their circular saws which was *very* good. so it may be worth having a look at as well.
I think you will find that is the whole thrust of this thread. In this case, the cheap machines do not come anywhere close to doing the same job.
For you, maybe. But I'd guess Dave will make a great deal of use of a jigsaw, and sometimes for accurate work.
Indeed. What I'm after is a huge increase in performance & accuracy rather than longevity. I understand this is what you get by paying top money.
Hitachi circular saw, certainly good, I have one of those.
I tried the jigsaw. It's certainly OK, but I preferred the Bosch for controllability on the motor speed at low revs.
In jigsaws certainly. Try to go and look at one if you can. Worth a trip to Axminster's shop in Sittingbourne perhaps?
You should get both.
What I'm looking for is a general purpose electric saw to carry about all the time for all sorts of unexpected jobs. If I know I'm doing decking, laminate flooring or trimming a door I'll take a chop saw or circular saw, but often people will say "while you are here could you .....".
So a good quality jigsaw seems favourite, if it will cut a reasonable straight line.
I progressed through el cheapo B&D (years ago), el cheapo Ferm and a mid range B&Q Power Pro. All have been poo basically.
The other thing I forgot to mention is that you can use a guide rail and get even straighter lines.
I've decided to bite the bullet and have ordered the Makita - £120 with 25 free blades.
Looks like a good deal.
You should find blades compatible all the way round. Almost all jigsaws use the Scintilla (Bosch) fitting. The only exception I've found is B&D who have their own thing.
That's one thing I positively love about my SDS Bosch Jigsaw - no tools needed to change a blade.
Yes - the press-button eject/push-and-click blade fitting on the GST135 is a big plus - no temptation to make do with a wrong/poor blade.
It will be interesting to see what you think of it.
...together with a lot of the very low end kit from Fook Yu (Manufacturing) Ltd.
I'm going to blame you if I don't like it John :-)
You can always send it back. You are buying as a consumer and not as trade, aren't you?
They might have gone right downhill since I got mine ;-)
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