# Buying advice, De Walt or industrial Colombo Filippetti?



## AlbertoA (20 Oct 2009)

I have a friend who is making mostly restoration. 
He has to change his fretsaw and he is in doubt between two machines. 
One is the DeWalt DW788 






And the other is a Colombo Filippetti (industrial) fretsaw, with a 3 phase motor and (just) 20" arm. 










I know that it's probably an "unknown" saw, since it is mostly an industrial type of saw, but if any of you could give just an advise it would be helpful. 
I hope my friend will provide me with more pictures, not of the DW that you well know, but of the old machine. 
Thanks, 
Alberto


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## big soft moose (20 Oct 2009)

Ive never heard of the latter but the obvious issue is that its three phase and therefore your freind will need an inverter (which isnt cheap) to run it on a household supply (unless of course you have 3 phase household electricity in italy - in the UK its 240v single phase)

the dewalt is reputed to be a damn good saw , I think gill our scrolling moderator has one, but you cant get them in the UK anymore as dewalt have stopped exporting them here. I dont know whether that situation applies to italy or not


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## Gill (20 Oct 2009)

Hi Alberto

Your friend will not be disappointed if he buys a DW788. They are lovely saws.

I have never heard of the other saw, so I would not like to comment. However, the photograph makes me wonder how quickly you could change blades. It also makes me wonder if the table tilts, a feature that might be very useful for restoration work.

If your friend buys the DeWalt, would he buy it brand new? If so, could you let us know where he would be buying it, please? As BSM says, they are no longer sold in Britain and it would be wonderful to find out that they are available elsewhere in Europe.


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## AlbertoA (20 Oct 2009)

Hello Gill and Big Soft Moose, thanks for your advice, I know the other brand is not common in the UK, neither it is in Italy, they are mostly industrial machines and prices of new are in the 4-5.000 euro for a basic saw, and there are also huge machines with braces of up to 190 cm (see one HERE, their web site is... well... poor to say the least). 
This is true for new machines. For old ones I suspect that as you say they will be a little obsolete in many details, tilting table and blade change in first place that could make a difference in loving or hating it. 
The DW is always a used machine and they ask a high price for selling that... Unfortunately there are no more new DW here, there is only what remains of the old and limited stock. 
Thanks again, 
Alberto


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## traston (22 Feb 2010)

Saludos, yo tengo la caladora colombo filipeti y te puedo decir que es la mejor maquina con las que he trabajado. el cambio de sierra es rapidisimo a pesar de que el apriete de esta es con tornillos allen. La ventaja y a la vez desventaja es su peso algo mas de 150kg y el tener que engrasarla -en cuatro o cinco puntos-con grasa de litio en cada jornada de trabajo. Lo mejor de esta maquina es que la aceleracion de corte la tienes en el pedal de pie que te permite ir progresivamente de cero a 1500rpm . Conclusion es una maquina profesional para estar todo el dia sin parar. Por cierto tienes tambien maquinas mas economicas de esta misma marca mirate la hobby 50 lastima que los accesorios se disparen de precio. De todas formas yo no descartaria mirar la hegner multicut. Si quieres mas informacion sobre la colombo no dudes en preguntarme.
saludos cordiales


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## StevieB (23 Feb 2010)

Welcome to the forum Traston. As this is a UK site and all of our posts are in English, could you please do likewise and use English for the benefit of the majority of our readers? If you and Alberto want to switch to PMs then of course these can be in Spanish if you are more comfortable in that language.

Many thanks!

Steve


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## AlbertoA (23 Feb 2010)

Gracias-Thanks Traston! 
I don't speak Spanish, but it is very similar to Italian and I could understand everything, so for the benefit of all I will "summarize" what Traston said. He owns a Colombo Filippetti fretsaw and thinks it is the best fretsaw he has been working with. 
Blade change is fast and it can be done with an allen key. 
The advantage and disadvantage is that the saw weights 150 kilos ( :shock:, my comment...) and that it has to be regularly oiled in a few places with lithium grease. 
The foot switch also controls the speed up to 1500 rpm. 
It is a professional saw designed to work all day. 
There is a hobby machine of the same brand, hobby 50. 
Another very good machine is the Hegner Multicut... 


By the way, my friend decided not to go on with the used CF saw, he decided to keep the DW, being a professional he cannot "risk" to have the machine out of use without spare parts... 
Alberto


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