Mini circular saw

[kyuzumaki]

I've been looking at mini circular saws for cutting sheet material. I have a jigsaw already but want a cleaner straight cut, and I don't need the power or depth of a big circular saw as my materials are all under 25mm thick. I also like how easy the plunge cuts look in the review videos on youtube.

Does anyone have one of these and is it useful? Are they any safer to use than a full size circular saw?

So far looked at titan one on screwfix, vonhaus, and WORX

 

[marcros]

I have looked at them on paper and on YouTube. I have to agree, they look handy things.

 

[Armagh]

I have the small, green and black worx saw with the laser and it's very useful. I think from memory it only cuts 25mm max. Although I'd point out that it actually cost more than my 7"circular saw.

 

[kyuzumaki]

Is that the 400w or 700w? Does your one do bevel cuts?

 

[RobinBHM]

I have found the screwfix titan brand very good, I dont know for this tool but for others they certainly outperform their price tag.

 

[Armagh]

I'll check the wattage later. It definitely doesn't do bevel cuts. The laser guide is very handy for cutting sheets though.

 

[Armagh]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WORX-WU420-Pro ... B009T8OEPQ

That's the one I have. 400 watts in the description. I've used it for ripping Elm and Obeche. I also find it handy for lifting floor boards for services.

 

[Shrubby]

I have used my Makita biscuit jointer as a small plunge saw. It's explained in the manual - Lamello also show their machines used as saws
Matt

 

[transatlantic]

I've wanted one for a while, but was always put off by the size when I saw them in person. Maybe I just have small hands, but the ones I tried had too much girth for my hand*. It looks like the new ones are slimmer though.




* shutup you dirty dirty people!

 

[kyuzumaki]

Getting increasingly tempted..The screwfix one is hard to beat on paper the equivalent WORX saw is almost twice the price.

There is a different worx one almost the same price https://www.amazon.co.uk/WORX-WX423...y&ie=UTF8&qid=1474226127&sr=1-2&keywords=worx but the base plate is fixed so probably not as easy to plunge cut.

 

[Stevebod]

I recently purchased the "larger", (WORX WX427 XL 700W Compact Circular Saw ) mini saw...absolutely brill...It was on Amazon for £115 odd...but every so often it "drops" to about £85..(I just put it on my wish list and waited a few weeks until the price had dropped back down). A really nice bit of kit...battery laser, its own box and 3 cutting discs. It will bevel (45 deg) and you can set the depth to suit (up to 45mm)....I would really recommend, (toh will not let me have a "proper" circular saw... ... )

 

[kyuzumaki]

Saw that one it looks a good bit bigger. Was worried it might kickback more violently if I make a mistake than the smaller one. Have you had any kickback from it? The bevel and deeper cut is a bonus but 120mm blade is not far from a full size circular saw and none of these saws have a riving knife...

 

[Stevebod]

No kickback problems so far...plus you can control the depth of cut quite easily....not all that "heavy" either....(I normally work on the principle of always buy the "next tool up" from the one you think you need...

 

[oakmitre]

About 2 weeks ago I bought the - WORX WX423 85 mm 400 W Mini circular saw.

Initially I thought it was going to be the answer to cutting down 8' x 4' sheets, even if that meant making multiple passes.

Sadly I found the saw to be really rather poor. I wanted to make a thin guide ( the same type you would make for a normal circular saw ) which I could lay on top of sheets and zip along.
I chose 8mm laminate flooring to do this. I screwed a piece of laminate which I had routed the tongue off using a straight edge to another piece of laminate.
I then tried to zip along using the circular saw plate touching the screwed down piece hoping it would cut the edge off the laminate underneath.

This did not work. The blade in the saw does give a very clean cut.However it behaves in a similar way to a jigsaw blade, it simply follows the line of least resistance and deflects badly to the left. I tried multiple times with different height settings / speeds - but it would just not follow the guide and cut through the 8mm laminate.Every time I ended up with a curve, at least 1/2" to the left, at which point the blade bound in the material and began to stall. I did manage to do it using 4 or 5 passes, but for 8mm that is a bit impractical.

Cutting freehand, it will struggle through but again similar to a jigsaw, the flexible blade has to be steered.

 

[kyuzumaki]

Thats disappointing your task is one of the things I had hoped to use it for too. I was planning to clamp a runner to my wood and slide along it like this

With that method I can do an almost straight cut with the jigsaw but the blade wavers a bit on the far side of the piece so its not a perfectly perpendicular cut all the way along.

Was your guide like this one?

 

[transatlantic]

I guess what we need a mini circular saw that clamps to a straight edge. So basically a track saw, but scaled down with the track being of a similar size to a Guide Clamp.

A workaround could perhaps be to use 2 guide clamps, one either side of the blade.

 

[kyuzumaki]

A track system sounds like a good solution. If I get one might try to 3D print an attachment to slide along a rail.


EDIT: I got the Titan saw and so far so ood! Its cheaper, 500w and has a laser. So far its worked great my test cut in 12mm MDF using a bit of wood as a guide rail was perfect. Nice clean edges no stalling. Laser could be useful but didn't need it with the guide rail. It plunge cuts very well too.

 

[rafezetter]

I have (had before I killed it) the Lidl parkside version of this and found it much more useful and easier to use that my heavy circular saw, expecially for smaller crosscuts.

I used it with reasonable regularity for maybe 3 years including tiles and marble without issue until I decided to use it on 20mm thick slate doing 2 meter long straight cuts - I don't recommend you do the same, but I will definitely be buying another when they come round again.

 

[rafezetter]

I guess what we need a mini circular saw that clamps to a straight edge. So basically a track saw, but scaled down with the track being of a similar size to a Guide Clamp.

A workaround could perhaps be to use 2 guide clamps, one either side of the blade.

could you not put a thin wider false plate on the bottom with ridges to run in grooves cut into a ply sheet or maybe even an ali track - the kind used in sliding wardrob doors?

 

[Alexfn]

Ive never been tempted by the worx type saws ive held one and it just felt awkward in my hand.

For a small saw i have an "Exakt DC270 Deep Cut" i think it cuts to 22mm, what i love about it is dust collection. It has better dust collection than the festool ts55

As for a small saw with rails ive seen the Scheppach PL305 and found it interesting. Its use of standard 115mm blades means cheap replacements and lots of options. If my Exakt saw packed up id probably replace it with the scheppach