Circular Saw Advice
 

My old corded circular saw is not working no more, motor gone... I am in the market shopping for a new one... here is my question:

Should I go with the corded saw for its power, or nowadays, good quality brand cordless ones like those from Mitaka, Dewalt... will do good enough job for homeowner like me...

I know corded saw will never run out of power... but cordless offer the convenience, and with dual batteries, power can also be resumed in seconds...

What is your opinion on this...

I use my cordless almost exclusively. However I do have the porter-cable corded saws. I actually have both, the left handed and right handed. I use them when doing a more detailed job. The reason for both is in some situations I may need to bevel left and in others I may need to bevel right.

If you are just cutting a few 2x4's or 1x's the cordless is the way to go and buying it in a kit usually gets you a sawzall and drill to boot.


Dave.

Have you checked the brushes on the motor? If this motor has brushes then you may be able to replace the brushes and get it to work.


:thumbup:

Are you gonna deny the guy the chance to buy a new tool? What is wrong with you?:laughing:

Dave.

He could "secretly" check the brushes and replace but no tell the other half. Then go out and buy a cordless one and have both.

:thumbsup:

Cordless are a convenient toy but the batteries will always be down when you want them, also they just can't cut heavy work. Go for a good corded. I use the Porter Cables on a daily basis, have had many other brands over the years, but these are the best ever as far as I'm concerned. All the power you'll ever want in a fairly compact size, and built like a tank. You'll be tempted by many "homeowner" saws for half the price, but spend the money upfront, this tool will last your lifetime.

Spoken like a true brother!! :thumbsup:

Agreed and the same here on the porter cables and the reason for a 'lefty' and a 'righty'....(we have both...for the same reasons....like you)

brushes on the motor... Am I suppose to open up the plastic case covering the motor to check this out... ? Well... I will ask my neighbour who is a PHD in mechanics for that... I thought when a motor is broken, the only way to fix it is by rewinding those coils which I learned from physics in high school.... anyhow..

I would like to try to fix the corded saw... now with that chance and I cannot saw no more...

I will probably go for cordless... the main reason... is I never had one before... and now knowing that it can probably do the cutting base on above comments... don't want to miss those experience.... I can blame everything to the basement for the "wife" issue...

Thanks for all the advice...

I don't know where you got your ideas from, but today's cordless tools are not toys, and the batteries are impressive. We have corded saws and drills, and unless we are doing a whole lot of repetitive ripping of plywood or similar applications, they never come out of the trucks. I just bought A new set of Milwaukee V28 cordless...and all I can say is wow! Til now, we have used the Dewalt 18 volts exclusively. They are not priced out of reach, and will last years when not in rough service like my guys use them, day in and day out. We get about a year out of the tools and batteries, and then replace. I have a few Makitas in my own wood shop, and they are going strong after nearlyu ten years...batteries also.

I don’t mean to hijack this, but I was thinking about buying a circular saw (no longer a student, just got first real job, time to stop borrowing so many tools, it’s rather pathetic I don’t have one already) and had two more questions. First is whether the reduced blade size of the cordless models ever presents a serious deficiency. I was actually leaning towards to the corded model, and was definitely considering the Porter-Cables. Next question is right or left blade. It seems that most corded models are right, while wormdrives (which I don’t see a need for) and cordless models are left. I wonder if this has more to do with tradition than anything else. I was inclined to go with a left blade model, both because I figure it will be easier to see, and since I figure it will be easier to borrow a righty than a lefty for the few cuts when I need one over the other. Presumably there is a marginal safety advantage to going right (for a right handed user). Let me know if I’m missing something, or otherwise being dumb.

This probably isn’t a fair comparison but, we had both a corded Milwaukee sawzall and a cordless DeWalt at my old job. While the DeWalt was certainly no toy, I’d definitely give the power edge to the Milwaukee w/ a cord. I’ve had some bad experience w/ some cheaper cordless drills I’ve borrowed, so I’m probably unfairly/irrationally biased against batteries. The truth is I don’t own any cordless tools yet, so I can’t imagine not running power to a work site. Cost in another issue in favor of a cord for me now as well. Especially since I just had to replace a router that died, and my scroll saw’s gearbox is getting really warm even when not pushed too hard (both hand me downs from my grandmother).

Porter Cable
 

I have a right hand corded and left hand cordless both Porter Cable... works for me for all situations. And the Cordless survived a 16 foot fall onto an item 4 crushed stone driveway!