Bosch has a long history of making some of the most innovative and advanced tools available today. I recently spoke to a group of people and mentioned that Bosch has never disappointed me in terms of their quality and performance. When manufacturers market their tools, it’s fairly common to have some things you feel a bit let down on. This just isn’t the case with Bosch in general. Their tools are designed for the most discerning professionals and they know their obligation is ultimately to provide the best tools for their users. By the way, if a tool isn’t going to be cordless, I greatly prefer a long power cord. Bosch does exactly this with a 12.5-foot cord. It’s a small touch that shows that Bosch isn’t cutting corners. I’m always surprised at the number of times that “feature” comes in handy. Riding the Rails From the first time I opened the L-BOXX-4, I saw the quality, fit and finish of the tool. I would put the Bosch GKT13-225L up against any other saw for comparison. I liked the overall fit and finish, the quality of the machined surfaces, the easy-to-read scales and the 12-foot long cord. Bob Vila has been America’s Handyman since 1979. As the host of beloved and groundbreaking TV series including “This Old House” and “Bob Vila’s Home Again,” he popularized and became synonymous with “do-it-yourself” home improvement.

Ultimately it comes down to what’s more important for the user: unlimited power (where power is available) or portability (as long as there are spare batteries on hand). Cord Length Why we like it: The Makita SP6000J1 is a powerful cutting tool made by a trusted power tool brand that offers excellent performance at a reasonable price. There's a swiveling, 1 1/2-inch dust port that can be connected to your shop vac to keep sawdust under control; a welcome feature, as these types of saws can create a lot of dust. A few buyers felt that the 7.9-foot electrical cord was a bit too short—some other brands have cords that are 12 feet long—but that might not be an issue for you, depending on the size of materials you normally cut and the placement of electrical outlets in your workshop. The saw comes with a 55-inch guide rail. If you need longer rails, Makita sells a connector separately that lets you connect multiple rails together. You also get a sturdy plastic carrying case for the saw. Bosch designed this saw to have two adjustment clamping screws at either end of the saw body. The adjustment scale is at the front of the saw. That scale shows the adjustment will range from -1 degree for undercuts to 47 degrees. Interestingly, the detent that allows for increasing the range from 45 to 47 degrees is a button on the front scale that needs to be pressed to engage the extra degrees. The detent that allows for the -1 degree cut is in a similar position on the rear of the saw. Our plunge saws are available in a wide range of scopes of delivery, whether as a single saw in the L-BOXX, in a set with a guide rail, or – in the case of the cordless plunge circular saw – with a guide rail, rechargeable batteries and a charger.In addition to that, the design of the blade guard on circular saws prevents you from being able to control dust very well as you operate. This is an especially troublesome issue if you are working indoors as fine particles of sawdust floating through the air cause a huge mess and can get into your airways. The Bosch plunge saws have a maximum cutting depth of 57 mm (the GKT 55 GCE) and 52 mm (the GKT 18V-52 GC). The models offer a bevel angle of between -1° and 47° for making mitre cuts. This means that undercutting the mitre angle is not a problem either.

There are specific machine cleaning instructions that come with the product. You must completely understand and follow all these to be able to clean this in the most efficient manner. Pros The plunge saws can be used not only with Bosch guide rails, but also with many competitors' rails. All of the plunge saws can also be connected to a dust extractorto ensure a clean working environment. The system avoids the need for frequently connecting rails—saving downtime during cut setup. Plus, a solid rail always provides straighter cuts than a rail with joinery. If you do need to connect the rails to rip 4×8 sheet goods, Bosch makes connectors. To begin, I started ripping the length of the 4×8 sheets in half and then ripped them down to a little less than 12 inch widths. Intentionally, I started with the roughest sheet goods and I ripped the CDX sheets first and the cut edges were a furniture-making quality cut. Dust Collection The Kreg KMA2685 is a universal circular saw guide that works with most circular saws on the market, including left and right bladed saws. The edge guide is reversible and allows for left- or right-handed use, making this an excellent and versatile option for circular saw owners that want to get more precise cuts up to 24” in length without breaking the bank for a new tool.

Table saws need a lot more room to be used effectively and can often necessitate having a person on hand to help hold and feed the materials through as another person guides the cut. Table saws are great for projects that you can do in a shop with lots of extra space for loading the material through the saw. Additionally. the saw has a speed adjustment to vary the speed for different materials from 3,200 to 6,250 rpm.

The GKT 55 GCE Professional corded plunge saw delivers highly precise, clean cuts in a variety of materials. Its high-quality machine components, precision saw blade, and matching guide rail system ensure extremely precise results. The saw’s efficient dust extraction system and noise-reduced blade make work comfortable, especially indoors. Furthermore, its adjustable speed setting enables cuts in a multitude of materials. Equipment & Application There was zero vibration with a nice, upright handle position, sensible switches, and easily the most power. Plus, it can provide -1 to 47-degree bevel cuts. This saw delivered on all counts.

Oh, and the window drops down past the edge of the workpiece improving dust collection. Very useful. Blade Runner Kreg appears on our list multiple times thanks to the excellent job they do of balancing cost and performance with their tools and accessories. The Kreg KMA2685 circular saw guide is sturdy and smartly designed to be easy to use and work with most circular saws. It uses a combination of aluminum and plastic to keep the weight and price down without sacrificing much in the way of effectiveness. Stan has been involved with Design and Construction in the commercial industry since 1975. He is currently the President of Design and Construction for a major St Petersburg, FL developer. Before that, he was a Project Executive for a prominent Boston Construction Manager, building high-rise apartment and office buildings. One of the hallmarks of his career has been innovative problem-solving. As Assistant Secretary of Transportation for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Stan was instrumental in bringing the hydro mill slurry wall machinery and technology to Boston in the 1990s for use on the Central Artery Third Harbor Tunnel Project. Stan has been an avid woodworker since college and brings an innovative point of view to this field. Before Florida, he owned an 1886 farmhouse near Concord, Mass, and his skills and time were never idle for long. His barn and attached spaces serve as his ever-expanding workshop. Stan is a self-avowed tool hound. In 2013, Stan decided to design and build his own CNC router. This machine has become a centerpiece of his woodworking and craft focus. Stan will share many of the ways that this innovative technology has solved many current problems and how CNC will begin to impact the woodworking and home renovation businesses. Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty- let’s start with the plunge mechanism. So, I once had the opportunity to drive a Maserati for a day, and if I were going to compare anything to the way that baby handled, well it would be how the Bosch feels when it plunges. It’s smooth, sure, tight and so dang clean it’s just the best comparison I can think of. It handles like the beauty it is. Speed settings: Speed control allows you to cater the speed of the blade to the type of material you’re cutting. It helps to avoid burning the wood, creating excessive splinters, or damaging the blade.

Good design improves the user’s experience. Bosch did a great job designing the plunge adjustment mechanism on the GKT13-225L. The adjustment mechanism works by depressing a latch and moving the depth stop to the correct setting. What I like about the Bosch design is that the latch is large enough for big thumbs to work the latch and that the scale is large enough to see and read. Both metric and imperial scales are on the saw body and the adjustment is in one millimeter increments. While these positions do not line up with the imperial measurements exactly, this allows for a very precise tolerance when setting the depth. Depth Gauge Pointer The front stability handle on the saw is wide open and oversized for a good positive control feeling all the way through a long cut. Replaceable splinter guards, as well as optional clamps also give more versatility to the saws use. If you work with delicate materials like melamine plates, laminates or vinyl then a saw with a scoring feature is a good choice. A scoring feature will create a very shallow pass on the material to be cut. The next pass will cut the material completely. Scoring the surface protects the delicate material from breaking. Safety features matters for all tool users One customer who bought this saw to replace an old electric circular saw that they had been using for over a decade wrote, “The Worx circular saw is a great tool. The battery power is great. The absence of an electrical cord also makes the saw much more maneuverable, and I can work on projects in remote parts of my property because I don't need to be near an electrical outlet. Great buy!”Each rail includes a little plastic end cover which is more clever than it seems. While it protects the end of the aluminum rail from dents and dings, it also rounds off the edge of the rail. This lets the 12-foot power cord or dust extraction hose slide more easily over the rail. It reduces a major source of interference and distraction. This battery-powered plunge saw from Makita runs off two 18-volt batteries for a total of 36 volts of power, meaning that this is no weakling when it comes to slicing through plywood and other materials. While the manufacturer doesn't give an expected runtime for the batteries, many buyers specifically mentioned that even after multiple cuts, the battery charge was still at more than 50 percent. When the batteries do finally run down, it only takes around 45 minutes to recharge them. The saw has a 6 1/2-inch blade and variable speeds of 2,500 rpm to 6,300 rpm with a soft-start that lets you ease into cutting. It also has Makita's Automatic Speed Change Technology, which automatically adjusts the saw's speed and torque to best suit the performance of the tool. You can even use this plunge saw to cut through aluminum, man-made countertop materials such as Corian, and melamine, but you'll need to swap out the blade for an optional, material-specific blade to do so. The tools are equipped with speed preselection for sawing different materials. In the case of the cordless plunge circular saw, it is even possible to individually set the speed levels using the user interface (HMI) and a smartphone.