Which plunge saw?

wonga77

Hi all. A question which has probably been done to death but im looking to get a plunge saw and rail set and am unsure which to choose.
I was working with a friend recently and he had the mafell version, it was excellent but as prices go its probably one of the dearer out there. He had a festool before that but didnt recommend them.
Looking through the internet and there are various different brands out there, dewalt, makita, bosch and these are slightly cheaper.
Anyone that can put me off any particular brand? Might make my decision easier, at the moment im leaning towards mafell

galwaydude18

In have the festool.plunge saw. The TS 55R. Its a great plunge saw and I wouldn't change it for the world.
.I had the dewalt plunge saw before the festoon and its a heap if sh*t compares to the festool.

I love that it also comes in a systainer which can be cliped to other systainer's as part if their system. Also their extractors are brilliant and you can clip the systainer's onto the extractor as well.

I did a job last Xmas year in dub. Pulled the van up on o' Connell street, clipped the systainer's onto the extractor and wheeled the whole lot around the corner to the site I was on with my kapex on the top if it all. One trip instead of ten trips.

saltandpepper10

My kappax chop saw recently burnt out its motor after not a huge amount of work,have an 06 and an 10 de Walt 718 chop saw that are both flying in am of the opinion there much more suited to heavy site work and the wettings abuse that goes with that

galwaydude18

saltandpepper10 wrote: »

My kappax chop saw recently burnt out its motor after not a huge amount of work,have an 06 and an 10 de Walt 718 chop saw that are both flying in am of the opinion there much more suited to heavy site work and the wettings abuse that goes with that

God I've tortured my kapex on sites all over Ireland, even cutting soaking wet 6" x 3" with it and it has never missed a heart beat. You need to use a 5kva transformer with the kapex

banjoman22

I've used the mafell before and found it good enough. The festool is the way to go. The 55 if your only at sheet goods and the 75 for working with thicker stock and hardwoods

Miname

Had both the mafell and the festool. both good saws. the festool for internal work in clean environments and the mafell for site work. Neither suit roofing as i learnt, for that the basic 7" hitachi is the weapon of choice. The mafelli would be far more rugged and take more abuse but the festool system is very handy and helps keep everything orderly.

wonga77

Thanks for the replies guys. Im still undecided, not sure I haver enough work to justify splashing out as I have other things to be paying for atm. I saw another model, scheppach or something, much cheaper but I would assume less quaality also
decisions decisions

2 stroke

I've been studying these for a while. Schepach is a step up from a shooting board. Festool can give clean cut on keeper board and offcut but you need a straight edge when joining tracks. Mafell does not have a riving knife but tracks join straight and scoring function is good, blade moves away .1mm for final cut. Bosch tracks are same as Mafell but cheaper, Bosch saw has riving knife but no scoring function. Another option is Triton, I haven't got my hands on one yet but I've just returned their palm planer as I found their description deceptive.
I'm inclined to go for Mafell as I want it mostly for cutting 8x4 chip and mdf and dont consider riving knife important, but if I was cutting more real wood I'd stick with a riving knife.

wonga77

Thanks 2 stroke, be interested to hear what the tritons like

Hootanany

Festool all the way no problem ripping Hardwood with my 55, super saw. Make sure you get the heavey duty lead nit the shiney one.

galwaydude18

Hootanany wrote: »

Festool all the way no problem ripping Hardwood with my 55, super saw. Make sure you get the heavey duty lead nit the shiney one.

Do you use the panther blade to rip solid hardwood?

Hootanany

No just the regular one but I keep them sharp all the time

wonga77

Makita V Bosch?