Jigsaw to Replace my Makita 4334D?

[uptoyou]

Hi all,

I've had this jigsaw a long time (bought second hand from a carboot sale about 10 years ago), and its done me ok as a DIYer.

I'm trying to cut some straights and curves through scaffold boarding, and its difficult to get a perfect straight 'down' cut. The plates a bit bent, and I'm sure its just generally a bit out of sync now. I've tried to align the blade to 90 degrees to the plate, but its just not quite there.



I tried to replace a year or so ago, thinking that ANY jigsaw would at least be better then this considering its age - I bought a Ryobi, and it is without doubt the worst tool I have ever purchased (and this is from someone who bought a Parkside Plunge Saw), so I've had some shockers in my lifetime.

The Makita is heavy (partly due to battery weight), and solid and cuts a VERY straight line following a mark, it just doesn't wander at all and clears the sawdust fairly well - the Ryobi was awful - it was light, shook too much, the sawdust didn't clear from the blade so you could never see the line you were following, just terrible.

As a DIYer, I don't need a pro tool, but I'd love something with the same characteristics of the Makita - no wander, clear the dust, and accurate straight down cutting.

Any recommendations appreciated - my budget is £200 max (including 2 batteries), but would prefer to go lower than have to consider go higher.

Thanks all!

 

[Deleted member 174758]

If you already had the current 18 volt Makita batteries I'd have had no hesitation in recommending the Makita DJV180. This is an older, brush motor model, so battery consumption isn't brilliant, but it is a solid, chunky piece of kit and is pretty much a battery version of the 4350CT mains powered jigsaw. Casting around they are currently running at £115 to £120 on eBay, but that is bare, and you'll need at least one 3Ah battery and a charger to make up a set. So that would get you very close to your budget limit.

Until some light fingered so and so "borrowed" mine a couple of years back I had one as my day to day cordless jigsaw (actually, mine was a BJV180 - the same jigsaw, but in its' original incarnation without any battery protection circuitry). It served me well.on all.kinds of jobs where I had no access to power. When I replaced it I was torn between getting another DJV180 and getting a brushless jugger, eventually plumping for the DJV181 body grip.model purely on the grounds that is would be easier to use for scribing

Sorry that I can't help you with any DIY brands but I'm trade and therefore tend to ask a lot of my kit

 

[uptoyou]

Thanks JobAndKnock, just looked at a couple of videos of the DJV180 (within budget), but it looks like it wanders pretty easily.
The jigsaw cuts I'm making are (in some ways), the final cut for this wood. Not only that, the two halves either side of my cut line will be used together (as a mold for a press), so any wandering effectively ruins two pieces of wood.
I wont rule it out, but the heavier the better I think in my case.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

As ever it depends on the thickness and density of what you are cutting as well as the quality of the blade. I had few problems with the BJV180, but then it was mainly cutting 6 or 8mm sheet materials or doing nothing where absolute accuracy isn't everything. Personally I din'tvregard jigsaw as super accurate tools.

TBH if you want absolute straightness, then the nearest you'll get is the Mafell P1cc corded jig saw with their W1 blades. I have one of those firvkitchen fitting. But the downside is the price.

Next best after that is probably the Bosch GST160BCE (corded), but again that's outside your budget.

AFAIK there isn't a cordless trade jigsaw on the market which will touch either of those two.

If you want really straight cuts have you considered building a table with a pair of roller guides for the saw blade mounted on a C-arm above the table (the jigsaw is mounted below the table)? Makes a sort of jigsaw/scroll saw. There is a commercially made one called a Neutechnic, but lots of home base ones on YouTube

 

[uptoyou]

Maybe my use of the term 'straight' was not best.
It is to cut a pattern out on several pieces of scaffold board, and within the cut there are straight parts, but what is most important is to accurately follow the line.
Once cut, they are stacked next to each other at differing heights, and I then plot a cut which twists through the wood - I currently have to sand this with a flap disc as I am yet to receive a suggestion of how to make a cut which moves along both the x and y axis (but that's a different issue). Then glued together and blended in with filler.



I think maybe my best explanation is the cut needs to follow the line - curved or straight, with no deviation from a 90 deg down cut, but I have a feeling due to newer technology, jigsaws are much lighter now in general, and you can;t rely on the heaviness of the jigsaw preventing it from moving off line.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Looks a bit like a boat⁷ hull. Have you considered a small bandsaw? X and Y axis is easy enough, Z axis, or rather variable tilt, could be dealt with in part using a domed saddle axilliary bed around the blade. An alternative, for use with a jigsaw, is a replacement base plate called the Collins Coping Foot. In conjunction with a Bosch T244D blade (and it must be used with this blade for the best results) this allows you to produce amazing scribes with varying angles on complex skirtings,
dado rails and cornice mouldings which would otherwise be very difficult to do quickly - but it is a freehand tool so can be tricky to master. I've been using one of these for about 14 years now and it makes complex scribing much faster and easier.

Available from T F Tools or Toolovation for about £40.00. Will fit most trade type jigsaw with simple base connections as well as some DIY models like the Bosch green models, except those with auxiliary blade guides or special (odd) base designs (e.g Bosch GST135, 140 and 160 models, most Festo/Festool jigsaw and the Mafell P1cc - special, more expensive versions are available for these). I had my original Collins foot mounted on a verybold body grip Metabo jigsaw for about 8 years (until I bought a P1cc - the Colin's foot for thatvm was £80) and then since buying the DJV181 it has been on that from time to time, allowing me to scribe where I have no 120 volt power

ABOVE: Collins coping foot mounted in use on a Mafell P1cc
BELOW: The Collins foot in action on a very old body grip Metabo some years back. The cornice moulding is being given a 5 to 10° back clearance angle well as the curved cut

 

[uptoyou]

I have a bandsaw, but feeding in from 1m away, and my lack of skills to accurately follow the line without the inevitable twisting of the blade, has put me off continuing to attempt this method - not sure in this case I could use a domed saddle bed.

Collins coping foot - below is what I posted elsewhere - thoughts?



I have made several skateboard molds from wood, and as close as I get, they are not perfect.

The mold is made by cutting several 2 x 8s at differing heights, fitting together and taking out an even volume of material across the entire surface. The difficult part is the shape of the skateboard starts flat at the tail, concaves towards the center, then flattens back towards the nose.



Cross section of middle of mold where material needs to be removed - this flattens out to almost even at the nose and tail.



It is difficult to remove material as the is no clear reference of where to remove (in this case approximately 5/16"), from the flatter parts of the skateboard.

I did eventually figure this out by drawing back the outline on one adjoining piece, adding the top section back on, and adding the additional area to me removed.
However, getting the top and the bottom to fit perfectly matched so as when pressing veneers together in a hydraulic press there is a perfectly even distribution of weight is extremely difficult - one of the problems is when sanding the boards down along the top (palm and orbital sander), it created a slight convex on the top. My next tool would have been a belt sander to flatten better, but want to also try other methods.

Question 1. Which tool (or technique...or both), would enable me to sand 'flatter'?

Question 2. Preferred method - is there a tool or technique which would allow me to cut a moving angle through an individual board, where the height on one side is different to the height on the other, and these heights change throughout the cut? I would be left with the top piece and the bottom piece perfectly matched.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

The obvious answer is what they use in production, namely a 3-axis CNC router housed with a 3D modelling application such as Rhino. That's just a bit expensive!

The only 3D cutting of that type I've come across were the CNC hot wire cutters used by a foam cushion manufacturer I deal with

Sorry, I'm not really a lot of help. The only thing I can say is that once produced it is possible to reproduce multiples using a home-made gunstock duplicator router

 

[uptoyou]

Yeah, CNC is the only thing I could thing I could think of too!
I'll think about the corded Bosch one you suggest, but may ultimately plump for the cordless Makita one you mention.
Thanks!