www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Makita have come up with an answer to the Festool TSC55R - which is you are a Makita cordless user like I am is very interesting -



The motor is variable speed and brushless, but two batteries are required (it won't run on one alone)

I have to say that the cord on my plunge saw is a nuisance when it's on the track, but I don't like faffing about with batteries every twenty minutes either

Problem is, what do you do whjen you are on a site or part of a site where there is no power, but where the accuracy and cleanliness of a plunge saw is perhaps required (think firestopping doors, or installing kitchens in powerless voids, for example)? Admittedly a one trick pony, but a useful alternative to the Festool - especially as there are lot moe guys out there with Mak batteries than Fes ones

What about dust extraction though?

Yes. That's a bit of a bugbear on all cordless saws. I know you can hook this cordlessnsaw up to a corded vac. such as the Starmix/Metabo/Mafell models, but that's actually pretty darned pointless. No sign of a bag from Makita, either, so a bit of a mystery at present. Hopefully they'll sort it out before we see the beastie in Europe

Edit: Just realised - Makita do have a cordless vacuum, the DVC350, as a basic unit and there is a full HEPA (like M-class) battery extractor avauilable in the USA whic (hopefully) will appear here in due course. You can actually see the vac in question (marked "36v" which means 2 x 18v) at floor level at about 0:37 to 0:46 in the video below as well as talked about at 1:10 to 1:32 as well as at 1:51 to 1:58



I have mentioned this in an earlier thread on Makita vacuums

So assuming you want a cordless vac too then you need 4 batteries of high Ah. Then of course you still have the problem of a hose which for me is more of a pain than the power cable

Rorschach wrote:So assuming you want a cordless vac too then you need 4 batteries of high Ah. Then of course you still have the problem of a hose which for me is more of a pain than the power cable

Actually it's more like 8 batteries and a couple of dual battery chargers.......

Anyway, it's now on sale at D&M, Fastfix and others with a bare in Makpac price hovering just under £400. Don't know if Makita have got a dust bag to go with it a la Festool yet, but they are supposed to have sorted out a few of the niggles from the SP6000K. I'm certainly interested, but maybe no quite yet.

OK, so I finally sprung for one, since which time I've been having a few "technical issues" (meaning that it went back to Makita on warranty when the dealer turned out to be a complete waste of space). In the end I was sent a new one, so I'm starting out with it yet again. In the short time I had the original item it did about 80 or so cuts in (mainly) 18mm hardwood plywood and it certainly has plenty of power and reasonable battery life. I can also add that the supplied blade is a super thin 52-tooth jobbie (1.45mm kerf) and that it's to all intents and purposes a battery-powered SP6000J. Full report to follow when I've got enough experience of the tool to write something sensible and (hopefully) considered. I will say, though, that I do like it a lot

Rorschach wrote:What about dust extraction though?

I'm just about to try a Makita "turbo extraction box" which clips on in place of a conventional dust bag. It'll k]land next week. In the meantime whilst Makita don't do a conventional dust bag for the saw, the Mafell MT55 18M bl cordless dust bag (part number 206921) fits just fine and works well, as this video seems to confirm. On the other hand the Festool SB-TSC dust bag (part no. 500393 - designed for the TSC55 and HKC55 cordless saws) appears to need modification to get it to fit the Makita comfortably.

Be interested to hear how that works out.

Rorschach wrote:Be interested to hear how that works out.

Well it didn't...... The product was designed for use with mitre saws

I did end up with a cheap zippered bag from Triton which has proven to be reasonable for DX, if a tad on the small side. Not as goods as a vacuum, but keeps me from having to breathe dust all the time. Doesn't meet the requirements of the HSE though - but then there is as yet no such thing as a cordless class M vacuum. Even there Starmix have shown one which will probably appear under the Metabo brand later this year/early next, but I doubt it will be under £600 street price, bare, and it won't be auto start. Makita do have a blue tooth version of their class L cordless vacuum with Bluetooth and a Bluetooth equipped version of the DSP600 (called the DSP601) but as yet I understand that they aren't in the UK

marcusjkw wrote:I have to say that the cord on my plunge saw is a nuisance when it's on the track, but I don't like faffing about with batteries every twenty minutes either

In point of fact with 2 x 5.0Ah batteries I generally swap batteries once a day, sometimes two if I'm doing lots of cutting, so my original comments about 4 pairs of batteries was OTT - two pairs will do youy, but you need the dual fast charger, the batteries do need to be 5Ah or 6Ah (I've tried it with 2 x 3Ah and the run time was way too short for my liking) and you'll need to ensure that your bklades are sharp because blunt blades absolutely kill batteries. Upside of the DSP is that with fresh batteries and a decent blade you can trim the bottom off a 44mm fire door in one pass. That is something my TS55 struggles to do.

Just used mine to trim two 44mm fire doors and think it did it quicker and easier than my corded version of the same saw, there was a bloke watching to see how the saw coped with that and he was staggered it was so easy.

Most of the dust was caught by a Makita dust bag I bought for it https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/273365370147

Thanks for the updates on this

Interesting topic. Been considering the festool but may be inclined to go with this. Is it a better or equal saw to the festool or did you go with it for battery compatibility? If it honestly is equal in performance and accuracy then may be tempted. Worked with some lads who said the 110v Makita was not as robust as the ts55. Think they're Makita had been dropped or banged and no longer cut very well

oz0707 wrote:Been considering the festool but may be inclined to go with this. Is it a better or equal saw to the festool or did you go with it for battery compatibility?

It's neither better nor equal - it's different. I have the original TS55 (corded) which is now 7 or 8 years old, although I have also used the more recent TS55REB (corded - in fact where I am now the firm has supplied one of those), but to date I have only used the cordless Festool to make a few cuts. The Festools are a tad more sophisticated than the Makita - for example the newer models have a double depth scale which removes the need to subtract 5mm from the scale when using the saw on a rail, the Festools have a less fiddly blade changing procedure (which saves all of about 10 seconds), the Festools have marginally better dust extraction, the Festools have double-side anti-splinters if needed (a feature I frankly never use), etc. Other than that they offer much the same package. Festool have a more logical approach to blades with all their blades having a nominal 2.2mm kerf, but it isn't6 rocket science to achieve this with other makers blades. One thing which stands out is that the cordless saws have noticeably more power than their corded bretheren; for example the cordless Makita will happily take a 44mm thick slice off the end of a fire door in one pass which is something the corded saws (Festool and Makita) often baulk at. I have recently proven this to colleagues in back to back cuts. In general, though, the Festool is a marginally better product - slightly more sophisticated, slightly better finished. But really that's about it. In use there is very little between them and to me the savings in money and space/weight of not having to buy into yet another battery system were the biggest plusses (I bought my Makita bare) - after all, I don't see Festool coming up with an 18 volt biscuit jointer, 115mm grinder, planer or impact wrench (all of which I have and need) just yet. One downside I will point out is that the base of the Makitas is slightly longer than that of the Festools and they would really benefit from having a longer than 1400mm guide rail to cross cut 1220mm wide sheets (in order to ensure that the cam adjusters are both engaged on the "hump" in the guide rail). To that end I'm probably going to buy myself a 3000mm guide rail and split it 1600/1400 and then buy a second 1400 rail and two joiners (Makita ones - as they are a superior split piece design and better than the Festool items IMHO) to make up my rail set (in ad ideal world you need a crosscut rail AND a ready-to-use ripping rail for trade work)

oz0707 wrote:If it honestly is equal in performance and accuracy then may be tempted. Worked with some lads who said the 110v Makita was not as robust as the ts55. Think they're Makita had been dropped or banged and no longer cut very well

Be tempted, then. Everyone who has used my Makita to date has gone away favourably impressed (and these are all guys who are very familiar with the Festool corded product). In terms of robustness I really don't know other than to say that I've never had a fragile Makita yet because their stuff will generally take a lot of abuse (my cordless stuff often does). I do know that about 10 years ago with the early SP6000s (corded) there were some issues with the base casting (warping) which were reputedly cured by a partial redesign of the base to overcome the issues, but dropping a saw like this of any brand is potentially going to knock the tool out of alignment. You wouldn't drop a mitre saw, biscuit jointer or router and not expect to have to check it, and potentially set-it up again would you? If they've just carried on using the saw (and it sounds like they did) without recalibrating the saw then I think they only have themselves to blame

Thanks for the feedback. Is it right that these also run on a festool rail? Shame you can't buy a 1500 rail as discussed. I'll have to have a proper look into the pricing, the Makita seems good value naked be nice if there was a generic rail supplier out there! Is the Makita the same as festool in that the max cut depth is less the rail thickness?