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JML Exakt Saw
by jonboyfixit
Exact saw
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This is a very handy tool for certain diy projects.
There are three blades that came with the one I bought, metal/plastic, wood and one for tiles.
The blades are very easy to change.
The tile blade came in very handy for cutting curves in stone tiles which can prove difficult with a ... normal electric tile cutter. This one I found the most useful.
Each blade cuts a depth of 12mm. The only problem is most of the materials that I work with are around 15mm up to 25mm thick.
However I Recently used the wood blade on a sheet of 12mm mdf and it cut the panel with ease. I needed to make some boxing in around some pipe work. Its times like this that the exakt saw comes in very handy, as I'd usually use a circular saw which is much bigger, and not as easy to use as the exakt saw.
It also came with a v shaped plastic device/guide that will help you to cut through pipes. The pipe sits into the v shaped plastic device to guide the cutter.
Reason for purchasing was to cut a flimsy plastic bath panel, which it did quite a good job. The only thing is the metal/plastic bit that I used was covered in melted plastic by the end. The next job I had to do was to cut an aluminium chimney .The metal blade could not cut through the 1-2 mm aluminium that I was trying to cut and it will not cut through some other metals. This was possibly due to the plastic that was attached to it from cutting the bath panel.
I usually use professional tools which are very robust and last for years. I don't think the exakt saw is a really robust tool .I'm concerned it may break after allot of use.
When cutting a hole out of a timber panel it's difficult to see where to stop cutting, as it has a guard that covers the blade for safety. This is a bit annoying as you have to keep stopping to see where you have got to.
On the plus side this saw will be fantastic for certain jobs such as flooring (up to 12mm thick). And also tiles.
Where to buy and price.
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I bought the exakt saw direct from jml for £89. I think it has come down in price now so check it out. Ive also seen it in markets for allot less.
The tool Came with a case (that I paid extra for) which came in a very nice looking chrome finish. The problem is it didn't fit all the contents in, such as the hose for vacuum extraction.
Over all a handy little tool for the tool collection but I don't think its practical for all the jobs its meant for as its quicker to just get out a hand saw for certain jobs.
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Black & Decker Scorpion 400W Handsaw
by Mephit
I love knocking things together out of bits of wood, whether it be guinea pig runs, wood-stores or even a fairly unpretty (but functional) table. The acquisition of the right sized bits of wood for my purposes is the tricky part, as I find hand-sawing wood tedious and arm-aching. This is where the Black and Decker Scorpion saw comes in. ...
We bought this power-tool about 2 years ago, mostly because we were given a load of fire-wood, which was all too long to fit in our fire-place. Wandering the power-tool section of a DIY store, we lusted over chainsaws but in the end plumped for this more mild-mannered beast, due partly to price and partly to its adaptability to other tasks, such as having a blade for metal and a jig-saw function. A multi-purpose tool seemed a better bet, especially when we can borrow my Mum's chainsaw on occasion.
The Scorpion is easy to set up and is mains powered. It has about 3 metres of sturdy black cable, which allows enough play for most use.
You don't need allan keys or any tools to change blades. It's a matter of pressing in the button next to the blade to change it and flipping over the guard to change to jig-saw mode.
To work the saw, you co-ordinate pressing the two buttons at the handle, which is a safety feature to make sure you can't accidentally set it going.
It isn't particularly loud, even when sawing, so you don't really need ear-defenders (although if working with metal, you might, as cutting metal's always a ghastly racket). I don't come away from using this with ringing ears: it's pretty quiet for a power-tool.
It's reasonably heavy at nearly 4 lbs, so is more unwieldy than a hand-saw. It's important to get used to handling it, get the feel of its balance before using on anything requiring much accuracy. If you don't have much strength in your wrists, you may find it a little awkward when using for straight sawing. There's very little vibration through the handle as you use it, so no tingling hands for me!
With only 400w of power and a relatively short saw blade, this isn't a tool for tackling really major work or tough/over-sized materials, but it is good for speeding up small-scale sawing tasks. I've used it a lot for quickly sawing fire-wood to size and accurately cutting lengths for my DIY projects and have never had any problems with it. For a guinea-pig hut, it created a nice curved door-way on the jig-saw setting. I've even used it outside to cut down small bushes and low branches too big for loppers.
It produces good fine cuts with little effort and I find it really handy.
The Scorpion is a good DIY product from a well-known brand, Black and Decker. I doubt professionals would rate it particularly highly, but it's a nice effort-saving tool for the hobbyist and casual home DIYer. It's available at £35.73 through Amazon at the moment, which isn't a bad price.
Product Features (as available from Amazon):
* Powered Handsaw
* 400 Watt
* Cuts wood, metal and plastic
* Includes Three Blades
* Suitable for cutting wood, metal and plastic
* Powered handsaw and jigsaw functions
* Tool free blade change
* Comfortable hand grip
Technical Details
* Safety lock
* Blade size [recip saw] 239 - 153 - 134 mm
* Lock-off switch soft grip
* Speed variable
* Cable length 3metres
* 400w motor
* 0-5500 spm
* Lock off switch
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