Ryobi Circular saw question

[Jeremy Greiner]

I have a Ryobi cordless circular saw (I attached a picture) .. I'm trying to cut through 2 sheets of 3/4 inch plywood (glued and screwed together) but I get about 2 feet into my cut and the saw gets stuck and stops.

I tried going really really slow it doesn't help, I tried removing the excess wood that was behind the blade on the cut .. but it still gets stuck. I know it's not a screw, and the battery (should be according to the charger) fully charged.

The blade has rarely been used (4 or 5 times) .. but is about 3 years old, do they degrade quickly over time?

Do I need a new blade?
Do I need a new battery?
Or am I trying to ask this little cordless saw to do too much and I need to get a corded saw?

-jeremy

[Joe Spear]

I think the key might be how the plywood is supported. If the piece is sagging even a little bit, the kerf will close on the blade and bind it. Try laying the sheet of plywood on a support that holds it within about 2 inches either side of the cut. Maybe use two saw horses with four 2 x 4's lying perpendicular across them--two under the edges of the sheet and two close on either side of the cut. That would allow it to stay stiff enough and not sag.

Then again, it may just be that the saw is not powerful enough, either because of an inherent lack of power or because the battery will not hold a full charge. I have a cheap little Black and Decker battery-operated circular saw which is barely strong enough to get through a single 3/4' plywood sheet, especially when the battery is low.

[Jeremy Greiner]

The 2 peices are my workbench top, and they are attached to the base already (very sturdy) .. I'm fairly confident that the 2 peices are flat.

I'm charging another battery now and I'll have to see how that does .. the battery may just be dieing.

[Stephen Tashiro]

On saws with a delicate construction, the base can bend. My current cordless saw jams and burns when cutting plywood because the face of the blade isn't parallel to the edge of the base.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The blade has rarely been used (4 or 5 times) .. but is about 3 years old, do they degrade quickly over time?
Ryobi blades come pre-degraded.
No waiting is necessary....



Edit to add - I have a Ryobi CMS. Decent saw - once I swapped the blade out for a Freud.
Thought I'd mention that in case anyone thought I was being a smart a..

[Jim Heffner]

I think that the problem is the saw....not the material being cut. I have never seen any of those battery powered saws that were worth much after they
had any age on them. They are "ok" for some jobs....but not any requiring any real tools to get the work done. Best thing to do is...park that(toy saw) and get a real saw... a corded version and go to it...it will do the work!

[Jeremy Greiner]

The second battery all charged up was still getting stuck, I got a corded porter cable saw .. and it cut through it like it wasn't even there.

I guess it could have still been the blade, but I'm more inclined to think it wasn't powerful enough.

-jeremy