Porter Cable Trim Saw?

[Josh Bendel]

Does anyone have the Porter Cable 4 ½ Trim saw, and do you like it? I need to replace my circular saw and like the idea of having a worm gear drive, and the smaller size. Just looking for opinions.

Have a Merry Christmas!!

[Peter Stahl]

Does anyone have the Porter Cable 4 ½ Trim saw, and do you like it? I need to replace my circular saw and like the idea of having a worm gear drive, and the smaller size. Just looking for opinions.

Have a Merry Christmas!!

Josh,

Bought mine a while ago just for cutting up plywood. I really like the way it cuts. It's gotten very pricey now, not sure if I'd buy it at the price it's going for now. Probably would go with the festool saw if I had to but it today.

Pete

[Dave Wright #2]

Josh,

I've had one for several years. It is an excellent saw for cuts no deeper than a little over an inch. Light, fairly quiet, smooth cuts, just a pleasant saw with which to work. It cuts about half as fast as a 7 1/4" saw but twice as fast as a cordless. Splinter out on the plywood face that's up toward the shoe varies with species and grain orientation. It is an excellent plunge saw - much more controllable than a 7 1/4". Cut faces are much smoother than a regular circular saw, but not up to table saw standards. Mine came with a shoe that wasn't aligned with the blade. Fortunately I bought it locally and the owner let me inspect several and personally pick a perfect one. The alignment is not user-adjustable.

The PC is also a surprisingly good freehand trim saw. On one project I beveled post caps in the field. Looked almost like they had been planed. Honestly, I don't use the saw as much as I had expected but its a pleasure to use when I do pick it up.

Take Care,

Dave

[Ken Leshner]

Josh,

I got mine about 6 months ago. I bought it on eBay, and even though it's used, it performs well. I use it for rough cutting plywood and melamine and use a Porter-Cable 4 1/2" plywood blade. Some rip out, but not too bad.

At retail it's kind of pricey. If I had to pay full price, I don't think I would have bought it.

[Bobby Nicks]

I've had mine for a while now. Like everybody else I got it to rough cut plywood. It does a good job of this. It's a lot easier using this saw to cut up the plywood than trying to do it with a 7 1/4 inch saw.

You can get a fairly clean cut if you set the blade at about 1/16 to 1/8 inch and do a score cut and then come back and drop the blade down and cut all the way thru the wood.

I would buy it again.

Bob

[Neil Clemmons]

Josh,

I've had the PC trim saw for 5-6 years, largely for cutting sheet goods before going to the table saw, and it has worked very well. It has a lot of power for the small size. It works well with a Speed Square for cutting 1x face frame material. It also works well against a guide fence like a 1x4 given how the motor mounts to the rear. The downside of the saw is the depth of cut is only a little over 1" and it does make a mess with no way to handle sawdust collection easily.

I just bought a Festool ATF-55 with guide and expect that it will all but replace how I had used the PC 4 1/2 trim saw going forward, except where I might need a saw in a tight space.

Depending on how (and how much) you expect to use it, if you have the funds, I'd look at the Festool. The PC is a very nice saw, however.

Neil