Dave Warner
08-27-2008, 10:33 AM
Greetings All:
I'm having some troubles with a Bosch 1590EVSK jigsaw to rip long cuts on both hardwoods and mdf. I don't have a lot of experience using a jigsaw and I'm not sure if the problems are with me or the saw. I would really appreciate some feedback/comments/suggestions regarding the following.
What you see in the first photo is an attempt to rip a length of 3/4 red elm. I'm using a new Bosch T-Shank blade and moving through the wood at a rate of about one inch every 3-4 seconds. After several inches the wood is smoking and the blade is hot to the point of blackening and warping the metal (see second picture). If you look closely at the first picture you can tell the cut line is actually from two cuts. The first, shorter cut, was with a 20TPI blade. When I hit problems with that one I switched to a 10TPI blade. As you can see I didn't have much success with that blade either. The curve in the cut is from the blade warping and deforming (presumably from heat). The base of the saw is tight against the guide during the cut.
This saw has worked fine for cutting soft pine boards, but I've seen similar problems trying to cut lengths of MDF, cherry and maple). A few more notes:
- I'm not engaging the precision guides, as that seems to pinch the blade (my perspective is this would make the problem worse).
- The saw has a blade orbit setting (sets the forward blade angle I think). I'm in position 2 which is supposed to be for most hardwoods. I've tried the other settings and not seen a difference.
- With the blade seated in place there does not appear to be any pinching of the blade. The blade sits back between the guides.
Is this just a newbie mistake?
Could I be moving the saw too fast (though one inch every 3-4 seconds feels pretty slow)?
Is it just wrong to try to use a jigsaw for this function (Don't have a table saw, and don't like ripping narrow boards with the circular saw)?
Maybe the saw is experiencing some problems. I know this model seems to receives favorable comments and feedback. I bought it new in 2006 and have only used it lightly. It has only been this summer where I've started working with hardwoods and started trying to use it in the described manner.
Any thoughts on what could cause this, or how to work around it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Dave
I'm having some troubles with a Bosch 1590EVSK jigsaw to rip long cuts on both hardwoods and mdf. I don't have a lot of experience using a jigsaw and I'm not sure if the problems are with me or the saw. I would really appreciate some feedback/comments/suggestions regarding the following.
What you see in the first photo is an attempt to rip a length of 3/4 red elm. I'm using a new Bosch T-Shank blade and moving through the wood at a rate of about one inch every 3-4 seconds. After several inches the wood is smoking and the blade is hot to the point of blackening and warping the metal (see second picture). If you look closely at the first picture you can tell the cut line is actually from two cuts. The first, shorter cut, was with a 20TPI blade. When I hit problems with that one I switched to a 10TPI blade. As you can see I didn't have much success with that blade either. The curve in the cut is from the blade warping and deforming (presumably from heat). The base of the saw is tight against the guide during the cut.
This saw has worked fine for cutting soft pine boards, but I've seen similar problems trying to cut lengths of MDF, cherry and maple). A few more notes:
- I'm not engaging the precision guides, as that seems to pinch the blade (my perspective is this would make the problem worse).
- The saw has a blade orbit setting (sets the forward blade angle I think). I'm in position 2 which is supposed to be for most hardwoods. I've tried the other settings and not seen a difference.
- With the blade seated in place there does not appear to be any pinching of the blade. The blade sits back between the guides.
Is this just a newbie mistake?
Could I be moving the saw too fast (though one inch every 3-4 seconds feels pretty slow)?
Is it just wrong to try to use a jigsaw for this function (Don't have a table saw, and don't like ripping narrow boards with the circular saw)?
Maybe the saw is experiencing some problems. I know this model seems to receives favorable comments and feedback. I bought it new in 2006 and have only used it lightly. It has only been this summer where I've started working with hardwoods and started trying to use it in the described manner.
Any thoughts on what could cause this, or how to work around it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Dave