How to choose a jigsaw: professional advice

Recommendation points

• “Fiolent” PMZ-600 E
• Makita 4351 FCT
• BOSCH PST 650
• Einhell BPS 600E

We continue to discuss the choice of the right tool for construction and home. Let’s look at several models of jigsaws, find their strengths and weaknesses, and figure out the design features. Next, we will draw the necessary conclusions, and only then it will be possible to go to the store.

Ask any master finisher to voice the personal TOP-5 of the most popular, frequently used tool, and you will hear a list in which there will definitely be a jigsaw. For example, he firmly takes the fourth place for me, after a hammer drill, a screwdriver and a grinder. The thing is that this is an incredibly functional, mobile, truly universal assistant. He, if necessary, although with some restrictions, can replace a number of other tools, which is especially important for a home craftsman. Working with an electric jigsaw is simple and interesting, everyone can do it. Even my wife, who is far from repair and construction equipment, can sometimes cut something with pleasure..

When our team makes the first landing on the object, the jigsaw is always with us, there has never been a case that it was not useful. But his absence is sometimes acutely felt. Usually, at the very beginning, it is necessary to make scaffolding, shelving, a primitive table from wood.

Most often, we use a jigsaw for curly and rectilinear sawing of all kinds of sheet materials, such as plywood, plexiglass, OSB, chipboard, MDF, GVL, gypsum board, thin cement slabs and so on..

In the production of roofs and wooden frames, we saw (often in place) a board, a rail, a not very massive bar. In the absence of another tool, you can also cut a thick bar with a jigsaw – in two passes, because it is not necessary that the saw cut through the wood.

When it comes to materials such as parquet, laminate, lining, there is nothing to talk about – a jigsaw is beyond competition.

Often, during tiling, it is necessary to make a curvilinear pruning, bypass a rounded column, near which there will be no baseboard, revet the box with the exit of the hundredth sewer pipe. From time to time, designers give us a fun piece of work. Terrible dream of a tiler: radial or undulating adjoining of a tile, for example, to a parquet floor. Then it can be extremely difficult to solve the problem with grinders and tile cutters, a jigsaw comes to the rescue again – we put a diamond-coated file and millimeter by millimeter we move towards the intended goal, or rather, along the planned line.

It is no secret that with a jigsaw you can cut profile metal blanks, as well as sheet metal. Somehow, there was no need for such in my practice, but for the sake of interest, of course, I tried to do it. We set the file for metal, reduce the speed to a minimum, remove the pendulum stroke and start. Well, yes, you really can.

Unlike a reciprocating, circular, chain saw, the same router, the jigsaw is held and guided with one hand, which allows the other to fix the workpiece. Thanks to this, a sufficiently accurate cut is obtained at a significant speed of work, since there is no need to fix the workpiece every time, you just need a marking and a firm hand of the operator. By using the saw table to attach the jigsaw, you can achieve even more impressive results in terms of precision and clean cut. Then the file goes down with its teeth, and there are no chips on the front surface, and the workpiece is moved with two hands. In general, there are two problems when working with an electric jigsaw – the appearance of chips and the departure of the saw blade from the vertical. In most cases, they are solved by selecting the correct saw and choosing the operating mode (blade speed and pendulum stroke amplitude). The skill of the user and the design feature of the jigsaw also play an important role..

Jigsaw device: 1 – power cord; 2 – power button; 3 – speed regulator; 4 – brush assembly; 5 – electric motor; 6 – cooling fan; 7 – reducer; 8 – eccentric joint (reciprocating mechanism); 9 – pendulum mechanism; 10 – protective limiter; 11 – support roller for sawing; 12 – air duct for removing sawdust

“Fiolent” PMZ-600 E

In my arsenal there are several jigsaws, each of which is focused on its own tasks. The main hard worker, whom we have been mercilessly exploiting for many years in the most difficult jobs, is the Fiolent PMZ-600 E. Engineers were able to create a very, very tenacious machine. It can be noted that the manufacturer from Simferopol is simply famous for its successful jigsaws, as well as for grinders. PMZ-600 E is a powerful and efficient device that quickly copes with any task.

Wood up to 85 mm thick, steel up to 10 mm, aluminum up to 20 mm – these are not just numbers from a passport, this is a very real cutting thickness. The thrusting 600-watt motor moves the stem up to 2,600 times per minute at idle, generally based on power. Many of my colleagues have such a model, no one had any problems with the anchor, brushes, gearbox – all the filling was made with a margin of safety. True, a solid motor, steel counterweight, strong metal parts could not but affect the weight of the product, which is 2.4 kg, which is quite a lot.

The jigsaw has a switchable pendulum stroke, which helps to speed up work along a straight path, and if for thin materials the difference is not particularly noticeable, then with a large thickness, performance improves significantly. This option can be completely disabled for curved cuts or for sawing metal, ceramics.

The button, the switch-on latch, the speed controller are functioning properly. The manufacturer claims that this rather vulnerable node of Western European production.

I heard about complaints about the quality of the stock – someone broke, and that it requires adjustment, revision, since it can be deployed, which is why the file strives to deviate from the working line. Everything is fine with me, the rod did not break, it saws exactly. He has no serious backlash, the file is well stabilized in the transverse direction.

The stamped sole is made soundly, it is reliably fixed exactly perpendicular to the canvas. It is possible to move it to the 45 ° position, but to be honest, I don’t use this function at all. By the way, the set included a factory-made plastic soleplate that prevents the appearance of black metal stripes and scratches on the front surfaces. Unfortunately, after laying the second hectare of parquet boards, it was safely erased.

Separately, it should be said about the attachment of the file. Here they used, perhaps, the best option – the lock clamping the canvas is fixed with one screw. Everything happens quickly, the file is fixed tightly, without distortions. The worst thing that can happen is that there will be no flat screwdriver on the farm. In addition, blades of various thicknesses can be used, which cannot be said about quick-clamping mechanisms..

So let’s recap. “Fiolent” PMZ-600 E is an excellent jigsaw for any work on a construction site, it is time-tested. In which case it is very easy to find spare parts for it, and they are inexpensive..

Makita 4351 FCT

About a year ago, my partner was eager to get a high-end jigsaw, he really liked the Makita 4351 FCT. Well, a man loves a gorgeous instrument. Of course, I did not deny myself the pleasure of conducting a good test drive with this unit..

The performance of this unit is simply stunning. I tried to cut the hundredth bar – no problem, the 75th metal corner 6 mm thick – normal, no tension. Everything works very quietly, there are no vibrations, the power reserve is clearly felt (according to the passport, the maximum saw depth for wood is 135 mm, for steel – 10 mm). The 720 W motor seems to suggest this order of things, but in practice, not all manufacturers are able to successfully transfer the large energy of the power plant to the saw headset. The blade travel is 26 mm, the speed of its movement can be set in the range of 800-2800 translational movements per minute. These indicators are similar to those of “Fiolent” PMZ-600 E, but there is already an electronic system for controlling the cutting speed, which maintains the specified parameters regardless of the structure of materials, including dissimilar ones. Naturally, we offer a pendulum motion. The developers made it three-mode, although practice shows that it is enough to have two extreme positions: “on” and “off”. The jigsaw starts without jerking, this triggers the inrush current limiter – “soft start” (the function helps with ultra-precise operations).

The jigsaw is equipped with a very solid die-cast aluminum sole, it is clearly fixed in the zero position and at an angle of 45 °. There is an anti-slip, protective plastic pad on it, an anti-splinter liner. By the way, in the clamped places the support platform can be shifted back.

The file is replaced without keys and screwdrivers. It is a little alarming that the holding mechanism is activated by a plastic lever, but so far everything is fine with it. It is interesting that the cartridge seems to be “omnivorous” – he tried to insert canvases of different thicknesses, he securely fixed everything.

The working area is illuminated by a built-in lamp that turns on when you press the “start” button – very convenient. The sawdust removal system works quite effectively.

Now about the unpleasant. The jigsaw is heavy (2.4 kg) and quite large, in some places they simply cannot crawl. Its length is 30 cm, plus 10 cm of the backward protruding cord entrance cover. The body is thick, it looks like a small grinder, I could not grip it normally, the device tries to fall out of my hands. The mushroom handle requires two-handed operation, which I hate. To turn off the start button, which necessarily locks, you must intercept it, you cannot reach it from the working position of your hands.

The Makita 4351 FCT is, of course, a powerful, reliable, functional tool. However, it is not suitable for construction and finishing, since a lot of work has to be done “on site”, cutting workpieces “on the knee” is not his element. The jigsaw will show itself perfectly in the workshop, where the part can be securely fixed. With its help, a figured cut is perfectly performed, you can easily guide the tool towards yourself, to the side, from the bottom of the workpiece.

BOSCH PST 650

The little green BOSCH PST 650 was developed by German engineers for the average home craftsman. I bought it in a large construction supermarket, as an addition to the monumental “Fiolent” PMZ-600 E. Again, I did not intend to save money, I just assemble a set of lightweight compact tools for special use in special conditions. Practice has shown that the household series of this manufacturer can be used in the repair and construction business..

The jigsaw immediately fell into the hand, it is really comfortable – the thin D-shaped handle has soft rubber pads, the switches are located in accessible, expected places, everything is perfectly balanced. A sensitive large button allows you to “turn off” a little. The weight of the device is only 1.6 kg, which is as much as 800 grams less than that of the PMZ-600 E or Makita 4351 FCT. The developers used a 500 W motor for it, but the working rod was accelerated to 3100 strokes per minute (for Fiolent PMZ-600 E, for example, 2600 strokes per minute). In a word, as in the case with other tools of the household series, the Germans relied on speed. I easily cut beams 50 mm thick, and this is clearly not the limit (the passport indicates 65 mm – wood, 4 mm – steel).

This jigsaw can be credited with a well-fixed steel platform, including at 45 °, adjustable sawdust blowing, anti-vibration system, good lateral stabilization of the blade.

A keyless chuck is installed on BOSCH PST 650, which has one drawback – not all saws can be inserted there, due to the different thickness of the shanks. At the same time, the canvases that fit are fixed very reliably.

For a year and a half, the PST 650 has been working without failures on finishing works, sawing beams, boards, laminate flooring, lining. An excellent ultra light tool, it deserves its place on the construction site. As for home use, given the price / quality / performance ratio, this jigsaw will be out of competition.

Einhell BPS 600E

The Einhell BPS 600E jigsaw came to us by accident and left us very quickly. It seems that he had everything for success: a pendulum stroke with three modes, a 600-watt motor, a speed controller, a good frequency, a traditional design, a German name … But the workmanship brings the manufacturer down irrevocably. The button broke, the rubber peeled off the handle, the stock began to play, the sole was bent, the block fixing the file tore, a very stiff cord began to crack … Only the motor continues to function. This is an example of how not to make jigsaws, this is a complete failure. It makes no sense to buy such a tool, no matter how cheap it would be.

Let’s summarize. To choose the right jigsaw, you need to consider a number of nuances. Based on the practical experience of professional builders, some general recommendations can be formulated:

1. Decide in advance what type of work the jigsaw will be used for. In most cases, including for construction, a household or semi-professional tool of the middle price range is suitable.
2. High power necessarily affects the weight of the product. Consider if you need it.
3. The mushroom-grip jigsaw is better suited for workshop environments. The two-handed grip involves fixing the workpiece. It is very convenient to make complex curved cuts with such a tool..
4. D-shaped machines are operated with one hand, they are good when used in the “field”, “on site”. This option for construction site and home is preferable.
5. The pendulum movement significantly increases productivity.
6. To work with a variety of materials, you will need to change the stroke rate – it’s good when there is a step speed regulator.
7. For delicate sawing, the function of electronic stabilization of the set speed and soft start will not be superfluous.
8. The sole must be firmly fixed perpendicular to the cutting blade. A big plus will be the presence of a plastic lining.
9. The less backlash at the working rod and the support roller, the cleaner and more accurate the cut will be..
10. The quick-clamping blade may have a restriction on the thickness of the shanks (not all files are suitable). The most unreliable option is a block with a slot and two screws. Key / screwdriver lock is the most versatile.
11. Directional airflow and illumination of the work area are very useful options.
12. Each model has its own unique ergonomics, before buying be sure to “shake” the jigsaw in your hands, choose what suits you personally.
13. In many authorized sales centers, the buyer is allowed to test the tool in operation, use this right.