Is it possible to saw logs with a jigsaw.

What is better than a circular saw or a jigsaw??

The question that became the title of this article, very often encountered on various forums on the Internet. There has long been a debate between the proponents of the circular saw and the apologists of the jigsaw. But almost no one has given an exhaustive answer on this subject. Well, let us try to do it.

Of course, no one is going to give up the usual wood saw. However, the electric tool works much faster and allows you to save not only time but also your own efforts. And the quality of work in this case is much better. And so, standing in front of the store and choosing their very first cutting power tool for wood, many home owners ask themselves the same question: “What to buy first of all, a jigsaw or a circular saw? What to start with in making your own home working arsenal?”The situation is quite understandable, because not everyone can afford both. the budget, you know, limited. What tool to choose?? “Actually, the answer to this question is very simple. AtakaTM cutting tool developers say. you just need to proceed from the work that you do most often at this stage. If you, for example, only master carpentry or carpentry crafts, then you definitely do not need a high-performance circular saw, which in one fell swoop saws a bunch of bulky lumber. you, to begin with and electric jigsaw will be enough “. Yes, the circular saw has long since overtaken the electric jigsaw in terms of its performance and cutting quality. It is more versatile in its application. You can cut almost any material with it except hard metals. You can cut a wide variety of cross sections and types of wood into strips with this machine, or cut large sheets of plywood, chipboard, fiberboard, drywall, plastic. in fact, any building material for example for building a holiday home. the circular saw blade easily produces cross cuts, slant cuts, cross cuts and even two-sided cuts with high precision and cleanliness. But don’t jump to conclusions and sing the praises of the circular saw. For all its versatility and productivity, it still can’t do everything. There are some wood works it can’t handle, moreover it is categorically unsuitable for. For example it can’t cut a 100mm thick bar, because it has a maximum capacity of 75mm. Besides, it can’t make curved cuts and cut holes of different shapes in a not very thick wooden plate, choose rectangular notches, cut cleanly and without jagged edges in laminate, etc. But an electric jigsaw can do it all, albeit slowly and easily. Only the jigsaw can make a shaped sawing, only it is able to round a cut of a joinery flat piece or saw a recess in a bar or beam or select grooves. In addition, the jigsaw is quite light in weight and not very noisy. And there are also such models that have a system of suction of shavings. That is, the jigsaw is safer in terms of occupational safety. Or here, for example, during the most common cross cutting of a board, working with an electric jigsaw you can control the accuracy of the cutting line to the very end, while, working with a circular saw on wood, because of its design, the line for the trimmer saw kerf is not always visible to the end. sometimes you have to complete the operation blindly. The main thing is that the jigsaw blades must be well sharpened, otherwise the rectangularity of the cut will be broken.

The importance of choosing the right saw blade

The quality of the work performed depends directly on the jigsaw. Only knowing how to select the right tooling, depending on the type of material, you can expect that the end result will meet expectations, and the task will be completed as quickly as possible.

To find the right jigsaw bit, you need to consider the type of shank first. Otherwise, the saw cannot even be inserted into the tool.

You also need to know how to choose a jigsaw saw, depending on the shape of the teeth and its size. The difference in tooling for wood is that the material to be sawed can vary significantly in thickness, density and structure.

Sawing and basic technique

During construction work, many people need to cut building material cleanly so there are no splinters.

A set of tools with materials for this work is simple:

  • Measuring tools.
  • Pencil.
  • Jigsaws
  • The elements for determining directions in sawing.
  • Jigsaw.
  • Materials that need to be machined.

Better accuracy is possible with tools that have a higher blade speed. Use only wide saws if you work with wood.

There should be enough to comfortably accommodate both the workpiece and the guide element inside.

Table Saw Tip. Cutting Logs Into Boards. HNB #14

To saw the jigsaw does not rest on the base, the workpiece is placed on a small elevation.

Mark the necessary width of the area with a tape measure and do this on each side.

Be sure to leave a few marks. Then they are connected using rulers, creating a line for the trimmer cut.

The order of work is as follows. Otherwise you will not understand how to saw evenly with an electric jigsaw, the technique is not that complicated.

  • A guide is placed on the working surface, but from the cutting line you must keep some distance.
  • Fix it with the help of clamps.
  • Jigsaw jigsaw is placed in the direction of the place where the saw trimmer line is.
  • To the jigsaw press the guide, and then secure it with a clamp.
  • The fastener should not be too strong, but some freedom of movement should be left.

After that, repeat the same steps, but work on the other side. The clamp must be made strong. But not to the extent that there is excessive pressure on the wood.

How to adjust the jigsaw for a smooth saw

How to cut material smoothly with a jigsaw? Before you start your carpentry work, you should check that the machine is in good working order. You will also need to check the jigsaws.

If the blade is in good condition, the tooth tips will be sharp. To achieve the smoothest possible cut and prevent vibration during work, it is advisable to place the entire lower part of the tool on the surface of the workpiece.

To avoid splintering and cut softwood smoothly, you need to adjust the speed (choose the highest setting) and engage the pendulum function. When working with laminated chipboard we recommend that you turn off the pendulum.

Tip! If you put pieces of laminated chipboard on the workpieces, you can prevent chipping on the material you are sawing.

Jigsaw guide rail

The jigsaw guide is an elementary device, at first glance, similar to a large metal ruler or rule. The main difference between the guide rail and the above devices is a special groove in which, as on rails, moves the soleplate with an electric jigsaw mounted on it. Most of the guides have rubberized strips that prevent slipping on the surface of the material, and as an additional fixation, are fixed with small clamps. The average length of such devices is from 1.5 to 3 meters, and can be increased by another, similar ruler, with an adapter.

Enabling the Mikrotik Cloud feature

If you use Linux, the winbox utility works fine through Wine, about the installation of which there are several articles on the site for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora. Authorize and go to the IP item and in the drop-down list select Cloud:

In one of the old publications there was a description of the motherboard Mikrotik RBM33G capable of simultaneously working with two cellular modems. Below I will make a brief description of how to configure RouterOS to distribute traffic between the two lte interfaces.

In the test I will use two modems Quectel EP06.

Microtic RBM33 board with two EP06 modems

microtik router operating system is very flexible and has a huge number of settings, the configuration I proposed is one of the possible, but not the only. In general the situation of using two gateways simultaneously for Internet access is not standard and has a lot of implementations, at that in any case there will be some crutches, one way or another spoiling the overall picture, but let’s not speak of bad things for now.

possible, jigsaw

Let’s start with the standard Mikrotik RBM33G configuration for Internet access via modem:

  • Let’s reset configuration
  • Join all LAN interfaces into a bridge
  • Hang an address space of 192.168.5.0/24
  • Let’s set up a DHCP server on the bridge
  • Configure the firewall
  • Set up NAT to reach the Internet from our subnet

From now on you must have Internet, which will work through one of the lte interfaces, the second will be idle.

The teeth are in a different direction

most saws have the teeth pointing upward. This allows wood to be cut from top to bottom without much pressure on the jigsaw. The cut itself is made with the jigsaw moving upward. Standard saws have the lower surface of the plywood with a better cut than the upper one.

What Can You Do With a Jigsaw? A Lot! | WOODWORKING BASICS

There are saws with the teeth reversed, i.e.е. the teeth point away from the jigsaw.

Saw blades with backward teeth are designed for finish cutting of the upper surface of plywood. That’s why these saws are more suitable for cutting chipboard or laminate. no splintering or burrs. It is true that it is more difficult to saw with such a blade.к. The jigsaw will make sawing when the saw blade is from top to bottom, accordingly, there will be tooth resistance against the plywood, causing the tool to try to bounce. Holding a jigsaw with such a level is noticeably more difficult.

Personal experience

Most wood saws are designed for cutting speed anyway. Even saws with a medium tooth scrape the surface (of course, not as rough as saws with a large tooth, but still). That’s why in practice we got accustomed to use saws on metal with fine toothing up to 1 mm.

Yes, the speed of such saws is much worse than that of wood saws. Also, these saws heat up a lot. However, when a more demanding sawing job is needed, the time involved is well worth it.

Conclusion:

When cutting plywood it is advisable to use a saw with the smallest tooth. either a medium-toothed wood saw or a 1 mm metal saw. To avoid much surface scuffing it is possible to saw from plywood from the back (back side). If you want, you can get a backsaw, but it is much more difficult to hold a jigsaw with a backsaw.

This is just one factor in a smooth cut of plywood.

Manufacturers of jigsaws

To date, the highest quality cutting tools for jigsaws produce, for example. “Hitachi, Makita. From inexpensive, for example, saw blades under the brand name “Ermak”.

Most blades are marked with an alphanumeric code. One of these is the manufacturer’s brand name. The others give information about the purpose of the file. You can learn more about this at the manufacturer’s website.

Saw blades marking

First letter T or U. Saw blade mounting type.

  • The first number 1,2,3,7 is the working length of the file.
  • 1. short (up to 75 mm)
  • 2. medium (75. 90 mm)
  • 3. long (90-150 mm)
  • 7. very long (over 150mm)
  • The second and third digits determine the purpose of the saw.
  • Subsequent letters:
  • A,B,C,D. saw blade tooth size.
  • F. bimetal saws. Such saws have a longer service life, cut faster and of higher quality.
  • P. cut at a precise angle. Such saw blades have thick blades, therefore material is cut strictly perpendicular to the surface.
  • O. curved
  • R. reverse tooth
  • X. the universal saw for all materials
  • HM. carbide saw

This classification is relative and not always respected, so the most reliable way to choose the right saw is to know its characteristics.

Overview of the Bosch shape saw for jigsaws

For example, the purpose of the saw brand “Bosch”. “T101VR”:

Read also: Accuracy class 1 what it means

“T-shank” shank, medium (second) length of blade, fine tooth, clean back cut. Material to be cut. plywood, chipboard, fibreboard, laminate, laminated wood, plexiglass, plastic.

Blades for special applications

Drywall and cement-containing materials quickly shrink any saw, except for specially designed blades with tungsten carbide tips that also cut thermal insulation well.

You cut a hole in a tile with a ceramic saw without teeth with carbide sputtering. It is also suitable for fiberglass-reinforced plastics.

Cutting part of blades for cardboard, rubber and other soft materials is made not by teeth, but by ground waves or just similar to knife.

For sawing of combined materials special saws are designed, one half of the blade of which is equipped with fine teeth, and the other half with large ones.

Tip. Saw blade length should be chosen according to material thickness. To avoid the blade tearing out and breaking, its end has to come out of the cutting line in any position of the jigsaw’s pendulum.

For home use a set of 5-10 saws of different purposes is enough. Just starting to use a jigsaw, one buys an inexpensive set, masters the subtleties of working with different kinds of blades and selects the necessary saws based on one’s own experience. Still, there are no rigid recommendations, often one blade does well and cope with atypical for him tasks. Here you can experiment, but first think.