Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Wow! It’s probably thanks to the fantastic Efficut blade and the tiny 1.4 mm kerf that means this saw leaves the most wonderfully clean cuts I’ve ever seen from a circular saw. So long as you let the blade over run the timber slightly, the finish is superb with just the tiniest tufts of wood fibre left on the end of the timber. Small, compact yet powerful, the Bosch 0 603 500 070 160mm circular saw delivers precise cutting and exceptional manageability in a range of situations One of my favourite safety features of this circular saw is also one of the simplest. It solves the age old problem: what to do with your saw when you’re up a ladder and need both hands. It’s basically a bit of bent metal called a rafter hook. All you do is fold out the rafter hook when you need somewhere to hang your saw, and you’re free to concentrate on the task at hand. You can also get hold of a guide rail adapter, meaning you can upgrade this to a rail saw quite easily. If you’re planning on making lots of straight cuts, a rail is an incredibly useful tool. It will transform this handheld saw into a precision cutting instrument that’s especially good at cutting big sheet materials. The problem with cutting CLS was the amount of tear out and the rather ragged finish the blade left on the end of the timber. There were lots of shaggy fibres left on the edges that would be fine for rough framing work, but unacceptable for anything else. Comparing this finish to what’s left by saws like the Makita DHS680Z is noticeable.
bevel cuts proved a little more taxing on the motor, but there wasn’t much slowdown I’m pleased to report. The 160 mm diameter blade is on the small side and will only cut a maximum depth of 38 mm on a 45° bevel.CutControl is an incredibly simple but rather clever way to make sure you’re staying on the cutline. Instead of relying on a single notch, you can line up the notch and two arrows for a much more accurate view. Using this system to follow a pencil line is so much easier than on any of the other circular saws I’ve tried. Setting yourself a budget will really help you to narrow down your search. It can also help you to avoid the slippery slope of buying a really expensive product that perhaps had advanced specifications that you didn’t need or couldn’t actually afford.
The saw actually feels a bit too light when you’re making 45° bevel cuts. Doing them freehand takes a bit more practice as it doesn’t sit quite as firmly as the heavier saws I’ve tested out. This is where having a saw guide really helps. You’re also quite limited for depth as the blade only drops down to 41 mm at 45°.To make things easier if you’re working in low light conditions, the saw comes with a pair of bright LED lights. They switch on when you’ve pressed in the safety switch and lightly touch the trigger. It’s handy that you can switch the lights on without running the saw blade, it should make lining up cuts a bit easier. COMPATIBILITY – Festool, Dewalt Bosch, Makita, Ryobi and other circular saws which use a 160mm blade with a 20mm or 16mm bore. 16mm reduction ring included.
I then moved on to something quite literally a bit harder. Some dry English oak I milled up a couple of years ago. I made several of the same 0° cross cuts to test the saw This and motor a bit more. After using the Bosch PKS 55 Circular Saw for several weeks on a variety of projects, I’ve grown to like it more than I thought I would. It might not have the biggest or most powerful motor, but it boasts clever features that I wish the more expensive saws on my list had. Compared with the other circular saws on my list, the PKS 55 has a small diameter blade. I noticed this quite a lot when making cross cuts as it was the saw that wanted to wander the most. The bigger the blade is, the straighter the cut. The maximum cut depth at 0° is just 55 mm, which is something the bear in mind if you want to cut things like fence posts. It’s a good thing too that it was stable, because I was forced to push the saw quite hard when ripping through softwood. I’ll put this down to the blade size, as the 1,200 Watt motor should be powerful enough for these sorts of jobs.Moving on from the standard CLS that you’d use to frame a structure, I performed the same tests on some English oak I had milled up a couple of years ago. Much harder than constructional timber, it would prove to be a bigger test for a circular saw. The CLS timber at 0° was cut incredibly clean, but what really wowed me was how it performed in the English oak. I expected good things, but this cordless saw left a finish to rival the corded Makita saw. It was superbly tidy with fine edges that you could slap some wax on, and call finished!
I was also please to see a chunky double sided safety switch. I’m right handed, but if you’re a lefty then working a single button safety can be difficult and sometimes dangerous. It’s little design touches like this that stop left handers from needing to perform hand acrobatics just to get the saw blade spinning. Then it was on to something that not all the saw blades I have are designed for. Rip cuts along the grain of the wood are much harder, so I made use of the saw guide to see if it kept things straight.
Specification
The CutControl feature makes it easier to follow a cut line than any of the other saws on my list. It could do with a work light to make things a bit brighter, but for a budget saw it does enough. For the home DIYer who doesn’t want to overspend on a reliable tool, it’s one of the best circular saws you can get. MATERIAL - Fully hardened steel blade body – delivers accuracy and resists bending and deflection for true cuts. Tungsten carbide teeth provide excellent wear and heat resistance. The positive cutting angle provides fast and efficient removal of chips and swarf. If the tool is faulty within 30 days of buying it, we will arrange for its collection at no cost to you and supply a replacement. The first task was the most common one. Cross cutting through nice and dry CLS timber. In this case it was 37 mm deep and 135 mm wide. The first cuts were straight across at 0° bevel, then the same at 45°. Weighing in at just 3.9 kg, I’ve got no complaints about the weight of this saw. Aimed at DIYers, it doesn’t need to be the beefiest heavy duty saw, but it’s not so light that it feels like a flimsy toy. Sure, the bevel adjustment handle is plastic, but it doesn’t slop compared with the levers on the Evolution saw.
Great Deal 
New Comment