About a year and a half ago, Skilsaw set itself apart from Skil, with a new brand identity. Recently, Skilsaw came out with a worm drive table saw – the world’s first.
What’s next? I think that Skilsaw should enter the cordless tool market, with a brushless worm drive circular saw, and then a brushless circular saw. I guess the order doesn’t really matter.
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Update: Skilsaw IS finally coming out with a cordless worm drive saw!
Oh, and the tools should be powered by Bosch 18V Li-ion batteries, with cross-compatibility between the two lines.
Thinking of Skilsaw’s brand identity, and wondering about where they possibly see themselves heading over the next few years, I’ve also started to think about how the new Skilsaw worm drive table saw fits into that agenda.
They certainly could have come out with a portable table saw that only very slightly differed from Bosch’s current offerings. There are some similarities, but they equipped this saw with a worm drive drive train, with increased power and durability, and great rip cutting performance and reliability being the end result.
They wanted to turn heads and attract attention, and they succeeded.
I don’t want this to be Skilsaw’s only forward-pushing product, I want more.
I checked out the worm drive table saw at a recent Woodworking Show, and a test sample recently arrived. It’s solidly built, and I plan to use it for a project as soon as I can. If the power is there, and it very well should be, the new Skilsaw table saw will be a very competitive offering.
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It’s paired with a Diablo blade, so you know they mean business. It’s not an as-cheap-as-possible throwaway blade.
Skilsaw has the chance to further distance themselves from the perception of the Skil brand, which caters more towards homeowners and DIYers on a budget. I think that they should take this chance head-on.
Sure, they could stop here. A couple of handheld worm drive circular saws, Sidewinder saws, and a worm drive table saw are good offerings.
But c’mon, how about 18V cordless brushless worm drive and Sidewinder style circular saws? That sure would be something. And maybe eventually, a miter saw, corded or cordless.
Skilsaw, you’ve got our attention, but will you continue to WOW us?
Milwaukee tool Steve
Whow this is something on my watch list. I would love the wormdrive’s on skill saws now just imagine them on table saws, and CORDLESS awesome.
Nathan
Is skilsaw a Bosch owned subsidiary like Skil? I assume they are. As such do you see them only making saw’s. And do you see the SKill line going away?
If they only made saw’s – which I think they should – and they were only premium devices, then I wouldn’t mind if they tackled both jig and recip too.
I do not however feel they should do cordless. I could be persuaded but I see no real reason for it.
Brian V
I’m still waiting to see the worm drive table saw. I won’t get my table saw until I see one. I think the partnership with Diablo blades is great!
I just don’t see the point in them offering cordless tools though. It would be extremely tough to make a compelling case for them. Brushless, I guess I get it but that isn’t a deal breaker with corded tools by any means.
Brushless and cordless is just too much, “I’m late to the party but me too!”
fred
As you say – it should be competitive – and many will be interested in your comments about it once you’ve got a chance to put it to work. Some obvious questions will be:
How the blade alignment (90 degrees to the table and parallel to the fence) is right out of the box.
How is flatness of the table
How the fence performs
How good/bad is the stock miter gauge + how well are the miter slots machined
Can it accept a dado stack – and how does it work with an 8 inch set
How the stock blade performs – Diablo blades (Bosch-Frued’s mid-range offering) are usually quite good – but would the saw benefit from a premium blade.
TonyRockyTiger
Agreed with fred – a powerful saw is nice, but just as important is its ability to rip, cross and miter-cut with precision. The adjustability of these portable saws usually leaves a lot to be desired. I’m not expecting them to be as adjustable/precise as a full-blown cabinet-mounted saw (where the mounting trunnions are attached to the cabinet, not hanging from the table-top), but I do hope they’ve made an effort to allow for proper adjustments, even if precision really isn’t the primary use-case for these types of saws.
fred
You are absolutely correct.
Smallish jobsite saws are convenient and do have a useful purpose – but you would not necessarily choose them for furniture building. On big longer-term jobs we used to set up a Unisaw at the jobsite. In most smaller jobs we’d bring one of our jobsite saws (had been Makita – then switched to Bosch) . In my home shop I have my 40+ yo Unisaw with a sliding table – at the center of my basement shop – and a Bosch 4100DG09 on a rolling stand in my garage. Both get used – but for different tasks. As an example – no longer having the crews and big trucks – I would not attempt to move my basement Unisaw to undertake work at one of my kid’s houses. The Bosch, however, rolls nicely up onto the bed of a pickup.
Nathan
Now that I own a Dewalt DWE7490 portable table saw I have to say they did a hell of a job. The gear drive fence/extension system and lock – with some minor setup is fantastic. Is it rock solid stable as say a delta cabinet saw with bessy fence or other – I don’t know for certain but I’d say it can be extremely close.
Setup/verification took me about a hour and it was well lined out in the manual – from there I can dial in 7 3/8 and that is what the cut will be – every time. Flip the lock, dial out 19 5/16 and bingo spot on again. That and the stability of the portable stand sold me on the yellow product. I will say however I have a Diablo blade on it now. There are some decent portable devices out there. the motor is strong enough to dado hardwood without issue as well.
fred
I can appreciate what you say about the Dewalt fence. That’s my one gripe about the Bosch 4100DG – where the digital fence needs re-calibration pretty often.
When I bought my home shop Unisaw in the early 1970’s – it cost be over $1000 and came with a “Unifence” – which I found to be just OK . I’m not sure what I was earning in those years – but it was a lot of money to invest in 1 tool. A few years later, I added a Delta (mostly steel and cast iron sliding table attachment – which thanks to inflation cost about as much as the saw). Then I finally replaced the fence with a Biesemeyer – and learned what a difference it made in terms of ease of set-up – repeatability and accuracy.
BikerDad
Put the Bosch REAXX technology on that worm drive table saw. THAT will set them apart.
As far as Skil being “late to the party” with cordless, uh, no. My first cordless drill, purchased WAYYYYY back when (late ’80s, early ’90s) was a Skil 7.2v drill with a keyed chuck. Late with brushless, sure, but not late with cordless.
Ryan
Uh, yes. He said Skilsaw would be late to cordless, not Skil. Different brand with a different market.
BikerDad
My apologies regarding “late to market” confusion, I was replying to Brian V.
Hang Fire
Yes, he said that, but they weren’t different brands back then.
Ryan
SkilSaw could share the Bosch Battery platform on it’s cordless tools, as it is subsidiary of Bosch
fred
And Bosch could bundle more Freud (also a Bosch subsidiary) circular saw blades, grinding wheels etc. with their tools.
KenZ
Sure, and Dremel could have used Bosch’s 10.8 (12)V batteries in their cordless rotary tool…. and didn’t.
Which is why I went with Milwaukee instead. I literally only needed a rotary tool, but bought Milwaukee instead of Dremel because I knew in the future I’d add tools, and didn’t want ANOTHER battery. Both Bosch and Dremel lost sales with that decision.
I’ll be they do it again.
David Funk
Freud blades and bits are a Bosch brand as well I believe.
John
Honestly my next table saw is going to be the one with the “flesh detection” ie Bosch REAXX or Saw Stop. This worm drive table saw is really cool don’t get me wrong, but it’s not a leap in technology over just about any “regular” table saw to push me to replace the one I have or stear me from investing in a Saw Stop. I get the use of worm drive and its cool, but I’m not that convinced it makes *that* much of a real world difference between just a slightly bigger regular motor table saw. Unless there is a superior quality difference between the three toward the Skilsaw one, I’ll go for one of the other two. (Just waiting for the REAXX to be in the US to level the playing field / price.
Nathan
Going back isn’t the main thing here – that the worm drive gives another 1/4 inch of depth of cut.
is that really a big deal? will it deliver more cut power? As compared to other saws of similar cost? The rest of the machine looks like bosch’s regular offering.
I mean wouldn’t surprise me to see one of the others come out with a 12 inch portable table saw. Might as well.
fred
I guess a 12 inch blade would be possible – our Oliver straight line rip saw was 12″ – Our Old Shop Fox Sliding Table Saw could handle 12 and 14 inches – and folks sell them up to 18 inches – but the HP requirements go up and the max RPM’s go down as you increase blade diameter. It is still an OK thought.
For an outlandish idea – how about adding a scoring blade to a jobsite saw for sheet goods – I’ve seen some “carpenters” struggling to cut plywood sheets on a small table saw – so maybe a scoring blade would be a selling point.
BTW, since I bought my tracksaw – I no longer bring full sheets down to my Unisaw even thought it has a sliding table.
Diplomatic Immunity
How about a brushless, cordless, worm drive track saw with a high tooth count Freud blade while you’re at it.
I mean, why half ass it all. Just set yourself apart right from the get go.
fred
Good idea – and maybe shoot for the high end – one-upping even Mafell with an automated scoring/final cut system and automated track that can do dados and stop cuts as well as through cutting
Mike
“one-upping even Mafell”—very funny, fred. If taken seriously, this idea has a significant barrier to entry, it seems to me: the hassle and difficulty of licensing the various parties involved, end users included, with clearances for fissile materials. Because short of a nuclear-powered saw, I just don’t see Mafell being usurped.
as far as battery-powered worm saws: weight is a problem. Traditional A/C saws are already heavy, adding on batteries would be quite the challenge. Also, durability has to be considered. Perhaps as much as any other common power tool, worm-drive saws are pushed hard, often all day. The existing user base would expect proper ‘pro’ level ruggedness that many cordless tools, if we are being honest, struggle to deliver.
This particular issue is dear to me, as I am a die-hard worm drive enthusiast. Should mention that Bosch already markets a number of very powerful lithium batteries in EU. 36v/9aH is small potatoes for Bosch Europe. Wish they would offer more to the US markets. It seems that profit margins are the big issue, surprise surprise. The tool companies seem quite willing to launch countless smaller demand tools, drills/impact DRIVERS etc…but anything even mildly heavy duty becomes high $$$/Hilti markets very quickly. Example, the high torque 1/2″ impact wrenches can cost over $600, even though they are pretty similar to 1/4″ hex-insert impact drivers everyone loves these days, which run maybe $200. On that note, if an A/C worm saw is $200 roughly, what would the price increase for battery versions be? Not too many people willing to spend even the $200 for A/C, let alone the big dollars for a battery worm drive. Still, I would love to see one marketed.
Ryan
Why not just go crazy and come out with brushless, cordless table saw with a dual 18v battery bay? I know table saws tend to stay put on the job site but so do miter saws and they’re available in cordless now.
Jerry
I like the idea of the worm drive table saw but haven’t seen one yet so I don’t know how I wil like the execution, but I hope it was done right. If you don’t need the extra1/4 or 3/8 or whatever greater depth of cut that’s fine but I am all for the deepest cut for a given blade size. If I could get by with a 10 inch saw instead of having to go up to a 12, that would be a plus in my book.
As for the cordless worm drive saw, making it compatible with an existing battery platform instead of yet another unique one would be a smart idea in my mind.
Michael
Man did you get some wheels turning
Nathan
Very true – and on some other thoughts. (I have too many)
then were is the worm drive mitre saw? especially in today’s sliding compound double bevel 12 inch giants.
I’d also like to see some flavor of a calibration and markings on the depth adjustment wheel. I love the dewalt gear fence thing – works great. I liked the idea behind Ridgid’s gear drive bevel angle thing – I didn’t fell it was worth it for me but I liked some of the thought in to it.
But you know – the other piece that could be done. Since the depth tends to already be on a gear drive and screw – those are set rotation = inches. you could set the bottom and the top – calibrate the scale.
and give me some markings on the wheel – like on an end mill. Would be awesome.
Dave
Just wondering? My Bosch hammer drills and rotary hammers are made for Bosch, in Germany. So, I’m wondering if these saws are made in Germany. I know we’re talking about Skilsaws (as opposed to Skil saws) but since they are owned by Bosch …. just wondering?