craftsman spiral saw

has anyone used the craftsman spiral saw? is it any good? im thinking of buying one for making sub rings for fiberglassing, just want to make sure its good enuff to cut through 3/4 mdf

It is good and their are alot of attachment for it, but I personally use a rotozip same thing pretty much just different name. If you plan on cutting 3/4 mdf just buy extra blades they didn't last very long when I cut with the roto or spiral saw. You probably want the cicle cutter, this is great for small projects but when you want to build enclosures it is just to slow for me for any cicle over 8". hope that helps.

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The Clear Bra Guy
KCs premiere paint protection guru

i have the craftsman 1 that you are talking about and it is pretty sucky to say the least.  it have a lot of trouble with the 3/4" mdf, i switched to a router with a circle base i made from plexiglass and it works a hell of a lot better.  invest in a router.

-jake 

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If you can't be good, be good at it!

Go Roto. The grinder/cutoff kit is the best deal. It's not a substitute for a shop tool, but man can it come in handy.

Stormshadow

I have the craftsmen 3 in 1 all purpose cutter (I dont know if this is the specific one your talking about) but I do know that it can be used effectivly if when actually cutting the circle you leave about 1/16 of the bit below the MDF and rock the cutter slightly up and down creating a very suddle sawing action that reduces friction on any single point of the bit. This slices through the MDF like its butter but dont press too hard, if you do that your bits will break very often.

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"Shiny chrome when used in conjunction with bikini models is particularly effective in inducing brain deficit disorder"

02 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Monster System on its way.

don't even try a Dremel. what a peice.

dremel is a very important shop tool, but it DOES NOT replace a good old fashioned router.  You must use a router with a circle jig to properly make sub rings, there is no replacement....well other than a CNC machine.... wait, i dont have 500k.

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I feel u on that, I've given up on that craftsmen of mine, its kool for edging fiberglass and high speed sanding. I've been using a friends router and like defective says, there is no replacment for a good router. The craftsmen is just too unweildly and the bits last all of about 2 seconds, anyway, get a router and be done with it.

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"Shiny chrome when used in conjunction with bikini models is particularly effective in inducing brain deficit disorder"

02 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Monster System on its way.

  I never messed with the rotozip or the craftsman, but i haven't heard anything good about them for this kind of work. I use a DeWalt circle cutter and it works great. There are drawbacks to everything though. In example, you need to go slow with any spiral saw when you cut MDF. If you buy a router, you can make a jig to cut you rings, and you can also use it to do other projects as well..... My vote: Go buy a decent router. Don't go too cheap, you'll get what you pay for 

I second the router. Don't make life hard on yourself by trying to cut thick MDF with a rotary cutter. Get a plunge router and a circle jig. If you don't want to pony up for the Porter Cable models you can go Craftsman or even Harbor Freight (Chicago Electric). I recommend and use the Jasper Audio circle jig, M200. I prefer it to the sliding circle jigs. You can get i from Jasper, Parts Express or even Amazon. At Amazon do a search for "Jasper 200J Model 200 Circle Jig". $32.99 with free shipping. Mine stays permanently attached to a cheap Chicago Electric plunge router I got on sale for $40.

Rotary cutters are great and I recommend having one but for the big jobs you'll want a router.

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Nice. Let's try that again:

I second the router. Don't make life hard on yourself by trying to cut thick MDF with a rotary cutter. Get a plunge router and a circle jig. If you don't want to pony up for the Porter Cable models you can go Craftsman or even Harbor Freight (Chicago Electric). I recommend and use the Jasper Audio circle jig, M200. I prefer it to the sliding circle jigs. You can get it from Jasper, Parts Express or even Amazon. At Amazon do a search for "Jasper 200J Model 200 Circle Jig". $32.99 with free shipping. Mine stays permanently attached to a cheap Chicago Electric plunge router I got on sale for $40.

Rotary cutters are great and I recommend having one but for the big jobs you'll want a router.

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