Makita 5007mgk circular saw

[wooly1]

First post for me and glad I've found this forum.

Getting a bit interested in buying a Makita 5007MGK saw but have a question if someone can help me.
I notice that the cast base plate is not a complete rectangle but has a tapered off section near the depth adjust lever.
The taper is maybe 40 degrees or so, over a length of about 50mm.
What is the purpose of this tapered section and more importantly does it affect the stability of the saw when guiding against a straight edge.
Actually I have also observed this on other saws including the Makita 5007mk and the Milwaukee SC60
Why do they make them this way?

Apart from that, is it a good saw??

[Ratbag]

First post for me and glad I've found this forum.

Getting a bit interested in buying a Makita 5007MGK saw but have a question if someone can help me.
I notice that the cast base plate is not a complete rectangle but has a tapered off section near the depth adjust lever.
The taper is maybe 40 degrees or so, over a length of about 50mm.
What is the purpose of this tapered section and more importantly does it affect the stability of the saw when guiding against a straight edge.
Actually I have also observed this on other saws including the Makita 5007mk and the Milwaukee SC60
Why do they make them this way?

Apart from that, is it a good saw??

Welcome to the Forum Wooly. As it's your first time I promise I'll be gentle!

I can offer no explanation for this trailing edge taper. Maybe to reduce soleplate friction against a straight edge, or reduce jamming? The fact that all 3 saws have it is probably significant, but why I haven't the foggiest.

As far as being a "good saw" I'd answer with another question: what's your intended use? 7 1/4" is a good allround size for general construction work, provided it still cuts 50mm @ 45 degree bevels. Makita are the site saw used by the majority of construction site tradies in Australia: the standard tool against which all others are judged.

The saw has plenty of power for its size, which will make it ideal for use in hardwoods. Some of its features are excellent: magnesium construction makes for strength & light weight, however it can also be a bit brittle. Alloy bases have been known to break in a fall, whereas a steel base would be more likely to bend. Most construction saws will suffer regular falls from the top plate of a new build. Having a sawdust blower is always a good thing. As for the LEDs.... well I'm not so sure. Great if you saw in the dark I suppose! They MIGHT afford better vision of a cutline on grey days I suppose, but they'll soon accumulate a covering of dust & wood resins, rendering them useless I suspect. More of a gimmick I suspect. I'm personally not a huge fan of plastic knobs & levers on any tool. Metal is just more resilient in my opinion.

All in all an excellent site saw for construction, but for accuracy and usefulness in off-site or workshop conditions, for sheet goods and other general purposes then a track saw might be more useful.

[wooly1]

Thanks for your comments Ratbag, and yes, I do appreciate a gentle touch .

I'm just a after a good saw for the hobbyist, I'm certainly not a builder by any means.
The 5007mgk seems to tick all the right boxes for what I'm looking for in a saw, it's just that dawky tapering of the rear edge that was putting off.
I doubt that I would ever drop the thing from a great height sufficient to break the base plate if alloy has a tendency to brittleness.
I still have and use Makita stuff that I bought in the 70/80's, but being made in China now, I bet they won't last like that.

Thinking further about what I would use a new saw for tonight, I'm starting to now think in terms of the Makita 5470nbsp, only weighs 3kg or so, but would 1050 watts be considered a bit underpowered to cut hardwood with ?
Most work I do usually involves treated pine.

Any heavy cutting of sleepers and the like I usually do in my Triton, but it's a bit of a pain having to move the car in order to get a bit of working space in the garage. Hence the thinking of getting another circular saw in addition to the old ELU saw in the Triton.

[Kuffy]

I have the 5007nk, im pretty sure its the same as the mgk but the nk doesnt have the electronic brake (dust screws this up often anyways). With a thin kerf blade, it cuts through anything like butter. I did all my cuts in 200x50 cca treated pine sleepers in the garden with it. Ripping and crosscut and 45degree cuts. As far as the taper on baseplate, no idea why they do it, I just noticed it when I read this thread

[Ratbag]

It all becomes clearer now.

If you already have a big saw (Elu MH85??) maybe you don't really NEED a smaller one so much. Small & light is good, but not essential I'd suggest. There's other ways to skin a fish.

How about a track saw to take your hobby activities to the next level? Of those currently on the Australian market, it's probably the Festool 55mm saw (TS55R) that's the current leader in terms of quality, ability & unfortunately also price: http://www.festool.com.au/ts-55r-160...t-circular-saw

There's also a 75mm version for a bit more money too:
http://www.festool.com.au/ts-75-210m...t-circular-saw

There's even a new integrated track/crosscut/circular saw family coming from them that promises even more versatility. https://www.festool.de/Produkte/Page...55-EB-Li-Basic

This shows some details of the battery-powered smallest member of the family. A corded version, while only offering some 55mm DOC should perform well with hardwoods. There's apparently also an 85mm DOC version coming too, but it seems you have this size already covered with your Triton-mounted Elu. My own Elu spent many years in a Triton workcentre too, and now resides in an extremely crude & old fashioned Elu portable aluminium table.

Metabo also make a combination Circular/Plunge track saw.
http://www.metabo.com.au/Product-cat...cece2ec.0.html

I have one myself, and while it's extremely lightweight (magnesium) & pretty versatile, it's just not in the same league as Festool. At a "mere" 1200w it can sometimes be a bit gutless in hardwood too. Also, lacking a riving knife makes it less appealing for safely ripping natural timber boards.

Sorry to muddy the waters for you, but these newer iterations of tracksaws can do so much more than a standard saw these days. More importantly, the Copper Chromium Arsenic chemicals used in treated pine products are pretty toxic if ingested or inhaled. Any sawdust that remains uncollected will stay toxic for years. Some modern saw designs in general, and Festool in particular, offer excellent dust extraction solutions for circular saws that significantly reduce operator exposure to toxic dust.

Some of these suggestions are getting pretty expensive I know, but I guess it's just a case of "the more you pay the more you get".

[wooly1]

If you already have a big saw (Elu MH85??) maybe you don't really NEED a smaller one so much. Small & light is good,

Sorry to muddy the waters for you, but these newer iterations of tracksaws can do so much more than a standard saw these days.

Some of these suggestions are getting pretty expensive I know, but I guess it's just a case of "the more you pay the more you get".

Thanks for all your suggestions Ratbag - very comprehensive answers there !

Yes indeed, it's an old ELU MH85 in the Triton, but I find it a bit heavy and cumbersome to take out for use on small jobs outside the workshop.
Hence the requirement for a smaller and lighter saw for the odd bit of trimming work on whatever I'm working on outside.

I fairly slobbered over some of that Festool stuff, but really can't justify the either the expense or sofistication for the type of small jobs that I take on.
30 years when I was younger with more money than sense I would have been all over that stuff .
The videos on some of those Festool links are really interesting however.

[wooly1]

I have the 5007nk, im pretty sure its the same as the mgk
.....
As far as the taper on baseplate, no idea why they do it, I just noticed it when I read this thread

That's an interesting comment as I also looked the 5007mk and again wondered about the tapered section on the baseplate.
Do you find that the saw is easy to guide with the rear edge against a straight edge or does it tend to wander off due the tapered section making the guiding area shorter ??

[Kuffy]

That's an interesting comment as I also looked the 5007mk and again wondered about the tapered section on the baseplate.
Do you find that the saw is easy to guide with the rear edge against a straight edge or does it tend to wander off due the tapered section making the guiding area shorter ??

I have never had any trouble using that tapered edge on a guide. i guess once the blade is fully inside the timber, it kinda guides itself (the saw kerf prevents you from turning the saw 90 degrees for example). i dont use the circ saw much, usually just for work where perfect accuracy is nice but not necessary, +/- a football field and im a happy camper

[Ratbag]

Maybe it's a safety consideration: without a riving knife (splitter?) behind the blade, there might be an issue with the blade pinching or jamming in ripcuts through ropey timber.

Would that taper provide some relief for the blade?

[DaveTTC]

I have been using saws extensively for al.ost 30 years. I have used alsorts of hand helds and found personally Makita to be the most iser friendly. I have on occasion bought a cheap saw because I've been away and soneone wanted a job done. Mostly i have later given these saws away as i dont have a boat thus an anchor isnof little use to me lol.

Now i use an 18v makita for 99% of my circular saw use. Yes I use it for ripping and cross cut. I now have 2 battery saws. One for a good blade and one for rough.

As for the tappered edge against a straight edge. I have only ever worried about jeeping the leading edge of the base against the straight edge as the blade generally tracks fine in my experience.

Hope that helps and welcome to the forum

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

[wooly1]

OK, thanks for the comments everyone.
Looks like there's a new Makita in my life soon .