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I was very excited to spot this at the Mafell booth at Holz-Handwerk:
Enter a caption (optional)First off, for our U.S. readers not familiar with Mafell, they're a high-end German power tool company--and if I understood the translation correctly, they not only make tools, but they make their own tooling to make the tools. On top of that about 85% of their finished product is all made in-house, with just 15% content coming from suppliers. "MAFELL quality stems not from large-scale production," the company says, "but from exemplary process-overarching, high-tech manufacturing in small series in [Germany]."
Now on to the product. This is their Mobiles Plattensäge-System (Mobile Panel Saw System) a/k/a the PSS 3100 SE, and it's designed to break down large panels without any human hands to guide it. The operator sets it on the track, hits the button and it's off to the races:
Are you kidding me?
The PSS 3100 SE can do rip cuts of up to 3.1 meters (10 feet) in length, and the absurd maximum cutting depth of 45mm (1.77") means you can go through two 3/4" plywood sheets at once.
Enter a caption (optional)The saw's cutting depth, blade RPMs and feed speed can of course all be adjusted. Throw a Mafell diamond saw blade on there and you can cut through cement fiber panels. Unlike a traditional panel saw, it can easily be transported to the job site.
Enter a caption (optional)But one thing it should really come with, that it doesn't, is a pre-programmed voice recording that should be played back during unboxing. You'd bring your shop assistant over to the saw, press a button, and the saw would tell him that he's fired.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Video of Mafell's Self-Propelled, Hands-Free Circular Saw
I don't know if this saves time, but I sure notice one cool thing: the inside-the-track vaccum system! No hose that gets into the way.... Now that's time and nerve saving!
That's awesome! I was so fixated on the saw I didn't even catch that.
I'm a little bit curious on where the timesaving is here. Perhaps not with wood but slow cutting cement-fiber I can imagine it'd be worth it. Also, seven 3/4" sheets is a bit much: that's 133mm.
Good catch, fixed. As for the time-saving, I don't think that's the goal; I think it's more to do with efficiency. Imagine needing to break down a pile of large panels that have been delivered to the site. Let's say you need to rip 4'x8' (or heavens, x10') sheets at some width where you cannot easily reach across the sheet to pull the trigger on the saw and walk it all the way down. Sometimes in my own tiny shop, for instance, the specifics of the cut mean I do not have the space to stand and use my right hand on the track saw and I must flip everything around to make the cut. If I didn't have to physically guide it, and was doing this for a good length of time, the Mafell would make good sense.