Bosch cordless jigsaw GST18V-60BCN

[Michael Kellough]

A preliminary look.

BOSCH GST18V-60BCN cordless jigsaw.

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I was thinking about buying a cordless jigsaw and the best one (Mafell PS 2-18) would take “3-6 months) to get here.
The Bosch was delivered in less than 12 hours.

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Very similar in appearance but the Bosch is forever fixed at 90 degrees. The Mafell has an optional tilt base that can ride against a guide rail or even engage with the top of the Mafell rail. The jigsaw can also ride the rail by itself. A ski that clips onto the base/shoe keeps the shoe parallel to the work surface and is included in the T-Lok Systainer.

In addition to the wait time the Mafell costs $919 compared to the Bosch at $209.

I’ve been having very little luck posting photos from my iPhone lately I’ll just describe another difference between the tools. The reciprocating shaft on the Mafell is about twice the diameter of the Bosch shaft. This (and whatever clever shaft guidance is hidden inside) seems to allow Mafell to avoid the need for blade guidance.

At full extension the Bosch shaft has some undesirable slack so it does require blade guidance, which is typically a mixed bag and it is in this case too. A tapered yoke extends from back in the base to support the blade. A socket head cap screw (there is no place provided to store the included 3mm hex key) accessible from the side of the base can be used to open or close the yoke for best engagement of the blade. Unfortunately in this sample the yoke is offset to one side so when one fork of the yoke touched the blade the other side was still at least a mm away. There is no easily accessible way to adjust the gross position of the yoke.

To get to the yoke fixing screw you have to remove the plastic overshoe from the base (requires removing two screws with a not included #20 Torx driver). Then a button head cap screw that secures the yoke is visible. It requires a #30 Torx driver that is also not included. The hole in the yoke that the screw goes through is oversized so two axis of movement need to be corrected while tightening the screw. Predictably, when the screw binds against the seat in the yoke (there is no washer) it moves the yoke clockwise. There should be another screw or two to position the yoke before the #30 Torx clamps it down.

As it turned out the little hex key was almost thick enough to act as a temporary shim to keep the yoke from moving too much while the clamp screw was tightened.  The adjustment is not perfect but it’s better than I was ever able to get with the blade guides on my Festool Trion jigsaw. A hole could be drilled thru the plastic overshoe to get to the #30 Torx but there needs to be a way to shim the yoke from the front of the shoe. Maybe a long thin metal wedge.

A few specs from Bosch. The blade stroke is 1” and the maximum thickness to wood 6-1/8”. Can cut 3/8” steel. It has an led to illuminate the cut area but I’m not sure it’s in the best location. Has a switch to direct air to keep the cut line clear. Hope it works better than in past Bosch jigsaws where I couldn’t tell if it was engaged or not. It does come with a swiveling dust port that is very easy to add to the tool. Should greatly reduce the negative influence of a vac hose on the ability to follow a cut line. The jigsaw is well balanced with a 4 amp battery attached. It would get a little light up front with a heavier battery. It has very easy to operate power switches on both sides so it’s probably the easiest to use dual handed tool I have seen.

I know it’s not fair to compare the Bosch (which comes in a card box with some loose bits) to the Mafell which cost more than four times as much and comes in very well kitted T-Lok Systainer. Hopefully the results from making sawdust will be good. I’ll follow up when that is done.

Cuts close enough to 90 degrees.

Follow up on the blade guide adjustment. I must have left a little bit too much friction so that when the saw was running the blade got hot enough to expand a little which increased the friction to the point where the blade turned blue where it rubbed on the guide. Not unlike what often happens on my Trion.

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[AndrewC]

So, how do you like this jigsaw after some time with it? I'm also interested in getting one as a cheaper alternative to mafell's.

 

[Frnk]

The Bosch EXST18V-155S/B would be a slightly improved version of this saw. Bosch is a tad bit more explicit with its internal precision rating this time, but since the same rating isn’t available for the predecessor, no one knows. (I briefly checked Bosch’s website, so I might have missed something).

Since the GST type is being replaced by the new EXST model, the GST might be a good deal.

 

[Michael Kellough]

In the states, no info on that new Bosch is available.

I think I only used the GST once since then, when my cordless Mafell ran out of juice cutting some very tough glue rich Baltic birch. Fortunately the remaining cuts were for an inconsequential cutout. But since I had a guide rail on hand I tried to run the GST along it and it couldn’t go a foot without veering off.

But my corded Mafell jigsaw can’t go much further with an ordinary (top quality) blade. On my sample the Mafell can only run on a guide rail when using the double wide blade, which can’t be used on any other jigsaw because of the unique addition to the T-shank.

I’m keeping the GST in (and because it fits with) in a T-lock Sys 3 along with a compact Bosch drill/driver and the Bosch cordless trim router, accessories, and a few 4 amp batteries.

The GST is okay as long as you’re willing to drive it, as is true of all jigsaws. It’s main benefit is how compact it is for it’s capacity to cut thick stock.

 

[Frnk]

In the states, no info on that new Bosch is available.

It’s brand new. Rollout in Bosch’s core markets started this month.

The framing nailers Bosch showed in Las Vegas are from the Expert series and will be available in the US. So some Expert products will be available there to some extend.

 

[AndrewC]

In the states, no info on that new Bosch is available.

I think I only used the GST once since then, when my cordless Mafell ran out of juice cutting some very tough glue rich Baltic birch. Fortunately the remaining cuts were for an inconsequential cutout. But since I had a guide rail on hand I tried to run the GST along it and it couldn’t go a foot without veering off.

But my corded Mafell jigsaw can’t go much further with an ordinary (top quality) blade. On my sample the Mafell can only run on a guide rail when using the double wide blade, which can’t be used on any other jigsaw because of the unique addition to the T-shank.

I’m keeping the GST in (and because it fits with) in a T-lock Sys 3 along with a compact Bosch drill/driver and the Bosch cordless trim router, accessories, and a few 4 amp batteries.

The GST is okay as long as you’re willing to drive it, as is true of all jigsaws. It’s main benefit is how compact it is for it’s capacity to cut thick stock.

Regarding the underlined-

If you have access to a 3d printer you could pretty easily create a shoe with the slot needed to run along a guide rail, similar to what the mafell p1cc comes with. I know it's pretty niche but I do happen to have a 3d printer and some files I could easily adapt to make it happen, so that's my plan if I decide to buy the bosch.

I'm not sure I understand the thing about not being able to run the jigsaw on a guide rail with a regular t shank blade, could you explain?

Thanks!

I'm in Canada so no expert version for me either. Folks on Reddit seem to think it's a rebadge with not much different.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Hi Andrew, the problem is that the blade is almost never (not once in the half dozen jigsaws I’ve owned) parallel to the shoe/base. Imagine if the blade on a track saw was not parallel to the slot that rides the ridge in the track. At least in the tracksaw (Festool saws anyway) you can adjust the shoe/base so that the blade follows the kerf evenly.

When a jigsaw blade is a little off parallel (to you know what) it gets pushed to one side (and usually starts to bend as well) so you have to bias the saw/shoe/base in order to keep the blade from being stressed by the kerf. You do this automatically in order to follow the line and don’t notice it unless you are following a straight line and have a rule set parallel to the line. If you can stop the saw without changing the bias and measure the difference between the front of the shoe/base and the back to the rule then you have a starting point for making a corrective overshoe. This is where your suggestion of 3D printing could offer a way to adjust the edge of the shoe/base to the blade, and further add a feature that fits the ridge in a track. This might not work for all blades since the T-shanks are not ground but it just might be good enough for most blades, especially those that are tapered front to back.

Mafell's CUnex W1 blade is basically two blades sandwiched together and reground on the back but also the T-shank of one of the blades is cut down (prior to assembling presumably) so that it fits into a vertical slot the the saw’s shank/collet. It won’t fit into any other saw.