Toolpig said:
Well, I had to send the new Bosch 1591 jigsaw back. Argh!!!!!!
It was running very hot, plus the "soft start" and "orbital switch" features weren't working. My guess is that the internal electronics are toast.
Getting a replacement, but I now have my doubts.
It seems that you and I are the only people in the world that have had problems with the Bosch! Everyone raves about this jigsaw, but I had problems with mine (a D-grip version, equivalent to the 1590EVSK) and sent it back too.
For photographs to illustrate problems 1 to 3, see
here.
Problem 1. Thicker genuine Bosch blades (eg the 1.7mm thick T144DP, supplied with he saw) didn't fit into the groove in the support roller. This meant that the "Precision Control System" (PCS) guides on either side of the blade did not give sideways support to the blade when pendulum mode was off, as the blade could not move back far enough to fit between the guides. Since neither the support roller nor the PCS guides properly supported the blade, there was very little lateral support at all.
Problem 2. Because the blade wanted to seat itself in the roller, but couldn't, after less than a minute of running, the support roller has started to wear a groove in the back edges of the blade.
Problem 3. This happened when the saw was put into any of the three pendulum modes with the 1.7mm thick blade and the PCS guides were engaged. The blade started to move back, but was obstructed from doing so by the PCS guides which had clamped shut behind it (see Problem No 1). However the blade continued to push back until it sprung the guides apart, and the blade then entered the gap. When the pendulum action moved the blade forward again, the guides clamped together, only to be forced apart again on the next cycle. The PCS guides ended up being continually forced back and then apart, and this repeated movement, at up to 2,800 times a minute, would have damaged the mechanism very quickly, as the guides are designed to remain stationary.
Problem 4. In the case of thinner blades, which did fit into the roller, the PCS guides clamped onto the side of the blade but pushed it to one side, resulting in a 1mm movement at the tip of the blade. The guides did not seem to be centred on the blade.
Problem 5. The soft-start feature was almost undetectable, and the saw jerked due to torque reaction every time I started it.
Problem 6. Whilst smooth and quiet at speeds 1 and 2, at speeds 3 to 6 the saw got rattly and I started to worry that there was something wrong inside. Vibration was also increased, and overall I was disappointed by the smoothness, vibration and noise. At speeds above 3, it felts and soundeds rougher than the 10 year old jigsaw I had previously. Oddly, the rattles and vibration were more severe when the pendulum action was off, which is the opposite of what I'd expect. I noticed all this before fitting any blades at all.
Problem 7. On two occasions, the T144DP blade refused to eject, and only did so when I gently started the saw.
Problem 8. On several occasions, the blade release mechanism got stuck in the open position, and pressure had to be applied to close it, rather than it springing shut on its own accord.
All in all, I was majorly disappointed in this much-heralded saw, which was the UK D-grip version of your 1591EVSK, called the GST135.
I replaced it with a DeWalt DW331K which works brilliantly and is one of my favourite tools:
The only reason I didn't recommend that you might like to get the DW333K barrel-grip version...
...is that it doesn't seem to be available in the USA. My DeWalt is super-smooth, with no torque reaction, practically zero vibration at speeds 1-3 and minimal vibration at speed 6, and it purrs along rather than rattles. I would have liked an LED like the Makita, since I sometimes use the jigsaw work in dingy conditions, but I'd happily get another DeWalt one and would recommend it to anyone.
Forrest
