Bosch will soon be launching a new 18V cordless chop saw, model GCD18V-14.
Officially described as a dry cutoff saw, this will be a 14″ metal-cutting saw with toothed blade (as opposed to abrasive).
The company recently showed it off cutting metal tubing and angle iron at the World of Concrete expo.
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Bosch was able to provide some quick specs about its dimensions, with cutting performance details to come.
- 21.3″ length
- 11.4″ width
- 17″ height
- Weighs 44 lbs
Pricing details have not yet been announced.
What we do know is that Bosch is aiming for a June 2025 ETA.
Discussion
Milwaukee has an M18 Fuel cordless chop saw, and Makita has an 18V X2 model. Both of those models feature an abrasive blade.
The new Bosch is different, featuring a toothed blade similar to some of the 14″ multi-cutting saws currently on the market.
Abrasive chop saws are popular for cutting steel, and multi-cutter saws tend to be capable of cutting a wider range of materials types.
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I thought maybe Fein – a Bosch AmpShare partner – would have launched a cordless chop saw sooner, given that they focus on metal saw such as with their corded Slugger model.
The saw used for demos is shown above pictured with a Bosch Core18V 12Ah battery. Given the blade size and typical applications for a 14″ chop saw, I would expect Bosch to make such a recommendation for the tool to deliver its top performance. It might even have been designed to leverage Bosch’s next-generation tabless cell Li-ion batteries, which are not yet available in the USA.
This is an exciting development and definitely great to see. I’ll post an update once more details are available.
Competition Rundown
While not direct competitors, here are a couple of corded and cordless saws to help us make rough pricing expectations.
- Dewalt 14″ Multi-Cutting Saw
- $649 at Acme Tools
- Fein 14″ Slugger Metal Chop Saw
- $500 at Acme Tools
- Milwaukee M18 Fuel Cordless Chop Saw
- Tool-only for $449 at Acme Tools
- Kit for $679 at Acme Tools
The Dewalt and Fein models are corded AC-powered multi-material saws, while the Milwaukee cordless model has an abrasive wheel.
Metal-cutting chop saws are simpler in construction compared to miter saws, but pro-grade models can still be pricey. There are too few cordless examples to guess the pricing or performance of Bosch’s upcoming model with confidence.
Luis
Welcome addition to their growing 18V lineup.
This chopsaw looks like serious business, but pricing and availability with brick & mortar retailers will be key for success.
Hopefully we can also see comparisons soon to appreciate the advantages and disadvantages vs an abrasive chop saw
MM
I’ve had the Dewalt Multi-Cutter for 20 years. It makes a lot fewer sparks compared to an abrasive saw and cuts a lot faster in thick material. Cut quality is much better than an abrasive saw too. There’s been a massive improvement in blades since that style of saw first came out. These days I’m using Diablo blades, they are far superior to the original Dewalt blades from back in the day.
Abrasive saws do have one advantage though: they will cut hardened steel.
Speaking of metal-cutting chop saws, I am impressed by the Evolution S355MCS. It works like a miter saw, allowing you to clamp the work on both sides of the cut. and the blade swivels to arbitrary angles. That addresses the major weakness of the multi-cutter and similar “chop” saws–the vise–and allows you to set angles much more easily. The Multi-Cutter is powerful but it takes a lot of fiddly patience if you want precision out of it as the vise does not stay put. It has detents for 90 and 45 degees but they are sloppy, +/- a few degrees either way, and due to the way the vise works it seriously loses clamping effectiveness the farther away from 90 degrees you set it.
Anyway, the Bosch seems pretty neat and it’s good to see more on the market as there aren’t many cordless metal-cutting chop saws out there.
S
I’m curious why the Evolution saw brands products were left out. Was the Fein used for a rough idea of pricing on the high end of the corded toothed variation?
Personally, I bought an Evolution s355mcs earlier this year for my metal working hobby. It’s the most expensive of the lot averaging $850, but I felt it was important to get a saw that had mitering capability.
Most importantly, the saw itself moves, but the mounting surface and roller guides can all be left in one spot. Contrasted to the other common metal saws, most are similar to the bosch, including Evolutions s14cps/s15cps. The major detriment for me is the saw and it’s base would need to be rotated to perform any angled cut. And any angle cut needs to be manually measured and set in place, leaving a even more room for error on mitered corners of common angles.
I can see a definite advantage to a cordless tool like this for on-site metal working needs with limited access to power, but they really only tend to shine when straight cuts are all that’s needed in materials.
Stuart
I bought a small Evolution saw a while ago. It’s not bad, but I don’t consider Evolution to be in the same league as Dewalt, Fein, or Bosch.
MM
S beat me to the punch about the S355MCS. You might look back into Evolution, my local welding supply shop sells a lot of their larger metal-cutting saws (not just the MCS) and blades.
xrh07
they still made serious attempts to actually innovate with their more expensive mitering dry cut 14″ saw and should be mentioned for it.
Dewalt, Fein and Bosch have largely stuck with antiquated and bordering on sad table designs we’ve seen on abrasive and dry saws for 30-40 years.
Outside of a couple brands making the miter gauge not require a cheesy on-board stamped wrench to adjust your miter, they’ve done basically nothing other than change the motor/gearing to drive a 14″ wheel slower than your typical abrasive. It’s kind of sad how stagnant and unimaginative this particular tool category has been for so long.
fred
We had an Evolution 9-inch X230 (230mm) saw and a look-alike Morse – about 20 years ago. They were our go-to tools for cutting corrugated metal decking. Less debris and sparks raining down on those below the work area were big plusses. But – as I recall – we thought the build quality of the saw got the job done but was a bit-plasticky and needed more TLC than many other tools. Perhaps they have stepped up their game?
Dave
I like it. Hate abrasive cutoff saws. They throw sparks, have terrible cut quality and overheat the material if you aren’t very careful. I’ve always just used a regular chop saw with a metal blade.
chip hershberger
They definitely did a much better job then Milwaukee/Makita ,abrasive is incredibly slow.
I just finished a job making 5000+ cuts on an industrial chainlink using a dedicated cordless circular saw.
I just sold my still in package m18 saw,bought it for the batteries 3 yrs ago.
Typically speaking, using this type saw would done in a shop with a cord….however there are many specialty contractors who could have a use for them.
Ken
FWIW, I see a new *corded* Bosch abrasive saw is set to be released this month. Model number is BOSCH GCO15-14. Search Amazon product ID: B0DFJTF8ZM.
Julian Tracy
Currently, I use Makita 18v and Dewalt 20V batteries and tools (with a bunch of asst MW M12 tools….) , but the last few years, have been using Milwaukee nail guns and LED lights with both my Mak and DW batteries via cheap adapters. I’ve started to buy into the Bosch 18v system to use with adapters, have both the 8 1/4” sliding miter saw and just picked up their cordless 8 1/4” (1/2”?) tablesaw.
Super impressed with both of these tools, they seem to run just fine with my Mak or DW 5.0 batteries, even if I’m not getting the full power or runtime by using the actual BitTurbo Bosch batteries. The tablesaw will rip 3/4” maple effortlessly and I’ve even ripped some short lengths of 2” thick exotic hardwoods with it. In in both cases, the stock blades yield excellent quality and my experience with buying Bosch tools over the last 25 years has proven to me that Bosch publishes the very best tool manuals compared to any other tool manufacturer with clear detailed and concise instructions for every function and every adjustment.
MfSergio
The Dewalt and Fein models are cordless multi-material saws.
Do you mean corded ?
Stuart
Whoops – thank you! That tends to happen more often than I’d like – I think “corded” but my hands type out “cordless.”
KokoTheTalkingApe
I don’t know this category of tools at all. What’s the difference between a saw that takes toothed blades and one that takes abrasive blades? Couldn’t you just mount a toothed blade in any metal chop saw?
MM
Abrasive saw runs at a higher speed than a toothed blade.
Stuart
From what I’ve see, abrasive wheel saws are less expensive and run faster, while multi-material chop saws are more expensive and run slower.
For example, the Dewalt and Fein toothed-blade saws run at 1300 RPM, while Milwaukee cordless and Dewalt corded abrasive wheel saws run at 4000 RPM.
You can’t just swap blades back and forth.
Abrasive blade chop saws tend to be used on steel. Toothed blade saws can typically be used on other materials, such as aluminum, although you might need application or material-specific blades. When used on steel of recommended thickness and shape, such saws typically cut without the sparks associated with abrasive wheels.
MM
At the other extreme, opposite the cheap, loud, and spark-spewing abrasive saw, you have the “cold saw”. These tend to come in two versions–those for cutting ferrous metals and those for nonferrous. The ferrous cutting type runs at very slow speed, maybe 20-50 RPM. Nonferrous type might be 1500-3000. These are extremely strongly constructed with vises that grab the workpiece on both sides of the cut. The reason why the Evolution MCS is so interesting is because it’s basically a step between the “multi cutter” type saws and a proper cold saw, at a tiny fraction of the price of a cold saw.
KokoTheTalkingApe
Thank you gentlemen!