- Power: 7.5A
- Blade Size: 3.5″, 4″
- Applications: Cutting, Light Surface Prep, Flush-Cutting
- Kit: US40-01
- Price: $130
It looks like Dremel took their Saw-Max cutting tool and kicked everything up a notch to create the new Ultra-Saw cutting tool.
The new Dremel Ultra-Saw, model US40-01, is boasted as a versatile 3-in-1 tool. So what exactly does it do? Dremel says it can do everything the Dremel Saw-Max can do, and more, and from what we can tell, the 3-in-1 functionality refers to the Ultra-Saw’s ability to cut metal, make flush-cuts in wood materials, and surface or grind different materials.
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The Ultra-Saw has a powerful 7.5A motor, a “durable drive train,” a metal foot, and metal guard. On the Saw-Max, the foot and guard are made of plastic. Ultra-Saw cutting wheels and other accessories are 3.5″ and 4″ in size.
From the looks of it, the Dremel Ultra-Saw is essentially a heavier duty and more functional upgrade to the Saw-Max. We were pretty impressed by the Saw-Max, but the Ultra-Max does appear to be much more durable, not to mention more useful.
The Ultra-Saw can cut through metal materials with ease, such as metal tubing and rebar.
It can remove material or smooth surfaces with the grinding/surfacing attachment.
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Pop in the offset wood blade and the Ultra-Saw can flush-cut wood materials.
There appears to be a vacuum adapter available, although it like it’s going to be a separate attachment that’s not included in the US40-01 kit. The side handle is included in the kit, and might come in handy for both grinding and cutting applications. A little extra tool control and stability is always a good thing.
The US40-01 kit comes with the saw itself, a 3.5″ metal-cutting wheel (US510-01), 4″ carbide wood cutting wheel (US500-01), 4″ wood flush cutting blade US600-01), a 4″ diamond abrasive surface prep wheel (US410-01), a side handle, and kit bag.
Price: $130 for the kit
ETA: Spring 2014
Available Accessories
- 4″ paint and rust surface prep wheel, US400, $15
- 4″ diamond surface prep wheel, US410, $20
- 4″ carbide wood-cutting wheel, US500, $15
- 3.5″ metal-cutting wheel, US510, $3
- 3.5″ masonry cutting wheel, US520, $3
- 3.5″ diamond tile-cutting blade, US540, $15
- 4″ wood flush-cutting wheel, US600, $20
- 6-piece cutting wheel set, US700, $40
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First Thoughts
The Ultra-Saw looks pretty good to us. It’s definitely an upgrade and improvement over Dremel’s decent and well-regarded Saw-Max, and it only costs $10 more.
Dremel boasts that the Ultra-Saw has a powerful 7.5A motor for tough applications and faster cutting, which suggests it performs appreciably better than the Saw-Max, in addition to having a durable metal shoe and guard, and added versatility. The Ultra-Saw’s larger cutting wheel diameters should provide performance benefits as well.
The Saw-Max could cut and flush-cut various materials, but there were no surface-prep accessories such as the paint removal and diamond abrasive wheels available for the Ultra-Saw.
Right now it looks like the Ultra-Saw could be a winner.
If you’re looking for a more wood-cutting-focused tool and don’t need the metal-cutting or surface-grinding features of the Dremel Ultra-Saw, the new Rockwell mini circular saw is a strong contender that’s compatible with a more standard blade size (4-1/2″).
Javier
I like the flush cutting ability perfect for undercutting door jambs for flooring although I’m not crazy about its price for such a small saw although if it was cordless I’d be all over it
Matthew Fant
Isn’t that amazing? As long as its cordless I’m drooling all over it too. Lol.
matt e
To be fair, it trades size for versatility. This doesn’t look like a tool destined to spend all day doing “bulk” work, like a circular saw being used to cut down lumber for a deck.
Instead, this appears to be a “save the day” tool that makes those odd cuts that larger tools can’t.
With regards to price, I personally wait until the CPO shops stock them, as Dremel always has excellent refurb prices.
That said, one thing that would see me paying full price for this bad boy is the ability to equip scaled down dado blades. For people like me without room for a dedicated table saw, that could be a good alternative for smaller projects with softer woods.
Toolfreak
Seems gimmicky to use a cutting saw as a grinder, but since most angle grinders are 4 1/2″ and larger these days, having the access of something smaller for occasional use seems like a plus.
I’d agree with the cordless comments – hoping Bosch will come out with something like this in their 12V Max line.
Old School
There appears to be insane frenzy for cordless machinery that defies intelligent decision making for the amateur handyman. They are a complete disaster for this segment of the marketplace. I wish I had a penny for every owner of these gimmick tools relenting that battery has to be charged, has to be relpaced, that the lower voltage batteries are no longer made. Yes, for the contractor with dedicated charging areas in his shop, truck etc using them on a daily basis they make sense, but not for occasional use. Stick with cords as I have you will also have drills,saws etc. that will last decades with complete full power at your disposal,
Zang
I picked up one of these for a whole house humidifier project. Installed an Aprilaire humidifier into the main duct of the HVAC system. It involved cutting 20 gauge sheet metal with a 14.5″ square hole and a piece of 16 ga with the same hole. I went through 4 or 5 of the 3.5″ cutting wheels to do the job. At $2 each, it’s expensive to operate. The Dewalt 4″ cutting wheels will fit inside the guard, the 5/8″ arbor of the Dewalt cutting wheels has to be bushed down to 7/16″ to fit the Ultra Saw. I haven’t tried the Dewalt cutting wheels yet, the adaptor bushings are on order.
The saw has lots of power. I tested the wood blade on a piece of 3/4″ maple plywood and it zipped right through it.
Dremel did a good job with this saw. Should include the dust port vac adaptor with it – haven’t been able to find one yet.
Much more power than cordelss stuff. Cuts nice and straight.
Donal Turrentine
Hi Zang, where did you order the bushings from?
Thanks!
Randy A.
Ya – Zang, where do you order the adapte bushings from? I actually still do not know the exact arbor size! You sure it’s 7/16? My tape said 3/8!
Armando Delgado
harbor freight sell a set of grinder metal bushings adapters, cost about 3 dollars, have been working for me to use the regular grinder disk on the ultra-saw, but im now, has you .. im trying to find or make a connector or a extension or the round bushing to do applications like ..use the regular disks but to do flush , cause the flush disk cost 20 dollar and the regular and better disk cost just 2 or 3 dollar., I will let you now ,, if I can achieve my project, ..
Armando Delgado
sorry wen I said the first time regular disk that cost 20 dollar I meant the disk from dremel and the regular disk that cost 2 or 3 dollars are from the standar grinder brands. saludos.
Art
In case anyone is still interested, I measured the mounting hole with a precision dowel, in a dimensional cal lab, and it is exactly 7/16″. On a side note, the Saw-Max blade is the same mounting hole, so Saw-Max blades work in the Ultra Max, but at a reduced cutting depth of approximately 11/32″. I only tested this because I own both.
Armando Delgado
The straight edge guide is part number 2610021330 and is $7.65
The dust port
is part number 2610012040 and is $5.00
thats I found the phone # to dremel is 1-800-437-3635
CKinVA
Thanks … been trying to find these accessories.
ron
Where can I get the vacuum attachment . Postage is 3 time the cost of the cost of the one on line.
Stuart
Have you tried contacting Dremel?
Rob
What is the cutting depth for the 3 1/2″ and 4″ Dremel ultra-saw wood blades?
Fred
Can the Dremel Ultra Saw cut a 2 x 4 board?
Skip
Yes
Slowburn
I bought one of these not too long ago. Yes it will cut a 2×4 but that’s not why I bought it. I will use my circular saw for that task. I just finished building a large shed and this saw has been terrific cutting siding cutouts and trim pieces. I have used it indoors to cut sections of sheet rock wall out and it excels in tight places. It is strong and well balanced to use.
I agree that they should have a dust vac fitting available as especially for the sheet rock it kicked up a lot of dust.
It seems to have a lot of flexibility that I have not made use of yet, but so far I think it was a great purchase. I considered a large number of other options (Rockwell versa cut etc, but I really think this was a fine choice, but I knew what I needed. This is NOT a full replacement for a circular saw but it does do a variety of smaller tasks very well.
Rob
This should have been an great tool, but it falls short in a few ways.
I bought the tool to cut out a few feet of 5/8″ plywood subfloor with the flush cut blade.
The first thing that went wrong is the blade insertion is not idiot proof. I somehow manged to miss-align the flush-cut blade, and when I tightened it, it bent. Lucky for me I was able to unbend it. I know, I’m an idiot, but I’ve used several different power tools and have changed blades a lot of times, never bent any of them. The blades are thin and easy to warp, so be careful!
The second thing that went wrong is that the saw blade is not really a saw blade, it’s more like an abrasive grinder than a toothed saw, and it can wear out very fast. After cutting a few feet of the 5/8″ ply, the blade wore out and started to smoke, it still cut at a reduced rate, but I managed to get the job done anyway.
It made lots of smoke and dust, so a dust vac fitting would have been really nice. When you cut with this tool, be sure to wear a good quality dust mask, it makes very fine dust that can go through a cheap mask.
In tight spots I found it more restricting than it should be. It would have been a lot better if the handle could be adjusted to get into tight places, that’s where a saw like this works best. It would also have been really good if the flush cut could work on either side because the handle gets in the way when you hit a corner, it leaves a few inches of uncut length. I had to finish cutting the corners with another tool.
Overall it’s a good tool when nothing else works for the job, and I’ll probably keep it, but it should have been a great tool – hard to recommend considering the price and lousy blades, but I have to recommend it when there’s nothing else that can do a flush cut or fit into a very tight spot
Rey
I wish I had read this before buying the handle thing totally ruined a project because it was in the way of my clamp guide and messed up my straight line
Frank D
The handle can be an issue with any tool, especially to work in tight spaces in repair and upgrade projects, that’s why different styles of saws exist in different sizes.
It takes some practice to get good results, and often it requires two tools with any tool and maybe even finishing by hand. Like how the base shoe of a power tool prevents one from getting to the corner … then use a small manual flush cut saw … or oscillating tool to finish the final inches. A rotary bit dremel was big news back in the day, but I never can get straight lines with it or and end up making a huge dust cloud for a poor finish. Instead I much prefer my two oscillating saws ( corded and cordless ), but even the cordless one is a bit too big or for very tight retrofit situations …
John Unterholzner
Fwiw I did the same thing. Installed the flush cut blade not quite correctly and when I tightened it into place I bent it quite badly. I was able to unbend and still use the blade.
Butch
Are their better replacement blades (that fit perfectly) than the Dremel blades that come with the saw?
Stuart
I have never tested Dremel’s Ultra-Saw style saws with aftermarket blades.
Butch Brochu
Thanks very much for your quick response.
The accompanying blades are expensive and wear out quickly. Great tool but blades lack durability, especially for the price…
Sort of like the shaving industry’s “buy the blades, but get the the razor free” gotcha plan.