Milwaukee has added a new M12 Fuel 3″ compact cut-off tool (2522) to their ever-expanding lineup of M12 compact cordless power tools.
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It’s said to be ideal for cutting:
- Light to medium gauge metals
- Metal conduit
- Copper
- Threaded rod
- Tile (ceramic and porcelain)
- Drywall
- Fiber cement
- PVC and other plastics
- Other non-metallic building materials
Milwaukee also says that it’s optimized for one-handed use.
It’s also the only cordless cut-off tool with reversible blade rotation.
The new Milwaukee M12 Fuel brushless cut-off tool features a 20,000 RPM motor, 3″ blade size, 0.64″ cutting depth, and it comes with a dust accessory shoe, for cleaner work.
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First-Look Video
Sorry for my amateurish camera work – I’ll practice! The video answers some questions you might have about the new cut-off tool. For example, why a reversible blade? So that you can push or pull the saw, depending on how you want to control the cut.
Price: $129 for the bare tool (2522-20), $199 for the kit (2522-21XC)
The kit comes with a 4.0Ah battery pack, charger, and contractor bag.
Notable Features and Specs
- Compatible with 3″ wheels with 3/8″ arbor
- Adapter included for use with Dremel Saw-Max accessories
- Tool-free guard adjustment
- 20,000 RPM
- 0.64″ cutting depth
- 8.9″ long x 4.7″ wide x 3.5″ height
- Weighs 2.4 lbs with 4.0Ah XC battery
Included Blades
- Metal cut-off wheel (49-94-3000)
- Carbide abrasive cutting wheel (49-94-3005)
- Diamond tile cutting wheel (49-94-3010)
Replacement blades are $10.50 – $10.99 for the abrasive or diamond cutting wheels, 3 for $15 for metal cut-off wheels..
Buy Now(via Tool Nut)
Buy Now(Kit via Acme Tool)
Buy Now(Bare Tool via Acme Tool)
ETA: September 2018
First Thoughts
We’ll have some more coverage up soon, but from what I saw at NPS18, it’s safe to say that this looked to be a very capable and versatile tool.
No, it doesn’t cut wood, but it looks to be able to cut nearly everything else.
The new cut-off tool is fairly compact, and it’s hard to imagine what Milwaukee could have done to make it better.
Interestingly, when used to cut tile, it can be used wet or dry.
At Milwaukee’s new tool media event, the cut-off tool was shown off being used to cut larger pipe, with the pipe rotated against the blade.
satch
I think this will be very popular with plumbers, electricians, and mechanical(HVAC) guys in commercial and industrial installation and maintenance.
From cutting all-thread to old rusty nuts and bolts and pipe hangers this small tool can fit in those ridiculously tight spaces that always seem to appear out of nowhere around equipment in huge mechanical rooms. It is the nature of the way mechanical equipment is installed. Between heat exchangers, change-over valves(switching between cool and heat in a water loop environmental system) backflow preventers, etc it seems as if dozens of things are always right on top of each other.
And when they leak(and they always leak somewhere over time) you have to get in there fast and get that stuff repaired. Being able to quickly cut out whhat you need to and get the replacement installed, which is never identical, is critical. Trust me on this. When you have a ten story office or dormitory and the residents cannot take showers or keep the AC on the complaints become loud and clearin a hurry. A tool like this is a superb piece of kit for such tasks. I’ll wager they sellma load of these.
Steve
Seems handy in ways I can’t realize just yet…as Satch mentions it seems great for cramped spaces or where/when you don’t want to pull out the chop saw. I guess this could be more versatile than the hackzall which I’ve been thinking about getting…you can do tile with this too which might be useful for small repairs…and the depth of cut is probably more easily controlled, for situations where you don’t want to damage wiring/plumbing behind drywall. Might be good for automotive stuff too, if it has the power.
Jonathan
20K rpms seems insane from a 12V tool.
That said in some ways it might give a cleaner cut than the hackzall for pipes – It would nice to see a adjustable guide rod (about pencil thick) for cutting pipe rod – to help control kickback or for leverage.
While it would be far messier than OMT for cutting drywall holes for outlets, the vac attachment might mitigate the dust, but a the hose attachment looks like it could be in the way with some work use.
Framer joe
Forward and reverse is a nice feature other then that ,the Bosch is much smaller with the same capabilities…..
Drew M
The Bosch version is NAINA and if you look at hands on reviews, it has no where near the power of this tool.
Whiskey and Wood
There are quite a few uses I envision this for, many of which I have a larger tool for, but would want this for detail work, out of position work that would require more muscle than I’ve got with the bigger tools, or small/cramped areas as mentioned above! I may pick one up the next time one of those situations rolls around!
Todd
Interesting they chose to make it a bi-directional tool. I hope they figured enough to put some sort of mechanical positive locking mechanism on the arbor nut/bolt and washer. Any circ. saw arbor you use will have left or right hand threading depending on which direction the motor is spinning so the nut/bolt will not loosen (it will tighten, however and I have a couple of mothballed 5″ grinders with stuck arbor nuts to prove it) when the blade encounters torque.
Of all the tools I’ve seen videos or write ups for from their press event, this one interests me the least. It can’t do anything I can think of that you couldn’t do with a standard 4-1/2″ grinder with a shroud, and with that bulky motor and maybe gearbox, if it’s not direct drive, sticking out at the head of the tool, it seems like it would actually be more limited in the tight spaces it could get into. Add to the fact, that this abrasive wheels for this thing start life around the point I’m getting ready to toss the fiber blades for a standard grinder.
This reminds me of this Rockwell Versacut circular saw someone bought me for Christmas 5-6 years ago. It seems like it could be useful, but I’ve only used it once to cut some flooring close to a wall and to be honest I forgot I had it until I started writing this.
Of course, this is based on my experiences and for someone else this could be the answer to a recurring problem they have.
Flotsam
But isn’t that is what is happening relative to multi-tool blades. One company makes a whole bunch of existing blades and you can leverage that to make use of them?
satch
Also, does anyone else find it a bit surprising it includes an adapter for Dremel Saw-Max accessories? With Bosch being seen as one of the three major cordless players to include DeWalt and Milwaukee, I was astounded to see them offer, let alone include the adapter to use one of Bosch’s tool brands accessories. Odd world these days in the tool industry.
I don’t know about sales figures either. Does the Saw-Max have a good enough market that this offering was deemed essential? Nice to have for sure since versatility is never bad for consumers. Maybe just that Dremel is the only game around for off the shelf blades?
Todd
I missed that part where it is compatible with Sawmax blades. You are right about it being strange that Milwaukee would carry an adapter for another companies consumables. I would imagine a good percentage of the profits tool manufacturers receive are in the recurring costs of blades and whatnot, especially considering how expensive the blades for these niche/homeowner tools are. I had a Rotozip that burned up with a wheel blade attachment, which is basically the Sawmax and a rotary cutout tool in one. As a rotary tool it was great for the short amount of time It worked. The fiber abrasive wheels were very short lived and the impregnated friction cutters were pretty terrible though and was tossed into the garbage along with the burnt up motor.
Kudos to Milwaukee though. Its nice to see a tool company cross-pollinating with another companies blades in favor of the consumer. It would be nice to see an industry standard for these types of tools but I doubt it will happen, as these type of tools are not high volume sales. 6-1/2, 7-1/4, 8-1/4 etc are all more or less standardized with 5/8″ or knockout, as are most grinder arbors depending on which diameter wheel you use. Just imagine of every circular saw on the market had a proprietary arbor and what a huge pain in the ass that would be.
satch
LOL at the Rotozip. I thought these were going to be the solution to under powered Dremel tools when they were introduced. I foresaw them having all sorts of great accessories and attachments. Router bases, flexible shafts, and possibly a small multi-sanding unit that used it for a power head.
Some of those things were introduced and most are long gone. The tools have over bulky grips for real one handed use which negates some of the perceived usefullness. The attachments are almost unobtanium anymore. No one made a good baseplate to attach this to a router table or sanding station. Now I am speaking to home or heavier hobby use, not remodel or construction.
And speaking of that, it was really what they were made for. Cutting holes in drywall and wooden sheathing products. An excellent single tasker but useless for anything else. They are LOUD and the spiral bits throw drywall dust everywhere. I bought one about fifteen years ago on sale for 80 dollars. Sold it to my supervisor a few years later for 40. I even warned him how weird it was to try to use it for anything but cutouts. He didn’t listen. Sorry to get a bit off topic but I consider it the single worse tool purchase I ever made.
Frank D
I went through two rotozips in a matter of a couple uses, they had a design flaw iirc with the pin to change bits moving and getting grinded off, or some such thing, making the tool useless, exchanged the first, returned the second, later bought a third … barely used it. Forgot where I put it in the basement. LOL
Adam
I’ve loved my Rotozip. I usedit on several occasions that it turned out to be a life saver.
I wasn’t going to originally get thiscut off tool, but know learning it works with the pile of discs I have, I might as well get one. A lot of the other things I used the RZ for, I can use the M12 rotary tool for. Probably still need the RZ for the larger carbide bit tasks & larger cutting projects that will for sure eat up batteries.
People complain a little already on M18 Fuel battery life, so I can only imagine how short the run time a M12 grinder would have. But would be cool
Diplomatic Immunity
Why not just make a 12V, 4 1/2 in grinder instead instead of limiting yourself to just a smaller diameter cutoff tool? That would be my question. Maybe it would end up too big still?
JD
I’m also having a hard time envisioning how this would be more compact than a small grinder. With the motor sticking out the side it appears it would actually be far less compact. A carbide tooth Sawzall blade would be a much better option in a lot of tight situations it appears. I will definitely need to check one out in a store before I click any buy now options.
Gordon
That was my thought as well. I’d like to see this next to a 18v grinder to see how much more compact it is. I know it will be, but to what degree? Most of the size difference in other tools has been in the battery.
James C
Maybe it’s their ploy to get you to buy this and then their eventual M12 angle grinder.
Adam
This probably has better dust collection, has a depth stop (with the guard on), is reversible, and comes with a diamond blade for trimming tile. All of those are advantages over an angle grinder, at least for the things I do.
Tim
Adjustable depth would have made this mint.
Tim E.
The shoe looks like it has adjustable depth…
Josh
Would this cut a basketball pole? I know weird question, but I need to take one down.
Michaelhammer
Sawsall
The Baker
F250 and a logging chain
Flotsam
I wonder if they ever discussed automotive body shop type applications. It seems like this is direct carryover from the pneumatic cutoff wheels that have been around for ages. I agree something to limit depth of cut would be a useful feature.
I have a Dremel Ultrasaw , there is a lot of versatility in what that tool does. There is a depth of cut feature on that tool. I’ve used it to cut plaster with metal backing material. But that is a slightly bigger 4″ cutting wheel.
I see the benefit of this being an M12 tool as that is in wide use.
Satch
Great point about auto use. And indeed, a depth stop of some sort would be useful. Your comments about plaster are spot on. Many only know it from old houses with wooden lathe boards. In that case a sawzall or shallow set circular saw with whatever blade you are going to sacrifice is about the only way to remove it quickly.
Commercial buildings are another matter. They almost exclusively used an expanded metal material that came in rolls. Metal lath is all I ever heard it called. You cannot use a recipro or circ saw very well on it. It grabs the lath and tears it out. A giant mess. Most times we would hammer away the plaster and nip the lath with aviation snips. Tedious but kept test out down. A cutoff tool would have been a great help. BTW guys, you still see the expanded metal on house siding when they put up those thin stone or brick facing teatments. Holds the mortar nicely.
Satch
Sorry, fumble fingers. I meant it kept tear out down.
Jonny B
For those requesting depth of cut control, the accessory guard has a shoe to keep the blade square and a depth lock on it. Looks like it works similar to a circular saw depth adjustment.
Flotsam
I see that in the one picture. It was not clear that it was something that was available.
Diamond Dave
Unfortunately the tool isn’t avail until September! Pre-order only every source I could find!
James
Since this is compatible with the Dremel Saw-Max blades via included adapter, and there are Saw-Max blades for cutting wood, is there another reason you say “No, it can’t cut wood”?
Stuart
I asked about wood-cutting potential – but not about using Saw-Max blades – and was told:
This tool is not intended to be a wood cutting tool. While users may find that the carbide abrasive blade can cut wood, it is not intended to be a dedicated wood cutting product.
Addison
I finally found a use for this, I needed to let in some inside corners into CVG cedar siding, too close for circular saw too precise for a recip and too much linear for multitool. So I did what I always do when faced with a task that “requires” a new tool, I bought a new tool! I had a feeling that the grit embedded blade would work for this an it did great. I’m glad to have yet another option for doing things. Two things though the light is 100% obscured when the foot and dust remover accessory, and Milwaukee’s conventional treatment of hex wrench (on tool) was not considered. I look forward to seeing how I and others use this tool.
Sam Thorn
I could definitely see this used for tile work. I have a table type tile saw for long cuts but this would certainly be handy for detailed cuts- around pipes, cabinets, etc.