I talked about the hottest new tools from the Milwaukee Tools New Product Symposium last week, and one of the big stars was the new M18 Fuel 8-1/4″ table saw with One-Key. Milwaukee claims it’s the world’s first 18V table saw and I can’t think of an example to the contrary. The closest competitor I can think of is the Metabo 2x18V (36V) table saw.
In this post I’m going to go over every detail about the new cordless table saw we know so far. First off here are the relevant specs:
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- 8-1/4″ blade size
- 6,300 RPM
- Blade Brake
- Rip Capacity (right of blade): 24-1/2″
- Rip Capacity (left of blade): 12″
- Max Cutting Depth at 90°: 2-1/2
- Max Cutting Depth at 45°: 1-3/4″
- Dado Capacity: 6″ stack, 3/4″ wide by 1/2″ deep
- Weight: 45.8 lbs (42.5 lbs bare tool)
- 5 year warranty
This table saw was designed to take advantage of Milwaukee’s new M18 HD12.0 battery. Couple this high output battery with a newly designed brushless motor, and you have a machine that can easily rip 2x material at 45°.
But output power is just one aspect of the new high output batteries, they also offer longer runtime compared to Milwaukee’s other M18 batteries. For the table saw, this translates into ripping up to 600 feet of 3/4″ OSB on a single charge.
When the cut is finished and the saw is turned off, the electronic blade brake quickly stops the blade in almost a second.
While the saw normally takes a 8-1/4″ blade, the arbor is large enough to accommodate a dado stack up to a 3/4″ wide. You are limited to a 6″ dado stack and you can only cut up to 1/2″ deep with that 3/4″ stack.
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The dado insert plate will be sold as a separate accessory.
The saw has a large paddle switch, encased by a cover that needs to be lifted before the paddle can be pulled up to turn on the saw. The large cover and paddle make it easy to locate the switch, which can be turned off my simply bumping it.
The bevel angle adjustment is pretty standard for a contractor saw. A simple locking lever allows you to tilt the blade when released and locks in the bevel angle when engaged. There’s a single bevel angle stop at 0°, and the blade can be tilted to up to 47°.
The rack and pinion fence adjusts by flipping up the lever on the right and turning the fence knob. The fence can be positioned at three different locations on the rack and pinion mechanism: one on the left of the blade, and two on the right.
With the fence on the leftmost pin, the rip capacity is 12″. With the fence on the rightmost pin, the capacity is 24-1/2″, but you can’t get the fence close to the blade. To make narrow rips the fence needs to be located on the middle pin.
This might seem a bit cumbersome, but it is a compromise between having a larger rip capacity and making sure the fence rails are completely inside the area of the table for storage. This really isn’t that big of a deal though, as moving the fence just requires unlatching a lever in the front and back of the fence
You might also notice that there are T-miter slots on both the left and right side of the blade. These type of miter slots prevent the miter gauge from rocking out of the slot as you slide it through the cut. Several competing contractor saws don’t have T-miter slots, and so this is a nice touch.
The flip-over fence has two positions. In the first position, the lip rests on top of the table this is for ripping thin strips where you don’t want the bulk of the fence close to the blade. In the second position, the lip is at the same level as the table, for supporting sheet goods that are wider than the table.
While there is no dust collection on the guard, the entire blade cavity is enclosed to aid in dust collection through a 2-1/2″ dust port. You can even see the fabric connecting to the bottom of the table to help prevent dust leaking out.
To change the blade on the table saw requires only one wrench. There’s an arbor lock under all that sawdust on the left of the blade.
Removing and replacing the riving knife and blade guard is made easy by a tool-less lever release. You can see the lever in the photo below, it is above and to the right of the dust port.
In the photo above you can see the miter gauge, blade guard, and anti-kickback pawls all stored neatly under the saw.
Finally, the saw will ship with One-Key for tracking the last location of the saw and locking out non-authorized personnel.
The M18 Fuel table saw kit (2736-21HD) will ship with an M18 HD12.0 battery, dual M12/M18 charger, and a general purpose 8-1/4″ blade for $549 come this July 2018. The stand is not included with the kit. It will be available separately, as part number 48-08-0561, and will cost $79.
There will also be a bare tool (2736-20) available starting January 2019, but we don’t have a price for that yet.
Available: July 2018
Price: $549
First Thoughts
Milwaukee mentioned that the runtime will allow the saw to make up to 600 ft of 3/4″ OSB. They said this was the equivalent of ripping 2 full bunks of OSB in half. A bunk is one of the the units wood is shipped in, usually corresponding to a standard dimension for packing shipping trucks. Anyway, a bunk of 3/4″ plywood is about 40 to 44 sheets and so a bunk of OSB should be similar.
If you do the math it seems like 2 bunks is a little bit of an exaggeration. If you take the low number, 40 sheets to a bunk, that’s 320 feet and two bunks is 640 feet. That’s about 7% more than the 600 ft they are claiming.
Still the point is somewhat valid, if you buy your plywood by the bunk then 2 bunks is a good visual representation of how much work you’ll get off one HD12.0 battery.
Speaking of the HD12.0 battery, does Milwaukee have something bigger in the works, or are they just trying to future-proof their M18 platform? If you look at the photo of the battery again you can see there’s more room for expansion. Well maybe you can’t see because of the dark photo, but there is extra room around the HD12.0 battery in the battery compartment.
Stuart’s Note: I saw something similar with the new M18 chainsaw, and was told that there’s a simple explanation, but one that they couldn’t discuss at the time. Maybe it’s to fit an M18 battery OneKey adapter?
We embedded this video before, but I wanted to talk more about it now. After the first cut, notice how long it takes for the blade to spin down after he turns off the saw. Without going back and looking at it frame by frame, I’d say that it’s about one second from the time he hits the power switch and the blade is completely stopped.
Now think about how long you had to wait for the blade to spin down last time you turned off your table saw. I was just making some cuts the other day and remember having to wait seemingly forever for the blade to stop so I could clear some waste away from the blade. Having a blade brake not only seems like a good safety feature, but a time saver.
In the first part you see the saw running on an HD 12.0 pack and then he switches out to a 5Ah pack. The new 12Ah pack not only gives you more run time, but Milwaukee claims that it can provide up to 50% more power than the HD 9.0 battery they introduced a few years ago. This is due to the larger 21700 cells and other tweaks made to the pack.
It maybe would have been more interesting to pit the HD 9.0 vs the HD 12.0, comparing the (15) 18650 cells against (15) 21700 cells, to isolate the performance difference between the types of cells. At the time, we were trying to show how the saw would perform with users’ existing M18 batteries.
The saw bogging down with the 5Ah battery shows that it is clearly able to draw more current than the smaller battery can deliver. And while the saw will operate on the smaller battery, I’m guessing the heat buildup in the pack is going to reduce the runtime to proportionally lower than the runtime the HD 12.0 pack can deliver.
Of all the tools to put One-Key on, why a table saw we wondered? The way Milwaukee explained it, a table saw is a tool that requires more training and experience to use properly and it is usually a larger tool you leave on site, and so the lock-out feature can help prevent the liability of untrained workers improperly using the table saw and hurting themselves.
They also brought up the humorous example of a drywall contractor seeing an unattended table saw and using it to rip down drywall. I’m not sure if that’s something that happened in real life or not.
Stuart’s Note: In a separate discussion, I was told that many users treat table saws as a bigger investment than say a cordless drill or other handheld power tool. So for such a tool, One-Key made sense for the lock-out feature, but also for tracking purposes. Whereas users might be hesitant to see One-Key automatically integrated on less expensive tools, it’s likely going to be more welcome on equipment of this type.
The last thing I wanted to mention was a safety aspect of the saw that took me by surprise. Several times, as I was playing with the saw, removing the throat plate, taking photos, etc., and the Milwaukee product manager would come running to pull the battery out of the saw.
It’s not that I wasn’t being safe in my own mind. I’m usually very mindful about unplugging my table saw after I make a cut or go near the blade, but not seeing a cord plugged in, I instinctively thought I was safe. It’s going to take a little getting used to — taking out the battery out after using the saw.
fred
Re the One Key thing.
Many businesses may still use $500 for their threshold for expensing versus capitalizing fixed assets. So a $500+ saw may go on a company’s depreciation schedule.
Nathan
if I’m on a job site with something that expensive that can “walk” way easily I’d want to try to track it too. I bet Dewalt puts their tool connect thing on their next iterations flexvolt stuffs.
also and I don’t care how anyone takes this but the whole rack and pinion fence thing is something I’m surprised SBD didn’t patent. There are a number of blatant clones to it on the market this is one. and the Dewalt is the first table saw I know of that had it. Maybe it couldn’t be patented, or trademarked. Either way it’s a defining feature on these newer table saws.
OH question does that price you quote cover the nify stand it is sitting on? And is there anything special about the stand.
Stuart
Stand is going to be sold separately.
fred
I think we all need to try new approaches about tools that grow legs and walk or sublimate into thin air. I don’t know if One Key is likely to work in either being a deterrent or as a locator for stolen goods – but I guess it might be worth a try. Figuring out how to stop thieves is not a new problem – but the internet probably has helped in the fencing of stolen goods. BTW – I was told that skid steers were the #1 piece of construction equipment that gets stolen. A thief doesn’t just throw one of them in the trunk and drive off.
firefly
Interesting, a skid steer is a fairly large equipment that have an onboard battery. It would be relatively easy to hid a real gps tracker in there. With a gps tracker it should be fairly easy to track down the offender.
fred
Here is a link to some older statistics:
https://www.equipmentworld.com/skid-steers-and-john-deere-machines-most-targeted-among-300-million-worth-of-heavy-equipment-stolen-in-2013/
Bobcat and other manufacturers now offer anti-theft systems
firefly
Look like Texas is topping off the chart which isn’t surprising considering how large and how much construction we have going around here.
Based on the statistic it look like Riding mower and Small tractor take the majority overall while skidsteer take the lead in the loader category. All of the top categories seem to share a few common factor such as easy to load and unload. I can see why it would be cost prohibit to have GPS tracker for equipment that cost less than 5k. More than that I really don’t see why most contractor doesn’t have them installed. Perhaps most them aren’t aware of it? I don’t see why the theft ring for such isn’t broken already. It take special equipment to transport large equipment. So once those equipment are seized it would be hard for them to start the ring backup…
It’s kinda interesting that Forklift take 3%. That’s really something considering how difficult those thing are to transport.
Benjamen
The stand is 48-08-0561 which is $79. It’s available for pre-order:
http://www.acmetools.com/shop/tools/milwaukee-48-08-0561
The post got a little long so I didn’t put much info about the stand since it isn’t included, but it locks into the bottom of the table saw and has an adjustable leg for leveling.
firefly
I am curious about the rack and pinion fence. The concept is not new. Is there a certain thing about the Dewalt rack and pinion fence that make it standout?
Nathan
Well that’s sort of what I was on about – who did it first. The first table saw I saw it on was a dewalt – I’ve not even see it on cabinet saws. Which honestly surprised me as I figured surely one of the big dog saw companies would have use it by now.
Jeremy
Interesting, I wonder who the OEM on the fence/table is. It is identical to my Dewalt corded tablesaw.
Benjamen
It’s possible that parts of it may be made by someone else, but it is different in subtle ways like the fence extrusions aren’t the same. I agree it is very similar in function if not form to the some of the Dewalt saws.
Eastbaygrease
The new skilsaw table saw uses it as well. I suspect all three are paying a licensing fee, Dewalt was just the first saw to market.
A W
Having a second set of fence pins to allow 24.5″ capacity is brilliant! The 20″ rip capacity is the thing about my dw745 compact tackle saw that is most limiting, and I just checked, the fence is 3/16″ too short to get a 24″ rip capacity if I installed a second set of pins.
Milwaukee did some really good product research on this saw.
Eric
My FlexVolt saw had this as well.
Nathan
The bigger and the newer dewalt table saws have 2 pins and a longer offset arm for the fence to sit on.
Joe
You do realize that a 24 1/2 “ rip is only 23 1/2 on the other side, so Milwaukee relies on this type of thinking…it must be better…use your logic…
Chris
Wrong… some sheets are 49 wide ?
John S
Maybe wishful thinking but with OneKey couldn’t perhaps in future updates it may be possible to control the saw speed for difference to profiles? They did similar to the one key sawzall.
Ariel
Another commenter referenced the rack and pinion on this Milwaukee saw looking like a clone to the DeWalt jobsite saw. I have to agree and say the fence and rack and pinion look identical to the DeWalt. This is no bad thing. I have to tell you the setup is absolutely brilliant. It is always DEAD ON accurate. I’ve caught new workers checking the front and back of the blade off of the fence with their tape measure, and im like “Cut that out, you’re wasting time. Set the fence and cut it. It’s always accurate!” My previous saw was a Ryobi and it kills me to think of all the time I wasted messing with the fence to get the cut right.
Nathan
I wouldn’t go quite that far. Especially with it being portable – you need to verify it from time to time. Mine only lives in the garage and I still verify it once a use. Since it relies on those cap screws to stay put in their track – grated as tight as you can make them they could still more or worse the fence arms bend.
So nothing wrong with verifying that it’s correct – doing it for every cut – is a bit crazy
Steven
I think I am as elated as everyone in milwaukees entrance into table saws.
Lots of neat additions, t slot for mitre guage nice touch.
For v 2.0 table saw: to really blow socks off, and yes I know that milwaukees competition is “corded tools” but a table saw with a combination power input, say a built in charger that tops up the battery while utilizing a 120v power source…that would have my attention to replace my dewalt corded table saw.
The same feature is on the m18 jobsite charger radio, why not stationary style tools?
Nathan
That is something I find bothersome about the dewalt flexvolt table saw also. but there is an added cost and to be fair some adding fragility to putting charging circuits into something that has a high power motor like a table saw.
So I can see not doing it there. The big lights or as you said the radios – makes more sense from a reliability standpoint. Now straight up corded power option I think they should have. same with dewalt’s
Tim E.
Plus just a power delivery standpoint. A radio or light or low power tool like a fan doesn’t use a ton of power. A transformer the size of a typical wall wart can provide the couple amps these tools need to operate. The table saw is pulling hundreds of amps at 18V at startup, or under heavy load (200A has been thrown around for the new HO batteries). A transformer that can provide that kind of capacity would be extremely large, heavy, and likely generate quite a fair bit of heat.
You see small, low power laptops with dinky little adapters, that maybe supply 30 Watts. Then you get your 90W big gaming laptops and they’ve got much larger beefy adapters. If this saw pulls 100A for startup, at 18V that’s 1800 Watts, so that might give you an idea of the size of a needed adapter. Even just 20A running is 360W, so still a fairly large adapter needed. This is why you don’t even really see corded adapters for cordless drills, it’s still too much power and bulk needed.
The 120V flexvolt saws work because you don’t need a transformer at all, your 120V AC wall power just needs to be rectified to 120V DC. That still takes a pretty beefy rectifier to handle the current, which you can see given the size and weight of their wall adapter for those saws.
Another comparison, feel the weight of a Milwaukee rapid charger versus their regular one. The rapid one weighs more, and if you look inside, you can see a bigger power transformer in there. This is to provide the higher current to be able to charge the batteries faster. Radios, lights, and similar low power tools can get by with very similar sized circuitry to the regular or speed charger. Anything like a drill or blower or saw especially is going to pull more current, and even the size and weight of the rapid charger wouldn’t be able to provide enough power.
Ryan
Thanks, that was a useful explanation.
Daniel
I’ve been waiting to pre-order this hoping for a sale. Well, AcmeTools just started their 10% off Memorial Day sale, but it appears to NOT apply to this item. 🙁 I’ll have to keep waiting.
Marco Roman
I just pre-ordered from them using their 4th of July15% off tool. I saved 84 bucks!
RC WARD
Unplug the saw or take out the battery every after every cut?
That is not practical
Benjamen
>> I’m usually very mindful about unplugging my table saw after I make a cut or go near the blade
Okay, I should have said after I make the last cut, or go near the blade.
Adam
Stuart, why did you mentioned one-key adapter? I only ask, because that seems counter to them including One-Key in the table saw, at least what the extra space would be used for.
I wonder if they were to come out with an AC adapter, that it might need more space.
Stuart
Maybe for battery tracking or control? Conversion for next-get 36V batteries? They wouldn’t tell us, so a One-Key adapter is my guess.
If it was just to be future-proof, that’s something they might have been okay revealing at this time.
Eastbaygrease
This and Milwaukee’s stellar 7 1/4 sliding miter saw has me wishing I didn’t invest in Makitas 2x platform.
Brian A
Am I the only one who is concerned about 8 1/4 blade selection? Wish it was 10″. For example in HDs saw blade section at my store there is only one 8 1/4 blade. 95% are 10-12″.
Benjamen
Well Milwaukee is coming out with a bunch of new blades including:
48-40-0820 8-1/4″ 24T Framing Circular Saw Blade
48-40-0822 8-1/4″ 40T Fine Finish Circular Saw Blade
But yeah, they might not be carried locally. Heck who knows if the table saw itself will be carried locally. I know the Flexvolt Table saw isn’t in every HD anymore.
That’s the price you pay for being on the bleeding edge of technology though. You have to make sure you have batteries that are charged and you are going to have to remember to carry extra blades because you can’t just run down to the local store.
Todd
I’m kind of in the same boat. I really am wanting a capable, cordless table saw. Job I’m currently on doesn’t have any power receptacles within 75 feet of where we are having to set our saws up, so I’ve got my DeWalt 745 and Nilfisk vac running on a single circuit and a 100′ cord and is pretty apparent the saw is down on power. The smaller blade, however, which is plenty for almost everything we do on site, would have left me frustrated as I had to split a some 1×6 for a faux toe-kick and 5″ combined cut depth wouldn’t have made it
JMG
This saw is going to look downright ugly sitting on top of my rolling Dewalt saw stand… That yellow and red combo, meh.
Darrell
I was wondering if this would fit in my rigid work-n-haul it 2 wheel stand? Wasn’t sure if there was a pretty standard size when it came to table saws, corded or cordless alike?
CryptKeepNah
Can we have a non-onekey version for $399?
Frank D
Somebody please test this 600 ft of 3/4” ripping capacity …
Kit
Naturally this post is a few days old by the time I see it, but I was just talking with a coworker today about hoping to see a saw like this one out soon. Only thing is we were talking about RIDGID, specifically the lack of cordless tools for the brand when compared to what’s available for either Ryobi or Milwaukee. I know this is about Milwaukee, but has there been any inklings about Ridgid’s plans for 2018?
Chip
As far as blades go,we have a 8 1/4 DeWalt circular saw,and when capacity isn’t needed we swap in a 7 1/4 blade.
We only need the big blade for cutting wood 6×6’s.
Myfortressconstruction
Yay for Copy Cats! The only difference in this saw is the platform and the fact there’s a second miter guage slot (not sure why Black and Yellow doesn’t have a second slot…) This thing looks like they took a flexvolt and painted it red. Now DeWalt needs a 10″ dual Flexvolt/AC tablesaw! And a flexvolt/20V router, belt sander, oscillating sander, Big Shopvac, and a larger, quiter, air compressor…
JOHN GETZ
Is the table cast aluminum? thanks
Stuart
I am not 100% certain, but certainly feels like it is.
Matt
Anyone have the link the buy the dado throat plate? Thank you
Stuart
Working on it.
Richard
Stuart, did you ever come up with a link for this part? Looks like it is part 44-66-0046, it does cut dado’s just have to have boards big enough to cover the large hole, not the safest operation on a table saw.
Stuart
Their user manual references a dado throat plate, and their parts manual lists 14-67-0010 as the dado throat plate assembly, but not a single retailer seems to carry it. It looks like it still has to be ordered from Milwaukee as a replacement/spare part.
44-66-0046 is the dado throat plate, while 14-67-0010 is the complete dado throat plate assembly.
Joseph
I’m thinking that the extra battery clearance is for a WiFi auto-start vacuum attachment, no? Haven’t heard anything from Milwaukee on that subject yet. Makita has their new wireless system coming out and festool has their retro-fit attachment until everything is swapped over. Milwaukee could do the same and subsequently release a packout version vacuum(a la festool sustainer vac)
Larry Steinmetz
Just ordered this saw today as my wood shop is about 150 feet away from our house that we are currently remodelling and it gets to be a real pain when working all day on the weekend. I have my miter saw close to the house so at least I don’t have to go far for crosscuts. I was wondering what a good rip blade, primarily for case moulding interior entries, around windows, etc., would be for this? Thanks.
Stuart
There are a couple of fine-finish 8-1/4″ saw blades on the market, but I’m not familiar with any ripping blades.
There are a couple of options at Carbide Processors – http://www.carbideprocessors.com/saw-blades/saw-blades-by-diameter/8-inch-saw-blades-203mm/
The Tenry PT-21018 might be worth trying – http://www.carbideprocessors.com/tenryu-pt-21018-power-tool-series-saw-blade-for-table-portable-saw/ .
Larry Steinmetz
Thanks Stuart…I’ll check those out.
Manuel Crisol
I need the Dado guide Blade cover. Your site says: The dado insert plate will be sold as a separate accessory. Please email me tell me how I can get it. Also email me a dado Blade set that will fit. Thanks.
Stuart
14-67-0010 You can now buy it at Milwaukee tool dealers.
I checked the user manual regarding dado stack compatibility. It says: