Customer Reviews

Rotozip RTM01 Original Spiral Saw

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

No one can dispute. This is a great drywall cutter. Electrical boxes are truly a breeze , as are door and window openings. Other companies have tried to copy the design , but no one has improved on it. I like the extra bit and wrench storage on the tool. It's kind of easy to open the bit cover and lose the bits though. The commercials show the tool cutting perfect lines in a variety of materials. It takes A LOT of practice to cut freehand with this thing. The spinning bit causes the tool to climb off of the cut line. For rough cuts it works O.K. For finish cuts forget it. For any soft material like wood or plastic you are far better off with a jig saw. For hard materials like tile it's a little better. Jigs help a lot for cutting cleaner lines. Just don't push it very hard or you'll be putting in a new bit every thirty seconds. For drywall this is a must have tool. For woodworking or hobby I think its usefulness is very marginal.

I have had the tool for about a year now and use it very little. It goes through blades like gangbusters unless you are using it in very soft thin material. It will cut drywall fairly well but throws dust around, my customers would kill me. The only use that I make of it now is cutting cement board where I need to make round or curved cuts. This it does fairly well. It will do soft tile, but I prefer an air tool since it has more control. Wood and counter tops forget, unless you own stock in the blade company.

I needed tool to go through plaster for a remodel project. After buying the high dollar plaster bit, I could only get about 3" until it burned the bit up. Not exactly what they advertise for this everything tool. I did try the tool on other materials and found it could only do a good job on drywall (a little more messy than a key hole saw). I think the tool is a rediscovered drywall tool with a nice handle. A case for the tool would have been nice so when I toss it to the side it dosen't get damaged under the building material that I cut with a real saw.

I have used this product in its original form for over two years. I find it to be very good for cutting drywall and other light materials. It does not do so well on heavier materials, such as ceramic tile. It can also be difficult to control during use if you do not concentrate on the direction of the bit rotation. It does work very well for cutting out electrical boxes and circles for recessed lights in drywall. For these reasons alone it is worth the purchase price if you do a lot of this kind if work.

I read a lot of reviews on this tool, some were good, some were bad. So I thought I would give it a try. First of all, it's the loudest tool I've ever heard, my wife told me to turn it off so she could hear her table saw. The main complaint in the reviews I read was that the bits break very easily. I have a lot of experience with tools, I read the directions, went very slowly, let the bit do the work, and after five minutes, SNAP! I took it back in an hour. I was cutting poplar, a super soft wood, about 1/3 inch thick. If it can't cut that, what can it cut? Also, when it was cutting, it cut extremely rough, if would take forever to sand away the rough edges it left. I would recommend a jigsaw as a much better tool. I have never broken a blade on a jigsaw. And it cuts much cleaner. And you can get on for half the price of the rotozip.

I am really disappointed with this tool when it comes to freehand cutting of a 1/4" plywood template. I could not follow my pattern line with a smooth cut no matter how much I practiced. This tool cannot replace a saber saw or band saw when it comes to this kind of application. No way could I duplicate what they do in their TV commercial.

I use this tool to cut marble. (Marble has a hardness of 3 on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is talcum and 10 is a diamond.) In making marble clocks I need to cut holes in 3/8"-thick marble. This tool has plenty of power to do that. I especially like the circle-cutting guide to make perfect circles.

I have used this tool and I agree it takes some time to get used to handling it but after you have mastered it you will find a lot of uses. it is a very useful tool. A have to be in the tool box, tool. it breezes through clay tiles (the ones that go on the wall). also where the bits don't work you can use the abrasive cut off saw which works good on ceramic tile. you will have to buy the attachments though.

I own my own drywall company. I have purchased similar tools from Dewalt, Ryobi, Dremel because I run two hanging crews and not only need another tool cut out tool for my other crew, but also thought they may be an upgrade. I have to say that none of the other tools were nearly as durable. They all had good attributes to them but all have quit working and my original Rotozip has just kept chugging along. I would recomend this product to anyone who is going to really work their cut out tool. I use mine almost every day and it still cuts clean.

I had some exceedingly nasty tile to remove - the grout was more like stucco. A fair amount of research led me to the Grout Grabber.

After struggling with a Grout Grabber for a few hours and getting a moderate amount of work done, a buddy recommended a Rotozip, and loaned me his. A quick trip to the hardware store for a diamond blade and I was in business. The Rotozip did the trick. It was fast, went through the grout like my circular saw goes through wood. It also went through the chicken wire that was holding the mortar in place, throwing off some lovely (but harmless) sparks.

Note that I didn't use the carbide grout bit, which I tried and found to be useless. I used a circular diamond blade intended for tile, cement and so forth. Note as well that this blade isn't recommended for the speed of the cheaper Rotozip, but that's what I had and it worked.

Anyway, the combination of the Rotozip RTM01 with RotoZip ZM101 and the Dry Diamond blade worked like a dream. There is another Rotozip with adjustable speed that should work as well and perhaps be safer.