Metabo Cordless Jigsaw Mighty Power
Metabo was first on the market with 4Ah Li - ion batteries, and the STA 18 LTX 140 Jigsaw is one of the range of 18v cordless tools that uses this powerful and long lasting battery technology. The cordless jigsaw market,
particularly at the top end where this Metabo firmly sits, is a very competitive one, so we should expect very good performance and a lot of features for the money. Does it deliver? I had a lot of fun finding out. A close examination of the
STA 18 LTX 140 reveals that it’s German made quality is evident in all aspects. Peering through the vents in the pendulum housing you can see the cast alloy construction that guarantees strength and accuracy and a long working life. The body shape is fairly
slimline with a body-grip configuration. There are two patches of rubber overmould for good grip on top of the pendulum housing and on top of the body. These are perfectly placed to aid good handling. A single sliding switch on the left side of the body is well-placed for right handed thumb operation. Unlike some sliding switches I have used, this one works perfectly. It locks into place easily for continuous operation, but is easy to unlock with a flick of the thumb. The other switchgear on this side of
the body is the speed selection dial, the blower, the pendulum action selector and the quick-release blade lever. Speed selection on a jigsaw is
crucial for effective cuts in a wide range of materials. Accordingly, there are five speeds and an “A” marking that selects speeds automatically once the cut is started. This is a fine safety feature because it means that the saw can be gently introduced to the cut, particularly where accuracy or delicacy are required.
Constamatic on this jigsaw to ensure constant stroke rates even under load so that cutting rates are consistent and quick. Setting the four-position pendulum
other types of base: - for example the felt covered base that prevents scratching on plastic or shiny surfaces. As standard, the cast alloy base
comes with a robust plastic base cover
Independent Review by Peter Brett
battery itself has a couple of rubber “bumpers” on the base to protect it from impacts. I had some very specific tasks that I
used the STA 18 LTX 140 for. One included cutting out some shapes from 2mm thick brass sheet. I fully expected to struggle with this but was actually encouraged to think that the saw is very versatile. Using one of the excellent metal cutting blades supplied by Metabo and the slowest speed, I was able to work very accurately on the metal sheet, which I supported from underneath with a 6mm thick sheet of MDF. On the other extreme, I
took it to the country timberyard with me so that I could crosscut the 40mm thick brown oak planks into lengths to fit into my hatchback. Again, with the correct blades, and where precision did not really matter, the cut was quick and
cutting action uses a familiar system of a lever under the trigger, but the Metabo also has a small lever to switch on the blower system that is directed at the cut line to blow away sawdust. This was quite an effective system, but to tell the truth I haven’t yet found a perfect system of clearing away dust from the cut line of a jigsaw. The two LED
worklights come on when the jigsaw is started. They are very bright, with a good light spread and are kept protected under the alloy pendulum housing. Finally, right at the front just above
the pendulum is the lever for quick release of the blade. This actually ejects the blade a little distance thus avoiding the user having to worry about holding a hot blade while ejecting it. On the other
side of the body where the base joins the body, there is the base quick- release lever. This allows the user to set the angle of the base up to 45 degrees each way for angle cutting without using tools.
Metabo uses its own full wave electronic system called Vario-Tacho- 20 ToolBUSINESS+HIRE
The base can also be removed completely to accommodate a few
that allows the base to move without much friction or scratching in general use.
At the rear of the base is a dust
efficient. I did try some curve cutting on the same material and the results were pretty good. Again, the choice of blade is critical with jigsaws, and using a blunt blade just gives you an unnecessarily hard time. But, stick to the rules, and this saw will come up trumps. Based on my experience of it I
extraction port that can be connected to a vacuum extractor adaptor that is available as an extra. At 2.9 Kgs including the battery
pack, the Metabo STA18 LTX 140 is quite heavy, but I didn’t really notice this in use. In fact, it is a good idea to have a bit of weight in the saw to counteract the up and down pendulum movement of the cutting action. Placed right at the extreme end of
the body is the battery pack. The 4Ah pack has enough oomph to cut more than 40 metres of 19mm thick chipboard in a single charge. With all the jobs I did with it, I only needed to charge the battery once. The air- cooled diagnostic charger did this in about twenty minutes, so there was no danger of any enforced downtime since two battery packs are supplied as standard. There is a simple system of four red LEDs that inform the user of the state of the battery charge and the
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would say that the Metabo STA 18 LTX 140 is definitely up there in the quality end of the market. It is packed with all the features you would expect from a machine in it’s price bracket and it cuts very efficiently on a wide range of materials. If you are a user that has bought into the 4Ah battery technology that fits a wide range of Metabo cordless tools, it would make a very useful addition to your toolkit.
Reply No. 223
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