What is Orbital Action in a Reciprocating Saw and Do You Need It? That's the question we're looking at today, and it's a common one. With a few notable exceptions, most manufacturers don't add this feature to their cordless reciprocating saws. This leads to some confusion about whether you really need it for quick cuts.
Table of contents
- What is Orbital Operations?
- When did reciprocating saws start using orbital action?
- Does orbital action really matter?
- the bottom line
The orbital action setting on a reciprocating saw introduces an elliptical motion to the standard back and forth sawing. This more aggressive operation removes more material when cutting wood. However, more aggressive cuts bring extra vibration. Therefore, never use this mode when cutting metal or PVC.
Some saws use counterweights to counter the extra vibration caused by the reciprocating saw. This takes the form of many different types of systems. The Skilsaw Buzzkill technique looks like this:
The dampened flywheel on the Milwaukee Sawzall looks like this:
When did reciprocating saws start using orbital action?
We trace the track action back to a 1982 patent for a puzzle filed by Black & Decker Inc. While not certain, it suggests the technology dates back about 40 years. A few years later, another patent applied orbital action to a reciprocating saw.
When Milwaukee Tool invented the Sawzall in 1951, the tool (shown below) lacked any kind of orbiting functionality. At the time, as an electric version of a hacksaw, simply moving the blade back and forth sufficed for many needs.
Does orbital action really matter?
In addition to the manufacturer's claims about orbital action, we have some evidence to work with. When testing the best reciprocating saws, we got models with and without this cutting mode. Saws with orbital action generally cut through wood the fastest in our tests. Keep this in mind if you're demonstrating wood primarily with nails.
However, some other well-designed saws aren't far behind. So, what about a more holistic approach? After all, we really want to know when to use orbital actions.
We took a Bosch 18V reciprocating saw and ran the same test multiple times with and without the orbital action. Using technique alone, and with the kerf sawing tool, the closest we got was still about 2.5 seconds behind the fastest track speed.
More scientific test results are more telling. We used the same weight to provide the same downforce on the saw when testing. The Bosch cut through our 2 x 12 pressure treated lumber with five 16D nails embedded in it in 31.83 seconds. Switch to orbit, and the time is just 18.28 seconds—a drop of just over 13.5 seconds. This makes non-orbital motion almost 75% slower!
the bottom line
Letting the saw and blade do the work is always the way to go when cutting, even in demonstration work. Orbital action has a huge advantage in wood cutting when you do this. Even if you try to beat it with technology, you will still fall short and you will try harder.