Framers really love a rear handle circular saw. This RIDGID R8658 18V Brushless Rear Handle 7-1/4″ Circular Saw delivers the power equal to a 15A corded saw. This rear handle looks like the old worm drive framing saws, but it’s really a direct drive saw straight off the axis of a huge brushless motor. You get 5,800 RPM and an electronic brake.
#circularsaw #homedepot #ridgidtools
RIDGID R8658 18V Rear Handle Saw:
Keep current with our great content:
YouTube:
Instagram:
TikTok:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Can rigid's 18 volt rear handle really Compete with a 15 amp corded saw we'll Find out [Music] This is the Ridgid r8658 and as we Mentioned it's the 18 volt rear handled Seven and a quarter inch circular saw Most of the time people are referring to This as a framing saw or just rear Handle saw but basically the rear Handles are typically kind of the beasts Of the market with plug-in versions like Ridges and skills that kind of set the Standard of worm Drive saws these were Big beasts of saws that were very heavy But got the job done for sure so most of Your framers that are ripping two by Material or larger are ripping multiple Sheets at a time that's typically what They're going for is a rear handle saw Now let's dive into the features of this Saw and then we'll come back and talk About pricing about warranty and what we Think of the performance This is the Ridgid R8658 and it's their 18 volt brushless Rear handle framing saw really is what This is and in fact this replaces the Old Worm Drive saw this is not a worm Drive this is a direct drive saw you see The huge brushless motor sitting here Directly beside the blade where it Attaches so it is not a worm drive but In case you don't know
All right this is the old Worm Drive Ridge and I think this is the r3210 That's been around for a long time this Is a 15 amp saw and it's a beast to Handle to say the least but it Definitely got work done but today we Now have an 18 volt tool that replaces That plug-in tool and still supposedly We get the performance of a 15 amp rear Handle saw and we still get the rear Handle design we just don't have to Worry about the Worm Drive and the you Know huge weight and all that and now This is not a light saw you know this is Not like a little you know Sidewinder Cirque saw that you can pick up and Throw around but it is a little more Compact than the old one as well as a Little lighter we get a magnesium shoe We get a magnesium blade guard as well So that helps lighten things up as well As you know keeps things nice and stiff Also we get a 13 inch length shoe and I Believe the whipped on this yes six Inches a little more than six inches six And eight six and a quarter we do we do Get a full 13 inch shoe on there as well As far as capacity we get a two and a Half inch cut capacity and easily raise And lower that many times on a framing Saw they're going to leave that loose And handle their plunge cuts and so a Lot of times I'll just leave that open And drop those in for their plunges and
Let that shoe just drop down About two and a half inch cut capacity On a 90 and we see our markings here at Quarter inch half inch one inch one and A half two and of course two and a half We also get a white Arrow right here That lines up with the mark so we have An inner Mark as well as the outer Mark That lines up so easy to see that one Inch Mark flip that down and be able to Score that plywood or whatever we're Doing at one inch depth now I will say One of my I don't know if it's a concern Or a you know strike against it or Whatever is just this hard metal lever Here there's no over molding there's no Piece of plastic or anything it's kind Of short as well so if you're tightening This thing down it does kind of bite Into your fingers to actually loosen That but then again most of you framers Out there you got nice big calluses on All your digits so you probably doesn't Bother you anyway but just wanted to Point that out there could be some a Little softer edges on this lever to Make that a little easier year also when We put this dust extractor on here it Kind of gets in the way of this lever Not really I mean but it flips up here And basically gets right up here to the Exhaust on that extractor right there Which all you have to do is back the Screw out put that in we'll show that
Here in a moment now we also get an LED Light that's right here that shines not So much to shine up in front of the saw I've heard somebody say that before that This blocks that light I don't think That's what that light's for I think That light is for shining in this area Here so that when you have kind of that Line of sight here on the inside of the Saw you can see that lit up and see Where you're actually cutting where the Blade is not necessarily up here in Front of the shoe where typically you Can easily see we also have an arbor Lock or a spindle lock there where we Can push that and lock that spindle and Be able to change blades as well We get a rafter hook that's easily got a Hook on any of your two by and three by Material and that folds up nice and Tucked out tucked out of the way so Great to have that and we have a large Compartment here for installing even This eight amp hour battery that if you Get this in a kit you get the eight amp Hour battery And you can see there's plenty enough Room here if in later years we get some You know rigid 12 amp hour batteries Probably have no problem actually Fitting that so glad to see they're Looking ahead and not making this uh This little dock here too small Now as for our angles here
Very easy to make changes obviously flip That lever up same way on this lever as On the depth adjustment lever a little Harsh here on the edges that could be Softened up a bit or maybe even some Rubber oval molding or a piece of Plastic or something but just wanted to Point that out that it is a little bit Sharp on the edges if you will but as Far as you know actually moving this It's not that big of a pain we see our Markings right here and we see our Actual pointer here as well now in Addition to these markings you can Actually hear We have detents and basically there's a Little ball bearing in here that lines Up with these indentions right here and At each so you can see at zero at 15 Degrees 30 degrees 45 degrees And 53 degrees so it maxes out at 53 Degrees and then detents at 45 30 22 and a half 15 and obviously zero and Clamp those down so it makes it a little Easier for adjusting to those typical Angles that we work with we also have Markings right here on the shoe as well Left of zero as well as right of zero so Helps out for making those quick two by Fours out of a two by six or whatever we Need to do when we're ripping Lumber now
Here on the back side of the saw we have A wrench tucks away in there pull that Out and now we can make changes to our Blades we have the spindle lock up here That we've already looked at so we can Push that and back out this screw and by The way since this is a blade left saw Meaning that when you're holding the saw In your hand the blade is on the left Side then it's going to be reverse Thread so we need to go righty Loosey And then I wanted to show you something Here that's not typical of your regular Circular saws so if you haven't had a Rear handle or a worm Drive saw before Or a large framing saw then you may not Have seen this but we have a diamond Knockout here in the blade and that's Where it goes on the spindle you also See that diamond impregnation right There in On the axis as well so move this out of The way And make sure that you get those Diamonds lined up And that's things going to help things Bite a lot better Help to keep that blade from actually Slipping On the Axis or the spindle And if you look at a lot of your other Blades even though this has got a round Hole here you see the diamond cut out Right there you can just take a
Screwdriver or pliers or something in Kind of break that out and be able to Use this on that diamond as well But you need to make sure that your Blades does have a diamond knockout Again we're going to go Lefty tidy here Tighten that up And we do get a full 5800 RPMs with an Electronic brake so let's try that out Yeah so it looks like about a second to Stop it [Applause] Maybe a second half two seconds and About probably a three second ramp up 1001 No actually it sounds like we're hitting Full speed at around just over a second And about a second and a half two Seconds to actually stop the blade but We do get that electronic break And when we let off the trigger it's Going to stop the blade and by the way If you want to wait on this so I've got The eight amp hour battery in there 12 pounds 5 ounces with the battery the Blade and the saw now we're going to use The rigid rear handle on some Three-quarter inch plywood and it's not Just regular three-quarter inch plywood I mean I went to Lowe's and I said Listen I need some three-quarter inch Plywood that has a perfect one inch bow In the middle and they obliged and gave Me that and I said not only that I want
To make sure that there's voids on the Edges of this plywood as well so they Just did a great job at providing some Pre-bowed three-quarter inch plywood With voids missing in several places but Anyway let's get started here we'll run This thing a couple of times through Some three-quarter inch then we'll throw Some two by material up here and do some Rip cuts on that as well I'm not too Concerned about doing cross Cuts if uh You know a rear handle saw can't do Cross Cuts I'm I'm yeah there's other Problems so anyway let's go ahead and Get started I'm going to leave this Thing at max depth I think that's for The most part what everybody's going to Use that's going to keep the shoe all The way bottomed out or start doing Plunge Cuts but we'll do that we'll do Some plunge cuts on some two by material Once we get that going But let's try it out So right off the bat the exhaust is Right here now I do not have the Extractor on here I could put that on There but I think that's just going to Direct it further backwards but Regardless it's dumping right on top of My shoe right in front of me you know Typically you're going to be cutting on The right hand side and following it Because it is a blade left saw so that's One thing I do wish maybe the port was
On this side as I've seen on other rear Handle saws but it is what it is it's Dumping it out and again I get it most Rear handle stuff you're not trying to Be petite you're just trying to get work Done but if you are interested in Staying clean you're not going to do it With this saw because it's dumping it All out right here also gets a little Dust here but not so much in front it's Still staying pretty clean on the front Side [Applause] And by the way plenty of power I'm gonna go to 45. [Music] [Applause] So something to note on this when I'm Looking over and looking down here at my Blade right there on On the plywood I can easily see from the Window here of where the blade is However when I'm looking over right now I'm getting showered with uh you know Kickback of the particulate coming off Of that again something that you you Know are probably used to when you're Using a big saw but something to note That it is shooting quite a bit of Particulate straight up at my face I've Got safety glasses on so that definitely Helps but again something to mention [Music] Now again as far as power for the cut
Yes no problem at all Foreign [Music] And that's one of the great things about A larger rear handle saw is it tracks Very well also so with that large shoe With just kind of the the weight on the Back and not so much up top it just Seems to track really well you can put It on a line and follow that line rather Easily So one-handed operation which many times Or what framers doing with these Especially when they're reaching all the Way across a sheet or down a two by four Or two by six or two by ten whatever They're cutting many times it's a One-handed operation [Music] I'm gonna put on the extractor And it's basically going to sit in here And then kind of slide in so this little Tab here has to go inside that Groove And this is where I was talking about With the extractor on there you can see It kind of gets in the way there when You're adjusting Your depth So again not a huge deal but it does get In the way and as I mentioned I doubt Most framers going to be using that Extractor anyway So you can see even with the extraction Port on they still have an opening here
For it to bypass if you don't have any Suction going here and dump it out this Hole here Again I'm not real concerned about this But we will hook up some extractions see If that gets any better [Music] I will say there's not near as much Coming out of this vent now with the Extraction running [Music] Okay now we've got a two by six or two By two by six in here and we'll go ahead And make a rip cut on this as I Mentioned I'm not we're too worried About cross Cuts so we'll go ahead and Max out the depth here And [Applause] No problem with power whatsoever again You're just getting showered with Particulate with all the dust of the cut But as far as powering through no Problem at all I'm going to go to a I'm going to go to a 22 and a half Degree bevel [Music] Foreign So I did stop the saw pushing pretty Hard I mean not pushing really hard but It's got plenty of power to to do what You need to do I'm pushing it a little More than I typically would for an 18
Volt cordless saw ripping two by Pressure treated lumber at a bevel It's pretty good I didn't want to do a plunge cut so I'm Going to loosen my depth gauge Put it over my lumber And again one of the things I really Like is I have a marking back here I do Wish it was in a 45 as well but Typically your plunge cuts are done at a 90 so I have my zero degree here my zero Degree here so I can easily read a line If I needed to And then the power to cut through should Not be an issue Then again Okay let's try that again Find a fresh spot here Foreign So I can plunge a little too hard But if you just go in nice and easy Foreign Well you saw it in action it has no Problem ripping through Lumber ripping Through sheet Goods now you can push This hard enough to actually cause it to Go into an override where it shuts the Tool down and you let out the trigger And pull the trigger again and it's Off To the Races you have to push pretty Hard for that to happen in like three Quarter inch material now if you're Doubling that up then yeah you probably Need to kind of monitor your speed and
Not run through the cut if you will also The same with Lumber if you're if you're Ripping through two by material and Especially if you've got it on a bevel And you're over pushing it it's going to Shut off on you but again you're not Tripping a breaker that you have to walk Back to and trip the breaker you'd let Off the trigger pull the trigger again And you're going now also on the plunge Cutting I was surprised that actually I Kind of pushed a little too hard a Couple of times and and it actually Stopped the saw I thought I could push a Little harder but again I was kind of Rushing it on purpose so just take your Time drop it through and like you would Typically do and it will be just fine But I did want to be in all honest see And show you what was actually happening Now pricing on this you can get the bear Tool for 239 dollars or you can opt to Get the kit with the 8 Amp Hour Max Output battery and the charger and the Case for just 110 bucks more at 349 Dollars that's definitely the better Deal you get a lifetime service Agreement on the tool and the battery if You buy the kit and so you don't have to Worry about it as long as you own this And make sure that you register this Within 90 days of purchase to get that Lifetime service agreement check it out From your Home Depot we'll also have a
Link in the description make sure you Keep track of us on Instagram Facebook Twitter and even Tick Tock and if you Don't mind when you hit that like And Subscribe button if you haven't done so Already and by all means if you hated Their video well give us a thumbs down But would you let us know in the Comments why have a great day and keep Smiling