After 25 years of sawing everything I threw at it, it died today. Opened it
up and the yoke (part 46 on the parts diagram for the newer saws) was
cracked and the eccentric had done a bit of pounding on it from the wrong
side. It's repairable, I'm sure, if the parts are available--will call
Bosch manana and see (they don't have the parts list for that model on
their Web site that I can find).

Meanwhile, went down to Home Despot (would happen in the middle of something
that I had to get finished on a Sunday when Coastal isn't open) and got the
latest and greatest 1590. Not a lot of difference in feel between the two
but an awful lot of detail improvements.

The new one has everything that I've wished the old one had and a few things
besides--the tilting shoe (the old one is fixed in position), the trigger
on/off/speed control (the old one had an on-off switch on one side and
speed control on the other--not the most convenient arrangement--the new
one has a conventional variable-speed trigger with a dial that sets the
maximum speed), and the dust blower (pain the butt following a line with
the old one). I never really had a problem with the blade change on the
old one, but still it's nice to not have to keep track of that blasted
special screwdriver anymore. The blade on the old one was well controlled,
if the "precision blade control" improves on that the cut quality in wood
has to be awe-inspiring (the cut quality in wood was _already_
awe-inspiring when compared with the non-Bosch saws that were available 30
years ago).

All around I'm annoyed that the old one is dead, but I'd been hankering for
the features of the newer ones for years. If I can get the parts I'll
probably end up fixing the old one--not sure what I'll do with it
afterwards.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

J. Clarke wrote:
[snip]
All around I'm annoyed that the old one is dead, but I'd been hankering for
the features of the newer ones for years. If I can get the parts I'll
probably end up fixing the old one--not sure what I'll do with it
afterwards.


OK, somebody is going to do this. I'll send you my address and take it
off your hands. :-)
mahalo,
jo4hn