Let’s cut to the chase: electric cutters have always been the saw of choice when low maintenance and precision take priority. What they lacked, however, was raw power.
Times have changed. The latest generation of electric cutters from Hilti, such as the DCH 300-X, benefit from wet cutting capabilities and newly customized blades. These two advances accelerate cutting speed by around 30% each, so you can now rely on electric saws for everyday tasks without sacrificing speed. Only the most demanding, specialized applications will need the extra power and cutting depth of a larger saw.
When you add the additional advantages of electric saws – especially being fume-free and much quieter, so you can use them indoors or in inhabited buildings – it is easy to see why they are the tool of choice for many common applications. Hilti’s largest handheld electric cutters cut through 120 mm with a 12” blade. That’s the cutting depth you normally only get with more expensive 14” blades. Thanks to this clever tool engineering, you can cut all the way through a typical concrete or masonry wall or floor from one side – no more having to align and cut from both sides. Routine cutting or widening openings just got twice as fast as with an angle grinder.
Today’s electric concrete cutters have four major advantages over angle grinders and gas saws:
Push, don’t pull – Hilti's electric cutters spin their blades in the opposite direction to most others, including gas saws and angle grinders. In practice this means that you push an electric cutter on its wheels, away from you. This makes fine control much easier, so you can get a perfectly perpendicular cut exactly where you need it. Safety improves too, as the blade moves away from the user and is always concealed behind the dust hood.
No double work – even 9” angle grinders will achieve a cutting depth of just 60 mm at best. This limited reach means that you will always have to cut from both sides to get all the way through a wall or floor. By opting for a larger cutter, you get cutting depth that can exceed the thickness of typical concrete or masonry walls and floors, so you can cut all the way through from one side. Put simply, deeper cuts translate to higher productivity.
No throttle – to start an electric cutter, all you need to do is plug it in and pull the trigger.
No fumes – an electric saw has no combustion motor, so is much quieter, more environmentally friendly and can be used indoors.