vertical play in reciprocating saw blade OK?

[Daniel G]

Recently bought new Metabo HPT CR13VST reciprocating saw. Have not used yet. Easy to mount supplied 7.5" long blade. No horizontal play when I try pushing / pulling blade away from / into saw body. But mounted blade has some vertical play. In other words, when I push / pull mounted blade up / down, blade rotates around hole at base of blade. The tip moves 5-6 mm (about 0.2 inches). That translates to about 1.5 degrees. Only the blade rotates. Tried some other blades. Same thing, has vertical play.

 

In my Makita JR3000V reciprocating saw, have had years, the blade is rigidly held, no vertical play. The Makita saw has a bolt, hex wrench tightens, totally clamps down on blade. In contrast, Metabo has quick release mechanism, no bolt, instead a pin fits into hole, lets blade rotate a little. Was inconvenient and slow to mount blade in the Makita saw, but not a big deal. The blade was rigidly held, saw works great, blade clamp will last forever (not so sure about Metabo mechanism). The downside of Makita saw was it could not accommodate wider blades, the blade hit against the housing.

 

Questions: Normal for mounted blade to have some vertical play? Does your reciprocating saw have similar vertical play and not cause any problems? Might the vertical play be a problem when Metabo saw functions in orbital mode? Or when blade is in a gap looking for nails to cut?

 

Thanks!

[Daniel G]

Having received no replies, I took a few reciprocating saw blades to a big box store, and inserted them into an assortment of reciprocating saws. Every saw had a quick release mechanism, with a variety of designs. And every saw had vertical play, some more than others, but none a lot.

 

My conclusion is that it is normal for the mounted blade to have some vertical play. My guess is that the vertical play is not a problem, and I will be happy with the new saw. However, I'm glad that I still also have my old Makita JR3000V with a bolt, and no vertical play.