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OSU_Matthew posted:
You'll be happy to know that I got both. The track saw is loving huge and heavy, not really a one-handed tool from a couple uses with it, so I figured I still need something to just crosscut random things. Plus I'm a huge baby about cleanliness and tools that work well and I can picture myself eventually loving up the shoe on the track saw to the point it starts tearing up the plastic glide strips on the track. I doubt it's an issue, but hey, gently caress money. I appreciated the budget idea with the circular and that Kreg jig, but for whatever reason I decided to grab the track saw for this project and breaking down sheet goods in the future. I just convinced my dad to relocate all his poo poo up to my house so that freed up the money I was budgeting for a table saw and miter saw. And apparently drill press, bench sander, radial arm saw, band saw, scroll saw...and whatever else he can foist off on me. Falco posted:Which one did you end up buying? I was thinking about picking one up for ripping sheet goods on some upcoming projects. I got the DeWalt with both size tracks. I looked long and hard at the Grizzly/Scheppach ones but saw a lot of "pull it out of the box and then do these three fixes" reviews, so just decided to yolo it for one that looked like it worked great out of the box. gently caress Festool, I got the DeWalt and the two tracks for the price of just the Festool saw. So it was down to the DeWalt and Makita at similar prices. I read some comparisons and watched some videos and the lack of riving knife and anti-kickback on the Makita sealed it. The plunge mechanism is different too (sort of a linkage on the DeWalt vs. a single pivot on everything else), but since I don't have any bias (someone mentioned they didn't like it because it was DIFFERENT from what they were used to), it didn't bother me. I don't know if the Makita track is any longer, but the DeWalt 102" track BARELY gets through the 96" cut with the saw on the track, it's a matter of having the thing positioned to within an inch to get the track hanging off the correct amount at the start and end of the cut, but it will do it. I just marked the track but it takes a little fiddling to find it, and I am betting the acceptable window goes down with thicker stuff because of the blade angle on the bottom surface of the workpiece. The only other thing I'll say is that ripping at 45 degrees, you need to sort of hold the shoe down/hold the saw up or the saw will tip, I think other brands may have some anti-tip thing, so maybe keep that in mind. edited to add: Also I'm not sure if this is the same across all brands but the blade, while 6.5" diameter, has a different sized arbor than a regular 6.5" circular saw (20mm on track saw and 5/8" on regular), so apparently I'm buying special snowflake tracksaw blades v0v. The track saw blade is DeWalt DW5258 with 0.086" kerf, 0.063" plate, 48t with 20mm arbor, the Freud blade is 40t with 5/8" arbor and a 0.059" kerf, so wouldn't even cut wide enough for the riving knife if it fit on the arbor. Have used it to rip the 45 degree french cleat hangers and had a huge grin on my face the whole time, it just skates along. I did it off the edge of some sawhorses because I haven't yet built a cheapo rack for the SUV to get big sheet stuff home (the foam or another sheet of plywood). One cool feature is that, while the track is pretty rigid, it is flexible enough to conform to the little bit of profile that the plywood had when I sighted down the long edge I was ripping, for instance. I also got the clamp set that has one foot and the other slides along the bottom of the track, I am betting the other brands have something similar but it's all so easy to use. I'm so used to using the wrong tool or some Harbor Freight garbage tool or something from the 40s that ISN'T like some solidly built heirloom thing, but just poo poo my dad found at the dump and was too cheap to pass up. I did my test cuts on a sheet of plywood that was used as a bulletin board thing, hung from the rafters in the basement from the previous owner. Maybe when I have the ten or so sheets of plywood delivered I'll spring for some various 2x and a couple 1/2" sheets and maybe they'll deliver a couple sheets of the foam crap too. Thanks to the people suggesting the track saw, though my wallet hates you. uwaeve fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Aug 10, 2016 |
# ? Aug 10, 2016 17:48 |
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# ? Jun 13, 2024 05:16 |
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uwaeve posted:You'll be happy to know that I got both. The track saw is loving huge and heavy, not really a one-handed tool from a couple uses with it, so I figured I still need something to just crosscut random things. Plus I'm a huge baby about cleanliness and tools that work well and I can picture myself eventually loving up the shoe on the track saw to the point it starts tearing up the plastic glide strips on the track. I doubt it's an issue, but hey, gently caress money. I appreciated the budget idea with the circular and that Kreg jig, but for whatever reason I decided to grab the track saw for this project and breaking down sheet goods in the future. I just convinced my dad to relocate all his poo poo up to my house so that freed up the money I was budgeting for a table saw and miter saw. And apparently drill press, bench sander, radial arm saw, band saw, scroll saw...and whatever else he can foist off on me. Thank you so much for the extremely detailed reply including your thoughts and comparisons against some of the other brands. Woodworking definitely isn't my primary hobby so it's really tough to drop big money on tools at this point. But then again, my family is requesting more and more projects that would be so much easier with the right tool. And I'm with you on usually using a tool that will get you by but definitely isn't the tool made for the job. I've got a circular saw, small job site table saw and miter saw, but doing cuts on sheet goods with any of those is not amazing. I've been meaning to either pick up the Kreg rip cut jig or make one that I can clamp to the sheet as a guide. It may not be perfect, but it has to be a hell of a lot better than free handing the circular or trying to push a giant sheet through a job site table saw.
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# ? Aug 10, 2016 18:15 |
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The Makita short track is 55" and the long track is 118", so whether you two shorts or the long, it's plenty for a straight across 96" cut. (Note that if this becomes a problem for you, the DeWalt's shoe actually has a second slot in it so that it can ride the Makita/Festool tracks; of course you lose the ability to cut on either side of the track with those). The Makita has the anti-tip feature for angled cuts but no riving knife, as you noted. I picked the Makita over the DeWalt partly because it was cheaper at the time, and partly because the Makita tracks are mostly compatible with the Festool tracks, giving me more options for buying jigs & such in the future without needing to buy extra tracks. uwaeve posted:I also got the clamp set that has one foot and the other slides along the bottom of the track, I am betting the other brands have something similar but it's all so easy to use. They do, but the Dewalt design is the best (at least for the price), so everyone uses theirs (the t-tracks are compatible).
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# ? Aug 10, 2016 19:12 |
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Falco posted:Thank you so much for the extremely detailed reply including your thoughts and comparisons against some of the other brands. Woodworking definitely isn't my primary hobby so it's really tough to drop big money on tools at this point. But then again, my family is requesting more and more projects that would be so much easier with the right tool. And I'm with you on usually using a tool that will get you by but definitely isn't the tool made for the job. I've got a circular saw, small job site table saw and miter saw, but doing cuts on sheet goods with any of those is not amazing. I've been meaning to either pick up the Kreg rip cut jig or make one that I can clamp to the sheet as a guide. It may not be perfect, but it has to be a hell of a lot better than free handing the circular or trying to push a giant sheet through a job site table saw. Sure thing, just bear in mind I'm new to all this, not a woodworker, etc. so my thoughts and comparisons need to be taken with a lot of salt. It's not like I've used the others for instance, and who knows how important the features like the riving knife are. I sort of looked at it as anything that can help me to not fire the saw through the garage wall when it binds up is a good thing. Furthermore, I am not convinced that the circ saw and the Kreg jig wouldn't do exactly what I needed, I guess the main reason I went with the track saw is confidence in my abilities. The track saw seems like I'd have to work really hard to gently caress up what I was trying to do with it. I guess all I'm saying is I think they're all valid options (homemade jig, Kreg jig, Grizzly tracksaw, Makita/Dewalt-level tracksaw, Festool tracksaw). Zhentar posted:The Makita short track is 55" and the long track is 118", so whether you two shorts or the long, it's plenty for a straight across 96" cut. (Note that if this becomes a problem for you, the DeWalt's shoe actually has a second slot in it so that it can ride the Makita/Festool tracks; of course you lose the ability to cut on either side of the track with those). The Makita has the anti-tip feature for angled cuts but no riving knife, as you noted. Thanks for the tips about the other tracks. And that makes sense that the Makita has the anti-tip thing. These are all good things to consider that I sort of didn't, and probably a better thing to consider than a single feature or whatever.
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# ? Aug 10, 2016 20:17 |
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Anyone have any opinion on a decent homeowner chainsaw? We've had a number of tree branches and the like fall lately that need cut up. I had our landscaper take care of the first one (for $30) but now we've got two more in the span of a few months and it seems like it'd be cheaper in the long run to just get something myself. My father had a big heavy duty Stihl that I used growing up to cut up fallen trees, but I've never actually purchased, compared, or maintained them before in my life.
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# ? Aug 13, 2016 21:11 |
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You can get a rebuilt used stihl from most anywhere that repairs small engines. You should be in and out for less than 250, assuming you only need a smaller one.
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# ? Aug 13, 2016 21:36 |
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Steampunk Hitler posted:Anyone have any opinion on a decent homeowner chainsaw? We've had a number of tree branches and the like fall lately that need cut up. I had our landscaper take care of the first one (for $30) but now we've got two more in the span of a few months and it seems like it'd be cheaper in the long run to just get something myself. My father had a big heavy duty Stihl that I used growing up to cut up fallen trees, but I've never actually purchased, compared, or maintained them before in my life. For small poo poo, I tend to just use my Makita LXT sawzall. It's quick, safe, and quiet. If you want an actual gas-powered chainsaw, Echo makes some decent stuff with a 5-yr warranty. Buy from a local dealer, and you'll get service for life. I've got a CS450 that's been very reliable. If you want a big saw, Husqy or Stihl is where it's at. I my 261.
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# ? Aug 13, 2016 21:38 |
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If the cord isn't a deal breaker, electric chainsaws are very low maintenance, lighter, and equally powerful.
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# ? Aug 13, 2016 23:59 |
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I've got a Remington from home depot that I am very happily surprised with. Its not a Stihl (I've used three different models of high-end Stihls, and they are bombproof), but it was cheap and runs/cuts fine.
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# ? Aug 14, 2016 04:10 |
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Ffs don't buy a poulan. I spend more time loving with it trying to get It to run than cutting things .
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# ? Aug 14, 2016 06:47 |
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rally posted:Ffs don't buy a poulan. I spend more time loving with it trying to get It to run than cutting things . Excellent life advice that could be shortened to: Don't buy a chainsaw that is sold at harbor freight Seconding makita battery.sawzall with a pruning blade, works just fine for 5" or less deadfall without the upkeep and preparation ritual required by a chainsaw. I just borrow my dad's thirty year old Homelite for the once or twice a year I actually need a full chainsaw
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# ? Aug 14, 2016 14:02 |
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stealie72 posted:I've got a Remington from home depot that I am very happily surprised with. Its not a Stihl (I've used three different models of high-end Stihls, and they are bombproof), but it was cheap and runs/cuts fine. Seconding the cheap, wired Remington. It's a perfectly good saw if you can get around your property with an extension cord.
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# ? Aug 14, 2016 14:46 |
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Thanks all! I don't have a Sawzall either. It looks like the Remington Electric Chainsaw is only ~$50 so buying that is $10 cheaper than getting the landscaper to cut these two that are down now. I have a big heavy duty 100' extension cord and my house is in the center of our property so I should be able to reach anything with that. Worst case I have to drag it by hand or bring the truck around and throw a tow strap and drag it closer. Thanks a lot!
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# ? Aug 14, 2016 16:26 |
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Cithen posted:Seconding the cheap, wired Remington. It's a perfectly good saw if you can get around your property with an extension cord. The way I see it, being unable to is an excuse to buy a generator.
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# ? Aug 14, 2016 16:27 |
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I am finally sick of my lovely pneumatic brad nailer and need recommendations on a new one. A finish nailer combo would be even better. Just looking for something that doesn't constantly misfire nothing, maring the wood, or drive the drat things 3/4 of the way. Leaning towards Porter cable but I haven't looked at good reviews on them for some years now.
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# ? Aug 14, 2016 18:10 |
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Anubis posted:I am finally sick of my lovely pneumatic brad nailer and need recommendations on a new one. A finish nailer combo would be even better. Just looking for something that doesn't constantly misfire nothing, maring the wood, or drive the drat things 3/4 of the way. Leaning towards Porter cable but I haven't looked at good reviews on them for some years now. I picked those up with a 6gal pancake compressor in a set years ago and have been pretty happy with it. They're good for their price point, as long as you tune them in.
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# ? Aug 14, 2016 19:32 |
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I have Bostich and Shop Fox brad nailers. The Bostich is light but needs a lot of pressure to reliably sink long brads. SF is the opposite, much heavier but more reliable on long brads.
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# ? Aug 14, 2016 19:33 |
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I have the PC, it's light and haven't had any issue with brads (I've tried upto 2 in), once I have it dialed in it's consistent driving until you need to change sizes (adjustment is minimal). The only thing it doesn't have out of the box (you have to order a trigger for it) is bump firing. At first I thought I'd break the plastic casette but it works just fine.
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# ? Aug 15, 2016 16:27 |
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Anubis posted:I am finally sick of my lovely pneumatic brad nailer and need recommendations on a new one. A finish nailer combo would be even better. Just looking for something that doesn't constantly misfire nothing, maring the wood, or drive the drat things 3/4 of the way. Leaning towards Porter cable but I haven't looked at good reviews on them for some years now. I have a Porter Cable angle Finish and Brad nailer kit that I picked up many moons back. Use the shirt out of both of them and they have held up just fine. For what I paid for them I have zero complaints.
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# ? Aug 15, 2016 21:39 |
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Anubis posted:I am finally sick of my lovely pneumatic brad nailer and need recommendations on a new one. A finish nailer combo would be even better. Just looking for something that doesn't constantly misfire nothing, maring the wood, or drive the drat things 3/4 of the way. Leaning towards Porter cable but I haven't looked at good reviews on them for some years now. The Hitachi framing nailer I used when refeaming a termite infested wall I had torn out was absolutely phenomenal, zero issues whatsoever and easy to use. My older Campbell hausfield brad has always been reliable as well. The Husky branded pneumatic nailer set I got from big sky tool not so much. I'm still not 100% sure if it was the nails or what, but six times out of ten I'll either have a misfeed, no feed, double nail, jam, or the striking pin will feed over top the nail. I see that they're no longer available from HD, and I've used a wide variety of nails in there, so I'm inclined to say that the nailers themselves are hot steaming piles of garbage, and that you should avoid HD pneumatics like the plague.
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# ? Aug 15, 2016 23:41 |
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I have nothing but good things to say about Bostitch, but: are you sure your nails are any good? The Harbor Freight pinner I have sucks terribly when using their pins, but run Porter-Cable or Grex through them and the thing works without a problem.
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# ? Aug 16, 2016 00:03 |
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Tim Thomas posted:I have nothing but good things to say about Bostitch, but: are you sure your nails are any good? The Harbor Freight pinner I have sucks terribly when using their pins, but run Porter-Cable or Grex through them and the thing works without a problem. That was my thought too, because I did start out with old HF and Sears nails gifted to me, but I've tried several other varieties that work fine in my CH gun, so I also thought I was over oiling with air tool oil, but that's not it either, because the same drop or two works fine in other guns. I'm just inclined to say that they're poo poo air guns, which is funny because I'm 90% sure they're just rebranded CH guns. Probably a defective batch bought by big sky or shittily repaired might be my guess.
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# ? Aug 16, 2016 13:56 |
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Tim Thomas posted:I have nothing but good things to say about Bostitch, but: are you sure your nails are any good? They are Bostitch brads and work fine in the Shop Fox. This is the one I have. It is fine with 5/8 brads but with 1-3/8 I have to turn the pressure up to about 120psi or it won't sink reliably. I put the long brads in the SF and the short brads in the Bos and it works out. https://www.amazon.com/BOSTITCH-SB-1850BN-18-Gauge-Brad-Nailer/dp/B0000225ID
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# ? Aug 16, 2016 22:30 |
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Steampunk Hitler posted:Thanks all! I don't have a Sawzall either. It looks like the Remington Electric Chainsaw is only ~$50 so buying that is $10 cheaper than getting the landscaper to cut these two that are down now. I have a big heavy duty 100' extension cord and my house is in the center of our property so I should be able to reach anything with that. Worst case I have to drag it by hand or bring the truck around and throw a tow strap and drag it closer. If your budget is really that low, consider the bow saw. Only $10 and replacement blades are $5 each.
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# ? Aug 16, 2016 23:36 |
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OSU_Matthew posted:The Hitachi framing nailer I used when refeaming a termite infested wall I had torn out was absolutely phenomenal, zero issues whatsoever and easy to use. I've got a Hitachi finish nailer, and it's similarly wonderful.
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# ? Aug 16, 2016 23:40 |
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Cpt.Wacky posted:If your budget is really that low, consider the bow saw. Only $10 and replacement blades are $5 each. Ah sorry, my budget isn't that low-- but I'm basically only going to use it whenever a branch falls off a tree so if the $50 corded deal works alright for light, occasional use no real reason to spend more.
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# ? Aug 16, 2016 23:57 |
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Steampunk Hitler posted:Ah sorry, my budget isn't that low-- but I'm basically only going to use it whenever a branch falls off a tree so if the $50 corded deal works alright for light, occasional use no real reason to spend more. It will. I've got the 9A HF recip saw with HF pruning blades and that was just fine going through the stuff larger than what I could do by hand with a 32" lopper. I was cutting close to 5" near the base of the small tree I got rid of and it didn't have any struggle.
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# ? Aug 17, 2016 01:09 |
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wormil posted:They are Bostitch brads and work fine in the Shop Fox. This is the one I have. It is fine with 5/8 brads but with 1-3/8 I have to turn the pressure up to about 120psi or it won't sink reliably. I put the long brads in the SF and the short brads in the Bos and it works out. I have that exact nailer and if I turn the pressure up past 100PSI with 2" brads into framing lumber, it shoots through 1/4" ply. I have no idea.
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# ? Aug 17, 2016 03:38 |
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Tim Thomas posted:I have that exact nailer and if I turn the pressure up past 100PSI with 2" brads into framing lumber, it shoots through 1/4" ply. I have no idea. Yeah the Shop Fox will do that too. I didn't realize until someone mentioned it that the Bostitch has a depth adjustment, not sure if that will help with consistency but I'll give it a try.
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# ? Aug 17, 2016 07:13 |
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Two random questions: Are more expensive stud finders better at locating studs, or do they simply have extra features? Just starting out, will I be relatively happy with an all-in one type blade for a table saw or am I better served swapping out blades depending on what I'm doing? I see a Diablo 50t multipurpose blade with the deep gullets and I'm guessing a rip tooth like every 5 or 6 teeth, alternately there's just a 40t general purpose one.
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# ? Aug 17, 2016 14:00 |
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My 50T Delta blades squawk like a cat on fire. Okay I'm exaggerating, more a very unpleasant high pitched whine. The subject came up elsewhere and it was said all 50T do it.
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# ? Aug 17, 2016 17:37 |
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As a fellow amateur, I think you'll be happy with a 40T general purpose blade and not worrying about swapping blades unless you're working with something particularly prone to tearout (melamine or hardwood plywood), in which case you might want a finish blade (but even then there are ways to reduce it without swapping blades).
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# ? Aug 17, 2016 21:04 |
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uwaeve posted:Two random questions: I have never been as happy with any electronic studfinder as I have been with this little thing. Seemingly none of my house's studs are where they should be, either at 16"-on-center or 24"-on-center, so stud-mounting anything has always been a pain in the dick. I've had electronic ones false-positive repeatedly, but this one never misses.
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# ? Aug 17, 2016 21:10 |
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IOwnCalculus posted:I have never been as happy with any electronic studfinder as I have been with this little thing. Seemingly none of my house's studs are where they should be, either at 16"-on-center or 24"-on-center, so stud-mounting anything has always been a pain in the dick. I've had electronic ones false-positive repeatedly, but this one never misses. second this I have god drat plaster walls though so no "stud finder" actually works in my crib. I'm seriously using an airport style metal detecting wand to find studs. Sointenly fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Aug 18, 2016 |
# ? Aug 17, 2016 21:32 |
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I bought a Proto feeler gauge from Amazon Warehouse (AWD) but it is missing the .002 and .003 leafs. Fired off an email to Proto and heard back pronto, they will send me a new one. Will update when it happens but so far that is good customer service. Also, hope I didn't post this already but I got this sweet Proto Blackhawk 3/8 set, also from AWD, it was marked as damaged packaging but it looked fine to me. I paid $60, regular price $286
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# ? Aug 19, 2016 07:30 |
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That magnetic stud finder is a beauty. The sheetrock on my walls is a little too thick for the magnet to hold itself in place, but you can feel it pulling on the screws. Down in the basement though it holds in real tight.
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# ? Aug 19, 2016 13:28 |
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IOwnCalculus posted:I have never been as happy with any electronic studfinder as I have been with this little thing. Seemingly none of my house's studs are where they should be, either at 16"-on-center or 24"-on-center, so stud-mounting anything has always been a pain in the dick. I've had electronic ones false-positive repeatedly, but this one never misses. Thanks, I ordered one. In the interim I realized I have little neodymium button magnets and those seem to work well too. I always thought magnets were like the poor man's method, but I must have been trying with ceramic ones.
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# ? Aug 19, 2016 13:30 |
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Late to the stud finder talk but try this one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012DNFP6/
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# ? Aug 19, 2016 15:08 |
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wormil posted:I bought a Proto feeler gauge from Amazon Warehouse (AWD) but it is missing the .002 and .003 leafs. Fired off an email to Proto and heard back pronto, they will send me a new one. Will update when it happens but so far that is good customer service. I wanna borrow that set for a few days......jk wormil you done good
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# ? Aug 19, 2016 15:29 |
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# ? Jun 13, 2024 05:16 |
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stubblyhead posted:That magnetic stud finder is a beauty. The sheetrock on my walls is a little too thick for the magnet to hold itself in place, but you can feel it pulling on the screws. Down in the basement though it holds in real tight. I have a magnetic stud finder and it works great generally except in my current house where they apparently decided to use the absolute minimum amount of screws physically possible to hold the sheet rock in place. Finding studs is kind of a nightmare and I wish I still had my electronic one sometimes.
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# ? Aug 19, 2016 16:06 |