Tool thread: hammering on things was a minor secondary function of these tools

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Tool thread: hammering on things was a minor secondary function of these tools

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grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Building my addition was a great excuse to buy a lot of new tools. My favorite powertool is my Milwaukee Sawzall- it's like duct tape, in reverse! There's virtually nothing it can't un-do; you just can't beat it for demo work. Clumsier than a jigzall for detail work in new construction, but far more versatile. A very DIY tool. I love my Hitachi 10" laser compound miter saw, too; I hardly ever use my radial arm saw now that I have it. Had to go out and buy a laser skillsaw, too (B&D firestorm).

I keep getting more and more tools; we have the "right tool for the job" now for virtually any job that comes up. (lathe, masonry saw, grinder, hammer drill, dado blade, torque wrench, etc.) I just wish my workshops weren't so cluttered...

As for advice: I've stopped buying cordless tools. I love the portability, but hate that they're worthless in 3 years and the jacked-up cost of replacement batteries seem to always cost more than just buying a new tool. I have one cordless drill left because I liked it enough to solder together a replacement battery pack for it (and lets face it- corded drills are nice for heavy work but a PITA for small jobs); the rest have gone into the garbage.

grover fucked around with this message at 18:06 on Feb 6, 2011

# ¿ Feb 6, 2011 18:01

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 01:43

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

tworavens posted:

'Heavy is good, Heavy is reliable. If it doesn't work you can always hit him with it.'

I'm looking to buy a cheap battery operated drill. I saw this at Harbor Freight: http://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/drills/18-volt-1-2-half-inch-magnesium-drill-driver-kit-65930.html

Anyone have one? I'm not going to be building houses with it right now, I'm a student and will be using it for class projects and mock-ups. But later this year I might be working again. I don't want to buy it if its going to crap out in three months, and I'd be willing to spend about $100 for something that is really good. I'm studying to be an electrician btw.

Cordless drills have a finite life; batteries don't last very long between charges when you start doing anything heavy, and die completely after a scant few years. With new drills priced cheaper than replacement batteries, I can't tell you how many old drills I've thrown away... They are incredibly convenient, though. I've bought very good drills, and thrown them away just the same. I did solder up a new battery pack once, but it's still quite costly to DIY and a real pain in the rear end.

My advice is to get a cheap cordless drill, one that'll work fine for 90% of what you need but you don't mind throwing away in 5 years. Chances are it'll do everything you need it to. If you find this isn't enough, get a good corded one for heavier tasks.

grover fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Mar 4, 2011

# ¿ Mar 4, 2011 16:47

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Power rollers are quite nice, even inexpensive ones. We use ours all the time. Cleaning is a bitch, so it only makes sense if you're painting large areas, but it sounds like you plan to.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2011 10:52

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

What's the technique for sharpening bits on a grinder? Do you need a jig to get the right angle, or is eyeballing it good enough? All my most-used bits are horribly dulled...

# ¿ Apr 1, 2011 15:32

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Cpt.Wacky posted:

I'm going to be cutting the bottoms off of these 5-gallon water bottles, at least a few but maybe 20 or more.

What would be a good tool for this? Hacksaw, cordless jigsaw, reciprocating saw, or something else?

Saw blades flipped to rotate backwards work great for plastic. If you could do that with a table saw, it would probably afford you the most control, as you could keep two hands on the bottle to control it.

# ¿ May 16, 2011 23:00

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

You could make do with a circular saw and sawhorses if you had to, but there's always always the "right" tool for any particular job. I have a table saw, chop saw and radial arm saw, and I routinely use all three depending on what I'm cutting.

I tried ripping lumber once on my radial arm saw and it sucked. I've also used my table saw w/ sled for cross-cutting longer boards when it was the only saw I had set up at the time with a fine-toothed finish blade; wasn't about to use a rough-cut framing blade on some exotic hardwood and risk splintering the drat thing to pieces.

grover fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Jun 2, 2011

# ¿ Jun 2, 2011 22:30

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Nerobro posted:

The max rip length is half the length of the room you have it in. you can turn the head 90 degrees and just push stock right through.

And you can't have the stock climb the blade and shoot back at you.

I put a small door in the side of my shop at the end of the workbench to let me run long stock right through the wall. Worked out GREAT.

My RAS loved to grab wood and stall when ripping. I pretty quickly gave up on ripping with it and bought a table saw instead.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2011 16:56

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

I was using my crosscut blade, which I'm sure was 90% of the problem. It was such a pain in the rear end to set up for ripping, and then to perfectly align back again to crosscutting (it took a lot of work to get my RAS perfectly square), especially when adding in a blade change, that I decided it just wasn't worth the effort.

Also, this saw is awesome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c486ERD7-0

# ¿ Jun 5, 2011 21:23

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

stubblyhead posted:

I'm thinking of putting in some steps in my yard using railroad ties as treads/risers. Since these things are larger than your average power saw can cut through, what is the best way of cutting them to length?

Chainsaw.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2011 10:54

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Bought a 5m metric tape measure at the dollar store yesterday. I don't need it, but it just seemed really novel to have a metric tape, and gently caress, it's cheap.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2011 22:29

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

RoboJiggolo posted:

No, like you said it will run slower than at 60hz but 50hz won't damage it.

Changing the frequency is how you control the speed of an AC motor, we use a "variable frequency drive".
I have seen motors running in some "crawl mode" that was only at a few hertz.

That's not entirely true; motor cores are typically designed for a particular frequency and will saturate magnetically at lower frequencies, which removes all magnetic impedance and ends up basically being a short-circuit with whatever little resistance the wire of the coils themselves generate. This will cause motors and transformers to quickly overheat and burn up. (Incidentally, it's also why you should never plug a 60Hz-only transformer/power supply into a 50Hz outlet.) Going the other way (50Hz motor on 60Hz) won't saturate, but will have increased hysteresis and eddy current losses and also risks overheating, though usually nowhere nearly as bad. I've seen transformers before with literally twice the power going in than coming out- with all that loss being dumped directly into the core as heat.

Motors need to be specifically designed/selected for variable frequency operation. You need to check with the manufacturer and see if the 60Hz motor will run safely at 50Hz. A lot of stuff that's sold internationally is OK for 50/60Hz and you just need to change a few taps inside it to convert between European and US voltages.

grover fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Jul 9, 2011

# ¿ Jul 9, 2011 13:55

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

stubblyhead posted:

A quick question about Dewalt batteries. I understand that older tools that were designed for NiCad can use the newer Li-Ion batteries. I have an old cordless drill, the DC727. The batteries it came with have long since bit the dust, and the replacements I got are rapidly going the same way. This drill uses a 12V battery, but the only 12v Li-Ion I see (http://www.dewalt.com/tools/cordless-batteries-dcb120.aspx) uses a totally different form factor than the 12V NiCad. Am I out of luck for using LiIon batteries with this drill?

No matter how nice they seem, I treat every cordless tool I buy as disposable. It's, sadly, a lesson everyone seems to need to learn for themselves, as cordless tools are so enticing, but replacing failed batteries quickly becomes an exercise in frustration and futility.

If you're handy with a soldering iron, you can probably replace the NiCads yourself and string it along a few more years.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2011 22:50

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Iskariot posted:

If you get no-name poo poo, get stuff with warranty. If it breaks, return it. This makes the product more expensive for the store and they may discontinue the bullshit tools. This may in turn lead to more quality tools being sold and prices drop from quantity production. Better tools at lower price.

Does dollar tree give refunds?

# ¿ Nov 23, 2011 17:25

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

I have personal experience, and this post is spot on. There are converters to 3/8, 1/4, 1/2 drive, but they're spotty.

These ratchets really shine for making trapezes out of all-thread, and not a lot else, really. If you don't know what an all-thread trapeze is, you probably don't need a through-head ratchet all that much.

And even then, ratchet-wrenches fill the through-thread niche pretty well already.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2011 11:30

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

stubblyhead posted:

Go to any optician, they should have some selection of frames suitable for safety glasses. They are very likely to be loving ugly though, so you probably will not want these for daily wear. I actually just got a pair myself since the ones that go over your glasses are very uncomfortable. They were not significantly more expensive than a regular pair of prescription glasses to the best of my recollection.

There's actually a pretty good selection of fashionable ANSI-rated prescription safety glasses, many of which you'd never know were safety-rated unless you looked at the tag. The requirements of being "safety glasses" do put a few constrains on the design, though. Also, to be effective, you need to leave the side wings on, which just looks absolutely stupid. If it's just for occasional shop use, you can take the side-shields off and only put them on when you need them.

Or you can just get a pair of goggles or safety glasses that fit over normal glasses.

grover fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Mar 24, 2012

# ¿ Mar 24, 2012 20:57

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

A winning combo is a cheap/light cordless for convenience and light-duty work, and a nice solid corded hammer drill for when you need to do real drilling.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2012 14:52

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

I picked up a circular saw with a laser a few years back and WOW, it makes a huge difference in being able to make a great-quality straight cut. Definitely worth paying an extra $10 or $20.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2012 19:57

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

I'm ashamed to admit I have a lathe, but rarely use it. Turning is fun, and I turned a rolling pin and replacement spindle for a chair when I first got it (friend of my dad gave it to me, along with a good set of knives) but I just haven't had any projects I need to use a lathe for.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2013 14:51

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

I REALLY wish manufacturers would come up with standard li-ion batteries. We have AA, AAA, C, D, etc., that everyone uses; why the hell can't we do that with rechargeables?

# ¿ Mar 10, 2013 16:21

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

NIST needs to step in, I think. I just shot an email to them. Probably an empty gesture, but at least I feel better.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2013 19:11

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

My favorite ratchet/socket set is one I paid $5 for in an auto parts store like 20 years ago. I've abused the hell out of it, but it's never let me down. :h:

# ¿ Mar 11, 2013 23:30

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

kastein posted:

Figure I should put a notice here...

If you buy Ryobi or Ridgid power tools, make sure you keep your receipt till you get home, and make sure you register them within the 90 day store warranty period. Once you have registered them, KEEP THE RECEIPT! You will need it if you want that 2 or 3 year warranty to be worth anything.

This probably goes for other brands too.

I had a cheap Delta table saw, and discovered well after the fact that the power cable had been defectively installed. No receipt or anything, but I called up Delta and bitched, and they sent me a new power cable at no charge.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2013 18:27

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Bad Munki posted:

No no no, not proprietary, standard. That's the great thing about standards: there are so many to choose from!

I contacted NIST with a recommendation about standardizing LiIon batteries like happened with alkalines, but they feel that it's not the government's responsibility and think the market will eventually come up with a common standard on their own. I don't think they will, though; there's too much money to be had in forced obsolescence.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2013 23:43

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

iForge posted:

Just saw this ad on craigslist and did a double-take at the title. Can you spot the casual racism?

It's not even the flag of Italy; backwards like that, it's the old flag of Burundi.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2013 02:59

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

johnny sack posted:

I just bought this power generator. Will be here later this week.

Storms seem to be getting worse and worse. A friend who lives nearby was without power for almost a week, just last week. That length of time would ruin all my food, and frankly would be really boring and awful.

So, I'm getting ready before it's our turn to lose power. I plan to have an electrician wire a plug directly to my house, for convenience.

It's archived now, but I posted a big generator thread last year that talks about this.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3515309

# ¿ Jul 1, 2013 22:45

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

johnny sack posted:

The thread talks about having your house wired with a transfer switch so you can just plug the generator into the switch to power your house? I am 99% certain my city would require a permit/licensed electrician to do this, so I wouldn't do it myself either way. I don't have archives, and I'm not sure I want to pay the for the upgrade to it...Is there a lot of good information in this thread?

Also I was able to return the generator I linked above, before it shipped to me. My local Costco had a Champion 9000W peak/7000W steady for $549. For less than I paid for the Champion 6800W max...I had to get it instead.

6. How do I power my whole house?
Code requires whole-house generators be connected via a transfer switch that renders it impossible to accidentally back-feed the utility grid. In other words: suicide plugs trying to backfeed receptacles are illegal. Mistakenly backfeeding the grid would almost instantly stall your generator, but for a brief moment, will also be back-feeding that transformer feeding your house, which steps your 120V power to 7,000V or more, potentially electrocuting line workers. DO NOT DO IT! If you�re going to do a whole house generator, do it properly.

6.1. Whole-house manual transfer switch
This switch is installed between your meter and your main panel, and provides a jack to connect up your portable generator. It�s not a DIY job, you�ll need to have it professionally installed, and be prepared to pay $1000 or more. Since your whole utility power flows through it, it has to be rated at least as much as your main breaker. But since your generator probably can�t power everything in your house, you need to load shed. Before you start your generator on, open up the breakers for everything you know your generator can�t power (water heater, electric furnace, heat pump, etc.)

6.2. Electrical panel generator breaker interlock
Most people don�t even know this option exists, but it�s by-far the easiest to retrofit. Instead of installing a transfer switch, you instead install a bent-up piece of sheet metal on your breaker panel that prevents you from closing the main breaker and generator breaker at the same time. Install your generator breaker right next to the main breaker (move whatever was there elsewhere in the panel) and install your interlock. BAM, cheap and easy. A 30A double-pole breaker, 30A generator plug, #10 cable and misc boxes and fittings will run you somewhere under/around $100 at your big box, and support up to a 7200W generator. You can buy a pre-made 240V generator cable for $100.

Protip: you can pay $150 for one of these online, or bend your own out of sheet metal for practically free.

WARNING: portable generators have an internal neutral-ground bond because they�re designed to be used with cord & plug; transfer switches account for this, but the interlock doesn�t. If you do not temporarily remove this neutral-ground bond while hooked up to your house, neutral current will flow through the ground wire.

6.3. Generator-powered emergency panel
Like the whole house panel, except that it�s powered from your main panel and feeds a secondary panel with all your emergency circuits. If you�re getting a built-in generator with automatic transfer switch, this is how you�d do it and still stay code compliant.

7. Living with a whole-house generator
Even with a generator, you still have to make some sacrifices. Unless you have a very large generator, you may not be able to power your air conditioning, hot water heater, clothes dryer, etc. You have to think about things that use power before you use them.

Houses in the US typically run at 115/230V, which is a 230V single-phase circuit center-tapped to get two 115V circuits. You can think of these as +115V and -115V (which between them give 230V). Normally you don�t need to worry about what receptacle in your house comes from which side of the panel, but it becomes very important when you�re on generator.

A 3000W generator has two 15A circuits, and you need to be careful to balance loads properly to avoid tripping them. Even if all you have plugged in is an 800W refrigerator and a 1500W coffee pot, which your generator can easily provide, you could still trip a breaker because they�re drawing 20A between them. If you find you�re tripping breakers, plug your stuff into a different circuit. Modern kitchens are easy as two 20A circuits are code required, and they�re usually on different circuits. One way to figure out what circuits are what is to look in your panel: every other row is the opposite feed.

You�ll need to be very careful about turning things off before turning over things on- your first warning my be the lights dimming; your second will be the lights going out. Always carry a flashlight so you can see to restart the generator.

You�ll also notice things you never noticed before, such as how your oven�s dials don�t control intensity, just a thermostat that alternates between ON and OFF, which has the disconcerting effect of causing your lights to constantly dim/brighten. So long as it's not getting extremely bright or extremely dim, it's normal and OK and not a cause to worry. But still doesn't hurt to check voltages to make sure they're still close enough to 115V to not hurt things. If it's dipping too low, turn something off. If voltages are too high, turn more things on; you may find you have to turn on every light in your house to keep voltages below 125V.

8. How can I safely put my generator inside, where assholes won�t steal it?
You can�t. (See #1 above). Carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless gas that you won�t even know is killing you until you pass out. Instead, put it outside, get a nice big chain with a heavy padlock, and chain it to something substantial. Remember: you don�t have to make it impossible to steal, just hard enough that the thief passes you by and steals from some other poor motherfucker. Even a simple step like taking off the wheels will help deter theft. Turn it off and bring it inside at night.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2013 23:26

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Trip report: Bosch PS21-2A. My venerable old cordless drill still works but is nearing end-of-life; I love the drill and even rebuilt one the battery packs about 6 years ago, but the rebuilt pack is dying, too, and gives up after just a couple minutes of use now. We have a heavy-duty corded impact drill for the big stuff, so I don't really need a super-heavy cordless, but I do want a cordless for convenience around the house. Rather than pay another $50 to rebuild the battery pack again, I asked for a new drill for christmas. And my wife surprised me with this one, which has turned out to be rather awesome despite (and because of) its small size.

http://www.boschtools.com/products/tools/pages/boschproductdetail.aspx?pid=ps21-2a

I'm not going to try spinning 4" holesaws with it, but it has enough torque to wrest the handle from my hand, and drives 3" decking screws like a champ. The battery life is surprisingly good- it comes with with two li-ion batteries and a 30-minute charger, and even putting up fencing with constant use, I've yet to ever drain one battery before the other is recharged. It's variable speed- this is something a lot of the cheaper ones were lacking, but I'll never get a drill without it. Two gear settings for screwing and drilling, which seems to be rather standard now. I'm completely sold on this form factor now. Bosche makes an impact driver version of this for not a whole lot more cash, but it's only rated to like 77ft-lbs- might be good for driving lag screws and such, but too weak to replace a real impact wrench for car work.

I've used it on my car several times, too; wasn't able to correlate the clutch to any specific in-lb rating, unfortunately (likely varies with battery charge anyhow), but I did trial/error it on one project so that I could drive the 30-million bolts holding on my transmission pan to a little-less-than-spec, which were then easy to follow up with an actual torque wrench. The little built-in flashlight that comes on when you put a little pressure on the trigger is really nice for dark corners, too.

grover fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Jul 8, 2013

# ¿ Jul 6, 2013 13:47

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

You can get metal cutting blades for your chop saw and circular saw, too. They're often the right tool for the job, depending on what the job is, and only cost a couple bucks. Much easier to make a nice straight cut.

grover fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Jul 27, 2013

# ¿ Jul 27, 2013 16:37

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Extension cord from the house, or a portable generator.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2013 11:21

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

powderific posted:

Wouldn't I need a pretty beefy generator to run power tools? I don't want something super crazy loud but not super crazy loud but powerful seems to be hella expensive.

Why wouldn't you use it for the shopvac instead? Inverter generators are a lot quieter than non, and put out way better quality of power which may be important to you and worth paying extra for. I've got a 1000VA Yamaha inverter generator that cost twice as much as the the 5500W gen I run my whole house on but it's sooo quiet, it's wonderful. You'd definitely have no issues running any power tool you've got on a 5500W generator. And, honestly, saws aren't going to care how clean the generator's waveform is. Contractors use portable gens all the time for this.

Electrical requirements depends on what power tool. When first starting, and if you stall them while cutting, motors are essentially a short circuit and can draw several times their rated current. Make sure the generator is sized for the in-rush. You'll get a lot of voltage drop over extension cords, too, and can stall motors more easily. If you run an extension cord, get a good one with a thick gauge, like #10, and don't get it any longer than you need it.

Also, breakers have what's called a trip curve, where the more overloaded it is, the faster it will trip. So a 20A breaker may run at 22A forever without tripping, may run at 25A for a few minutes, 35A for a few seconds, or 60A+ in-rush for a fraction of a second. Add that 60A in-rush to a 12A load that's already running and it may trip instantly.

grover fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Oct 7, 2013

# ¿ Oct 7, 2013 23:41

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

I've found if I store mine vertically, with the chain bar pointing up, the oil doesn't leak. Might depend on the design of it.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2013 02:38

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Some crimp tools (the lopper style tools in particular) need a lot of room to work and are fine when running pex through open framed walls, but next to impossible to use under sinks & poo poo. You really do have to think ahead and do up your connections in a particular order to avoid getting stuck in a situation where you can't get your tool in to make a crimp.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2013 12:56

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Forstner bits are fantastic, but they're expensive enough I don't like to use them unless I absolutely have to; for everything else, I just use normal spade bits.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2013 15:38

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

oschesar posted:

Thanks for the circular saw input everyone. I think I'm going corded. I've owned a cordless circ saw before and I ended up hating it because it just didn't have the power necessary to make the cuts I needed. Now that might have been old batteries or whatever, but it just left me not liking them. I do appreciate all the thoughts though.

Good choice. Batteries last a few years and die; you'll be using that corded saw for a long time. Unless you REALLY need the portability and can live with the tradeoff in power, you just can't beat a decent corded circular saw.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2013 23:39

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Globofglob posted:

So, what is a cost-effective tool that can do this for me?

Two tools. Dremel or angle grinder should work fine for the thicker stuff, and you can use whatever you want for the rest.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2013 16:29

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

~Coxy posted:

I bought the locking shifter after seeing the recommendations in this thread.
http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-85-610-10-Inch-MaxGrip-Adjustable/dp/B00009OYGZ/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

Forgive a dumb question, but how the heck do you lock it? The lever to unlock it is narrower than the ridge on the shaft so I can't press the lock in.

edit: it won't lock the handle or tighten the jaws unless the jaws are around something, duh.

Yeah, works just like a vice grips. Won't lock if it's loose

# ¿ Nov 30, 2013 16:17

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Super Waffle posted:

So I just saw this Hitachi 10in compound miter saw on Amazon for $109

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V5Z6RG/ref=pe_76900_97133730_pe_epc__1p_7_ti

How good of a deal is this? I found this review but it seems pretty good, especially for the price, but I don't know much about Hitachi tools

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRJV9Jjy1Gw

I have that Hitachi saw (or a VERY similar older model); bought it about 8 years ago, and have been very happy with it. I've beaten the crap out of it, used it with a metal blade for chopping bar bad enough to melt parts of it, even dropped a ladder on it and had to glue the handle back on, yet it's still going strong, very reliable, and makes great cuts. The laser's getting hard to see in daylight now (probably just dirty; might have to see about cleaning it), and the spring-loaded blade guard requires some macguyvering to hold it out of the way of blade changes, but those are about the only bad thing I can say about it.

It'll cut 2x6s, but you'll need to make two cuts on anything larger.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2013 03:33

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

dwoloz posted:

Seems a good deal for new but if you check out Craigslist you can probably find a sliding saw for 150-200 (I got a 12" Makita for 150). The extra capacity of a slider can be very handy

Depends what you need it for; I've got a radial arm saw, too, but it's kinda buried in the back of my shop, and I find I never use it for 2x12s or smaller because it's just as easy to flip on the chop saw. Whatever chop saw you get, spring for the one with the laser. (Laser version of that Hitachi) Man, what a difference! With the laser, I find I can make cuts to better than 1/32" accuracy every time.

Love my laser circular saw, too; makes it way easier to make straight cuts than just trying to follow a chalk line.

grover fucked around with this message at 15:39 on Dec 22, 2013

# ¿ Dec 22, 2013 15:35

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Squibbles posted:

New circular saw trip report:

Milwaukee saw is awesome. Probably helps that I put a nicer blade on it too I guess. Still though, cuts straight as an arrow when following a straight edge. And cut through 3 layers of 11/16" plywood with ease, no real resistance felt at all.

I really suck at free hand sawing though. I can't get the back to stay straight. I line up the notch on the front with what I want to cut but as I push the saw along the back either fishtails or my natural tendancy is to pull it slightly to one side or the other which makes the blade not line up with the cut line and also makes for wavy cuts. Is there a special technique for that or it is just practice?

Oh, I also noticed something interesting, on this saw the blade can be set to extend so far down that the motor housing bumps into my straight edge guide. I have to raise it up an inch or so so that they don't interfere with each other. I guess it's good that the saw has the capacity to cut that deeply if I ever encounter something that requires such a thick cut.

I found having a laser on a circular saw really helps reduce wandering and make straight cuts- you're no longer just correcting the saw position, but actively able to maintain a consistent vector.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2014 03:48

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 01:43

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Squibbles posted:

As for how I was cutting free hand, I was trying to line up the mark on the front of the shoe with my cut line. There's no markers on the back to align and it would be tough to try and watch the blade itself without getting a face full of saw dust. I did most of the cuts using a straight edge, I was just wondering if there was a way to do it free hand.

The problem you likely ran into is that while it's fairly easy to line the position of your saw up with your cut-line, it's difficult to align the yaw angle of your saw; you're essentially left to eyeball it and guess, which results in a wavy line as you constantly adjust back and forth. As I mentioned a few posts up, lasers makes this a lot easier. You align your saw with the mark, and adjust the angle with the laser, and you can make great cuts this way, even freehand.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2014 19:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Tool thread: hammering on things was a minor secondary function of these tools

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