Woodworking Tools

[GrowlerG]

Sorry if this is off topic but some might be interested...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/forums/t ... .18847970/

[kadman]

Nope, its bang on topic,thankyou GrowlerG

[CelticRambler]

I've somehow ended up buying a Lamello Top 21 tonight. Whatever about questions the wife might have for me, I really have to stop listening to Fine Woodworking. ...

And there I was doubting my good sense when recently buying a 14mm metal bit as well as a 12 and a 16.

[kadman]

And there I was doubting my good sense when recently buying a 14mm metal bit as well as a 12 and a 16.

Hopefully you bought cobalt

[JayZeus]

I've been busy abusing my ancient Elektra Beckum HC260 3 phase planer thicknesser today. Well, technically, I've been absolutely ABUSING a Festool CTL-SYS by using it to run dust/chip extraction on the planer. Via a cyclone, mounted on a big blue barrel, using 2" hoses.

Anyway, thought to pass it along. It all works fine. The cyclone is a Dust Commander, bought direct from the French company of the same name. Mine is the DLX model, a Mk 1 version. Good kit, IMHO worth the slight premium over the chinistanian ones with the dollar sign on the side. Especially with 2-3 day delivery and no extra VAT or duty nonsense. The Mk 2 is improved and if I can find a new home for mine, I might get the updated one as I can do away with a couple of adapters to get the Festool D50 hoses to connect directly. Anyway, good kit and I can recommend without reservation.

Also, that little CTL-SYS is just a cracking bit of kit. Won't replace a shop vac or a dust extractor on its own but mine gets used all the time for the sheer convenience of being able to stack it on a systainer and throw it in the back of the car. Well, place it carefully in the back, but in my head there's heavy rock music playing, I'm moving in slow motion and a film crew is getting wet crotches thinking about all the youtube followers we'll get.

https://www.dust-commander.com/gb/p/9-c ... 30023.html

[JayZeus]

Upgraded my tablesaw recently. Anyone else get any new tools to share?

I'd given it a lot of thought (about a years worth) and eventually went for the TKS 80 EBS-Set, sliding table, right hand extension, outfeed included. Nice saw.

[CelticRambler]

Nothing spectacular - just a new set of chisels, the usual four standard sizes, to replace the 25-year-old set that's been much abused. Don't tell Kadman, but the 25mm chisel sometimes used to get used on masonry in between woodworking duties ...

[kadman]

Nothing spectacular - just a new set of chisels, the usual four standard sizes, to replace the 25-year-old set that's been much abused. Don't tell Kadman, but the 25mm chisel sometimes used to get used on masonry in between woodworking duties ...

No doubt you use your 25mm masonary cold chisel for your woodwork on occasion. So its probably a fair assumption that your woodwork projects could resemble something a cave man cobbled together

As for using your woodwork tools for masonary.....................you philistine

[JayZeus]

Wood....chisel....on.....masonry?

[Calahonda52]

Upgraded my tablesaw recently. Anyone else get any new tools to share?

I'd given it a lot of thought (about a years worth) and eventually went for the TKS 80 EBS-Set, sliding table, right hand extension, outfeed included. Nice saw.

Nice Xmas present

Hope all is well in 2022
Watched the video on the site, what does the blue cartridge do and whats the life/replacement cost?
In passing, can you post a pic of the dust commander rig, with barrel pls
Thanks as always

[JayZeus]

Nice Xmas present

Hope all is well in 2022
Watched the video on the site, what does the blue cartridge do and whats the life/replacement cost?
In passing, can you post a pic of the dust commander rig, with barrel pls
Thanks as always

Off to a good start, thanks!

The cartridge costs about €60+VAT, roughly. It's basically an electromechanical release mechanism, with some capacitors and data-logging built into it. When there's a conductive contact with the blade (skin, wet wood etc), the blue thing actuates a release that jams an aluminium brake against the cutting edge of the blade. It's completely sacrificial, and may well add a blade to the cost of resetting the machine. Quite likely to do that in fact.

When that brake is cammed into the rotating blade, the sudden stopping of the blade (measured in milliseconds) causes the blade to retract all the way down into the saw. No damage is caused, bar to the brake and blade of course, and all going to plan with a comparatively superficial 'nick' to a finger, thumb etc.

But if it saves a hand injury with a 10" table saw blade in the mix, that's alright with me. And if the unit is fired based on contact with you as opposed to with aluminium, wet wood (and I mean, wet), you can return the brake unit to Festool and they'll send you a new one free of charge. Naturally, you can disable the saw-stop mechanism if you're trimming alloy etc., but it's a sequence you'd need to repeat at each stop/start cycle. It all makes good sense.

The reason Festool will swap the unit if skin contact fires it is that there's a serial diagnostics port giving them access to the data logger. Nice to see they actually want to monitor performance to inform any iteration on the tech in future. Again, good move and makes great sense.

I think a lot of folks will write it off as overly priced non-essential tech. I think of it like active hearing protection, or ballistic safety glasses, using a respirator when painting and not just a dust-mask etc. With the passage of time, we'll see more and more such safety mechanisms put in place to help reduce injuries to pros and hobbyists like me, alike. I'm all in favour of it.

On the Dust Commander setup, I don't have a picture of everything rigged up, but here it is fitted to the barrel. You can ignore the grey pipe cuffs. They were part of some other experimentation using 50mm pvc (?) pipework to see could I use some generic hose. I could, but I got a good deal on some D50 x 2m Festool hoses so now use those instead.

Works a treat though, all told.

DCB.jpg

[Calahonda52]

So will most of the sawdust stay on the drum, I need to make sawdust for a fish smoker, so would saw/sand the apple timber I have

[490808]

So will most of the sawdust stay on the drum, I need to make sawdust for a fish smoker, so would saw/sand the apple timber I have

I think we need to know a lot more on how well that Dust Commander works.

I know I've looked at them a few times online and wondered if they were worthwhile.

[JayZeus]

On mobile and can’t upload a picture (that 300kb limit is a flippin’ nuisance!) but I can tell you the DC cyclone works great. I had thickness planer shavings from pine and spruce, plywood sawdust and aluminium chips from a session with the tablesaw and general clean-up of the workshop all sitting in the bottom of the barrel. About 15cm deep in that 120L barrel. The bag in the 1000w vac was pretty much empty. It works so well, I bought a second one for the other place I do some woodworking at, so I wouldn’t miss having it.

The kit with the DC and barrel is good value too, especially with free delivery (fulfilled by Amazon) and in your hands in about 3 days. I’ve had a heap of fairly pricey tools that were alright but not good enough to recommend. This cyclone on the other hand does a great job, and even if it looks like the $20 banggood type at more than twice the price, it’s well worth the difference. It’s well made, in Europe, easy to set up and it does exactly what it should. Great to have the option of buying such things from EU businesses rather than importing more plastic tat from China.

As for the Oneida dust deputy option in case that’s on your radar. I see no point paying for it when the Dust Commander works just as well and costs about half the price.

[490808]

Rather than start a new thread I thought I'd post a tool related question here - note more DIY than woodworking.

Battery operated tools V mains powered, how do you choose?

After abusing some old power tools I checked some out and bought new, got a very very good deal on one on Amazon Warehouse (more later). This time it was a fairly obvious choice of mains over battery because I wanted a new SDS drill. However I have found other power tools that I would have thought would be better as mains versions more useful in their battery form.

For example, I now use my battery powered angle grinder much more often and on more jobs than I do my mains powered version. I used a battery powered skill saw on a roof when in the past I'd never have considered running power up to the roof to use a saw.

In many cases the convenience factor outweighs many of the issues of battery powered tools being slightly underpowered compared to their mains counterparts.

Quickly back to the SDS drill from Amazon Warehouse, £95 only saved me about £15 over the retail price but when it arrived it was missing the plastic depth gauge which I rarely if ever use. I complained to Amazon and got a £24 refund.

[kadman]

Refund is another way of shutting you up. Personally when I pay for something.........I like to get what I paid for . I am an honoray old cuss like that. I am always of the opinion in such circumstances, like what else did they leave out.

[CelticRambler]

Quickly back to the SDS drill from Amazon Warehouse, £95 only saved me about £15 over the retail price but when it arrived it was missing the plastic depth gauge which I rarely if ever use. I complained to Amazon and got a £24 refund.

If that's the going rate for depth guages, I need to find all the unused ones I've shoved out of the way and put them up on eBay!

As to the battery vs. mains question, my situation is distorted by being behind the times. All of my battery powered tools were bought at a time when each one had its own size and shape of battery, leaving me regularly with either a table full of different batteries and chargers working flat out; or a whole bunch of tools that were not ready for active service because the batteries hadn't been charged for weeks (or months). As a consequence, being an intermittent user, I prefer/preferred something with a plug.

In parallel, I've also had to decide between mains electric or petrol-powered machines for the garden. There, the idea of trailing 100m of cable through the garden is a powerful disincentive ... and yet, and yet ... I bought two 25m heavy duty extension cables to add to the lighter 25m one that lives in the camper, and they've been in near constant use throughout the winter, for "garden" machines like the shredder, but also carrying power to a temporary workshop arrangement - so all the usual DIY tools.

In recent times, though, I've found myself dawdling in the power tool aisle and wondering if it's time to buy into one swappable battery range or another. Herr Lidl is trying to tempt me with some magnificent merchandise due to land tomorrow, but I think I've spent enough on new toys this month so will leave it all for someone else.

[490808]

The instructions were also missing but I always through those out with DeWalt stuff. At best 2 pages information along with 57 pages of useless information in far too many foreign languages.


Not for the first time I registered a second hand tool for the full 3 year DeWalt warranty

One big issue is how long the batteries last and how they can tie you into a particular brand. I stick with DeWalt now having bought into their batteries. I have far more tools than batteries as once you have a few batteries it seems a good idea to buy bare tools. They are a bit expensive but I find some of the torches and lanterns that work with the batteries really handy.

[kadman]

I never knew De Walt offer a 3 year warranty, they never used to. It was 12 months.
I might be tempted to venture back to them.
When I was stair fitting i went through so many cordless's I lost count. Then I opted for the De Walt top of the range at the time. Cost me 500£ when it first hit the market.
Lasted 12 months and a week. Company would not cover it on warranty. I never bought a de walt tool since.And that was 19 years ago.

[490808]

You have to remember to register on the DeWalt website within 4 weeks of buying the tool to extend the warranty to 3 years.

It can be a bit of an effort to make full use of it when you have bought from the UK on Amazon but I did get a brand new torch body out of DeWalt



when mine failed after about 35 months. Its quite handy though as you can upload a copy of your receipt (picture or pdf) when you register so everything is sitting waiting if you need to claim. I also use it as it keeps all the serial numbers of your tools which might be handy for an insurance claim if they are stolen.

https://mydewalt.dewalt.ie/mydewalt/register/

[JayZeus]

TLDR; Tool registration is great, got a new miter saw and bigger tracksaw, a bit too much glue and I like battery and mains powered tools. And don't buy crap tools or tools being sold by thieves and stolen goods merchants.


I'm a big fan of the tool registration mechanism for 3 years cover. In my case, my preferred 'Class-A' power tool is the German green variety, so you also get 3 years theft insurance and all-inclusive/wear and tear etc. And the 10 year spare parts guarantee. Yes, the pricetag is premium, but savage service really when it's all considered. Great to see other manufacturers doing similar now - It's about time they levelled up.

In other news related to my current bout of TAS (Tool Acquisition Syndrome), I've sold my Makita 1040L and traded into a 'customer return' Kapex KS 60 EBS Set for a heavily reduced price. Cracker of a saw. I'd have liked the KS 120, but there's a limit to the madness.

I also have a large pile of beech boards awaiting a run through the planer thicknesser this weekend to build a new workbench, so given that they're close on 65mm thick (and the TSC 55 won't handle that without a board flip), I figured that was as good an excuse as I needed to snap up a TS75 tracksaw when it came up for sale at the weekend. I'd sold on my 'final' TS55 REBQ a few months ago and was keeping my eyes open for a deal on the TS75.

I think I might have overdone it with the Titebond III part of the preparations for a bench build, as I'm now looking at 2 x US Gallon bottles of it and wondering how in the hell I'm going to use both of those up! Well, if this bench goes well, I'll build another just like it. If not, I might take up matchstick model making, or glue old bits of firewood together for the hell of it.

On the battery vs corded tools matter, I'm still keeping one foot in each lane. Over the course of the past 12-18 months(ish) I've sold off every non-Festool battery tool (Metabo, Panasonic, Makita) with the exception of the Fein multi-tool. The Fein gets a pass until I can find a bare tool Festool Vecturo to replace it with, then my work there will be complete. The ability to just grab a battery and a tool and go do the thing etc., is quite the convenience compared to the old rigmarole of looking for a battery and a charger that played nicely together and fitted the tool. I have a pair of chargers mounted on the wall in the primary workshop, along with some Stealth Mounts (nice kit!), and a charger in the secondary place I work and one tucked into the bottom of a toolbox, so I'm fairly well sorted now in that regard.

But there are other tools that I wouldn't want unless they ran off the mains. Proper main powered impact drill (I have a cordless one, but it's not the same for heavier work), sanders and the like. I can see why some would want these cordless, but I like the simplicity of just plugging them in and working away without any messing around with batteries. They're lighter too, which for those kind of tools or at least my use of them, I prefer.

But it's all horses for courses. The one thing I can't compromise on personally is the cheap crap tools. I can't understand how anyone justified buying chinese rubbish which may well get the job done that you're buying it for, but it will inevitably end up sitting idle on a shelf before eventually going for 'recycling' or let's face it, straight to the landfill in many cases. That annoys the hell out of me. Just buy a good quality used tool (As I have often!), do the work and if you won't use it again, sell or pass it on to the next person who'll get the use out of it. And buy responsibly in those cases, meaning not from the ******** in a van at the market for too little money, with serial numbers or names blacked out or scratched off. That's just fueling theft and scumbaggery.

[kadman]

I have never bought a second hand power tool, mains or battery , ever. For the simple reason is, unless its from a relative, or friend, you just dont know its origin. And I could never condone the practice of buying stolen tools.

[kadman]

Hey JZ, you have a serious fetish for tools, you need to get that dealt with....

[JayZeus]

I have never bought a second hand power tool, mains or battery , ever. For the simple reason is, unless its from a relative, or friend, you just dont know its origin. And I could never condone the practice of buying stolen tools.

I'm fairly careful myself. I want a fair deal, but too cheap is too cheap. And if you don't bring me to your home or else you won't take payment via bank transfer, PayPal, Revolut etc., I'm not buying. And even if you will but can't show and explain the details of the tool, I'm not buying. It's not without some element of risk, but as a good faith buyer, there's a limit to what can be done.

SkilBuilder on YouTube are talking about organising a national tool register for the UK, free of charge for users. I expect they'd be open to adding Ireland into the mix too. Advertising on the website will pay the way (tool manufacturers, builders merchants etc no doubt) and they'll be a data processor with the police forces having the ability to retrieve a tools registered ownership from it in the event they seize a stolen load etc.

While not perfect, the idea is worthy. They'll be enabling users to attach a picture of their purchase receipt using their phones when registering the tool and their ownership there. I think it has legs, as they say.

There's still a lot to be said for a bit of permanent marking. I use a dremel engraver and pick a place that's not easy to get at with a knife, card scraper or sandpaper to engrave my name and phone number into tools. I also then put a fairly innocuous mark in a few places also, old school, in a pattern of 3 dots close together.

Great tip if you tend to be sloppy writing block capitals using the engraver is to print labels (like on the little Brother or Dymo tape printers) and stick those where you want to engrave, then do it through the label. Keeps it very neat and tidy. Spotted that on a YouTube video a couple of years back and that gave me the confidence to go engraving fairly expensive stuff knowing I wasn't going to annoy myself with messy results. Hobby woodworker here. Don't judge me!

[JayZeus]

Hey JZ, you have a serious fetish for tools, you need to get that dealt with....

I'm done with the handtools and portable power tools now to be fair.

Machinery is a whole other itch waiting to be scratched.