Tool Time

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

It's that time to refinance and spend money I don't have to revitalize the garage

with new toolz. I spend many years just collecting what meager tools I have to do the job, ie

Old Toolz

My 20 year old Ohio Forge 10" table saw was rusty and I almost threw it away

5+ years ago. Being cheap, I refinished it. I threw away the broken legs, sanded

the surface, planarized the top the best I can, bought a $300 Vega 'long stroke'

fence, built a cabinet out of plywood with dust collection chambers, installed six

heavy duty casters and built a router table on it with it's own slide on fence for

dust collection... whew! ... Not pretty but very functional now. I made

a custom sled, snagged an Incra miter, all is good. Analyzing the situation,

I think I need a bigger sled that spans both sides of the saw.

Then came the need for a router, I snagged a Porter Cable 3 horse fixed router

and proceeded to collect about $1000 worth of Whiteside router bits.

My jigsaw was a five finger discount from work, 20 years ago. An ancient Makita,

still works but a newer one would be nice.

Black and Decker drill. Ancient piece that needs replacement.

Dust collection? A DIY seperator/filter with shop vac, works nice but not

a real dust collection system with 6" piping.

Air compressor? A few years back I finally dished out some cash to snag

a Sears 60 gallon. I made a station for it with esoteric filtering. I got two

free-bee desiccant dryer canisters found on some obsolete equipment at work,

I made the fittings and installed this. my filters scheme is funny to remove water

from the airline;

60 gallon tank output -> 50 foot coiled hose -> SpeedAire course air filter ->

SpeedAire fine filter -> regulator -> 'toilet paper filter' -> desiccant canister #1 ->

desiccant canister #2 -> valve -> output

The coiled hose is a 'poor mans' intercooler as you can place the coiled hose

in ice water in the hot summer day. Or, get a secondary tank as intercooler.

Many ideas.

Last year I snagged a tall Jet drill press, woo hoo, how can you live without one?

New Toolz {not cordless}

I want new toolz........ Tentative plan is;

Dewalt DW718 12' sliding compound miter saw.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ASG8A8/ref=ord_cart_shr/104-7427542-3463918?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance&n=228013

Porter Cable 3 horse plunge router.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000222V7/qid=1141792882/sr=1-16/ref=sr_1_16/104-7427542-3463918?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=228013

Bosch 4" x 24" belt sander.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000223H9/ref=ord_cart_shr/104-7427542-3463918?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance&n=228013

Milwaukee electric screwdriver.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005Q7AT/ref=ord_cart_shr/104-7427542-3463918?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance&n=228013

Milwaukee Sawzall.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009RWLGU/ref=ord_cart_shr/104-7427542-3463918?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance&n=228013

Milwaukee 1/2" heavy duty drill.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005Q7AH/ref=ord_cart_shr/104-7427542-3463918?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A2LM8ZC59IT9RX&v=glance&n=228013

Milwaukee "super hawg" drill.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006AGPX/ref=ord_cart_shr/104-7427542-3463918?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance&n=228013

Grizzly combo sander, 12" disc, Belt sander.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G1183

Grizzly spinder sander. {unsure}

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0538

2HP dust collector, I like this because of the 2.5 micron filter, pricy.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G1029Z

I need a new jig saw, I have to check it out.

Suggestions, ideas, comments, etc.

Click to read more...

 

[Showrides]

Tools are great!!!

You can never have enough. Nice list you got there.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Bosch Jig saw hands down.

nG

 

[rocky 59 5,000+ posts]

harbor frieght was my best friend i got a 175 amp mig welder, a 60 gallon campell hausfield air compressor, a 10 ton shop press, 8 ton shop crane, a huge snad blasting cabinet, and a creeper for under 2 grand. this was over time of course but you cant beat the prices and its a life time warrenty.

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

Ultimate boner saw

I ain't buying this stuff, but it's neat.

Grizzly 12" sliding table saw

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0460

Sawtrax dual arm saw

http://www.sawtrax.com/page44.html

Sawtrax mitering beam saw

http://www.sawtrax.com/Page25.html

Watch the sawtrax videos. Expensive stuff but big boner stuff.

The design is so simple, they took a Matika 16" circular saw and made

a linear guide/table for it. They want $4k for the dual arm saw, the

Matika circular is ~$600 which can be bought seperately.

This ignited an explosion in my head to 're-invent' the Radial Arm saw

which is slowly dying over time as the SCMS is taking over.

Here is the problem as I see it. There are situations for using a table saw,

radial arm saw or sliding compound miter saw {SCMS}.

Table saw disavantage: You have to push the material through the blade,

this is difficult to do if the material is heavy. Ever push 1" thick 4x8 MDF ?

not sweet. Solution? sliding table saw. Who can afford $3500 for one, a saw that weights 1000 pounds. Panel saw? that would work well perhaps. Takes up alot of garage real estate.

Radial Arm saw disavantage: short crosscutting stroke. Even the big beasts

that cost $5k ore more can't even crosscut a 4x8 sheet of wood, they fall short

by a wide margin.

SCMS disavantage: Short stroke also.

What the woodworking guy needs is a new long stroking, compact,

radial arm saw with 16" blade. One idea is to make a 3 stage

linear guide, a telescoping precision guide where each section stokes

16" .. when the saw is not in use, it telescoped back into it's compact

shape, but can extend out to crosscut a sheet of 4x8 plywood, 48".

The table will have an extender on a ball bearing slide with casters and you

just pull out the extender for said wood size.

If we can design such a beast with universal circular saw adapter plate,

you have a winner! Imagine, get any frikin circular saw and install it,

viola' instant 48" stroking radial arm saw that collapses into a small 2 foot square

workspace when not in use.

The trick is the linear slide, it can't have any deflection across a 48" span.

That is the heart of the design and the most difficult. I spent 2 days brainstorming

three ideas, but I just don't have time for 100% dedication to this. Maybe a forum

pet project and see what we can do in 12-24 months? /hehehe

/wonders if the guide idea is patentable or if there is one already?

/wonders if a product exists on the market now? I can't find one .. but is there one?

research = power

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

Bosch Jig saw hands down.
nG

I've been hearing thsi on forums for a year now. What's the skinny?

What makes them so highly recommended over competition?

Any Bosch or is there a specific model to check out?

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

This one is tits.

http://www.boschtools.com/tools/tools-detail.htm?H=175981&G=54927&I=55130

I use it, and love it.

nG

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

I'll look into the jigsaws tommorrow.

Tonite I was checking 4" x 24" belt sanders.

Narrowed the choice down to two. Variable speed a must, lightweight a bonus.

Makita; {10 pound}

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000056NOA/ref=ord_cart_shr/104-7427542-3463918?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A3REKJCJFKDI0B&v=glance&n=228013

Bosch; {13 pound}

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000223H9/ref=ord_cart_shr/104-7427542-3463918?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance&n=228013

I discounted the Porter Cable as it's clunky looking. Dust collector seems to be on the wrong side.

Milwaukee is another interesting beast of a sander, pretty heavy and no variable speed. Dewalt has

nothing to offer.

Leaning towards the Makita but the Bosch looks juicy too.

Edit: ordered the Bosch. Amazon.com wouldn't offer free shipping nor their 10% discount on the Makita,

but for the Bosch they did. Price delta is over $50 cheaper with Bosch.

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

Ran into an Amazon.com snafu. I placed an order for one item and got

the discount, later I came back to find more goodies and there is no discount,

'one per customer' in fine print it says. Is that one order per customer or one

tool per customer? So, I logged into the wife's account and ordered the rest

and got the discound for all. /strange.

I snagged the Bosch jigsaw, but snagged the drill cheaper on Ebay.

I didn't snag the grizzly or dust collector yet, still thinking on those.

Phase1 'tool buying' damage complete. /yikes {check's in the mail}

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

The garage workshop facelift continues. Ordered another tool.

$479

http://www.wmhtoolgroup.com/index.cfm?area=shop&action=detail&iid=12914

Final price out the door, $404 -> Amazon has a new tool special, $75 off >= $300 tool, free shipping.

Shipping is normally $87... heavy item.

*You can save more cash by not ordering the storage cabinet base.

I need a spindle sander, I like this one but it's very expensive.

http://www.wmhtoolgroup.com/index.cfm?area=shop&action=detail&iid=11730