Tools you wish you'd bought sooner...

Tools you wish you'd bought sooner...

Author
Discussion

OutInTheShed

5,109 posts

16 months

Saturday 25th March
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NextSlidePlease said:
Bill said:
I just use a reciprocating saw for that kind of thing.
Correct answer, a recip saw does very well with branches, should make short work of them. I use the Milwaukee M18 for this type of work. Great at cutting through roots as well.
Madam spent £18 on a decent manual by hand pruning saw about 3 years ago, it seems very easy to deal with 3 inch branches quicker than I can untangle a mains lead.

Recip (isn't he something in Turkey?) saw is good for many things, if you're sawing out a stump or something, it's only a £2 blade you're abusing in the dirt.

Petrol Strimmer with 'chainsaw on a stick' attachment is weapon of choice for tree-based ultraviolence.

Sometimes an axe or mattock is effective and satisfactory.

Bill

50,367 posts

245 months

Saturday 25th March
quotequote all
OutInTheShed said:
quicker than I can untangle a mains lead.
18v FTW...

heisthegaffer

2,953 posts

188 months

Tuesday 28th March
quotequote all
On the back of a previous post, I've treated myself to a Bosch 12v 6.0ah battery for my circular saw.

Also, a nebo big Larry pro RC as I'm so impressed by the other Nebo torches/lamps.

Both on special at Amazon at the moment.

shih tzu faced

2,371 posts

39 months

Tuesday 28th March
quotequote all
heisthegaffer said:
On the back of a previous post, I've treated myself to a Bosch 12v 6.0ah battery for my circular saw.
I remember that. When you’ve had a chance to use it please could you post an update with regard to whether the bigger battery makes a noticeable difference to the speed / power of the saw. Cheers thumbup

heisthegaffer

2,953 posts

188 months

Tuesday 28th March
quotequote all
shih tzu faced said:
heisthegaffer said:
On the back of a previous post, I've treated myself to a Bosch 12v 6.0ah battery for my circular saw.
I remember that. When you’ve had a chance to use it please could you post an update with regard to whether the bigger battery makes a noticeable difference to the speed / power of the saw. Cheers thumbup
I will do. I'm hoping the saw wont get bogged down so much - after all my other batteries are a few years old.

shih tzu faced

2,371 posts

39 months

Tuesday 28th March
quotequote all
^ thanks, I’ve always thought of the battery aH rating as kind of the size of the fuel tank, and the voltage (12v, 18v etc) as the size of the engine. So in theory a bigger battery should just give more run time, but several reviewers seem to think that these Bosch 6aH batteries give the tools a bit more power. Was definitely the case when in one YT video he compared batteries on the little Bosch router. Will be interesting to see what you make of it.

heisthegaffer

2,953 posts

188 months

Tuesday 28th March
quotequote all
shih tzu faced said:
^ thanks, I’ve always thought of the battery aH rating as kind of the size of the fuel tank, and the voltage (12v, 18v etc) as the size of the engine. So in theory a bigger battery should just give more run time, but several reviewers seem to think that these Bosch 6aH batteries give the tools a bit more power. Was definitely the case when in one YT video he compared batteries on the little Bosch router. Will be interesting to see what you make of it.
I don't disagree but I wonder if it feels like more power as its sustained? Either way, will report back Mate.

Teddy Lop

7,565 posts

57 months

Tuesday 28th March
quotequote all
shih tzu faced said:
^ thanks, I’ve always thought of the battery aH rating as kind of the size of the fuel tank, and the voltage (12v, 18v etc) as the size of the engine. So in theory a bigger battery should just give more run time, but several reviewers seem to think that these Bosch 6aH batteries give the tools a bit more power. Was definitely the case when in one YT video he compared batteries on the little Bosch router. Will be interesting to see what you make of it.
This is the logic behind the milwaukee high output batteries compared the standard range - better cooling and construction means they deliver more current under high demand where standard batteries start to hit their limit. And it works too, they're essential for some of the really big stuff but a lot of the chunkier tools benefit. I would have bought more HO batteries and fewer norms but when I initially queried there's a lot of ignorance in the trade over exactly what they do.

bodhi

8,757 posts

219 months

Tuesday 28th March
quotequote all
shih tzu faced said:
heisthegaffer said:
On the back of a previous post, I've treated myself to a Bosch 12v 6.0ah battery for my circular saw.
I remember that. When you’ve had a chance to use it please could you post an update with regard to whether the bigger battery makes a noticeable difference to the speed / power of the saw. Cheers thumbup
I think it does with Bosch, as when I was looking at a proper drill the "Universal Hammer" needed at least a 4.0 ah to work.

Also from what I can just about work out from General Gassing, bigger batteries make motors go faster.

pquinn

5,865 posts

36 months

Tuesday 28th March
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Depending on the construction of the pack a higher capacity one can be capable of supplying more current for the same voltage rating which can mean a tool can draw what it needs to instead of being limited by the pack.

Sometimes the difference is down to the rating of the individual cells being a bit higher, sometimes it's because there's two (or more) sets of cells in parallel, sometimes it's a bit of both.

Captain Answer

1,324 posts

177 months

Wednesday 29th March
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Teddy Lop said:
shih tzu faced said:
^ thanks, I’ve always thought of the battery aH rating as kind of the size of the fuel tank, and the voltage (12v, 18v etc) as the size of the engine. So in theory a bigger battery should just give more run time, but several reviewers seem to think that these Bosch 6aH batteries give the tools a bit more power. Was definitely the case when in one YT video he compared batteries on the little Bosch router. Will be interesting to see what you make of it.
This is the logic behind the milwaukee high output batteries compared the standard range - better cooling and construction means they deliver more current under high demand where standard batteries start to hit their limit. And it works too, they're essential for some of the really big stuff but a lot of the chunkier tools benefit. I would have bought more HO batteries and fewer norms but when I initially queried there's a lot of ignorance in the trade over exactly what they do.
There's a similar theory to this in the Makita LXT, the 5amp/h apparently can deliver the most ooomph of out of the batteries in the range, even above the 6amp/h

Not sure I've seen it first had myself, I've used my 3amp/h and also got Parkside battery converters to use with my LXT tools and they all seem to perform well but maybe I don't use them enough to tell the difference

5s Alive

1,265 posts

24 months

Wednesday 29th March
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I have a few Worx tools and there's a noticeable power difference between 2 and 4Ah batteries. Most obvious with the Hydroshot, impact wrench, hedge trimmer and leaf blower.

loudlashadjuster

4,711 posts

174 months

Wednesday 29th March
quotequote all
Yeah, my original Makita combi came with 2 x 1.5 Ah batteries (5 cells) and they are fine for general drilling etc. up to 8mm or so, and nice and light to boot, but you definitely notice the extra oomph with the 3.0 and upwards (10 cells) when doing something more chunky. The additional current the parallelised cells can dump is significant.

The small batteria are ten years old now and despite being at turns hammered, abused, or ignored for long periods, they still perform well enough for the lighter jobs. They basically surrender if I attach them to the SDS though smile

crossie

187 posts

227 months

Wednesday 29th March
quotequote all
Teddy Lop said:
NextSlidePlease said:
Bill said:
I just use a reciprocating saw for that kind of thing.
Correct answer, a recip saw does very well with branches, should make short work of them. I use the Milwaukee M18 for this type of work. Great at cutting through roots as well.
Yeh, but you're gonna look a bit of a tit come the zombie apocalypse with a pruner aren't you?

For me I had a tree to compartmentalise but I can't really justify extending my milwaukee kit, so $40 of chineseum fury with an M18 battery plate bodged on it was:

Do you have a link on where to buy one?

bucksmanuk

2,230 posts

160 months

Wednesday 29th March
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Yet again - this thread is costing me a fortune…. banghead

GeneralBanter

263 posts

5 months

Wednesday 29th March
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I’ve just bought a tachometer (rev counter) gauge to set up timing and carbs without having to constantly check the dash counter that I know is wrong. The interesting thing is no one actually makes a good one with a dial any more - they’re either digital so they will be all over the place or they’re also on an induction loop on a plug lead which will be all over the place again depending on how many loops you do.
So, eBay wins again with a 30 year old thing with a needle that won’t waver and will outlast the Chinese tat.

colin_p

4,037 posts

202 months

Wednesday 29th March
quotequote all
GeneralBanter said:
I’ve just bought a tachometer (rev counter) gauge to set up timing and carbs without having to constantly check the dash counter that I know is wrong. The interesting thing is no one actually makes a good one with a dial any more - they’re either digital so they will be all over the place or they’re also on an induction loop on a plug lead which will be all over the place again depending on how many loops you do.
So, eBay wins again with a 30 year old thing with a needle that won’t waver and will outlast the Chinese tat.
thumbup

Good find, there is just something nice about all things analogue.

WrekinCrew

4,007 posts

140 months

Wednesday 29th March
quotequote all
V12GT said:
Any views on pruners...
If you have some surplus fingers how about the scary-looking Dewalt



AvE has a teardown review on Youtube - it's quite impressive

colin_p

4,037 posts

202 months

Wednesday 29th March
quotequote all
I recently bought a Henry hoover (I know it should be vacuum, but a monkey is not given).

I've had various 'shop' vacs over the years, they all either broke, burnt out or were crap.

This Henry, the 15ltr XL version to be precise is a revelation in terms of performance, hopefully it will prove to be equally as tough.

Teddy Lop

7,565 posts

57 months

Wednesday 29th March
quotequote all
crossie said:
Teddy Lop said:
NextSlidePlease said:
Bill said:
I just use a reciprocating saw for that kind of thing.
Correct answer, a recip saw does very well with branches, should make short work of them. I use the Milwaukee M18 for this type of work. Great at cutting through roots as well.
Yeh, but you're gonna look a bit of a tit come the zombie apocalypse with a pruner aren't you?

For me I had a tree to compartmentalise but I can't really justify extending my milwaukee kit, so $40 of chineseum fury with an M18 battery plate bodged on it was:

Do you have a link on where to buy one?
Pretty sure it was aliexpress