Tools you wish you'd bought sooner...

[dickymint]

skwdenyer said:

hotchy said:

Yea you've used it on more demanding jobs than me then haha.

Got a job next week laying a floor... sounding like a pro here (I'm not a pro and wished I never let my parents see my floor as now iv to do there entire house.. yay..) but hopefully it burns out undercutting all the doors so I can upgrade.

Don't do it (trim the door with it). There are special tools for that job; if you can't justify one, just take the door off and trim it with a track saw. If you don't have a track saw, a circular saw will do (clamp a piece of wood on to use as a guide). If you don't have any of those tools then...

take the door off saw it and plane it - a multi tool would be like using a chainsaw to cut cut bread.

[hotchy]

skwdenyer said:

hotchy said:

Yea you've used it on more demanding jobs than me then haha.

Got a job next week laying a floor... sounding like a pro here (I'm not a pro and wished I never let my parents see my floor as now iv to do there entire house.. yay..) but hopefully it burns out undercutting all the doors so I can upgrade.

Don't do it (trim the door with it). There are special tools for that job; if you can't justify one, just take the door off and trim it with a track saw. If you don't have a track saw, a circular saw will do (clamp a piece of wood on to use as a guide). If you don't have any of those tools then...

Sorry not the actual door, meant the frame. Iv got a planer for the door.

Used it a couple times when making a planter last night out of my old stair handrail stuff. Thought I done a good job considering iv never made anything in my life.



(Full disclosure. Your not getting to see the not so neat back end, that's getting hid against the fence)

Edited by hotchy on Thursday 2nd July 07:18

[Djtemeka]

dickymint said:

Multi tool are ok (Makita so goes with the rest of my kit) and can get you out of a fix and save time. But for any job that requires neatness then it's my last choice! How anybody can claim they can trim the bottom off a door accurately beggars belief.

I wouldn’t trim a door with it but would trim the bottom of the architrave with it.

Our a piece of underlay with a piece of the new floor on the floor by the architrave then use that as a guide for the blade. Perfect every time.

[hotchy]

Djtemeka said:

dickymint said:

Multi tool are ok (Makita so goes with the rest of my kit) and can get you out of a fix and save time. But for any job that requires neatness then it's my last choice! How anybody can claim they can trim the bottom off a door accurately beggars belief.

I wouldn’t trim a door with it but would trim the bottom of the architrave with it.

Our a piece of underlay with a piece of the new floor on the floor by the architrave then use that as a guide for the blade. Perfect every time.

This is what I meant by door. Id never trim an actual door with it. I knew what I meant though

[ben5575]

Ynox said:

Edit - also picked up a cheap 2nd fix nail gun from Screwfix. No idea if it'll be any good yet.

I bought one of those a few weeks ago. I haven't used it in anger yet (bought to fix a load of timber cladding to the inside of a room - it'll look better than it sounds...!), but it didn't like putting nails in the side of a bunk bed to hang some fairy lights up for my daughter.

Jammed repeatedly. Jury's out atm.

[skwdenyer]

ben5575 said:

Ynox said:

Edit - also picked up a cheap 2nd fix nail gun from Screwfix. No idea if it'll be any good yet.

I bought one of those a few weeks ago. I haven't used it in anger yet (bought to fix a load of timber cladding to the inside of a room - it'll look better than it sounds...!), but it didn't like putting nails in the side of a bunk bed to hang some fairy lights up for my daughter.

Jammed repeatedly. Jury's out atm.

Which one did you get? I have an electric nailer bought many years ago that was never quite as good as I needed it to be - the only place it really scores is in pinning-on the backs of IKEA kitchen cabinets (useful, but not worth buying just for that).

I guess the problem is we all want a mighty Paslode for cheap?

[ben5575]

skwdenyer said:

Which one did you get?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb517stp-25mm-se...

[jas xjr]

ben5575 said:

I bought one of those a few weeks ago. I haven't used it in anger yet (bought to fix a load of timber cladding to the inside of a room - it'll look better than it sounds...!), but it didn't like putting nails in the side of a bunk bed to hang some fairy lights up for my daughter.

Jammed repeatedly. Jury's out atm.

Tackwise offer a good range of nail guns.rarely jam

[Djtemeka]

hotchy said:

This is what I meant by door. Id never trim an actual door with it. I knew what I meant though

[Ynox]

ben5575 said:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb517stp-25mm-se...

Used this tonight to pin together some OSB for shuttering for concreting posts in. 30mm DeWalt 18ga nails and it worked OK. Definitely worth the £ for me.

Jury is out how long it'll last for. I've got a load of shiplap to put up so we'll see.

Also used my new Makita circular saw tonight. Great bit of kit - light, compact, sufficiently powerful.

Also picked up a Titan elcheapo SDS this morning from Screwfix (in the middle of a big construction job here). I was beating the st out of my Bosch SDS and decided it was better to write off a £50 cheapo SDS than a £150 Bosch one (I'm using it to break up rock hard soil for fence posts).

[Dont like rolls]

Ynox said:

Used this tonight to pin together some OSB for shuttering for concreting posts in. 30mm DeWalt 18ga nails and it worked OK. Definitely worth the £ for me.

Jury is out how long it'll last for. I've got a load of shiplap to put up so we'll see.

Also used my new Makita circular saw tonight. Great bit of kit - light, compact, sufficiently powerful.

Also picked up a Titan elcheapo SDS this morning from Screwfix (in the middle of a big construction job here). I was beating the st out of my Bosch SDS and decided it was better to write off a £50 cheapo SDS than a £150 Bosch one (I'm using it to break up rock hard soil for fence posts).

Use one of these then


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chisel-Digging-Concrete-W...

[skwdenyer]

Ynox said:

Used this tonight to pin together some OSB for shuttering for concreting posts in. 30mm DeWalt 18ga nails and it worked OK. Definitely worth the £ for me.

Jury is out how long it'll last for. I've got a load of shiplap to put up so we'll see.

Also used my new Makita circular saw tonight. Great bit of kit - light, compact, sufficiently powerful.

Also picked up a Titan elcheapo SDS this morning from Screwfix (in the middle of a big construction job here). I was beating the st out of my Bosch SDS and decided it was better to write off a £50 cheapo SDS than a £150 Bosch one (I'm using it to break up rock hard soil for fence posts).

You share the SDS approach with me. Maybe a little late, but let me share my experience on SDS drills

Assuming you're using it as a breaker (with a chisel), some of the cheapo brands use a mechanical hammer linkage; others use a pneumatic one.

The former deliver a substantially more effective percussion shock to the job, and will respond to being given a firm push. The downside is that the mechanical linkage eventually gives up - I got through 2 of these £50 drills that way. These types can usually be identified by a removable circular cover above the "hammer chamber" into which you can (and I would say must!) add grease to lengthen the life of the mechanism.

The latter don't break down but, at the same time, don't deliver the sort of "punch" you'd expect given their weight. And, being pneumatic, if you give them a firm enough push they basically stop hammering. Fine for drilling, not so good for breaking.

Having experimented widely, I concluded that a £50 hire-shop Hilti was worth its weight in gold - it did in 1 day what I couldn't do in a week with the cheapo SDS drills - but equally the opportunity cost of having a burly SDS to hand was also valuable for many other jobs.

If you're using them as drills (with an auger bit, say, for the ground) then instead we're into the finer points of clutch performance - some of those mechanical cheapo SDS units don't have clutches, so you can easily break your wrist...

[Lily the Pink]

skwdenyer said:

Assuming you're using it as a breaker (with a chisel), some of the cheapo brands use a mechanical hammer linkage; others use a pneumatic one.

The former deliver a substantially more effective percussion shock to the job, and will respond to being given a firm push. The downside is that the mechanical linkage eventually gives up - I got through 2 of these £50 drills that way. These types can usually be identified by a removable circular cover above the "hammer chamber" into which you can (and I would say must!) add grease to lengthen the life of the mechanism.

The latter don't break down but, at the same time, don't deliver the sort of "punch" you'd expect given their weight. And, being pneumatic, if you give them a firm enough push they basically stop hammering. Fine for drilling, not so good for breaking.

Having experimented widely, I concluded that a £50 hire-shop Hilti was worth its weight in gold - it did in 1 day what I couldn't do in a week with the cheapo SDS drills - but equally the opportunity cost of having a burly SDS to hand was also valuable for many other jobs.

If you're just looking for a demolition tool, this is currently cheap enough to be disposable (I paid about twice that for mine and it's lasting well) https://www.diy.com/departments/mac-allister-1500w...

[loughran]

dickymint said:

ATG said:

Dont like rolls said:

I normally do not bother with ear defenders when using power tools for a short time, but multi-tools I use them from the first turn on....unpleasant (but useful) tools.

I'd put ear defenders near the top of my list of "tools I wish I'd bought sooner". Even things like mowing the grass are a heck of a lot more relaxed with then on. Breathing masks and eye protection are generally a bit of a pain and tend to make work more difficult. Ear defenders not only protect your hearing but they generally make the work more comfortable and make it easier to concentrate.

I'm currently trying to find a pair with Bluetooth headphones built in as wearing ear buds under ear defenders can get a little uncomfortable. But they don't seem to be a thing, probably because of some namby pamby bedwetting "if you need ear protection, you should be concentrating on what you're doing, not listening to Kylie" nonsense. Unless of course you go for some "tactical" ones aimed at American gun enthusiasts. Apparently it's safe for them to be listening to Kylie while out hunting moose.

Look no further...........

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/headband-headph...

I wear them all the time in the workshop (can be very noisy) quite often without music or radio - noise cancelling is fantastic and connected to phone is useful.

+1 for the Sony WH1000XM3. I wear them all day everyday and listen to BBC Sounds or Spotify or podcasts instead of listening to NOISE.


Highly recommended.

[Matt Harper]

For those of us who are not lanky freaks of nature, this tire step is brilliantly simple and extremely useful when working on vehicles that have a higher ride-height than a regular car.

[guindilias]

Hmm, do you have a link to buy that?

[Matt Harper]

guindilias said:

Hmm, do you have a link to buy that?

I'm US based and bought mine from Northern Tool, but you can get one on Amazon...

https://www.powerbuilt.com/products/powerbuilt-tir...

[skwdenyer]

Lily the Pink said:

If you're just looking for a demolition tool, this is currently cheap enough to be disposable (I paid about twice that for mine and it's lasting well) https://www.diy.com/departments/mac-allister-1500w...

Good spot! Sadly out of stock

[guindilias]

Matt Harper said:

I'm US based and bought mine from Northern Tool, but you can get one on Amazon...

https://www.powerbuilt.com/products/powerbuilt-tir...

Just bought the Sealey one, will report back after I have fallen off it and fractured my skull.

[dmsims]

Any thoughts on this ?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/reekon/m1-cal...