Tools you wish you'd bought sooner...

[psi310398]

skilly1 said:

Which model is the sprayer- I need one !

This is the kit I got and I bought the extra canister as well.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wagner-XVLP-3500-230v-h...

[warch]

Mr Dendrite said:

A grubbing mattock, bought one last year on recommendation, to dig out a few bushes/small tree roots. The hours I could have saved in years gone by! A wonderfullly basic brutal tool that does exactly what it should!

I'm an archaeologist and mattocks are a basic tool for field work. I've gone mechanical for grubbing out, someone gave me one of these which will shift even quite large tree boles in minutes.



My vote is also the angle grinder, it was a revelation in the mid 90s when I first used one (essential if you own an old Land Rover). I actually cut up an entire car (Mini) into manageable chunks I could handball into a skip.

[guindilias]

A remote level sensor for my well, so I don't have to trek up the hill and lift the cover to see what the water level is like - now I just press a button in the kitchen and get an instant readout.

[Xaero]

Multi-piece small screw set. I use it all the time for fixing kids toys and a few jobs at work. iFixit website have sets, but they are for sell on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2P5WPoE. I use it at least once a week for something.

[untakenname]

Completely forgot about the USB endoscope, nowadays you can get a HD one that will work with your smart phone for less than a tenner.
Good for putting down sparkplug holes and also general DIY like seeing if you have a rat infestation under your floorboards...

[CypSIdders]

Crumpet said:

Nice comparison, thanks. I wonder to what extent a decent blade would narrow the gap? I was told a decent Freud would really improve the cut and for the sake of an extra £40 might be worth a try.

It will, guaranteed, I've recently fitted one of these to my cheapish table saw:-



The difference is hard to comprehend, the overused phrase "like a knife through butter", really does apply!
It cuts faster, it's quieter, more accurate and leaves a superb finish on cross cuts and rip cuts.
I'll be fitting one to my mitre saw as soon as possible.
It really is worth every single penny!

[Drumroll]

Another one here, who has found a decent Freud blade massively improved a cheap circular saw

[DrDeAtH]

Another vote for the Freud blade. They are all I have used for years..

[ben5575]

EggsBenedict said:

Mitre Saw stand - did without one for ages, but this just speeds up work massively by holding timber at the right height and stopping stuff falling. Bought as I bought a new chopsaw, and thought 'sod it, i'll get a stand with this one' : https://www.toolstop.co.uk/metabo-ksu251-legstand-...

These are amazing. Seen so many builders messing around cutting stuff on the floor/tables etc. I bought one when cutting some timber cladding.

Also yes to this:

Mr Dendrite said:

A grubbing mattock, bought one last year on recommendation, to dig out a few bushes/small tree roots. The hours I could have saved in years gone by! A wonderfullly basic brutal tool that does exactly what it should!

And this as well.

mart 63 said:

Makita cordless reciprocating saw

[jimPH]

psi310398 said:

The Wagner XVLP paint spraying kit. A massive time-saver and, for me, a much, much better result than painting manually.



I'm renovating a house and garden and have many tens of square meters of walls and ceilings to do. I also have a bad back.

It is an absolute godsend and the finishes in emulsion, eggshell and exterior are excellent, even with the poncy paints - Little Greene, Fired Earth etc. It's also very easy to clean and maintain.

In the past, if hand or roller painting, I'd have prevaricated a long time before getting started on any painting.

I spend considerably more time masking things in a room than I do spraying it. I can apply a coat to the four walls of a double bedroom in about fifteen to twenty minutes. I can then apply another coat in a couple of hours.

When you consider the start to finish time, how long does it take you?

Mask, demask, fill and clean gun etc..

[mark beavan]

Post hole diggers. Five times faster than using a spade, smaller hole dug and the spoil is so much easier to remove from the hole. Just takes a hole or two to get used to using them.

[psi310398]

jimPH said:

When you consider the start to finish time, how long does it take you?

Mask, demask, fill and clean gun etc..

Assuming a typical double bedroom, I'd guess I'd take around three/four hours per room but breaking down the tasks:

Decanting furniture etc - 20 minutes
Reinstalling furniture 20 minutes
Demounting rad and remounting - 30 minutes

Sugar soaping walls - 1 hr
Masking - Assuming, 1 door, 1 window: 40 minutes if walls and ceiling same colour, 80 minutes if cornicing/ceiling needs to be protected - but will depend on how much you want to mask up: I find I can spray faster if mask up the whole of the window from one side of the frame across the pane to the other side.
Demasking 10 minutes

Diluting paint and filling gun - 5 minutes max
Refilling pot- 1 minute per fill
Testing fan pattern after each fill - up to 2 minutes

Three coats of paint - say a hour and a half/two hours of elapsed time (but I'd probably be sugar soaping or masking off another room during the pauses)

Cleaning pot at end - 5 minutes of rinsing in warm water.
Cleaning gun thoroughly, including needle/pipe uptake etc (if emulsion/Weathershield) - 10-15 minutes (and possibly the same time again, if clearing a blockage, which happens seldom)
Cleaning gun if water-based eggshell 20-25 minutes
Cleaning gun if oil-based paint 20-25 minutes.

If you demount them and pin a piece of wood to the top to prop them upright, you can do five sanded and prepped doors (both sides and edges) in water-based eggshell in an hour and half/two hours, of which an hour to an hour and a half is drying time. Mildly diluted gloss slightly longer for drying.

[jimPH]

psi310398 said:

jimPH said:

When you consider the start to finish time, how long does it take you?

Mask, demask, fill and clean gun etc..

Assuming a typical double bedroom, I'd guess I'd take around three/four hours per room but breaking down the tasks:

Decanting furniture etc - 20 minutes
Reinstalling furniture 20 minutes
Demounting rad and remounting - 30 minutes

Sugar soaping walls - 1 hr
Masking - Assuming, 1 door, 1 window: 40 minutes if walls and ceiling same colour, 80 minutes if cornicing/ceiling needs to be protected - but will depend on how much you want to mask up: I find I can spray faster if mask up the whole of the window from one side of the frame across the pane to the other side.
Demasking 10 minutes

Diluting paint and filling gun - 5 minutes max
Refilling pot- 1 minute per fill
Testing fan pattern after each fill - up to 2 minutes

Three coats of paint - say a hour and a half/two hours of elapsed time (but I'd probably be sugar soaping or masking off another room during the pauses)

Cleaning pot at end - 5 minutes of rinsing in warm water.
Cleaning gun thoroughly, including needle/pipe uptake etc (if emulsion/Weathershield) - 10-15 minutes (and possibly the same time again, if clearing a blockage, which happens seldom)
Cleaning gun if water-based eggshell 20-25 minutes
Cleaning gun if oil-based paint 20-25 minutes.

If you demount them and pin a piece of wood to the top to prop them upright, you can do five sanded and prepped doors (both sides and edges) in water-based eggshell in an hour and half/two hours, of which an hour to an hour and a half is drying time. Mildly diluted gloss slightly longer for drying.

Appreciate the detailed response, thanks. Looks like a good system worth serious consideration.

[guindilias]

Xaero said:

Multi-piece small screw set. I use it all the time for fixing kids toys and a few jobs at work. iFixit website have sets, but they are for sell on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2P5WPoE. I use it at least once a week for something.

Mine is arriving today - I'm a sucker for decent tools for fixing laptops etc. after years of using this sort of thing -

[pistonheadforum]

-Etekcity Lasergrip 1080 Non-contact Digital Laser IR Infrared Thermometer, -50°C ~ 550°C ( -58°F~1022°F ), Yellow/Black

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01AT9TM3M

£15 or so and how it works still boggles the mind!

-Leica laser distance measuring tool (just cos it's Leica and feels special!)

-Pipe/stud/electrical detector - a must before getting the drill out

[dickymint]

mark beavan said:

Post hole diggers. Five times faster than using a spade, smaller hole dug and the spoil is so much easier to remove from the hole. Just takes a hole or two to get used to using them.

Excellent for planting Potatoes too

[anonymous-user]

Mr Dendrite said:

A grubbing mattock, bought one last year on recommendation, to dig out a few bushes/small tree roots. The hours I could have saved in years gone by! A wonderfullly basic brutal tool that does exactly what it should!

Another vote for a Mattock, I bought the Roughneck Micro Mattock from Wickes for less than £10, and it has become my most used garden tool.

[dmsims]

psi310398 said:

skilly1 said:

Which model is the sprayer- I need one !

This is the kit I got and I bought the extra canister as well.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wagner-XVLP-3500-230v-h...

Slightly cheaper alternative

https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb561srg-700w-...

[Mark Benson]

tim0409 said:

At the cheaper end of the scale, my friend owns a hardware shop and one of the reps left a GripIt Marxman as a sample which he passed on to me - I use it all the time now!

These really are useful, you can squirt them through small holes and mark exactly where to drill - wouldn't be without mine for DIY.

I do a fair amount of furniture making as a hobby and I recently bought a planer thicknesser, I can now buy hardwood for half the price I could previously as I can prepare them myself. Not really a DIY tool but I'll save myself the cost of the machine within a year just in material costs.

[psi310398]

dmsims said:

psi310398 said:

skilly1 said:

Which model is the sprayer- I need one !

This is the kit I got and I bought the extra canister as well.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wagner-XVLP-3500-230v-h...

Slightly cheaper alternative

https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb561srg-700w-...

I like Erbauer products on the whole - reasonably priced and robust. The Erbauer looks fine as a fence/wood sprayer but I see less mention of domestic paint applications in the reviews.

Prospective purchasers for house painting might want to do some further research on the paint needles.

I can't speak for the Erbauer system but the Wagner system has three different application guns/pots, each designed/optimised for different roles.

There are some Wagner YouTube clips BTW with a Scouse decorator and several Australian ones.