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Squibbles posted:New circular saw trip report:
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Jan 31, 2014 03:48
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I always find the laser makes it impossible to see the pencil marks.
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Jan 31, 2014 13:41
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Slugworth posted:Do you find that Milwaukee sort of heavy and cumbersome? I think I have the same model, and while it is a great saw, I shy away from it in favor of my lighter dewalt a lot. It's kind of heavy I guess but I think it's actually lighter than the saw I had before so not so bad. It seems easy enough to control since most of the weight is taken by the work piece anyway. As for how I was cutting free hand, I was trying to line up the mark on the front of the shoe with my cut line. There's no markers on the back to align and it would be tough to try and watch the blade itself without getting a face full of saw dust. I did most of the cuts using a straight edge, I was just wondering if there was a way to do it free hand.
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Jan 31, 2014 18:36
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Squibbles posted:As for how I was cutting free hand, I was trying to line up the mark on the front of the shoe with my cut line. There's no markers on the back to align and it would be tough to try and watch the blade itself without getting a face full of saw dust. I did most of the cuts using a straight edge, I was just wondering if there was a way to do it free hand.
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Jan 31, 2014 19:12
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Lots of practice. I cut plywood free hand all the time for framing, and I can get close enough for that. For a finished edge I would always use a straightedge. For the issue of the shoe not being parallel to the blade, on our Dewalt and the B&D that it was based on, it pivots on a ball joint on the end of a bolt, which is adjustable. Turning it in or out moved the motor, and therefore the blade in relation to the shoe. Maybe yours is similar.
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Jan 31, 2014 19:22
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I went a bit... woodworking crazy this winter and decided to take advantage of homedepot's clearance sale. My wife is going to kill me, but now I finally have a track saw and hollow chisel mortise. Some of it showed up today. I'll review them after I actually get to use them. 
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Feb 1, 2014 00:05
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Kant Twist spotted!
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Feb 1, 2014 02:07
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Squibbles posted:New circular saw trip report: I used to use the notch or a speed square or a straight edge but then I took a class in framing. The instructor had us sight off the blade following a straight pencil line. My cuts are much straighter now, I just make sure I've got the sole plate snugged up against the surface and sight through the side of the saw (either side depending on orientation, tougher from the back side tho') to follow the pencil line.
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Feb 1, 2014 03:39
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t_violet posted:I used to use the notch or a speed square or a straight edge but then I took a class in framing. The instructor had us sight off the blade following a straight pencil line. My cuts are much straighter now, I just make sure I've got the sole plate snugged up against the surface and sight through the side of the saw (either side depending on orientation, tougher from the back side tho') to follow the pencil line. Good info, thanks  Oh, I learned something else today (not saw related this time). Irwin bar clamps: Not so good I picked up a couple of 36" bar clamps at Home Depot on thursday and today I was tightening one of them down, not even particularly hard and it broke! I went and exchanged it at Home Depot with no problems but I'm thinking of just returning both of them for a refund now that I see how weak that particular part of the clamp is compared to the ones they sell at Lee Valley. First, the Irwin clamp, the part that presses against the bar as you turn the hand screw to tighten seen in the picture below:  I tightened it down and heard a pop and all of a sudden the clamp was quite loose. Turned out that little bit of metal had snapped. 2 little bits of metal broke off, It broke along the red lines in this picture:  And now here's an equivalent clamp as sold by Lee Valley. Note how much thicker that little metal bit is:  Both claims claim to be able to do 600lbs of clamping force but the Irwin wasn't able to do anything close to that. Not like I measured but I really wasn't screwing it down very hard at all. I'll try to use them for the rest of this project and see how they hold up.
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Feb 2, 2014 05:03
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Squibbles posted:Both claims claim to be able to do 600lbs of clamping force but the Irwin wasn't able to do anything close to that. Not like I measured but I really wasn't screwing it down very hard at all. I'll try to use them for the rest of this project and see how they hold up. No experience with Irwins but I have Pony clamps that are over a decade old, used and abused, and are still going strong.
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Feb 2, 2014 07:31
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wormil posted:No experience with Irwins but I have Pony clamps that are over a decade old, used and abused, and are still going strong. Throwing in my appreciation for Pony clamps as well. Their smaller bar clamps are produced under Jorgensen and I've yet to find better clamps or know anyone else who has. The ones that I have had to replace are due to being dropped from 20+ feet at the wrong angle and snapping the wooden handle so if you don't do that to them, you will have clamps that will probably outlast you.
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Feb 2, 2014 10:43
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Hmm, I may pick up some Pony pipe clamps. I see KMS tools sells them locally. I got 4 of those lee valley clamps yesterday so I think I'm set for bar clamps for now
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Feb 2, 2014 21:55
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Has anyone used any of the battery rebuilding services? Any to recommend or avoid? I have a snap on cordless impact and the 18v battery is pretty much shot. Most places seem to be about $45 if I ship it off. I tried to find a DIY one, but my specific battery was not covered.
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Feb 2, 2014 22:43
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If you are handy with a soldering iron I think it's not too hard to do yourself? A friend of mine had a nicad pack that was all run down. He popped it open and it was just made up of a bunch of smaller cells soldered together. He went to a local battery specialty place and they sold him NiMH batteries of the same size and he was able to put it together himself. They would have done it for him I think without charging too much.
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Feb 2, 2014 22:47
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Squibbles posted:If you are handy with a soldering iron I think it's not too hard to do yourself? A friend of mine had a nicad pack that was all run down. He popped it open and it was just made up of a bunch of smaller cells soldered together. He went to a local battery specialty place and they sold him NiMH batteries of the same size and he was able to put it together himself. They would have done it for him I think without charging too much. Ive thought about doing this before. Would be nice to be able to test each cell to see which went bad but I think you need fancy equipment to do that
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Feb 2, 2014 23:04
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I'm selling some DMT diamond sharpening plates in SA-Mart if anyone here has some chisels or other metal tools they need to rework.
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Feb 2, 2014 23:24
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What kind of blade would I use to cut plastic with a power miter saw? That is, if it's even possible to cut molded polystyrene with a circular saw without it melting into a blob of goo. I need to cut 30mm off 4500 euroboxes for work, prior to them having a few stickers slapped on and some holes drilled in them. I'm not sure what they're going to be used for, I am however sure that I don't want to do 4500 of the fuckers with a 15cm hacksaw. I have a Bosch PCM7, which takes 190x30mm blades. It's a 1100W 4800rpm consumer grade unit, babbies first compound miter saw kind of deal. The blade that came with it was pretty lovely and the only other blade I have with it at the moment is a 24T 'speedcut' wood blade. Which will probably just tear great big gashes out of the plastic boxes.
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Feb 3, 2014 01:26
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You can buy blades designed specifically for cutting thermoplastics without melting them. http://www.tapplastics.com/product/supplies_tools/plastic_tools_supplies/saw_blade/363
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Feb 3, 2014 01:27
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I believe that Ive heard you can put a normal blade backwards to make cuts in plastic
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Feb 3, 2014 04:07
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That sounds like a tremendously bad idea
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Feb 3, 2014 04:34
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I have 3 miter saws and would like to dedicate one to metal cutting, mostly aluminum, steel angle, light steel tubing. The internet tells me it's either a terrible idea or will be just fine if the blade is rated for the higher rpm of a miter saw designed for wood. What about an abrasive blade? Both rated above the rpm of my saw. http://www.amazon.com/Norton-Diameter-Reinforced-Abrasive-Thickness/dp/B0006NFFA6/ref=pd_cp_hi_2 http://www.amazon.com/Forney-71860-...#productDetails
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Feb 3, 2014 04:41
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wormil posted:I have 3 miter saws and would like to dedicate one to metal cutting, mostly aluminum, steel angle, light steel tubing. The internet tells me it's either a terrible idea or will be just fine if the blade is rated for the higher rpm of a miter saw designed for wood. I've used an abrasive blade in my circular saw for metal and had no problems. As long as it's rated for the RPM, go for it. I figure as long as I'm avoiding lateral stress on the blade and I'm inside the recommended RPM I'm good.
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Feb 3, 2014 05:21
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For soft, non-ferrous metals like aluminum, brass, etc. they make blades with a slightly backwards angle on the tooth, I have one for my saw and it works fantastically well, leaves a very nice clean cut with little to no burrs. And for cutting plastic, I've had zero trouble cutting pvc, hdpe, uhmw, and delrin using standard wood-working blades, on both my miter saw and my table saw. The pvc was the most sensitive, it melts extremely easily, but even with that I got through it just fine. Everything else was a dream. In fact, I cut a bunch of the hdpe with my router, too, and that was sooooo nice. After that, if I had to pick one material to work with the rest of my life, it'd be hdpe or uhmw.
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Feb 3, 2014 23:00
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Sagebrush posted:You can buy blades designed specifically for cutting thermoplastics without melting them. I went to ask about those at the 3 major DIY chain stores around town and they looked at me like they saw water burning. The guys at Gamma insisted that any circular saw would just murder plastic and I should buy a jigsaw (that's a decoupeerzaag, right?) instead. The guy at Praxis declared that there is no such thing as a 190x30 blade. At Karwei they said any blade with more than 60 teeth would work, which I tried with a 'universal' 64T blade and it just tore the entire polystyrene box to shreds. Ofcourse the specialist tool store could order me one, starting at 140 euro for "a basic Festool blade" and going up from there. Luckily for me my boss called in sick today and being the only foreman present I just got everyone else in the department to do the sawing.
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Feb 5, 2014 18:37
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I picked up an old Rockwell 15-081 floor standing drill press that is in need of at least the spindle bearing, and possibly the pulley bearing (It is quite loud when running). I've found a spindle bearing, but it looks like the pulley bearing is obsolete. Is there any reason I couldn't pull it out of there, measure it with some calipers, and order a replacement from mcmaster or grainger?
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Feb 6, 2014 22:06
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Not really, especially on something that low speed. If you're lucky, there will be a part number etched into the shell that you can then look up and find a replacement for. If you can't find anything the perfect size, aim for the same OD and width with an ID a hair under, then you can use an air drill/die grinder and a piece of 1/4" rod stock with a slot cut down the end plus a strip of emory cloth to sand it out till it fits perfectly.
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Feb 6, 2014 22:16
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There's really nothing like a 14" demo saw for cutting metal I've had poor results cutting metal with skill saws, but it's all been on material thicker than 1/4" so that probably has something to do with it. Also I did not know the plastic blade for saws was a real thing. It was always that thing I sent the apprentice to go find for me. I NEED THE STYROFOAM BLADE RIGHT AWAY GO GET IT
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Feb 7, 2014 00:14
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Tax refund is back, that can mean only one thing! I get a new ride on lawn mower! All this time I have been planning on getting one that can take a plow in the winter to plow my maybe 8x8 driveway, but alas I have learned that if I want to plow, I need a garden tractor which is way out of the budget. With that in mind, I think I have narrowed it to these two: Troy-Built Pony 17.5 hp $999.00 John Deere 100 series 17.5vhp $1499.00 My gut tells me to go with the Deere, but I have heard that the same quality just isn't there with the small lawn tractors compared to their bigger brothers. I know that Troy-Built used to be pretty good quality, but I have not paid them much mind in years so they might have got down the shitter. The only major difference I see on the two is the pony is manual and the deere is automatic, but I don't really care about that. Is there a compelling reason to cough up $500 more for the Deere?
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Feb 8, 2014 08:09
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Here's my two cents. Anything you find at a box store will be crap. We have a ~7 year old JD LA130 and it's terrible. The transmission has gone out twice, carb once, spindle bearings failed two years ago and required replacing the entire sealed units, and the entire belt tensioner assembly fell apart while mowing this last summer. I'm only cutting ~ 2 acres of lawn and at this point I'm scrapping the Deere. (We had a STX38 for 15 years and the thing still ran and cut grass when I sold it on CL. Heck, our 98' Dixon Zero Turn still runs like a champ.) My local dealer/rental yard dropped Deere after they turned the low end units in to non-servicable POS's and made the low end sales requirements impossible for smaller shops. They now sell Toro. Not the one you're looking at though- they sell the higher end Toro's, aimed at pro-sumers and lawn care companies. Right now is actually the perfect time to buy a mower due to the weather/winter sales. Most dealers are offering specials ranging from $300-1000 off a higher end model. Here's what should matter: 1) Local dealers- what's closest/best service. 2) Warranty- You're going to need it. 3) Budget- Buy the best machine you can afford that fits your use. In my case, I'm either buying a Hustler Super Z or Toro 5060 Timecutter with a welded steel deck, but I've got 2 acres of lawn and tons of trees.
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Feb 8, 2014 08:23
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Truth is that almost all of the lawn tractors are now built in China, probably in the same factory. I've got a 3 year old JD D110 that I haven't had any issues with. As posted above, the key is finding the right dealer. The big box stores won't do crap for you if something goes wrong. But dealers will try to help you out as they want you to continue purchasing from them in the future. I'd at least get the D110 as it has the gas pedal like a car (push it down further to go faster) or step up to the D120 if you want cruise control. I'm partial to JD just because of the dealer we have and the history I have with JD. My parents have 15+ year old JD lawn tractor that still is going strong and my grandfather had 2 JD tractors that were 30+ years old that were champs.
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Feb 8, 2014 14:35
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My mother has a Kubota lawn mower and that thing is a champ. Actually, my dad has 5 Kubota tractors of varying sizes so I might not be the most objective person to ask. We switched entirely over to Kubota on the farm due to their price, quality, service, and the fact that they ALWAYS start in the winter so we did the same for the lawn. I know Kubota tractors =/= Kubota lawn tractors, but we've had ours for 4 years and it cuts 3 acres of grass once a week. 
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Feb 8, 2014 15:11
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Mercury Ballistic posted:Has anyone used any of the battery rebuilding services? Any to recommend or avoid? I have a snap on cordless impact and the 18v battery is pretty much shot. Most places seem to be about $45 if I ship it off. I tried to find a DIY one, but my specific battery was not covered. If anyone cares, I just went to a local batteries plus. $45 for a rebuild, which is what the online places charge, and it has a 1 year warranty. Seems better than the $180 snap on wants for a new battery.
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Feb 8, 2014 16:28
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I've owned 2 of the better Toros ($2500+) and they are awesome lawn tractors. Right now I have a lower end JD and it's okay.
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Feb 8, 2014 17:27
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I have a quite old, gigantic electric motor that weighs about 100 pounds that is rated by the General Electric Corporation at 1hp. It has zerk grease fittings and it's output pulley is slotted for two 5/8 v-belts in parallel. I got curious about how the very light little motor in my new shop vac can claim 3hp when it clearly is nowhere near as strong as the other motor. I ran into this article explaining pretty much everything a hobbyist might need to know about horsepower and motor ratings. Turns out it's roughly 9 amps/horsepower at 115v AC, and the "Maximum Developed" horsepower that everyone puts on the box is 2-5x the actual, usable, rated horsepower. Good to know.
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Feb 11, 2014 01:08
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Wow, reminds me of modern stereo wattage.
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Feb 11, 2014 02:36
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Squibbles posted:If you are handy with a soldering iron I think it's not too hard to do yourself? A friend of mine had a nicad pack that was all run down. He popped it open and it was just made up of a bunch of smaller cells soldered together. He went to a local battery specialty place and they sold him NiMH batteries of the same size and he was able to put it together himself. They would have done it for him I think without charging too much.
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Feb 11, 2014 02:57
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Uncle Enzo posted:I have a quite old, gigantic electric motor that weighs about 100 pounds that is rated by the General Electric Corporation at 1hp. It has zerk grease fittings and it's output pulley is slotted for two 5/8 v-belts in parallel. I got curious about how the very light little motor in my new shop vac can claim 3hp when it clearly is nowhere near as strong as the other motor. I ran into this article explaining pretty much everything a hobbyist might need to know about horsepower and motor ratings. Universal motors as a rule are rated at max developed, induction motors are normally rated at peak hp (except Sears used to be notorious for using max developed), DC motors are rated for continuous or peak or both but if they have a flywheel the rating may include the equivalent (don't know if that's the right word) hp. (meaning a 1hp dc motor with a 5# flywheel may be rated higher than 1hp) I'm no motor expert though, these are just things I've picked up from messing about and may not be completely accurate.
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Feb 11, 2014 09:06
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Ok so I went around town a bit more and found a Toro/Ferris/Simplicity dealership, so I stopped in. The least expensive machine they had was a $5000 Simplicity  But! They did have 2 used machines. This one really caught my eye:     It is a 1998(?) Cub Cadet HDS 3225 with a 48" deck and a blower attachment. It has 482 hours, which initially gave me pause but from everything I have read about it, that is actually low. Has chains, weights, ball hitch as well. Cosmetically, it is not great, some rust on the running boards, lots on the blower, missing a taillight. But those aren't too important if it performs well. He is asking $2500 for it, which is out of my range. I mentioned something about it being much for a machine with 500 hours on it and he said 'well, I am asking for $2500, but you can make offers too.' which suggests to me that he might play ball a bit. What do you guys think? Any experience with these types of machines and what is this actually worth/should I try to get it for?
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Feb 13, 2014 03:40
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Can we talk Oscillating Mufti Tools for a minute? - What's your favorite? - Who's blades do you like? - Holy poo poo why are blades so expensive? I can get a 4 sawzall blades for the price of 1 bi-cutting oscillating blade. I currently have 4 of these particular tools: Milwaukee M12 cordless, Craftsman 12v cordless, Dremel Multi-Max corded, and finally the Harbor Freight variable speed corded. My favorite: Harbor Freight variable speed. If they put a quick change on it and and bolstered the vibration damping a bit more I think it would easily do battle with the $200 offerings from Fein and Bosch. Honorable mention: Milwaukee M12 cordless. It doesn't pack a huge punch, but it gets points for being variable speed and cordless. Cool little tool to take up in the attic or under the house where extension cords can be a pain.
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Feb 19, 2014 17:41
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darkwolf220 posted:It is a 1998(?) Cub Cadet HDS 3225 with a 48" deck and a blower attachment. It has 482 hours, which initially gave me pause but from everything I have read about it, that is actually low. Has chains, weights, ball hitch as well. Cosmetically, it is not great, some rust on the running boards, lots on the blower, missing a taillight. But those aren't too important if it performs well. He is asking $2500 for it, which is out of my range. I mentioned something about it being much for a machine with 500 hours on it and he said 'well, I am asking for $2500, but you can make offers too.' which suggests to me that he might play ball a bit. Just following up on this, I purchased the machine today for $1800. Think I got a pretty good deal and can't wait to get it home and get that blower to good use!
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Feb 21, 2014 17:45
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