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For my workshop project, I need to get a nailer and air compressor. Any recommendations? The nailer has to be able to do 16d common nails (3.5" long, .162" thick) for the framing work and 8d commons (2.5" long, .131" thick) for the plywood. I have zero experience with nailers and compressors, and there's a billion different modes/options for these things. I'd prefer safety and control over ease-of-use, so e.g. I'd be a bit worried about using a bump nailer. Pricewise, while they don't have to be super-cheap tools, I don't anticipate using the nailer at the very least all that often, so I'd rather it not be excessively expensive. I was considering maybe this nailer (or the kit it comes in) though it's not clear that it can handle nails of the necessary thickness.
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Feb 6, 2015 02:09
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asdf32 posted:Do you really want a compressor? That's a finish nailer; there's no way it's going to drive a 16d common nail. I'm not seeing electric framing nailers that can drive the kind of nails I need, plus the electrics are more expensive than pneumatics by a significant amount, so the price premium of going pneumatic+compressor doesn't seem to be all that excessive. Plus someday I'd like to get a pressure washer 
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Feb 6, 2015 02:35
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Okay, right now I'm looking at this 3.5-gal compressor and the Ridgid R350RHE nailer; the latter mostly because it explicitly notes in the description that it's able to do 16d common nails, while other nailers I've looked at haven't provided similar assurances. The compressor's not very big, but I don't think I need to have a huge air capacity for this job; especially early on I've no doubt I'll be a very slow worker. Plus I have to move all the tools inside at the end of each day, so portability is a plus.
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Feb 6, 2015 22:53
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Motronic posted:Which is pretty much perfect for framing. He's not doing this for a living and he's not gonna be all that fast by himself on a first big project. Well, the big question is, how much does it use to drive the 8d nails I need for securing plywood? Because I'll be driving far more of those than I will be of the framing nails. If it uses the same amount regardless of nail size, then that could potentially be a problem.
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Feb 7, 2015 21:30
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Motronic posted:Nah, it won't. If you try to leave that thing turned all the way up driving 8d nails it will blow them through the plywood. Okay, good to know the nailgun won't be excessively overkill. Regarding screws, do you mean for holding the plywood, or in general? My plans were required to specifically list what kinds of nails I was going to use for basically everything; I'd need to find (and get okayed by the city) "equivalent" screws for each use case. They would be a lot more solid than nails though, granted.
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Feb 7, 2015 22:31
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I own this router bit set and it's served me well. It doesn't have any of the really fancy bits (fanciest is an ogee bit), but it does most of the common jobs just fine.
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Feb 10, 2015 15:51
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On a related note, I'm going to need some way to cut plywood sheets to size for my workshop project. It seems like track saws are ~2x more expensive compared to getting a standard circular saw and a guide system. Would I be missing out on important features if I went the latter route? The only obvious one would be plunge capability, and while that'd be nice for cutting rough openings for windows, I don't think I actually need it -- I could just use my jigsaw to cut an opening to get the circular saw started. Any advice on specific tools to look at, either way?
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Feb 17, 2015 01:41
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the spyder posted:Make a simple guide fence like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIeIZdrbz-Y That's pretty awesome, thanks. Dunno that I want to make an 8'-long fence so I can cut the sheathing for the underside of the soffits and eaves, but I can probably just carefully place a 2x4 as a guide for those cuts; there's not many of them. Any advice on circular saws, then? Do you like the Porter Cable?
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Feb 17, 2015 21:20
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All y'all talking about measuring tapes are to blame for my tape developing a tear today 
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Feb 22, 2015 22:35
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nmfree posted:This wasn't the video I was looking for, but:  I don't think I could handle having a job where I'm permanently one slip-up away from losing my fingers.
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Mar 5, 2015 15:42
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Cakefool posted:If I had £150k for a room-sized milling machine you know drat well sure I'd own a room-sized milling machine. I wouldn't be concerned about it taking up the whole garage, I'd use it as a garage. You mean you'd use it to make a second garage.
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Mar 5, 2015 19:34
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Zhentar posted:You can use a heat pump with hydronic raidant. Although a good air source to water heat pump is fairly hard to come by in the US. Using water heat would leave open the potential to set up a solar water heater system later.
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Mar 11, 2015 20:26
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One Legged Ninja posted:You could, however, design a hydronic system with a large storage tank that's heated electrically. If it had enough thermal mass to heat the house all day by itself, you could then heat the water at night, when most power companies offer lower rates. If you have a slab foundation, that should be able to provide all the thermal mass you need.
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Mar 11, 2015 22:52
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You could just use the jigsaw and cut short of the line, then go back with a plane or something to clean the line up. Dunno how well plywood takes to a plane, though, especially the edge.
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Mar 15, 2015 15:12
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GobiasIndustries posted:I'm looking to make my own composting barrel following the instructions here: You can do the holes in the barrel with your drill and some hole saws, which are basically cylindrical saws that can chuck into a drill. Just make certain you drill a pilot hole first with a normal drill bit, because hole saws can be really hard to aim properly. quote:We've also got a ton of stumps and long branches in the yard, including one that's about 6 feet long and up to 10 inches or so in diameter that I'd like to cut up. Would something like the item below be fine for home use, if I'm planning to do most of the cutting inside my garage, or should I go for something nicer? I hear mixed things about Harbor Freight so I don't know yet what is good to pick up there and what I should look for elsewhere. Assume the price is ~20% lower than listing. A chainsaw is really the proper tool for cutting up branches and logs. You can get a small electric chainsaw that'll get those jobs done for about the same price as a reciprocating saw, but it'll do a far better job.
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Mar 28, 2015 19:59
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Are those air hose connections at the bottom? Is this a chainsaw that's powered by compressed air? Is that a thing? EDIT: vvv I fail at reading, apparently. TooMuchAbstraction fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Mar 30, 2015 |
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Mar 30, 2015 20:09
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Kinfolk Jones posted:I'm looking to buy a circular saw and a cordless drill to do some home projects, what are some good models to look at? Hopefully for under $150 for each but I'll pay more for quality. When I asked about circular saws earlier, I was directed to this circular saw. Haven't had a chance/excuse to fire it up yet though.
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Apr 6, 2015 20:31
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Sointenly posted:Home Depot has a sale going on 22" Werner telescoping multi ladder for $129 (reg $199). Oh, sweet. I'm going to need a second ladder for my workshop project anyway, to set up some ladder jacks. Thanks for the notification. And yeah, I have a smaller one of these already and it's a pretty decent ladder.
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Apr 10, 2015 16:12
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Zhentar posted:I'll second this. I got this for my birthday, best loving flashlight I've ever owned. I am super-fond of this light, which I've been using for a few years now. It's pretty cheap, but has good battery capacity, great light output, and you can just leave it plugged in and it won't damage its battery (unlike a lot of other models I was looking at when I was shopping for lights). Granted I mostly use it to run my dog in the early morning, instead of as a worklight.
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Apr 10, 2015 20:58
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armorer posted:Thanks, this is quite helpful. Amazon has the 618 in a three handle kit for about $260 right now. Is there a good set of starter bit that you can recommend? Something high quality that I could use for dadoes and rabbets mostly, since that is what I'll be doing the most of. I don't need any profiles at this point. This set is a pretty good way to get started.
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Apr 14, 2015 17:48
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Zhentar posted:And look at the size of their dust collection! I scrolled back up to the photo and spent some time looking for a gigantic dust collector before I twigged to what you meant.
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May 7, 2015 17:26
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Deedle posted:For comfort sake I want some of those mickey mouse over-ear dampeners, but I can't find any rated above 23dB. Went to Amazon, typed "over ear hearing protection" into the search box, this was the second result, rated at 35dB. I have a set of earcans; they're a lot more comfortable than earplugs for me. I take them on airplane flights too, and it makes a noticeable difference in how fatiguing the flight is.
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May 7, 2015 20:47
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I have a couple of Werner folding/extending ladders. I was planning to get some ladder jacks and a plank for use in my workshop project, but I noticed today that there's a note on the ladders saying "do not use ladder jacks with this ladder". Opinions? Is this just Werner deciding that ladder jacks correlate with unsafe practices and not wanting to get sued? Or could there be a legitimate reason why combining ladder jacks with one of their ladders is a bad idea?
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May 15, 2015 05:07
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asdf32 posted:If you have zero tools and just bought a house you need to balance the quality/quantity equation more towards quantity. Also: buy tools when the job requiring them arises. Don't buy tools in the anticipation that you'll need them eventually.
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May 19, 2015 00:32
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wormil posted:I subscribed to that philosophy for years and still do to some extent but what I've found is that cheap tools rarely break outright, they just limp along being unpleasant until you throw them away and buy something better. Buying cheap is something of an art in that there are some things you can get by with (screwdrivers, electric drill) and some things you should just buy quality (adjustable wrenches, jig saws). Right, so, if you don't know which tools you're going to need to use frequently and which ones you'll only need rarely (or never), you buy cheap crap, and then as you use the tools you figure out which ones you need better versions of. If I'm never going to actually need to use that finishing hammer then it doesn't matter that it's a plastic piece of poo poo I paid $2 for, right? On the other hand, the similar-quality claw hammer gets used for a bunch of jobs and I finally get so frustrated with how unpleasant it is to use that I go out and buy one that actually works well. And then give the old one away or something. If you know in advance that you'll be using a given tool a lot, then it makes a lot more sense to buy quality from the get-go. You buy cheap when it's a case of "I need this tool for this one job, and that job's not too big; who knows if I'll need it again afterwards?"
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May 19, 2015 20:11
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I have a Dewalt lithium drill (not an impact driver, just a drill) and it's worked fine for me. 
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Jun 15, 2015 22:41
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Get tools as you need them for projects. Pretty much the only thing that you're guaranteed to need is some kind of saw -- table saw, bandsaw, circular saw, hand saw, etc. Depends on how much of a hand-tools buff you are and how much circular blades scare you, pretty much. Plenty of other tools come in handy on lots of projects (e.g. routers, sanders, planers), but it's very easy to buy a tool because "oh, I'll totally use this" and then have it gather dust for a few years. As for how much to spend, generally the upper-grade consumer / mid-tier contractor gear is what hits the sweet spot as far as cost vs. quality, but that's not universally true.
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Aug 5, 2015 04:58
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His Divine Shadow posted:Buying used professional grade tooling (table saws, jointers, planers, bandsaws) is a good way to save money. It's a lot easier if you have someone to help you out, someone who knows what's good/bad. Sometimes you might have the deal of your life and not know it, or it might be an overpriced piece of junk. The professional stuff can be huge, though, so keep the constraints of your workspace in mind. This is good to keep in mind when buying any power tool really: have a home for it prepared before you get it (unless it's one of those awesome time-limited deals that you can't pass up, of course).
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Aug 5, 2015 14:44
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taqueso posted:I'd like to get a small compressor. The main purpose is inflating tubeless bicycle tires. Is something like this going to be decent? I like that it goes well above 100 PSI, isn't very big, and seems to be fairly nice for a < $100 compressor. I've been quite happy with this pancake air compressor, which costs slightly less than the one you listed and has more capacity and a higher max pressure. It's not as portable as yours of course, but you can still easily lift it with one hand and it'd be more versatile for other tasks needing compressed air.
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Aug 13, 2015 16:16
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Anubis posted:So the nearest local ACE store to me revamped to True Value and now is going to move to a new location about half a mile away from it's current spot. Everything went on sale at least 10-20% (most of it 30% or more) and all ace branded stuff was around 50% off. I got a gift certificate to ACE, wandered into the store with zero idea of what they had / what I needed, walked out with $50 worth of clamps. You can always use more clamps.
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Aug 24, 2015 15:24
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DrBouvenstein posted:Hey tool thread. Buy tools as you need them for the job at hand. Otherwise you end up accumulating toys that you don't ever actually use. You will need a saw though, yes, for any remotely significant woodworking. Way I see it, circular saws can do most tasks but are annoying to do setup for (they're also your only realistic option for cutting significant quantities of plywood). Mitre saws are great for crosscuts but can't do rip cuts at all. Table saws can do most tasks but crosscutting large members is a bad idea and they're also more easily made dangerous than other saws (chance of sending your workpiece into your face at 45MPH if you don't follow safety guidelines). Bandsaws can do ripcuts, curved cuts, and crosscuts of small pieces (typically not much wider than 13"), plus they can resaw boards if you're into that kind of thing. I'm building a workshop in my backyard, and these are the power tools I've used so far: * Mitre saw for cutting 2xs to length and putting angled cuts on things -- vital * Circular saw for cutting plywood -- vital * Bandsaw for various specialized 2xs (mostly the notched ones that support the gable rafters; could plausibly be replaced by a circular saw with some work) -- handy * Drill for pilot holes, boltholes to attach the sole plate to the slab, etc. -- vital * Pneumatic air nailer for securing plywood to 2xs -- very useful * Pneumatic palm nailer for awkward / tight locations where I can't swing a hammer -- very useful * Orbital tool for miscellaneous cuts -- handy * Router for trimming plywood around window openings (could be reasonably replaced with several other tools to do the same job though) -- handy
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Sep 18, 2015 01:35
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I've heard that sliding mitre saws are tricky to dial in, and the extra moving parts of course add to the expense. Do you often need to make cuts wider than 8" or so? Because the circular saw can do crosscuts too, of course.
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Sep 18, 2015 04:51
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wormil posted:Tablesaws have more capabilities than any other powered saw. They also have greater precision. Next closest are probably hand held circular saws, then radial arm saws. They're also the scariest common power tool. I'm not saying others aren't dangerous, but they aren't typically as dangerous. It's a lot easier to make an unsafe cut on a table saw than on practically any other common tool.
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Sep 18, 2015 15:30
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Uncle Enzo posted:I'd say for overall versatility you just can't beat a decent circular saw. I bought one of those aluminum track/guides that you can clamp to plywood so you go straight, love it. You can fake this kind of thing using a couple thin sheets of MDF or similar. The shoe of the circular saw rests on one, with its edge right next to the blade, while the other is glued to the first and runs along the edge of the shoe. Just make the first sheet a bit too wide and cut it with the shoe up against the second sheet, and you basically have a zero-clearance guide for your saw.
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Sep 18, 2015 17:59
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Laminator posted:Just don't cut so that the weight of the wood forces itself into the blade, i.e. between two saw horses when ripping a 2x4 or sheet of plywood. I had a nice wake-up call when first getting comfortable with my circular saw from that, it's terrifying to have the saw jump back toward you. And on a related note, don't stand directly behind the blade. Ideally the blade is to your side so all cutting force is directed away from you.
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Sep 18, 2015 23:09
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Sointenly posted:Recommendations for a benchtop jointer? Will definitely be buying used, and god willing inexpensively. I turned my router table into an ad-hoc jointer by shimming part of the split fence. It works okay; worth considering as an option.
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Oct 22, 2015 00:32
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Sointenly posted:Interesting idea, why just "okay" on the results? Well, it's not a full-fledged jointer, and I can only joint boards that are at most as tall as my tallest straight bit, which isn't very tall (pretty much just limited to 3/4"-thick boards). And the fences aren't as long as what you'd find on a real jointer, so it's easy to accidentally wobble a bit and ruin your edge. But a jigged router table, plus a thickness planer, can definitely turn rough 4/4 boards into S2S1E boards, and the tools take up a lot less space (and probably cost less) than a jointer would.
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Oct 22, 2015 16:35
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I got two multi-position ladders to help me build my workshop (one small and one large, I don't recall the exact sizes off the top of my head), and I've been quite happy with them. I don't find the mechanisms to be fiddly, and they're still light enough that I can carry them with one arm if I position it properly. The ability to set them up as stepladders is very handy for situations in which you don't have any nearby structure to prop them against or where the ground is a bit uneven and having more than two feet for support is valuable. This can come up fairly often for outdoor work. I never noticed any flexing issues with the center folding joint. Just don't set the ladder at like a 45° angle and you should be fine.
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Nov 23, 2015 19:13
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RTFM posted:Next question: Which of the 3 should I purchase next: Scrollsaw, JigSaw, or Band saw. (Are 2 of those the same thing?) Scrollsaws are kind of like bandsaws, except much smaller, and they use a rigid blade that moves up and down instead of a flexible metal band that goes over two wheels. Scrollsaws are for fine detail work. My personal bias would be to get a bandsaw, but that's mostly because my workhorse saw is a bandsaw instead of the more traditional table saw. You can do some neat things with bandsaws though, including yes, cutting curves -- but also resawing boards, cutting through thick stock, making bandsaw boxes... Their only big limitation is that they can't cut in the middle of boards, e.g. my saw can cut at most 13" off the end of a board. But you have other options for crosscuts so that's probably not a big issue.
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Nov 28, 2015 03:45
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Obsoletely Fabulous posted:Hopefully I'm posting this in the right place, but I was wondering what this thing is I found in an old box and what it is for. The case for it says it is a "Pocket Comparator." From what I recall this used to be my grandfather's that was a millwright. Looks to me like it's a combination magnifying glass/protractor/ruler -- you position it on top of whatever you're trying to measure and it gives you the tools to measure distances, angles, and radii.
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Jan 2, 2016 21:49
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