The Power Tools Thread

[Vette Boss]

Just pulled the trigger on my biggest power tool yet, a Milwaukee 1/2" mid-torque and a 3.0ah high-output battery, along with the rapid charger. Should arrive by next week. This thing is capable of over 550 ft-lbs (745nm), so it should tackle any bolt on my car.

 

[eizbaer]

This thing is capable of over 550 ft-lbs (745nm), so it should tackle any bolt on my car.

Honestly that’d sort of scare me… I only have a puny 215 Nm thing and sort of feel like that’s overkill already. Then again, I don’t do anything more than change wheels… 🤣

 

[Blind_Io]

Honestly that’d sort of scare me… I only have a puny 215 Nm thing and sort of feel like that’s overkill already. Then again, I don’t do anything more than change wheels… 🤣

All the Ugga Dugga.

 

[Vette Boss]

Honestly that’d sort of scare me… I only have a puny 215 Nm thing and sort of feel like that’s overkill already. Then again, I don’t do anything more than change wheels… 🤣

Mainly, these things are used to break loose fasteners that either have loc-tite on the threads or have been there for ages. My Passat has some stubborn brake caliper carrier bolts that my weaker impact cannot touch, which is why I'm upgrading.

 

[Matt2000]

Just to be sure, is the one you purchased on of the new tools that go bang? You would want to return it if it is.

On a completely different note, how do people manage so many different battery systems? I watch Matthias Wandel and he seems to use every kind of power drill under the sun. The battery management would drive me mad. I had settled on Makita 18V with various adapters, only recently adding Milwaukee M12 because the tools are too good to miss out on.

 

[Blind_Io]

I was given a Makita 18V drill and compact impact years ago when the Ryobi drill I found when I moved into the house died. Been with them ever since with no regrets.

 

[Crazyjeeper]

I've been slowly building my cordless 20v dewalt collection since that is the battery platform I started with. I'm up to a 1/4" impact, 3/8" drill, 1/2" impact and a 4 1/2" angle grinder. Never had an issue with them.

 

[NecroJoe]

On a completely different note, how do people manage so many different battery systems? I watch Matthias Wandel and he seems to use every kind of power drill under the sun. The battery management would drive me mad. I had settled on Makita 18V with various adapters, only recently adding Milwaukee M12 because the tools are too good to miss out on.

I've got my chargers mounted on the wall, all together, and 2 shelves for batteries right next to them. I rarely keep batteries in the tools, so the habit is when I grab a tool, I also grab its battery, and when I put the tool away, the battery's taken out and put on the shelf or charger. So no matter what tool I grab, I know right where the batteries are. I don't have to go looking through my tools to find one with a battery still in it, and hoping it's charged enough. If I need to use my M12 small recip saw, I don't need to remember where I put my oscillating multi tool because that's the last time I used that bigger M12 battery...it's on the battery shelf.

The only real bummer is weight...let's say I'm grabbing three tools...I might have to bring 3 batteries, depending what the tools are. Maybe I've been lucky that I've never gotten to a location, and realized I grabbed the wrong (or not enough) batteries. But if i travelled to more job sites, and had to travel with multiple brands' batteries AND either extras or chargers, that would get heavy and cumbersome...AND you'd have to make sure you had access to three power outlets (which isn't always the case) or having to also bring a power strip...which is also annoying.

 

[Perc]

Ryobi seems to be on the offensive.

I keep seeing eye-catching bright green adverts all over my internets including ads for things like 18 volt snowblowers. This is one application where I still think a Briggs & Stratton is more convenient. Sure lithium power takes a car from 0 to 100 in a couple of seconds, but that car isn't powered by a single 40V 6Ah tool battery. My chainsaw is in the same ballpark (2x18V 6Ah) and I'd expect a snow blower with that power source to be out of juice with about 90% of your driveway left to do. But I digress.

I've also seen a couple of DIY youtubers revealing sponsor deals with Ryobi over the last couple of days, posing in front of stacks of bright green boxes. Maybe they felt like they had to do something now that Colin Furze struck a deal with Milwaukee.

 

[eizbaer]

View attachment 3567221
... this (DWE7485) may be the only portable / small table saw that actually has a decent fence parallel stop (without paying another arm and a leg for that on top). someone wanna talk me out of it?

edit: fence, that is the word. thanks!

Yeeeeeees

 

[Matt2000]

I was thinking about buying one of those to modify pre-made furniture but then I realised that I could buy the cut material and just make it from scratch, significantly cheaper than it would be to buy the pre-made stuff let alone the saw. We're talking Ikea level Blu-ray (not DVD or bloody CD*) case here, nothing fancy. I get to 3D print some drilling jigs for dowels and screw holes.

There's little in that picture to give a sense of scale, it looks like you're making chopsticks on a tiny saw.

*Blu-ray will soon be celebrating its 20th birthday, but I still can't find storage that is actually sized for Blu-ray cases. Apart from the shitty plastic Xbox and PlayStation overpriced crap. I'm tired of using DVD storage and there being lots of wasted space.

 

[eizbaer]

There's little in that picture to give a sense of scale, it looks like you're making chopsticks on a tiny saw.

Ha, indeed! They’re 25mm / 1“ wide (except for the remaining edge piece) and between 45-65 cm long. My wife wants to make something like this for the living room (about 120cm total):

Make it ourselves because that shit goes for like 500€ on Etsy… 🤯

Blu-ray will soon be celebrating its 20th birthday, but I still can't find storage that is actually sized for Blu-ray cases.

I wasn’t even aware there was a difference… and neither it seems are the people making those storage units? 🤣

 

[Blind_Io]

I was thinking about buying one of those to modify pre-made furniture but then I realised that I could buy the cut material and just make it from scratch, significantly cheaper than it would be to buy the pre-made stuff let alone the saw. We're talking Ikea level Blu-ray (not DVD or bloody CD*) case here, nothing fancy. I get to 3D print some drilling jigs for dowels and screw holes.

There's little in that picture to give a sense of scale, it looks like you're making chopsticks on a tiny saw.

*Blu-ray will soon be celebrating its 20th birthday, but I still can't find storage that is actually sized for Blu-ray cases. Apart from the shitty plastic Xbox and PlayStation overpriced crap. I'm tired of using DVD storage and there being lots of wasted space.

Guaranteed to only remove the smallest parts of your body.

 

[Matt2000]

View attachment 3568658
Make it ourselves because that shit goes for like 500€ on Etsy… 🤯

I wasn’t even aware there was a difference… and neither it seems are the people making those storage units? 🤣

Make your own and sell them for 400, you're already making the saw pay for itself but you could make it pay several times over. That's a lot of different paint colours though. Sample pots might be the way to go there.

Blu-ray cases are just smaller, small enough for them to not work in any DVD storage that has grooves to locate the cases and the height difference makes it easy for them to fall out.

 

[Vette Boss]

Over the last few months, I've been going insane over power tools and such, I actually call it red tool fever being that the focus is on Milwaukee tools. I've bought impact guns, blowers, string trimmers and vacuums. Just when I think it's over, the idea to buy something else comes along...

 

[GRtak]

Can you ever have enough tools?

 

[Vette Boss]

Can you ever have enough tools?

Only if you run out of space and money...

 

[eizbaer]

Make your own and sell them for 400, you're already making the saw pay for itself but you could make it pay several times over. That's a lot of different paint colours though. Sample pots might be the way to go there.

Yeah, materials-wise it really is fairly cheap (although I don't get why the original Etsy person mounted the stuff on plexiglass?)... and if you do a bunch of them, the many colors should also average out cost-wise. the way i see it, that's 20€ of wood and maybe 10€ of colors (per unit if you do a bunch). so yeah, the saw would indeed pay for itself very quickly...

Blu-ray cases are just smaller, small enough for them to not work in any DVD storage that has grooves to locate the cases and the height difference makes it easy for them to fall out.

Looks like another case of "they went to a lot of trouble to make the new thing as annoying as possible"

edit: I actually just though that this style of picture would be well-suited to build (and keep "growing") a warming stripes picture for my office as well. hmm... although that'd require much slimmer strips of wood, because the data usually starts somewhere in the 1880s (so about 140 until now).

 

[Matt2000]

Having a leak in an under-floor shower waste pipe has led to an excuse to buy a new power tool - a cordless jigsaw.

I won't lie, I've wanted one of these for years but I don't jigsaw all that much. The hole in the floor was plunge cut but it makes sense to use a jigsaw to cut the replacement board. There was a 20% coupon for one of my preferred eBay sellers and I also had some Nectar points to use, so I got something like 30% off in the end. That doesn't make it cheap but it's brushless Makita so it would never be cheap.

This tool seems to be the dog's from the way people talk about it, better to use than a traditional jigsaw. Makita are supposed to be increasing their prices soon so now seemed as good a time to buy one as any.

 

[eizbaer]

Well, they finally did it! The one thing that I was sorely missing from their 18V range… I bought it instantly when it came out a while back. Haven’t actually taken it out or used it, but it’s going to be fine I’m sure. It’s actually fairly expensive for an Einhell PXC product… so it better be good!