Power Tools & General Tools Recommendations & Advice

[Buffman]

I bought a diamond blade for my 112mm angle grinder and found it to be better than the wet tile cutter I borrowed from a mate. If you're steady handed then you can get accurate cuts with it. One thing I didn't like about the wet cutter was that it would create really sharp shards of the glazed tile, that would stick to the tiles after being cut and get all over my hands. One accidental touch of my eye wouldn't have ended well. I preferred just marking all the tiles then going outside and cutting with the angle grinder and a dust mask.

Agree with this. Better quality than a cheap cutter and can do non linear cuts too.

 

[Sin_Chase]

I've both a wet cutter and a 125mm diamond disc for my grinder. Pros and Cons for both depending on cut. Grinder can produce a fair amount of chip out if you let this blade skew away from perpendicular. Its bloody dusty work as well!

 

[Midlife Crisis]

Get a blue Rubi pro 5 inch diamond blade from a well known national tile retailer T.G., you know the one, very,very tall .
I have one in my cordless grinder and another in my mini wet saw, the best chipless cuts ever, and I have been tiling since 1986.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Tops tiles?

You know OCUK don’t sell power tools right?

You can even say Amazon unless you are telling people to buy their PC stuff there....

 

[Kol]

Get a blue Rubi pro 5 inch diamond blade from a well known national tile retailer T.G., you know the one, very,very tall .
I have one in my cordless grinder and another in my mini wet saw, the best chipless cuts ever, and I have been tiling since 1986.

As above, you can say companies, even competitors, so long as the product isn't an item OCUK stock. Eg you can link to a diamond cutter on Amazon even. Tile Giant or whatever is not a competitor at all

 

[200sols]

Dry grinding tiles is not ideal, the dust is really very bad for your lungs. If you will be dry grinding the get a proper dust mask, not one of those cheapo ones and remember the dust particles can stay airborne for a long time.

 

[Midlife Crisis]

Dry cut out side dust blows away, it was tile giant by the by

 

[bettz]

How much work will you be doing with it?

The cheapest B&Q one you can find which will cut your size of tiles will be fine. If you plan to do LOTS of cutting or need it fro more than DIY I would get a wet tile saw as it will give cleaner, easier more reproducible cuts.

It's for my dad so I'd imagine he'll use it quite a bit as he's always doing bits.

Any recommendations on a wet tile saw?

 

[Midlife Crisis]

The trouble with cheap tile saws are the blade will [depending on the tile] chip the cut edge to a varying degree.
There is a Vitrex chepo tile saw on Amazon for £40, that will do the job and last reasonably well as long as it is not thrashed relentlessly.
You could get a Rubi blade for that, if the cuts are not clean enough.
Or look for a low end Rubi saw on Amazon for £85 that would be more resilient, but will still have a low end blade in it probably.
All wet saws make a bit of a mess by the way.
Tile saws can be very expensive and unless for continual use will be bad value for money.

 

[alexakasloth]

Katsu palm router is brilliant

I've bought one of these after seeing it recommended in many places. First impressions are good, need it to make some cabinet doors next month.

 

[divuk83]

For the money, the Katsu is brilliant. Mine lasted nearly 2 years of home use before letting out some black smoke and stopping. I have since replaced it with a Makita plunge router, which cost more than double the price. I would like another trim router at some point and for how cheap they are I might get another Katsu. What kind of work are you doing with it? I have a Makita rp900x that is not vastly more expensive than the katsu and a plunge base so if you need to do plunge cuts I would spend the extra on a propper plunge router.

Dave

 

[Mark A]

https://www.screwfix.com/p/stanley-tool-chest-bundle-3-pcs/4666v

If anyones looking to buy tool storage, this looks like a good price. £30 down from £40. I got a £10 off a £50 spend and a £5 off a £25 spend today in the mail, which makes it an even better price.

Although I'm thinking of going for the Tstak VI cases with the tote insert. They are doing them for £35 each, or £25 each if you buy two, then with the £10 removed with a few other bits I need it'll be a decent price.

 

[Fireskull]

Yeah good price for what you get! Picked one up myself last night, need a chest to store all the cordless tools.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

I have one of those chests, seems decent quality for the price.

 

[alexakasloth]

For the money, the Katsu is brilliant. Mine lasted nearly 2 years of home use before letting out some black smoke and stopping. I have since replaced it with a Makita plunge router, which cost more than double the price. I would like another trim router at some point and for how cheap they are I might get another Katsu. What kind of work are you doing with it? I have a Makita rp900x that is not vastly more expensive than the katsu and a plunge base so if you need to do plunge cuts I would spend the extra on a propper plunge router.

Dave

I'll need to route out for the belfast sink and some draining grooves is the initial intention as I can't bring the makitas from work home. But if it fits in my router table i'll use it to do the T&G on the cabinet doors as well.

 

[Captain]

Been fitting blinds up today around the house, the DeWalt 18v with the 1.5ah battery takes some pressure to get through brick work. Might have to invest in an SDS drill for future brick work.

 

[Steampunk]

Been fitting blinds up today around the house, the DeWalt 18v with the 1.5ah battery takes some pressure to get through brick work. Might have to invest in an SDS drill for future brick work.

It shouldn't do. With a newish masonry bit and hammer action, even my Stanley zips through brick.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Were you drilling into a lintel rather than brick/block?

Also what model? They vary in power a fair bit from the low end brushed models to the high end brushless. I think there is 3 or 4 18v models, it’s pretty similar across most brands.

 

[Mark A]

It looks like the lower end model, so only 1500rpm. Even the 2000rpm higher end models will struggle with hard brick though. An SDS will go through it like butter. The only time I ever use the hammer on my combi drills is when drilling into cement joints when fitting gutter down pipe brackets.

 

[Captain]

Were you drilling into a lintel rather than brick/block?

Also what model? They vary in power a fair bit from the low end brushed models to the high end brushless. I think there is 3 or 4 18v models, it’s pretty similar across most brands.

Definitely brick, it might have just been the angle I was drilling at, could only get one hand on the drill.

After closer inspection, looks like the drill bit is damaged, got a blunt end