Power Tools & General Tools Recommendations & Advice

SMN said:
Complete newbie when it comes to saws so looking for some advice. I'm going to be installing composite cladding to finish a concrete block retaining wall and looking for an electric saw to give clean cuts.

Curious if anyone has done anything similar, particularly 'horizontal' cuts across the entire 3.6M cladding board length. I cant imagine doing it handheld will be the neatest of cuts.
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What are the dimensions of the cladding board? If it's sheet a Tracksaw or circular saw with a guide (you can make one yourself)
 
  • SMN said:
    Board Length: 3.6m
    Board Width: 157mm
    Board Thickness: 20mm
    Click to expand...
    Might get away with pinning it down and trimming the length with a small circular saw and fence (providing the cladding is already square) forget the Tracksaw, maybe a cheap table saw would also be better. I'm taking it we are talking about wooden cladding and not plastic? Also how much approx do you need to take off?
 
Hunterlit said:

  • Might get away with pinning it down and trimming the length with a small circular saw and fence (providing the cladding is already square) forget the Tracksaw, maybe a cheap table saw would also be better. I'm taking it we are talking about wooden cladding and not plastic? Also how much approx do you need to take off?
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Nah will be composite. My hope is i can get the starter profile at a level where I wont have to take much off the length if any, and focus on the width.
 
SMN said:
Nah will be composite. My hope is i can get the starter profile at a level where I wont have to take much off the length if any, and focus on the width.
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Do you think it would be possible to use a straight edge and score it with a sharp Stanley knife and then snap? If it's only a couple of millimeter you need to remove longways I would probably go draw a line along the back and then rub it down with sandpaper.
 
I’d say any jigsaw or circular saw with a fence should get you a decent cut. Just make sure you have an appropriate blade on it.

As others have said you can make your own fence by clamping a straight edge onto the piece and running the saw along it.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
I’d say any jigsaw or circular saw with a fence should get you a decent cut. Just make sure you have an appropriate blade on it.

As others have said you can make your own fence by clamping a straight edge onto the piece and running the saw along it.
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I wouldn't use a jigsaw as the blades have tendency to wobble especially on budget jigsaws. I would go circular saw. The evolution range of power tools have blades that can cut through multiple materials Wood, plastic, etc.
 
Screwfix are doing a DeWalt combi drill with x2 2mamp batteries and charger for £130. Looks pretty good if you want to add other naked power tools to it in future.
 
SMN said:
Complete newbie when it comes to saws so looking for some advice. I'm going to be installing composite cladding to finish a concrete block retaining wall and looking for an electric saw to give clean cuts.

Curious if anyone has done anything similar, particularly 'horizontal' cuts across the entire 3.6M cladding board length. I cant imagine doing it handheld will be the neatest of cuts.
Click to expand...

You need a table saw. Otherwise cutting full lengths is very challenging with a circular saw. A track saw worth having is 3x the price or more and this is still awkward on this sort of cut.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb763tas-254mm-electric-table-saw-220-240v/958hf
bainbridge said:
Screwfix are doing a DeWalt combi drill with x2 2mamp batteries and charger for £130. Looks pretty good if you want to add other naked power tools to it in future.
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https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-d...ll/268fx#product_additional_details_container

The DCD778 is their entry pro/trade level brushless (the basic level drills have a much longer tail on them). 2.0Ah batteries last a reasonable amount of time and are nice and light. It has the slow charger though. The fast charger charges these in c20-28min not 90min. I still have the brushed equivalent version of this with 1.5Ah batteries and 8 years later it refuses to die.

For £130, it's a very good offer. However for £150 you can get it with the 4.0Ah batteries which is a much better option.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-d...i-ion-xr-brushless-cordless-combi-drill/979hf

I moved over to makita a few years ago but dewalt is great kit and often has great offers on the barebones tools. Good warranties too.
 
Can anyone give any feedback on the Dewalt Cordless hedge trimmer?
Recently got the combi drill with 2 x 4ah batteries, so I thought I would pick up the hedge trimmer bare.
The highly rated Bosch trimmer is cheaper, comes with batteries and charger, but kind of defeats the object.
 
Countcussy said:
Can anyone give any feedback on the Dewalt Cordless hedge trimmer?
Recently got the combi drill with 2 x 4ah batteries, so I thought I would pick up the hedge trimmer bare.
The highly rated Bosch trimmer is cheaper, comes with batteries and charger, but kind of defeats the object.
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Not a direct answer to your question but I started with the DeWalt combi with x2 4ah batteries. The batteries are beefy enough for power hungry tools, so I'd just buy the hedge trimmer, knowing that you won't need to mess about with different batteries for different tools.

I've now got:

The combi drill
Half inch drive impact wrench
5 inch disc cutter (might be 4 inch)

Very pleased with everything and the batteries are still working fine.
 
Thank you. That's what I thought.
The drill replaced a Fatmax drill which owes me nothing after what I asked it to do.
The Dewalt however is in a different league power wise.
 
Countcussy said:
Can anyone give any feedback on the Dewalt Cordless hedge trimmer?
Recently got the combi drill with 2 x 4ah batteries, so I thought I would pick up the hedge trimmer bare.
The highly rated Bosch trimmer is cheaper, comes with batteries and charger, but kind of defeats the object.
Click to expand...

The hedge trimmer is great. I've used it all year to keep various large hedges and bushes looking trim. 4ah will give you more than enough run time for multi-hour sessions. I can also thoroughly recommend the long reach variant. :-)
 
dave28 said:
Still one of the best brands, been buying Bosch ever since i can remember and had a lot of good luck
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I use the Bosch Blue 12v Range and they are absolutely brilliant. Very compact and very lightweight. I do a lot of AV / Network / HA / Security installs and often need to get into tight spaces or are up a ladder fixing overhead. The 12v drill and 12v impact driver are small enough to put into the pouches on my work trousers. I would say except for drilling masonry (which I use a Dewalt DCD796) I have found 12v is absolutely ideal. A 2Ah battery lasts me all day
 
I find 2ah batteries the sweet spot. Anything more in a hedge trimmer really adds to the weight.

With my Black and decker I need two 2ah to finish the hedge. But I prefer to swap than use one massive one.

Also. Nothing else needs anything more. Except the chainsaw. That ravaged the 2ah battery!

uJLDk2n.jpg


Needed the chainsaw for that!
Couldn't believe a battery chainsaw was even a thing
 
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