Power Tools & General Tools Recommendations & Advice

[divuk83]

Had to do a lot of filling to the walls of a bedroom, they were quite a badly chipped and scored but not bad enough to warrant a a skim. I recently purchased a cheap (red) Makita random orbit sander and hooked it up to an old Henry hoover. Used it to sand the walls after filling. Took a fraction of the time hand sanding would have, made hardly any mess and the walls looked really good after. Why had I not done this before?! Don't use a good hoover for this, anything modern with filters would just get clogged up.

Also gyproc easyfil 20 is my filler of choice, drys fast (so don't make up too much) easy to sand and doesn't sag. Pot of ready mix filler is always handy to have, but they usually have quite long drying times.

Dave

 

[Scottland]

Between Dewalt and Makita, do they both have a consumer / pro range with different batteries, or all the all the same? I'm after a drill and impact driver, but will likely expand it with more batteries and bare units down the line.

 

[Martynt74]

They both have multiple tools within a range.

So for Dewalt they have about 6 different drills. Which increase in quality as you go up te range. However they're not directly marketed as the professional range.

They all use te same batteries. The only ones which differ are te Dewalt Flex range which are 54v but I don't imagine you'll be considering those.

I'm pretty sure Makita are the same. They do have some which are white rather than the normal Teal kind of color which people thought was the more budget range but from what I remember when I was looking that wasn't the case.

Best option is to look at the prices of te other tools you would consider in the future and make your decision based on that.

Generally I found that if you go with either of those brands there's always loads of second hand options which isn't generally available for other brands. Great for tools when you can't justify the cost of the tool new.

 

[divuk83]

Beware of the cheaper Makita G series available at Argos etc. It doesn't share the lxt Makita batteries. As far as I know all dewalt cordless stuff all uses the same xr batteries (except the flexvolt stuff).

Dave

 

[Scottland]

Thanks, Dewalt ticking all the boxes for me at the moment

 

[Martynt74]

Check eBay out. Can usually get great bundles for cheaper than Screwfix prices

 

[Scottland]

Yeah I have been - looking at the DCD796 and DCF887, I think I can get them both for around £250 which seems much cheaper than the Makita alternative.

 

[DXP55]

I was in Lidl this morning and they had a pack of 6 SDS+ drill bit's on sale for about £4 - if you use them once they have paid for themselves.

 

[Martynt74]

Lots of tools (Particularly the Ryobi ONE+ system) in the Amazon Prime deals today.

 

[Martynt74]

Just looking at this on eBay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112464504068

Would this be a good purchase do we think?

If you're still looking i'd go for this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Evolution...-Grade-230v-/132252155466?hash=item1ecad7be4a

 

[Mark A]

The Metabo he was looking at is much better, assuming the broken guard is an easy fix.

 

[Ekim]

Still haven't bought anything yet. The Metabo is still available - I've been holding off as I wasn't sure how easy a fix it would be. Would the lack of laser guide be much of an issue? I know the RAGE has one.

 

[Mark A]

I googled the Metabo saw model number and it should have a laser guide, but if its DIY use the Rage will be fine anyway. The laser guide is actually pretty useful for lining up angled cuts and making fast cuts without having to manually line up the blade with the pencil line.

 

[Martynt74]

Yeah, my original saw didn't have the laser and now i have one i wouldnt want a saw without it. For angles it's fantastic.

 

[platypus]

Online only - mainly on Amazon at the moment.

I will ask someone to look into it, although because its a new line we won't get discount rates for a few months yet. Maybe just in time for Christmas haha.

Be good if you could hook us up with a discount for all brands though!

 

[platypus]

As mentioned about i've used my Dewalt for a 16mm hole and it was fine. I did it in 3 stages though, 6mm as deep as the bit would go, then 10mm which went a bit deeper and then the 16mm x 300mm bit to finish it off.

It came out quite smooth too which would've been my worry with an SDS and blowing out the brick.

I often pre-drill a smaller hole just to be sure, though does depend on what I'm drilling into.

 

[Vanquish-Storm]

Be good if you could hook us up with a discount for all brands though!

Seeing as it's you and you asked nicely I will see what I can do.

 

[Trifid]

My Bosch keyless combi drill chuck is stuck on full open. Does anyone know how I can release it? Normally it is very fluid with the opening and closing but now it will overpower me without closing the drill bit jaws?

 

[Mark A]

My Bosch keyless combi drill chuck is stuck on full open. Does anyone know how I can release it? Normally it is very fluid with the opening and closing but now it will overpower me without closing the drill bit jaws?

Tapping it with a hammer sometimes works. You could also try a strap wrench or a putting the chuck in a vice and quickly press the trigger to try and jolt it free.

 

[Martynt74]

Any recommendations on Hole Saw sets?

I need to make some plasterboard discs to fill holes left by the electricians and figured i may as well buy a set. I was looking at the Titan downlighter set at Screwfix which is only a tenner and would suit my needs i imagine, but wondering if i should get something a little more substantial for any future projects which may need drilling in metal.