Power Tools & General Tools Recommendations & Advice

I take it leaf blowers can be used also to blow away all the grass clippings that my mower likes to leave all over the garden slabs/stones? Are electric battery operated ones weak? Should I go petrol? Any recommendations?
 
Any recommendations for a vacuum that’ll replace an Earlex wet and dry? Have been borrowing that one from my parents but it is time to man up and buy my own as they need it back.

I need something for general DIY duties, finding myself in the midst of a house refurb and dust, rubble, sawdust and stuff everywhere - have had a look at the cheap-ish Titan models from Screwfix and they seem a bit... cheaply made?

The little 16l one is tiddly and doesn’t seem to want to take their filter, leaving you with a sponge mesh which seems destined to die very quickly. And the bigger models have a metal body, which seems likely to get squished and bent out of shape.

Anything out there with a solid body and that has a replaceable filter? Numatic Charles seems a decent thing, but I can’t work out if the filter is replaceable.
 
glitch said:
Any recommendations for a vacuum that’ll replace an Earlex wet and dry? Have been borrowing that one from my parents but it is time to man up and buy my own as they need it back.

I need something for general DIY duties, finding myself in the midst of a house refurb and dust, rubble, sawdust and stuff everywhere - have had a look at the cheap-ish Titan models from Screwfix and they seem a bit... cheaply made?

The little 16l one is tiddly and doesn’t seem to want to take their filter, leaving you with a sponge mesh which seems destined to die very quickly. And the bigger models have a metal body, which seems likely to get squished and bent out of shape.

Anything out there with a solid body and that has a replaceable filter? Numatic Charles seems a decent thing, but I can’t work out if the filter is replaceable.
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At the moment I have a Karcher WD4 Premium, and I have to say that it's pretty nice. Before that I had a Trend, which had it's issues but lasted forever. I mean I am not sure how old it was when it finally died but it was very old and had been extremely dependable. The Karcher is light and powerful, and one of the advantages is you can get tons of nozzles and stuff on The Bay. Karcher are very popular so you can get bags and filters cheap. You don't have to use the bags of course. I would say it is medium for noise and the 35mm hose fits many power tools without an adapter. I use it with an extra 3.5 m extension hose so the total hose length is 6 m. That is really useful becuase I acan climb up ladders without having to balance the vacuum on a box or something equally stupid, lol. The extension hoses are expensive but well worth it.
With the addition of one of these they fit just about any power tool...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SPARES2GO-...854140&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=vaccum+addapters

The small Karcher ( which I forget the name of ) is useful if you need to carry a vacuum about a lot. They are very small and light.
I suspect that DeWalt are the best because as you may or may not now, plaster and cement dust can block any vacuum in seconds and DeWalt has a system to automatically clear blockages. But I never tried one, they are crazy expensive.
I might add that if you use the bags with the Karcher it just takes cement and plaster dust in it's stride. So far I have had no issues with the Karcher and as far as performance is concerned it's better than the Trend albeit I have only had it for about siz months so I can't tell you whether it will last yet.
 
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Thanks, gents - Karcher looks like a good shout. Good spec, widely available spares and accessories and doesn’t break the bank.

Only choice is which one?

WD3 @ £85 which sucks, blows and has a socket for your power tools, plus a nice plastic body which will take some abuse.

Or the WD4P @ £115 which only sucks, but has a little more oomph and an interesting filter arrangement. But a partly metal body, which might not stand the test of time.
 
One that blows might be quite handy as can be used for cleaning sawdust etc out of tricky to reach areas before hoovering up.

I bought one from Aldi ages ago which i used for the first time yesterday, it's a rebranded Einhell product and it's incredibly powerful, much more so than traditional vacuums which is great.

One thing i would suggest (and i don't know if the Karcher does it), but the Aldi one has an "Autostart" function where it'll fire up when it detects activity. Haven't used it yet so can't say how well it works but it feels like it's a superb function for when using something like a mitre saw so you don't have to switch the vac on/off for every cut.


How's your kitchen going by the way? I've not seen a worktop thread from you in ages!

Ours is pretty much finished now, just got the worktops being fitted today and then need the tap/hob to be installed.
 
Can anyone recommend a decent mitre chop saw and stand? Looking to spend between £100 and £150. I've seen a few on screw fix such as Titan and Evolution but never really heard of those brands before.
 
Furton said:
Can anyone recommend a decent mitre chop saw and stand? Looking to spend between £100 and £150. I've seen a few on screw fix such as Titan and Evolution but never really heard of those brands before.
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Get the evolution. Good brand. I've got their circular saw and single bevel sliding mitre.

The evolution stand is also very nice, big thick tubular steel legs.
 
I'd definately make sure to get a sliding version too. The number of times i had the entry level Evolution and had to turn bits of wood around to cut the full length was annoying. The 255mm Sliding version is great.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/evolution-052-0001-255mm-single-bevel-sliding-mitre-saw-220-240v/1062x

Very little you couldn't cut with that and it just sneaks in under budget. I'd be tempted to add the stand though since they're currently offering it half price.

I don't feel the double bevel feature is as important or worth the extra expense but maybe it would be to some people.
 
I don’t think I’ve ever looked at cordless ones. My concern would be whether they were powerful enough.

You might end up having to go down a few mm at a time which could take ages and kill your batteries before the job is finished.

The only one I have is an old 1/4” Erbauer one which has been good. I cut through the power lead though and rather than patch it up I’ve decided to replace it with the 1/2” version when I next need to use it.

The power of a decent 1/2” router just makes work so much easier and faster.

Given I don’t use it much though let me know if you do buy one. I’ve just seen a Ryobi with a battery for £140 which isn’t bad (I have dewalt tools and they don’t do one)
 
Exactly.

Or my personal favourite (I did this once and didn’t intend to be sneaky)

Bought a load of little things from Screwfix. Then had to return then and didn’t have my card so they put it as credit on my account :D
 
Must admit I am tempted to get a router.

Its one of the tools I could do with as I am going to build a bed soon.

Could also do with a power plane as well. Router would deffo get more use though

Is there much diff in how they perform?

I can get hire tools for peanuts as other half still works at Speedy, its just I like to have my own kit for when you get that sudden need for something
 
I’m a big fan of the Erbauer ones. The Titan one was garbage.

I’ve used both a Dewalt and Makita and didn’t see anything that made me think they were worth the extra.

Hitatchi do one around the £150 mark which is meant to be decent too.
 
The Craig said:
Trying to justify a £99 cordless router to myself but know I don't really need it...
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I bought it a couple months back with all the router bases. Easily one of my favorite tools now. You need to buy it with the additional router bases - you will end up using them all except the offset base which is only there for getting into deep corners. Since I bought cordless I have used "the router" so much more than I would have if I only had a corded version. Less set up time and no cable getting in the way makes it a fun tool to use. Also it's tiny and very easy to handle - very quick to change router bases also.

My only gripe is the lack of micro-adjustments with each base whilst the quick release is engaged which I do have with my Bosch plunge router.

Also the bases build like Lego... here's one that I built for extra stability:

iaywMuQ.jpg

Marvt74 said:
I don’t think I’ve ever looked at cordless ones. My concern would be whether they were powerful enough.

The only one I have is an old 1/4” Erbauer one which has been good. I cut through the power lead though and rather than patch it up I’ve decided to replace it with the 1/2” version when I next need to use it.

The power of a decent 1/2” router just makes work so much easier and faster.
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It has the exact same power as my corded Bosch router. You only need to argue 1/4" vs 1/2" since it doesn't come in a 1/2" version. No point mentioning power as it's not an issue.
 
Marvt74 said:
One that blows might be quite handy as can be used for cleaning sawdust etc out of tricky to reach areas before hoovering up.
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What I’d really like is the Karcher WD5, but it seems to be a Continental Europe only type of thing.

WD3P doesn’t feel like it has a low centre of gravity - feels very top-heavy.

Marvt74 said:
How's your kitchen going by the way? I've not seen a worktop thread from you in ages!

Ours is pretty much finished now, just got the worktops being fitted today and then need the tap/hob to be installed.
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It isn’t going... having a lot of problems with other elements and keep having to push kitchen back. Very annoyed.
 
glitch said:
It isn’t going... having a lot of problems with other elements and keep having to push kitchen back. Very annoyed.
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Yes, just saw your post about door linings. That's a shame.

Annoyingly our worktops were fitted much sooner than expected (not annoyingly, they look amazing), but our fitter wasn't expecting them so soon so booked in other jobs so we're left without a kitchen tap as it needs wiring/plumbing in. It's the most inconvenient thing ever to have no kitchen sink!
 
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