Tip for Bosch PMF Multi Tool

[The Medway Handyman]

Had to lift some T&G floorboards today, obvious job for the Bosch PMF180.

Used a plunge blade to cut the boards across the joists, then needed to cut along the T&G.

Can be done with a plunge blade obviously, but the semi circular blade is the way to go.

Plunged into the gap where the T&G was & pushed forward, when the blade met a joist it rode over it because of its semi circular shape, then dropped back down again!

Six foot length of floorboard about 20 seconds, no notches on joists, hardly a scratch, board lifted cleanly - an almost perfect job with no real effort.

Shame the blades are so much money.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not quite sure how this is any better than using a jigsaw with a blade snapped off so it only just cuts to the required depth? At least the blades for those are cheap enough.

[dom]

Think how much cooler it would be to have the pro cordless version...

[dennis]

What is wrong with using a Stanley knife? Quick, cheap, and no chance of cutting into anything underneath.

[The Medway Handyman]

Yerbut, nobut, yerbut - because I hadn't thought of that! Doh!

Thank you Mr P.

[The Medway Handyman]

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's also useful for cutting across a board to lift it - if it goes under a wall, etc. Mark across a joist - avoiding nails - and no need for a pilot hole. Pivot the jigsaw so the blade starts off near parallel to the board and slowly move to the normal cutting position - most jigsaws have a rounded front on the bed to allow this easily.

[Frank Erskine]

I always regard cordless power tools as rather amateur...

[Matty F]

What if you are several miles from the nearest power supply and have to drill some holes for some bolts in a viewing platform?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You get the sparks to run you a feed from the genny...

[Bruce]

Anyone who agrees to take on a job they obviously cannot do (for whatever reason) isn't much of a professional.

[dom]

Frank's a real man. Wouldn't be caught dead with a power tool. Does all his joinery with a handsaw and an axe. And bites bricks in half.

[<me9]

I usually use the semi circular blade. Full depth is usually enough iunless the boards are thicker than usual.

I usually remove two boards initially, then you can often spring out without cutting the toungue (or just the tip if the boards are tight).

How did you dispose of the nails? that's often the biggest time waster.

I got my last from Rapid Electronics at a reasonable price.

[The Medway Handyman]

Dispose as in remove from boards? Claw hammer. Dispose as in get rid of? Left them under the floor :-)

[Tim S]

The Medway Handyman coughed up some electrons that declared:

As pennence for thy sins, thou shalt come unto my house and removeth the crap that someone liketh yourself left under my floor!

;->

Oh, and could you hoover up the corpses while you're there?

[John Stumbles]

Decades ago I watched with envy some shopfitters putting up an illuminated sign on a shopfront using one of the (then) new-fangled 24V Bosch SDS machines. They were about £250 then: prolly about the only 'amateur' who'd have had one in those days might have been Mr Hall.

[Frank Erskine]

Although I think it's really very unprofessional to leave crap under the floorboards, I have found odd items such as lemonade bottles dating from the early '70s which have proven useful as vernacular theatre props.

[Matty F]

I'm not sure what was available in 1994, but I assume that a generator could have been taken along a track a few miles or dropped by helicopter. I'd have used a brace and bit because I'm such a cheapskate. 14 people died partly because somebody didn't have a suitable power drill:

"nails were used to secure the platform instead of bolts (as intended by the design), because an appropriate drill had not been taken to the building site."

[dennis]

The only time I saw one of those was when BT came to drill a hole through my wall. After watching him for about 10 minutes I got my mains B&D quattro drill out and put the hole in for him. The B&D took about 2 mins while he only got about an inch in ten. Not that the bricks are hard. ;-)

I think the 8J 1500W lidl SDS might take a brick out rather quicker than that now.

[The Medway Handyman]

I like the old newspapers you find.