First off, I tend to use more of the Bimetal E-blades than anything else. Fein Metal/Wood E-Cut Saw Blade 1 1/8" (1 pack) Model# 63502151018 $39.90 That's right... 40 dollars per blade...BUT.. when you buy a 3-pack, you pay 68 dollars for 3. that about 22.50 bucks per blade. Fein Metal/Wood E-Cut Saw Blade 1 1/8" (3 pack) Model# 63502151020 $67.56 Those are huge savings. Add to that, that the Bi-Metal E-blade cuts both wood and metal, it really isn't that bad.
And as I am looking at those blades... is there any reason they can't be sharpened? Maybe not the bi-metal ones.. but the regular wood E-blades? Stick it in a sharpening vice... and use a fine tri-angular file? (I am seriously out of my league when it comes to things like sharpening, so bear with me.)
I can't imagine why not, unless the steel is A2 or something harder, in which case you'd probably want to use diamond. How fine are the teeth? If it's like a fine-tooth pull saw you'll really have some learning to do!
teeth look similar as in japanese cross-cut saws, and are possibly impulse hardened. Sharpening of these is not yet beyond reach, but it is much more difficult than with western style saws.
But when You combine that high machine speed of Multimaster with a thin blade having slight tooth asymmetry and some loss of tooth set caused by resharpening, and start sawing anything thicker than 1/4" or along a straight line, I think there may appear problems. I do not know the thing with Multimaster, but I've had similar kind of situation with precision miniature table saw. I tried to resharpen this very thin circular blade, and although I have reasonable experience and a selection of very good tools, sturdy jigs'n'such and a lot of patience, I ended up buying a new lot of expensive blades. It was just too time consuming to get results adequate enough.
But I think You should try. It's a cool experiment. I think also that it could be possible to reshape (actually remake) teeth as ripcut saw.
Like Jay said, why not and a fine quality file or diamond file should do the thing. I would add there that You should construct a jig or similar, where You can secure the blade and then You should assemble tables or rails on both sides to ensure constant straight angle between file and blade. For the file, kinda easiest way is to join small blocks of wood or plastic on both ends of file so that file angle is supported as straight while making the last effective pass between two sawteeth.
I hope you post your test results so we can see them. I could use one of these to get door frames sawn flush to the floors when replacing doors. A great deal of my door replacement business seems to be where someone has tiled all the way under the door, then out over the step inside the house making a nice face on the concrete riser leading into the house. With the frame tiled in solid, I used to break tiles and crack grout getting the frame out of the tile to set a new unit.
Now I saw the frame/jamb off flush with a fine tooth flexible 8" sawzall blade after taping up the tile to protect it. A real pain in the ass.
But one of the things that has scared me away from this tool (besides the original cost!) is the cost of consumables. I have always wondered if you could sharpen one of those blades with a Dremel with one of those little cut off wheels on it.
snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote: [snipped for brevity]
The E-Blade leaves a 0.5mm kerf. If you don't hit any nails or plaster, the blade lasts a long, long time. The BiMetal one fares much better under adverse conditions. A simple nail won't bother it. I have done the 8" SawsAll version.. it's really rude in comparison.
What an excellent idea! Justabout the perfect thickness too! I can't wait to try it!
Thanks for that.
r
btw... take the plunge. I know it is a bit steep, but is it ever useful! I'm telling you.. it's a forehead slapper! DO IT, Damnit!!
I am still a little tool investment shy after my recent investment into the wonderful world of HVLP. I bought a full turbine system with a few extra aircaps, and for other purposes a conversions gun. You know how that goes... I never initially intended to spend that much, but...
But I have lusted after one of those Fein rascals for some time. Now however, I go to Amazon and take a look, then a couple of other sites, and there must be 6 different packages to buy. I don't need the grout/tile attachments, and can't tell what some of the others are. Which one did you get? Would you buy the same one again?
The purpose for this tool to meet my needs would be (as above) flush sawing, and then a small amount of detail sanding. That's it. $300 still sounds a little steep. What do you find is the best use in your application?
Even though Lew smacked me around till I bought it, it took a specific job for a very loyal customer, before I took the plunge. That job could not have been done as efficiently and elegantly without that tool. Besides, the job practically took care of the cost of the tool. BUT... then I started playing with it and found it very useful in lots of other applications.
Most of my usage is very trade-specific. Almost all my countertops have a 3" wide peripheral frame of 1" thick upon which the 1/2" solid surface material rests. With today's large undermounted sinks, things get real crowded in the area back of the sink. Taps, detergent dispensors, water treatment tap, boiling hot water taps, spray attachments etc. I used to measure and zig-zag my through. Now I run my frame full width, full parameter and drill for my accessories on the job. from the top of the deck and cut away the space I need for the required nuts and access for the clamps that hold the sinks up in place from underneath. In other words, justabout all my cuts are plunge cuts, straight in, in a very confined space. That feature along is well worth the cost of the tool.... on most jobs it saves me over an hour...and no screwups with measurements. (Which I have been told happen to other people.) Then I use it to do a quick touch-up sanding job and the dust collection option which comes with the TOP package is very useful. All you need to do, is add up the cost of all the inividual attachments and you'll soon discover what a good deal it really is. I know you won't be using all the attachments, nor will all the attachments do what you want either.... but you wouldn't go out and buy them at full dollar to find that out.
Last time I used it: I set the cross hairs of my laser along the bottom and one side of a wallmounted plug. Leaving the laser on, I then hung the micro-wave cabinet in front of the plug. The laser clearly marked where to cut with my Multimaster. Plunge in a few times... total control... done. Literally a 5 minute job....with nice clean edges.... very little sawdust from the 0.5 mm kerf.
Nailshooter's suggestion to use a Dremel cut-off wheet to sharpen the E-blades for the Fein Multimaster works like a charm! The Heavy Duty cut-off wheels (20 to a package) are too thick. The regular ones ( 36 to a package) are perfect!
Great... thanks a lot... now it looks like it could be affordable. NO ONE I know that has one of those has ever tried to sharpen the blades, and consequently, they don't want to "put them to work" since blade replacement for a dull or damaged blade is expensive. No matter what I suggested I have been told that sharpening just didn't work. So at $35 a single blade that could be ruined when I touch a nail it looks expensive. >That< has been my out all these years.
The Feins of my amigos have been used almost exclusively for sanding since they don't want to take a chance on goofing up a costly blade, but they claim that just as a sander/polisher over the years it has more than paid for itself. But now if you can actually sharpen the blades and reuse them a couple of times my old excuse is gone... I could be screwed. A $35 blade that can be sharpened a couple of times isn't bad for a specialty tool. Especially if it is a time saver that does exactly what I want.
May be time to start shopping. Crap. I hate endorsements from other contractors. But i do appreciate the info!
i bought some of these knockoff fein blades, and although a little thicker they work just fine.the teeth are a little more aggressive, but for the difference in price it's worth it.if you buy 6 you get 7, so it comes out to $19 a blade.oh by the way i'm not selling them, nor do i know the seller, just trying fellow woodworkers save a few bucks.http://cgi.ebay.com/Wide-cutting-BLADE-for-Fein-Multimaster-Free-Shipping_W0QQitemZ7629960379QQihZ017QQcategoryZ20797QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
The paint scraping feature works great. Got layers and layers of old, cracked but not necessarily loose and flaking oil-base off the exterior trim of my house. Gosh, are the scraper blades expensive!?
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