fein multimaster

[Renata]

How useful do you folks find this little tool?

Renata

[A Lurker]

Renata wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Just used it yesterday to patch a section of rotted windowsill. It is fantastic! It does plunge cuts accurately like butter. Smooth, accurate, and safe as a saw. It is great as a detail sander, much better than the PC Detail Sander which is a POS (and I don't mean portable occilating sander). Hard to justify the expense for the Fein, but I got lucky and got mine used. The blades and accessories are also very expensive, but when you need it, there's nothing like it.

Jerry

[marc rosen]

Hello Renata, I am very happy with mine. I have used it to help finish out my home addition, build a deck, and recently to trim a T&G wall at the bottom to allow space for underlaymant and tile. I have used it for sanding in tight spoaces but this has not been its most useful operation. (I prefer a sander like the Festool products for that.) I have not used it for "fine woodworking", but mostly for home construction and improvement. Cutting trim to size right at its application point is very time efficient and the sawdust produced by some of the fine blades is negligible.

I thought the Fein was expensive but I was very impressed with what it could do in the store and now that I have it I don't think I could build anything without relying on it. Many of its uses can be accomplished with other tools but the Fein makes those operations easier. Cost of accessories such as blades can be scary but once they're bought and you use them you "forget" how much you spent and just have a happy time making it do what you want it to.

(I am not stating this to brag but I have a lot of various hand power tools and the two items that my wife is impressed with are the Fein Multimaster and the Festool sander. She could care less about the jig saw, routers, circular saw, etc.)

Marc

Renata wrote:

[Mark]

I have had one for a couple of years.....it did a great job of removing grout with the diamond blade....and not as much dust since the blade vibrates instead of rotating. Also used it for some sanding in tight areas....did a great job for that. It's a bit expensive, but you get what you pay for. I'm happy with mine, and am glad I bought it.

Mark

[Pat Barber]

Very cool tool. Very pricey tool. Very expensive blades.

Can do certain things no other tool could handle.

The cutting blades are really amazing and the scraper is worth the price of the tool.

The detail sander is a slow but VERY accurate device.

You need to see a full blown demo to really appreciate this tool. Catch a demo at a woodworking show.

Renata wrote:

[Robatoy]

Now that I own one, I have no idea how I lived without it. Okay, a bit of an over-dramatization. It is a wonderful tool and you will find many uses for it. I do suggest you buy the 'TOP' kit. It is very good value.

Oh... and the saw-blades can be sharpened with a Dremel cut-off wheel. (Again, thanks to the Wrecker who suggested that in the first place)

r

[Toller]

This question comes up every couple months. Everyone loves it; except me. I conceed that it does some things better than any other tool and I am really glad to have it then; but I only use it a few times a year. If I had paid full price it would have been too much. Maybe if the accessories were better priced...

[srazor]

I love it. like Jerry said it is pricey and the attachments are really expensive. If i lost it I would buy it again.

Scot

[Patriarch]

Renata wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Very! I only get mine out a few times a year (I'm a hobby guy), but when I need it, it does its job beautifully.

It's no more expensive than another nice handplane would be, and I have too many of them already.

How's that kitchen project coming along? There's one or two in my near future...

Patriarch

[Leon]

I specifically bought mine for plunge cutting into exterior wood trim that has rotted and needs to be replaced. I don't want to replace entire 12' boards when the rest of the board is fine.

In addition, the scraper that comes in the kit works great for removing dried glue squeeze out and using the segmented saw blade I was able to cut out a larger opening through 1/4" thick hard board in the back of an entertainment system with out removing the equipment. Very little dust. The sander worked on a couple of small projects quite well with me holding the project.

Hopefully I will be able to use the tool soon for the reason that I bought it.

[Gerald Ross]

Sounds like my old cast saw, and costs about the same. I use mine, but seldom.

[Toller]

I hadn't heard that one before.

[Renata]

Another use Ihadn't thought of and therefore, one more justification!

Actually, I saw a demo on tv and it seemed right handy to cut the bottom of door trim when one needs to insert flooring material (that's higher than the original floor).

Thanx Renata

[Renata]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. The top kit is just over $300. I've been a good "girl", with regard to spending, so I'll probably splurge. It does seem REAL handy for a number of projects. But, they're coming out with a modification so I think I"m gonna wait a bit to make sure I get the updated model.

Why, thanx for asking. Well, just as I had everything set to start cutting wood, I actually made a couple meals and decided I should re-examine the layout. It's galley style and the question du jour is - sink and stove across from each other, or beside each other. So, now I have 2 plans I've come up with and am trying to decide which one would work better. There's always compromises (in an existing space) and I just gotta weigh 'em and pick a layout.

Anyway, I hope by the end of this weekend, I've got everything set (the plans and the workshop sapce "tidied" better) so I can start on the cabinets.

Renata

[Leon]

Yeah, I wish I had owned the tool when I added a new floor in my bathroom.

You mentioned that you might wait until the new model comes out. I called Fein and talked to them about that about 5-6 weeks ago. The rep indicated that there was no planed release date yet and that I might wait a long time. Either way the new model will include an indexing pin to keep the blades from pivoting while in use. If you tighten the blades tight enough and use them correctly there should be no problem. The rep told me to remember to use the tool like you would use a knife cutting fresh baked bread. If you simply push down on the bread with the knife the bread will collapse. You should always use a slight to moderate back and forth motion to help the debris clear out of the blade teeth. With this technique you don't have to push so hard causing the blade changes position. Either way IIRC there is a retro kit to make the current models work like the new models with respect to the indexing pin. IIRC it's about $10. The rep did not recommend it unless I started to actually have a problem.

[Renata]

THANX!

Renata