Re: Top 10 Tools

Why do you need a chop saw if you have a radial arm one?

Solder/desolder station, cutters, screwdriver. ;-)

Mousemat?

Haven't needed one of those since I invested in a Microsoft optical mouse. Those things are the bees knees, and I mean that in all seriousness if you haven't actually tried one.

With my trusty optical mouse I can navigate on just about any surface very reliably. When I'm using my notebook I can even navigate using my thigh as the mouse mat - doesn't need to be a flat surface!

Highly recommend an optical mouse for anyone who hasn't tried one! And they don't suffer from furry balls either!

PoP

I often have the radial arm tooled up in a different combination (I have all the optional extras like dado head, sander, etc). Not very convenient if I want to chop a couple of lengths of rough sawn timber and then go back to whatever I was doing on the radial arm.

Besides which, radial arm saws tend to be a little inaccurate, unless you spent a whole lot of time setting them up before each cut (and even then they may not be accurate). Whereas a good chop saw can repeat a cut again and again.

PoP

This reminds me of the enquiry I made a while back, about essential tools for a simple house maintenance tool kit. I ended up with about 50 tools, only one, the drill, being powered.

Colin Bignell

I long ago left mice and have used a trackball for years (a Kensington one). Much more natural to use for me anyway. I use an optical mouse at work but still prefer the trackball.

I think that the problem is the shiny surface of the formica - they don't cope well on shiny surfaces.

Works perfectly on my (unfinished - never _did_ get round to doing that job) MDF desk top.

cheers Richard

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

My 'workstation' is black ash, and an optical mouse won't work on this at all. Besides, a mat is easy to clean and protects the surface.

Right. You must have a large workshop - I'd need to physically change the radial arm saw for the cutoff one if the timber was of any length.

The only experience I've personally had was with an industrial 3 phase DeWalt radial arm, and that was very good indeed - but then probably anything was by my standards of hand cutting. ;-)

Yes, it was rather the point I was making in another branch of this thread. Seems like typical Yankee overkill with the powered tools.....

Just a double width garage, one side used for the car, the other the workshop (when the car is out during the day I set up a collapsible workbench though.

I suspect the industrial saw might be made to more exacting standards than the job sold for the home market, though I've had mine for some

PoP

I find a radial much better than a chop saw, I have two Dewalt Radials built in to a long bench with long fence and cut off stops along one side of my workshop, (before anyone comments, I obtained the second Dewalt from a friend who sold me his entire workshop kit and having two does come in handy!) IMHO I reckon that the Dewalt is more accurate and safer to use than a chop saw (FWIW I do have a small chop saw which I hardly ever use) I certainly don't need to set the radial up before each cut, I find that once it is set up correctly it stays that way until I hit a knot or it jams and this sometimes puts it out of square.

For cutting mitres and angles I have made a jig which offers the wood to the saw at an angle rather than altering the saw angle and disrupting my 90deg cut off accuracy.

I bought my First Dewalt 20 years ago and it has been worth every penny, I use it almost every day.

John.

Yup. I've often wondered what sort of stuff old Norm would produce if he was stripped of most of his power-tools, and reduced to the level of 'enthusiastic amateur on a low budget' type kit. :)