wall chasers

[Fred]

Hi,

I bought a wall chaser from a grocer ;) and for the price, it has been wonderful. My only slight criticism is that it the motor protrudes on the left hand side, which means that you cannot chase within ten inches of the left hand corner of the wall. This recently caused me problems when I wanted to chase for a light switch on the narrow wall to the left of a doorway.

My supermarket special looks a bit like a circular saw. I saw in a catalogue that the sparky chaser looks more like an angle grinder; it did not appear to have a lump on the side. Are all the £100+ makes and models like this? I would like to have one that could go into corners. Perhaps I should upgrade?

Now that I think about it, how come the motors in angle grinders are so small, or is it that they are simply aligned the other way, so that they run along the body, rather than out of it?

TIA

[Huge]

Correct. The motor runs along the body.

[John Rumm]

Why can't you turn it around and chase up the wall rather than down?

More of them seem to be based to some extent on angle grinder mechanics

- even a number of the cheap ones.

Yup.

[Dave Liquorice]

Presumably that is using it bottom to top of the chase. Why not cut the chase top to bottom the motor will stick out to the right as you look at it then...

[Lobster]

But also doesn't the supadooper laser guide point out the back, rather than in the direction the machine is designed to move? :-(

David

[Fred]

Yes, I did try that but it wasn't very successful. With the hose attachment to the vacuum at the back, this got in the way and prevented me chasing the very top of the wall. Pulling up rather than pulling down felt weird, but perhaps if I did it more often I would get used to that.

[Tim Watts]

Yes, it does feel weird, but it will work if you go with it.

[John Rumm]

The vacuum take off has a 90 degree bend and rotates on mine (the smaller sparky) - so you can direct the hose down regardless of the actual orientation of the machine. Could you improvise something similar?

[Fred]

The vacuum take off does rotate but I think it only has a 45 degree bend so it wouldn't be perfect but it may have helped. I had forgotten that it could be rotated as I have never needed to move it before.

Which sparky do you have? I was looking at some of those the other day. I am sure Tim is right, I probably would get used to it if I used it "upside down" more often. but I'm still thinking about an upgrade!

[Fred]

Sounds like you have the same one that I do. Whatever is the point of that? The first time I used it I got so confused because the laser went left if the machine went right. I quickly removed the batteries and never used the laser again.

[John Rumm]

the job well enough, although handles like bagpipes!

[Fred]

I'm confused by your bagpipes remark; does this mean you wouldn't recommend it?

There's an FK302 at Machine mart much cheaper:

model number is the same, so is this just a better price or am I missing something?

TIA

[John Rumm]

>>> Does the job well enough, although handles like bagpipes!

Bagpipes as in the sense that its a bit of a handful. To be fair, its fine when in use, its more the setting up that is a bit awkward. Things like changing the chase width requires undoing a thumbwheel to allow the housing to hinge away from the discs - this it does but does not actually detach - so you have it flapping about as you undo the retaining nut, fiddle with the spacer disks and reassemble.

I would recommend it in the sense that the results are good, and the dust control is effective. You can also get it cheaper than the SF price (got mine in machine mart IIRC). It also uses 125mm discs which gives a more useful depth of cut than then ones limited to 115mm ones. The motor body can also be positioned when you want (more flexible, but also more bagpipe like!), which makes it handy for getting close to the floor or ceiling.

> The model number is the same, so is this just a better price or am I

Nope, don't think so. They were cheaper in MM when I got mine a few years ago as well.

[Fred]

Thanks. I just need MM to invite me to one of their discount weekends now ;)

I guess there won't be another until the autumn?