New Tools!

[technodanvan]

I've gone on something of a tool bender recently, some by necessity, others because I was already at the store and figured "why not". Great way to make horrible decisions.

First up, we decided we would no longer have landscapers doing regular yardwork, so I needed a mower. I'm a Milwaukee M12/M18 guy (as you will clearly see) so I checked out their gas-free lawnmower. It's pretty nice, though I don't need the self-drive for what little I have to cut here in Las Vegas. My only gripes (that which is matched by online reviews) is the blade came quite dull and the mounting system is proprietary. I need to remedy the former soon, while the latter I guess I'll just have to deal with.


This came with a pair of HD12.0 batteries - currently their largest of the M18 lineup. I already had two from a previous purchase and the mower uses two at a time. It's nice having several, though I really don't need them for the mower since I have quite little to cut. I actually like having them for other tools - like a blower (which I already owned) and a weed whacker.



I haven't taken this out of the box yet, but there are several other powered attachments that go with it, should I purchase them in the future. The one I'm most interested in is the tree branch trimmer/mini-chainsaw attachment. Need to find that sometime.

When I was working on my 'new' iMac (a tale for another thread) I discovered I had no way of easily vacuuming up the dust that was present. Well, me being me, I went to Home Depot and brought home yet another M18 tool.



I am pleasantly surprised by this. On first use I thought it had pathetic suction, but it has worked for dust, dog food, and sawdust without a hitch. Great little tool, and pretty affordable when you don't need to purchase the one with a battery and charger! Of course, while I was in the aisle with the vacuums I noticed something I absolutely didn't need - yet another router!



I have not taken this out of the box either, as I already have a cordless Makita, with several attachments. However, that's the only Makita device I still have...so....reasons? And finally on this same trip I realized I could save time by using a big hole saw to cut down the braces for a current speaker project (a la Jon marsh).

[technodanvan]

Of course, that hole saw was maybe not ideal. I have a Porter Cable floorstanding drill press I purchased from Lowe's going on ten years ago. It's nothing special really, but I upgraded it with a few odds and ends, including a nice keyless chuck from Jacobs and a table extension from Woodpeckers. It's been through a fair amount over the years and I know it pretty well. Using a big hole saw would be about as hard a task I've ever used it for, so I dropped the RPMs down to the 200-300 range and let her rip. I got 4.9 holes before this happened.


The arbor fell out of the drill press mid cut. Well, actually at the very end of the cut. I cleaned it up and tried putting it back in but no dice. Texted our resident woodworking guru, Steve Manning, and got a couple other ideas to try. Still nothing, doesn't grip at all. Watched more videos, read more forums...still nothing. Tried the original chuck and arbor and STILL nothing. I can't see or feel it, but I am guessing the piece the arbor press fits into is cracked. I have another idea related to how hot the steel is during the Las Vegas summer so I'm going to try again when the weather is more reasonable, but in the meantime I need a drill press to continue my project.

So first I thought about going affordable again - I saw Jon was using a Wen but had my doubts that it could handle a 6" hole saw. Not that I couldn't use a router to finish this task, but now it's the principle of the thing. I also looked at a couple from Jet and got the idea that changing belts and pulleys and stuff was annoying, so I'd like to not have to do that. Then I came across a beast from Laguna - the DP-20. It does not appear on their website (yet?) but Woodcraft has a link up.

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/laguna-20-drill-press-with-touchscreen

I really liked some of the alternative features on it but wanted to check one out, so I went down to the local store. Unfortunately, i discovered they are still backordered with no ETA - including the display model. My dreams of an ultra high-tech drill press shattered, I moseyed about the store and came across another press I had read about in my researching. The Nova Voyager DVR 18". Seemingly a precursor to the Laguna with some of the functionality, it also definitely came with a feature I was very, very interested in trying out - it is direct drive, no pulleys or belts at all. You can also enter in the material and bit size/type and it'll automatically set the speed for you, among other neato features like an auto depth stop and such. More drill press than I need for sure, so I bought one. It's still in my van right now while I wait for the sun to go down (it shines on my garage in the evening). Unsure how I'm going to unload 300+ pounds of tool, but I'll try and report back.

[chrisn]

Nice drill press. The chuck falls off of my old benchtop drill press too. I went the other direction and bought a Rockwell/Delta press from the 50's. We could all use another router.. especially one who's cord cant get tangled while cutting circles

[technodanvan]

Thanks! I did check Craigslist before making any purchase as well, but other than a couple Sears/Craftsman models that looked a little rough, I didn't see anything that stood out. Someday I'll get lucky and get an old milling machine....but yesterday was not that day.

Tool is unloaded now, it really wasn't too bad at all. Hoping to get her set up soon. From my limited research the ~300 RPMs I was using was probably too fast for that particular hole saw. Supposedly this press can drop to 50 RPM (though that may be problematic for other reasons, according to some reviews) so I'll give that a shot.

[JonMarsh]

Some days tools seem like women... can't live with them, can't live without them!

Hope you're sorted out and productive soon, Danny!

[technodanvan]

I wanted to share a bit of what Nova Voyager can do, mostly because it really just made me happy. This is a really expensive drill press and certainly these features are not required - especially by professionals who know how to use the equipment that comes standard on even basic presses - but these have really helped me up my game and make woodworking, to me, more enjoyable. I should also note the Viking line or smaller drill presses appears to have similar capabilities and probably would have been a more appropriate purchase had I known about them at the time.

Anyways, here's the deal. I chose to use a 1 1/2" Forstner bit today to make 16 holes prior to cutting some parts down with a jigsaw. I'm not great at tight curves with a jigsaw, didn't want them 90 degrees (for reasons?), and I don't have a bandsaw, so this is how I manage. I decided that I would make each hole in two passes (one each side of the board) for a cleaner cut, so 32 movements. Here's how the Voyager helped me make those 32 movements as efficiently as possible.

First, I made 1/8" pilot holes with a brad point bit. Nothing special here, any drill press can do what I did (other than set the speed digitally). Turn it on, make 16 holes. Done.

Second, I inserted the Forstner bit and got into the menus.

Here we select the bit type:


Next, we set the size of the bit.


Then we set it to hardwood given that the material is Baltic birch plywood.


Since we are making these holes in two passes, we only need to drill about halfway through an 18mm board each time. We could eyeball this of course, or set a physical stop...or we could be incredibly consistent and accurate by setting a digital stop that warns you on approach to the stop-depth, then just shuts off the motor once depth is reached. I ended up using 0.4 inches by the way, 0.35 did the job but basically shut off immediately after breakthrough.


Finally, these are repetitive cuts and the drill press keeps shutting off because of the above. Pretty annoying to have to turn it on again every time. Or we could set it to just turn on as soon as we rotate the handle to start drilling.

[Hdale85]

Yeah those Nova DP's are crazy nice. There is a used benchtop one for like $800 bucks over here, not sure I can swing it right now though lol. Getting ready to order a 2025 Ford Mavrick, and bunch of other stuff going on.

[JonMarsh]

Life is complicated, isn’t it?

[technodanvan]

Yeah those Nova DP's are crazy nice. There is a used benchtop one for like $800 bucks over here, not sure I can swing it right now though lol. Getting ready to order a 2025 Ford Mavrick, and bunch of other stuff going on.

Gotta take care of those priorities first!

[Hdale85]

Gotta take care of those priorities first!

Indeed, Doesn't help I just bought a new 3D printer that wasn't really budgeted for either lol.

[ergo]

I have this one on the list to get sometime soonish.... It has laser cross, RPM adjustment and digital depth readout, so would have the few niceties that the big old school one I have does not. Price is quite good and most of the holes I drill could be done with it and few occasions where the detail is too big / drill post distance too small I could revert back to the old school one....
Not sure if and how easily available that model is in US

[technodanvan]

That's really interesting, I've not seen that one before. I'm guessing it's not available in the states, but I'm surprised it didn't pop up on my many online searches. Price makes it really tempting too.

[Scareurpasenger]

Bosch really holds back in the states. The smaller cordless tool system is pretty nice and it was worth importing the dremel replacement so I could use it with the same batteries as the drill. I tried festool but the bosch felt a bit better in the hand.

[JonMarsh]

I have this one on the list to get sometime soonish.... It has laser cross, RPM adjustment and digital depth readout, so would have the few niceties that the big old school one I have does not. Price is quite good and most of the holes I drill could be done with it and few occasions where the detail is too big / drill post distance too small I could revert back to the old school one....
Not sure if and how easily available that model is in US

Mmmm, mmmm, Good! I am a Bosch fanboy, that is true... routers and dual bevel sliding miter saw to prove it!

But though the 220V issue is no problem, as I had a 220V 35A outlet spec'd for the garage, they just don't seem to exist here in the US to purchase! I have bought from overseas Amazon affiliates in the past, but the shipping on this one might be a bit of a stretch! I like what I intuit about the design just looking at the picture- definitely a re-thinking of the drill press concept.

What's interesting is that I have bought from Amazon in Deutscheland before, so I logged on there, and this is a fairly decent sounding deal, though certainly expensive compared with my WEN presses. OTOH, if I have to keep up with the Ergo's and Danny Taylor's of the world, then maybe a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do?

[Hdale85]

I've seen that bosh in some videos before, it's a bit weird but also interesting and supposed to be quite good for woodworking.

[technodanvan]

Does this count as a tool? Don't worry, I still have the technodanvan too...

[DaveFred]

Hello Dan,

Finally, something I am an expert on (woodworking machinery, your drill press).

Can you take an overall pic of the drill press so I can see the make and model?

A pic of the quill extended? (spin the handle down to max drilling depth)

And finally a pic of the disconnected drill press chuck possibly with an arbor in it.

I will see if I can help!

[technodanvan]

Hey Dave!

I actually got it working again! When I set up the new press it came with a 5/8" manual chuck, but I decided to try the keyless Jacobs I had used on the Porter Cable as they had the same taper on the arbor. The Jacobs worked great there, so I tried the new 5/8" chuck in the Porter Cable, which has been working ever since. Very unsure what the problem is at this point.

So anyway, now i have two floorstanding drill presses. I'm hoping that will be beneficial for some workflow down the line...or maybe I'll sell the PC to clear up some room in my garage.

Random note - the original knobs on the handles of both the Porter Cable and the Voyager seemed almost identical. This was a problem for the Porter Cable as they are not one piece of plastic, some kind of adhesive is used to hold it together. They also felt cheap. Well, in Las Vegas the heat would melt the adhesive and it made a huge mess, so I managed to figure out the thread size and purchased some nice phenolic knobs online back in 2018. For some reason I ordered six at the time - no idea why - and as luck would have it, the spares work on the Voyager too. This is the one I ordered from Global Industrial, if anyone else is in the market for an inexpensive upgrade:

"J.W. Winco DIN319-PL Phenolic Ball Knobs Tapped 40mm Diameter mm Length M12x1.75"

https://www.jwwinco.com/en-us/products/1.1-Operating-with-handles-and-knobs/knobs/DIN-319-Plastic-Ball-Knobs-Tapped-Hole-or-Tapped-Insert-Type

They also have one with a metal threaded insert that is probably a bit nicer, but the tapped phenolic seems just fine.

[technodanvan]

Another week, another set of tools. First up, and have some tree branches I need to trim down so I can dispose of them. Some would say a chainsaw would be best, but these are relatively small and a chainsaw seems kind of unnecessary, at least where I currently live. So I went with something that I think will see more use, a Milwaukee M18 Fuel Super Sawzall. Of course I grabbed a couple sets of blades as well.



And of course as I wandered the Milwaukee aisle, I saw something else I 'needed' to have. ANOTHER router. In this case, a full M18 Fuel cordless router with 1/2" (and 1/4") collet, claimed 2.25 peak horsepower. There is a plunge base available but I'll have to order it some other time. Feels really nice, though I have not used it yet.

[Scareurpasenger]

Nice! I have slowed down on buying tools lately. It really want a cnc. The biggest issue is space. I feel that half my shop time right now is cleaning up and building items to help free up space in the basement.

[JonMarsh]

That sounds pretty familiar...

[technodanvan]

Nice! I have slowed down on buying tools lately. It really want a cnc. The biggest issue is space. I feel that half my shop time right now is cleaning up and building items to help free up space in the basement.

A CNC would be a wonderful addition but I'm not quite sure how much I'd use one...even if I did have the space!

[technodanvan]

Well, it's time to revive this thread as I had a couple new tools gifted to me. True to form, they are of course Milwaukee. I'm particularly excited about this one, the 2535-20 cordless 3" random orbital sander. I don't know how many times I've had minor details that need finishing but my 6" Festool is just too much for it. Really looking forward to using this.


I also received the plunge base for the Milwaukee M18 FUEL cordless router. I've used it only a handful of times but have not seen a need for more power. You still have a vacuum hose to deal with but getting rid of the cord is huge for me.

[JonMarsh]

Nice! I have slowed down on buying tools lately. It really want a cnc. The biggest issue is space. I feel that half my shop time right now is cleaning up and building items to help free up space in the basement.

I can totally relate to this. Very jealous of Steve. And wish I'd had the foresight to get an RV Garage add on instead of a conventional 3rd bay garage. Would have been VERY useful!

[Evil Twin]

Well, it's time to revive this thread as I had a couple new tools gifted to me. True to form, they are of course Milwaukee. I'm particularly excited about this one, the 2535-20 cordless 3" random orbital sander. I don't know how many times I've had minor details that need finishing but my 6" Festool is just too much for it. Really looking forward to using this.


I also received the plunge base for the Milwaukee M18 FUEL cordless router. I've used it only a handful of times but have not seen a need for more power. You still have a vacuum hose to deal with but getting rid of the cord is huge for me.

Milwaukee is a most superior choice... I recommend you show your wife how superior their scissors are in the kitchen- I would use nothing else.

[Scareurpasenger]

Now you just need a nice wide base add-on to that router for stability. I have been pretty happy with using the 4x4 custom Katz Moses router base. https://kmtools.com/products/6-in-1-universal-trim-router-jig?_pos=2&_sid=7be47517f&_ss=r



I did buy this last year and still need to try it out. In theory, it should help with veneer trimming and edging more accurately. https://www.fastcap.com/product/little-lipper

[Steve Manning]

Well, it's time to revive this thread as I had a couple new tools gifted to me. True to form, they are of course Milwaukee. I'm particularly excited about this one, the 2535-20 cordless 3" random orbital sander. I don't know how many times I've had minor details that need finishing but my 6" Festool is just too much for it. Really looking forward to using this.


I also received the plunge base for the Milwaukee M18 FUEL cordless router. I've used it only a handful of times but have not seen a need for more power. You still have a vacuum hose to deal with but getting rid of the cord is huge for me.

I bought that same sander to help in sanding your tweeter bulges! So far I happy with it.

[technodanvan]

I have yet another addition to this thread. Way too many new tools in way too short of a time, but home remodeling necessitates some purchases that I've otherwise avoided. In this case, I needed (wanted?) a 12" miter saw for a bed frame I'm working on. I'm actually not sure it'll be big enough for what I have planned but I think I can make it work. After some research I decided to eschew the obvious Milwaukee M18 cordless choice (obvious in the sense that everything else in this thread is a cordless Milwaukee...) and go for what the reviews say is the best one available. In this case, a dual bevel slider from Bosch. They do have a cordless option but I felt that would be unnecessary for my purposes.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bosch-15...12SD/202568455



This saw is notable for a unique gliding/sliding feature that is SUUUUPER smooth in practice. Like, hot knife through butter smooth. It's amazing to feel and I'm curious to see how it fares with repeated use. The saw arrived today while the (nearly the same price) 'gravity rise' rolling stand won't arrive until this weekend.



As for the bed frame, well I probably won't post much about it here, but it's my own design made entirely of Baltic birch, and I'll be using 24 of these little guys to hold it together. Not quite railroad tie worthy, but we're approaching that level!

[theSven]

If you somehow work some speakers into the bed frame it would make a great build story...

[technodanvan]

I did consider doing something Sven since the room is really too small to place anything other than some small speakers next to a wall. If I do anything it would go in the headboard - which I won't decide on doing until I see the rest of the frame in the room. Might be overpowering.

[Steve Manning]

Good god man you could level an aircraft carrier with those!!!!

[technodanvan]

That's the idea! But seriously though, I really just liked the aesthetic if large bolt heads.

[JonMarsh]

I have one of those Bosch dual bevel sliding miter saws- it's tops IMO. The small hose nozzle on my DeWalt vac from Costco fits perfectly in the dust pickup.

[technodanvan]

Unfortunately, the saw came with a small chunk of aluminum missing near one of the frame mounts along with a small stress fracture. I'm unsure it would seriously impact the integrity of the mount, but based on the condition of the box it would be unsurprising to me if it had been dropped at some point (or something was dropped on it). Since I'm a hobbyist I can't see this being a huge issue, but for someone using this on a jobsite where rolling over uneven terrain is the norm, having an intact mount would probably be important.

All that said, I assembled the rolling cart yesterday. It's always a bit surprising to me how much room a miter saw requires, even in storage.

[JonMarsh]

They sure do, which is why I only have one of the three I own in my garage shop- the others are in storage.

[Scareurpasenger]

I have the same saw and generally like it. Alignment is a bit finicky. Make sure to check for true 90, 45 etc before locking it down the first time. I have read that this helps because some smaller indentions are created.

i had a smaller cut shatters my dust collection and ended up finding the festool option as an upgrade. The part is a bit less but fits right on the Bosch part.

i have a new blade to try out but for home construction I left the Bosch blade on there. The word is that there is lots of deflection with the factory blade.

[technodanvan]

Good input, thank you! I have a 12" Forrest Chopmaster awaiting installation when I get around to it, and definitely have calibration down as a necessary component once installed. I'm definitely going to push the capacity thresholds of the saw at 90 and 45 very shortly and want to be sure I minimize waste.

[Steve Manning]

May as well join the party ..... yep, I've got the same saw as well. This place has after market stuff for dust collection. https://shopnationstore.com/ I've been thinking about one but have not pulled the trigger yet.

[ergo]

Danny,
for the Bosch GDL, do get one of the dust collection upgrades from here too
https://shopnationstore.com/collections/all-products?sort_by=manual&filter.p.product_type=Dust +Collection&filter.p.vendor=Bosch

It makes a HUUGE difference.
I bought mine as 3D model and printed it myself. He has been developing it further it seems as mine did not have a piece of pipe.

I've been developing a 3D model for better dust collection for my table saw (will post when I get time). Seeing how much time it takes to perfect something like this I think the price he asks is also fair in end... and as said it really does do wonders.

[technodanvan]

Interesting guys, thanks for the links. Does this reduce the crosscut capacity of the saw? Seems like it hangs a bit low.

[ergo]

No, it slides full way. Perhaps bevel at full 45 need adjusting the aux fences a bit but should work (I've not done those).
It is easy to remove also - just 2 screws to remove the dust collection part while holder will remain.

[Steve Manning]

Danny,
for the Bosch GDL, do get one of the dust collection upgrades from here too
https://shopnationstore.com/collections/all-products?sort_by=manual&filter.p.product_type=Dust +Collection&filter.p.vendor=Bosch

https://youtu.be/ZMgtYyHlrA0?si=Wy_HtQvebgPgx3ge

It makes a HUUGE difference.
I bought mine as 3D model and printed it myself. He has been developing it further it seems as mine did not have a piece of pipe.

I've been developing a 3D model for better dust collection for my table saw (will post when I get time). Seeing how much time it takes to perfect something like this I think the price he asks is also fair in end... and as said it really does do wonders.

Nice to hear feedback on these .... thanks Ergo

[ergo]

This is the kinda stuff I've been working on - getting a Hot Rod version of a small table saw with cast iron table to punch above it's weight class



The dust collection below table is maybe even worse design than what the Bosch has for their mitre saw. I tried to come up with a design that would work for 90..45 tilts and all, but could not figure it out well enough. So as is there is a 3D printed version that does the 90deg well and removed easily from magnets when I relative rarely do need the 45deg or some other.


All this is of course with a goal in mind to do a speaker project after a long pause once spring kicks in etc.

[JonMarsh]

Absolutely beautiful, Ergo!

You know, the one thing I really regret not realizing with the new house, was instead of a 3rd garage bay, having an RV bay- would be a lot, LOT more room for stuff!

[Steve Manning]

Very nice Ergo, how do you like the Incra fence? I notice your following Jon's school of thought on multiple tools with 2 table saws!

[ergo]

I'm yet to do a proper project with new saw and Incra, but the test cuts have been spot on and repeatably setting same setting is also very easy indeed.

The difference of Induction motor an Axminster versus the Dewalt jobsite saw noise wise.... oooh what a difference. So in that sense I don't much want to turn on the Dewalt again. Keeping it for now for two reasons - I have a decing project still coming up and perhaps few other general construction jobs. Secondly the only small downside of Axminster saw is the arbor lenght not supporting Dado stack. I have a nive 6'' one for Dewalt that I dragged home from one of the US trips back when.

I'm planning to also embed a router into the MDF portion of the saw table, so I could use Incra for routing too. Ideally I'm looking at this very unique router lift from Germany, but it is from the expensive end, so waiting for a "deal price" to pop up for it at some point. I do have 43mm neck motors for CNC, so I would not necessarily need to buy a motor at same go.

https://www.sautershop.com/sauter-router-lifts-for-router-tables/router-lift-for-router-motors/pivoting-router-lift-ofl3.0/

[technodanvan]

So, sometimes new tools are required for simple tasks. In this case, for tightening the bolts I showed earlier in this thread. This requires a 1/2" hex key. I had a metric hex bit socket that was sufficiently large it would have worked, but I do try to avoid using incorrect tools when possible. A reminder for the bolts in question, though I have a handful that are a bit longer yet. These are 4 1/2" from end to end, I also have 6" bolts.



So I perused a few sites for a tool for this as the largest imperial hex key I have is 3/8" from Wera (pictured below). I hoped to either find a Wera 1/2" hex key or a Stahwille 1/2" hex bit, but the sites I looked at had neither. It's possible Stahwille makes one but it's difficult to source in the states. Anyway, I found a USA-made one from Eklind - I thought about getting their set a while back so this one made sense. They had two lengths available on Amazon; I ended up getting the larger one since it was more cost effective. Pictured below, it's a bit on the 'maybe too big for what I'll ever need' size. Also pictured is a standard-sized utility knife, the aforementioned 4 1/2" bolt, and the 3/8 Wera hex key for scale.

[theSven]

I haven't heard the name Stahwille in quite some time! They had excellent torq wrenches when I was in the Air Force forever ago. I really liked their tools and our shop was starting to swap more and more Snap-on tools for them. Thanks for a flash from the past thought. I have to remind myself I don't need any new tools right now 😂. Glad you could find a hex that big, and let the bed frame build progress.

[technodanvan]

I'm a big fan of tools made in Germany (and other EU nations, for that matter) but they can be difficult to find sometimes. I just blows my mind that they are less expensive than most USA-made tools (like Snap-On) despite needing to be imported. I'm all for supporting USA manufacturing but not if it comes at a substantial cost over tools that are arguably better in some metrics. Stahlwille in particular I'm fond of because they make wrenches that are stiff in the directions they need to be but are substantially lighter than those from many tool truck companies. Yeah, they'll bend if used inappropriately, but they also will never break.

I had no idea the Air Force was into using them. I guess I always figured Snap-On was the standard, not that I was a mechanic.

[theSven]

I'm a big fan of tools made in Germany (and other EU nations, for that matter) but they can be difficult to find sometimes. I just blows my mind that they are less expensive than most USA-made tools (like Snap-On) despite needing to be imported. I'm all for supporting USA manufacturing but not if it comes at a substantial cost over tools that are arguably better in some metrics. Stahlwille in particular I'm fond of because they make wrenches that are stiff in the directions they need to be but are substantially lighter than those from many tool truck companies. Yeah, they'll bend if used inappropriately, but they also will never break.

I had no idea the Air Force was into using them. I guess I always figured Snap-On was the standard, not that I was a mechanic.

When I was at my first duy station, many of the shops back in early 2000's were getting irritated with Snap-on for charging more money for tools made in China or made in China and chromed in America. The Stahlwille rep stopped by our shop shared the tool catalog and cost. It was a massive savings for torque wrenches and other tools. All the tool chests could be replaced and updated at a fraction of the cost.

When I left that base in 2004, I have no idea what happened after that. I moved into comms and a new base.