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What you should know before buying wood working products. Merl Stingle, President Grew Up on Dairy Farm Schools: FVTC, mechanical design UW Madison, BS Mechanical Engineering Ohio State, MS Mechanical Engineer Employers:
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What you should know before buying wood working products • Merl Stingle, President • Grew Up on Dairy Farm • Schools: • FVTC, mechanical design • UW Madison, BS Mechanical Engineering • Ohio State, MS Mechanical Engineer • Employers: • Farm, Badger Northland, Giddings & Lewis, 4yrs Westinghouse, 18yrs Kimberly-Clark, 24yrs WoodWorkers Depot
New vs Used • Why used? • Low price • Good value • Pit falls of Used • Condition • Old designs • Parts availability • 3 phase vs 1phase • Advantages of new • New features • Safety • Warranty • Research before buying
Tool Brands • Brands, do we stock: • Powermatic, DeWalt, Milwaukee • Disadvantage of looking at only one brand • Each company has its own strengths • Research all brands of a tool (features, price, quality) • Brands with good value • Electric hand tools: Festool, Makita • Stationary tools: Laguna, Shop Fox, Rikon
Warranty, Reliability, & Parts • Longer warranties limited value • Most warranty claims when new • Extended warranties often are limited to manufacturing defects • “Major Brands” Stationary Tool brands have very similar quality • Electric hand Tools: Festool by far most reliable, Makita next • General and Delta limited parts • Shop Fox, Jet & Powermatic most parts, • Shop Fox lowest cost parts • Shop Fox service nicest to work with
Machine Weight • Weight should be considered • Design, more important • Features, more important • Value, more important
Machine Horse Power • Horse Power deceiving (duty cycle) • Amps x Volts more accurate • 1.75hp 120v motor (20 amp circuit), 2hp 120v motor (30amp circuit) • Induction motors: high torque • Brush type motors: high speed, noisy, low torque • Brush type motor w/variable speed, (1/2 hp at ½ speed) • Brushless motors & DVR motors are induction motors w/computer rotated fields, (full power at lower speeds) • 3phase Induction motors, use inverter (variable frequency) drives (full power at lower speeds)
Tool stores vs on line or discount places • Tool stores helps you understand • Internet deceiving & negative • Old tool & low value tools designs don’t sell in tool stores • Tool stores can help after the purchase (questions & issues) • Research before you buy on line • Tools stores = best value
Abrasives • Aluminum Oxide • Mirka Abranet (screen) longer life, faster (pad protector) • Zirconia long life, high speed, resharpens is self • Ceramic long life • Quality of backing and bonding • Release coatings • Bulk rolls
Band saws • 14” diameter wheel, fit most needs • Resaw Height: 6” old, 12 to 14” today • Blade Guides: ceramic, roller bearing, euro disc, steel block guides, synthetic guide • Frame Strength & upper blade guide strength • Wheel Mass, Machining & Balancing • Tension Release • Fences • Foot Brake • Horse Power • Wood 3000 fpm, Steel 100 fpm
Blades • Circular Saw Blades • Combination Blades, 40t, (Forrest, Freud Fusion, CMT general) • Rip Blades, 20-30t, (Glue Line Rip) • Crosscut Blade, 60-100t • Speciality Blades, (Alum, Plastic, Concrete Siding, Steel) • Band Saw Blades • Flexback, High carbon • Flexback, Special Steel, (Timber Wolf & Olson AllPro PGT) • Bi-Metal • Stamped vs ground teeth • Carbide
Cordless Tools • Lithium vs Nickel Cad & Nickel Metal Hydride: • LI stays charged, 2x run time, 2x #charges to failure, lighter, like corded tools • Voltage: 18v vs 20v, 10.8v vs 12v • Tin Can, 2 pole, 4 pole motors • Brush Type, (was the norm) • Brushless: (more power& longer run time) • 1 Battery vs 2 Battery, 2,3,4,5,6,9 amp hr (volt x amp hr x #battery) • Charge time 30 min (Makita & Festool) vs 1 hr on others • Number of bare tools available, (Makita) • Reliability, (Festool, Makita) • Weight of tool, (light high quality)
CNC Routers • Spindle (high Frequency motor), Brushless Motor, Router Motor • Welded or Cast Frame (WoodWorkers Depot, Axiom, Laguna) • Bolted together frame, (Most other Brands • Metal frame (most) vs Plastic component frame (Shark & Next Wave) • Structural rigidity of frame (WoodWorkers Depot, Axion, Laguna) • # of bearings on linear slides vs bushing • Rack & pinion vs screw drive • Water cooled vs air cooled • Software compatibility • Hand held (metric x,y,z) vs computer monitor (visual picture) • Life time free phone support (WoodWorkers Depot, Axiom)
Drill Presses • 6” spindle stoke vs 3” stroke, (move table up & down) • Parallel table slots for fence (Powermatic) vs “x cross slots • 5 to16 speeds, or Variable Speed • 500 rpm for wood, <250 rpm metal • MDF sacrifice table center insert • Laser cross lines • Built in Light (battery vs 120v) • Horsepower (not usually important)
Dust Collectors & Ducting • Hepa (.4), vs 1, 2, 2.5, 5, 30 micron (% efficiency) • CFM (inches of water) vs Fan Curve (cfm vs inches of water) • Horsepower vs Amps • Maximum inches of water (diameter of fan) • Cyclone vs 1 stage vs JET’s Vortex • Remote switch, Level Sensor, Filter Sensor • 4”(1x), 5”(2x) or 6”(2x) cfm • <3” should be shop vacuum • Dust Collector (1000cfm) vs Shop Vac (100cfm) • Dust Collectors (10”water) vs Shop Vac (100”water) • Metal vs PVC ducting • T’s vs Y’s, Heating elbow vs wide radius elbows
Fastening Systems • Dowels • Kreg pocket holes • Biscuits • Mortise and Tendon vs Festool Domino Tendons • Dove Tails, Leigh, Incra, Keller, Porter-Cable/Omni • Torx vs Square vs Phillip
Finishes • Oil vs Water based finishes (General Finishes) • Gel vs regular liquid finishes (General Finishes) • Milk Paint vs Chaulk Paint (General Finishes) • Velvit Oil finishes vs Watco Oil finishes • Tung Oil • Butcher Block Oil, Salad Bowl Finish, Velvit Oil • Dyes: liquid mixed, Anelyne, Metal • Pentacyle, End Grain Sealer
Lathes & Accessories • Step Pulley, Variable Sheave, DC Drive, Inverter Drive, DVR Drive • Lathe Horse Power • Carbide vs HSS, Sheffield, USA , & Asian HSS, Carbon Steel tools • High speed grinder, Low speed grinder, vs Tormek type water soaked very low speed Sharpeners • Lathe chuck vs Face Plate turning • Sharpening Jigs, Teknatool vs Wolverine
Jig Saws • Festool adjustable carbide guides vs roller guides vs no guide • Top Handle vs Barrel grip (Festool) • Zero clearance inserts • T-Shank regular and Thick blades • Precision Ground vs regular set blades
Jointers & Planers • Carbide inserts vs full length steel knives, • Tear out • Feeding • Edge Life, all knives vs one insert • Set Up • Noise • Plugging of hood • Parallelogram vs dove tail ways (Short out Feed table) • Industrial planers w/sectional feed roller, cast iron chip breakers & anti kick back fingers
Miter Saws • Festool Miter Saw, big seller, most accurate, cleanest, most features, against wall • Bosch Glide Saw, accurate, dirtiest, few features, against wall • Makita 2 slide saws, biggest seller, accurate, many features, closer to wall
Router Tables • Router lifts vs Insert plate (Woodpeckers) • MDF vs Phenolic • 2 piece vs single piece fences • Phenolic vs Aluminum insert plates
Safety Aids • Micro Jig table saw & jointer pushers • Magswitch feather board • Muffs, 25dBA • Face shields • Trend positive pressure dust face shields w/muffs • Skins, gloves • Dust masks, 1 stap, 2 stap, valve, canisters
Sanders • Edge sander vs belt disc sanders (Jet) • Drum vs Wide Belt sander (Supermax) • Festool random orbit sanders vs other • Brushless vs Brush, Mirka Deros • Festool Rotex vs belt sanders
Sharpening • Tormek slow wet wheel vs bench grinders vs slow speed bench grinders (Rikon) • Diamond stone vs water stone vs regular stone vs stropping
Shop Aids • Measuring • Fastcap Tap Measures • iGaging measuring tools • Clamping • Jorgenson I-Beam clamps, replaced with Bessey I-Beam • Kreg auto adjusting clamps
Straight Line Sawing • Festool, Makita, DeWalt, Shop Fox • Bora, Kreg current guide, Kreg July 1st , Straight edge
Table saws • Saw Stop vs Riving Knife Saws w/new blade guards • Sliding table vs sled vs miter gauges • Regular miter gauge vs premium miter gauge • Cabinet saw vs Hybrid vs Contractor vs Job Site vs Festool table
What’s news • General International struggling • Steel City, to Cutech planers & Axiom CNC • Black & Decker/DeWalt joined with Stanley Bostitch & Irwin • Kreg folding table, concealed hinge jig, handle jig, straight line rip (July) • Laguna 24” lathe, New Hepa cyclone dust collectors, 14-12,bx,18”bx bandsaw • Rikon wet sharpener • Festool Circ Saw w/miter guide rail & Domino Mechanical Connector tenons • Steelex 8” jointer & 15 & 20” planers • Milescraft: Kreg type screws w/torx, Kreg type Jig, Impact angle driver • Maksiwa glue pot edgebanders and edge trimer table