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Expert Tips for Buying Woodworking Tools - Guide by Merl Stingle

Get insights on new vs. used woodworking products, tool brands, warranties, machine specifications, buying options, types of abrasives, band saws, blades, cordless tools, CNC routers, and drill presses. Find out key factors to consider before purchasing equipment from an industry expert.

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Expert Tips for Buying Woodworking Tools - Guide by Merl Stingle

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  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. Machine Weight • Weight should be considered • Design, more important • Features, more important • Value, more important

  6. 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)

  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. Laguna 14-12 1.75hp Bandsaw

  11. 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

  12. 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)

  13. 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)

  14. WoodWorkers Depot & Axiom

  15. 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)

  16. Powermatic 18” Drill Press

  17. 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

  18. Laguna 2hp Hepa Cyclone

  19. 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

  20. Festool Domino

  21. 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

  22. 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

  23. Laguna 18x36” 2hp Inverter Lathe

  24. 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

  25. 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

  26. 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

  27. Router Tables • Router lifts vs Insert plate (Woodpeckers) • MDF vs Phenolic • 2 piece vs single piece fences • Phenolic vs Aluminum insert plates

  28. 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

  29. 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

  30. Sharpening • Tormek slow wet wheel vs bench grinders vs slow speed bench grinders (Rikon) • Diamond stone vs water stone vs regular stone vs stropping

  31. Shop Aids • Measuring • Fastcap Tap Measures • iGaging measuring tools • Clamping • Jorgenson I-Beam clamps, replaced with Bessey I-Beam • Kreg auto adjusting clamps

  32. Straight Line Sawing • Festool, Makita, DeWalt, Shop Fox • Bora, Kreg current guide, Kreg July 1st , Straight edge

  33. Festool Track Saw Bora TWX up to 100”

  34. 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

  35. 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

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