Budget Workshop machinery

[hasbeen]

Greetings, all
This is my first post on this 4m, so I'll apologise in advance if this has already been done to death:

Amazingly, I have a bit of folding money avilable to spend on the workshop just now, and need to get it spent sharpish before 'er indoors finds a "better" use for it!

First thoughts are :
Nutool Thicknesser @ £130.00
Nutool Jointer @ £110.00
Which leaves me about £200.00 for a Saw

I was interested to read Jester's discourse on using a bandsaw rather than a Table saw, and can see his point, although I'm not sure I would get anything beefy enough for my money.

I have a couple of routers, circular saw, planers etc. but would really appreciate opinions on the above choices :?

Thanks for any assist

Pete

 

[kityuser]

I`m also considering the the same machinary, i have noticed that the nutool thicknesser is exactly the same as the B&Q version (which is 60 QUID MORE EXPENSIVE)

I get the feeling from people in here that both machines are fairly good value for money (not forgetting that you always get what you pay for)

cheers
steve

 

[eeyore]

Hi HasBeen

Welcome to the forum ...

You might like to take a look at
http://www.inthewoodshop.org/general/wwa11.shtml

Lots of sound advice there (it's an excellent site), and well put.

The best piece of advice I've seen is to 'buy only what you need, but buy the best you can afford, and you'll only cry once'

eeyore
BTW, Jester's a 'she', not a 'he' - wouldn't want you to get into trouble ...

 

[Charley]

Welcome to the Forums

Okay Sawdustalley has the nu-tool jointer and is very pleased with it you can see his reviewhere. Theres also the Perform jointer which I reviewed here which is £194.96, I also know Duncan from the '4ms' got one for his birthday last year.

If it was me I would rather spend more on a tablesaw that will last a few years but that all depends on how much you think you'll use it.

I also reviewed the Elector Beckum BAS 250G bandsaw last year and I have to say its one of the best small bandsaws you can buy its only £198 and you can find the review here

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the Forums

I also know Duncan from the '4ms' got one for his birthday last year.

That's me!

Does exactly what is says on the box, to borrow a phrase.

Smoothed of some rough stuff and jointed up some planks to boards. Just the job :!:

 

[sawdustalley]

I have the Ferm tablesaw - I am pleased with it. I think that if I was buying one now I would save up and get something better - but i've got it, i've made a tablesaw station and improved the capacity of my saw - you can see that on my website under the workshop section.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Pete

Setting up a new workshop is horrendously expensive and one of the ways that you can reduce costs is to defer the purchase of a table saw until you can afford a good quality one. This is one of those games where you tend to get what you pay for.

As an alternative, it might be worth considering a Clamp'n Guide bar with a jigsaw or (better still) a circular saw running along it. You can quickly produce a jig to set the cutting distance from the guide to the saw blade. A big advantage of such a system is its portability and ease of storage. If you're equipping a workshop, you'll be amazed at how quickly the new tools eat into your working space :shock: !

Yours

Gill

 

[Martin]

Hi Pete,

[And hello to the rest of the forum - my first post - I've been one of the "silent members" up till now]

My advice would be to decide on which machines you want/need and in which order, and then buy the best you can afford - in that order (which may mean buying only one). This is particularly true if you think woodwork will become a "long term" hobby for you.

About 3-4 yrs ago I spent £240 on a tablesaw, which at the time was one of the cheapest you could get in the "budget" category, and ever since then I've regretted not waiting and buying a better one. The damn thing has a cheap motor, and consequently is extremely noisy, and vibrates like hell when I switch it on (and to be honest I'm afraid of using it half the time).

Since then I've tried to resist the temptation to buy at the cheap end of the market since (as Gill quite rightly says) you get what you pay for in this game.

However, I would recommend Axminister, who provide a good range of tools at reasonable (but not bargain basement) prices, including their budget Perform range which is very good. I picked up their Perform Jointer last year and am very pleased with it.

Cheers,
Martin

 

[sawdustalley]

Martin - Nice to know there is someone else in guildford into woodworking. I'm from guildford aswell.

 

[Martin]

Hi James,

I'm sure there are lots of us around (at least judging by the number of circular saws I hear running in the neighbourhood every weekend). I've been tinkering around for years, but don't get to spend as much time in the workshop as I'd like (work and a bunch of other distractions get in the way). In the meantime I continue to build up the toys (err, I mean tools)... Norm has a lot to answer for!

Cheers,
Martin.

 

[sawdustalley]

Martin - Sorry, but I must correct you...

Circular saw = Bodge it DIYer cutting M.D.F for some dodgy thing he's seen handy andy making. (usually at least)

Also do you where do you buy the materials from. I don't know of a decent timber yard around here - if you do please let me know.

 

[Charley]

"Circular saw = Bodge it DIYer " :shock:

You own a circular saw don't you James lol ????

 

[sawdustalley]

Charley, I don't use my skil saw for making furniture. I use it rarely for cutting sheet material. Plus it aint Black and Decker :shock:

Who says i'm not a bodge it DIYER :wink:

 

[Charley]

Who mentioned anything about Black and Decker?

 

[Martin]

Eh hum! Circular saws have their place I think - before I got my (cheap and noisy) table saw it was only thing I had - and my workshop isn't big enough to put large sheets over the saw bench anyway, so the circular saw still gets a look in these days. (it's a Bosch by the way).

As for timber merchants, I'm still getting through a load of re-cycled pine so haven't tried any of the locals. There's one in Cobham that looks OK, but I haven't bought timber from them. I'm hoping to build a coffee table in Oak this year so I'll need some hardwood - will let you know how I get on...

P.S. Charley - I've recently acquired one of Axminster's 13" thicknessers, which I'm really chuffed with. If you're interested (and I manage to find the time) I can take some pics and write a (smallish) review for the site. How do I submit this sort of thing (or do you have a dedicated group of reviewers?).

Cheers,
Martin.

 

[Charley]

Martin,

That would be great thanks 8) If its just a small review you can post it in the review forum but if you want to take some photos for the review, send them and the review to [email protected] and I'll add it to the main review section..

 

[Anonymous]

I don't own a table saw or a Circular saw but what i do know is that if you have a very good circular saw and a very good clamp on straght edge you can get good square cuts.

 

[Martin]

I'll second that!

Martin.

 

[kityuser]

but.... you can`t cut rebates or tennons easily with a circular saw can you????? can with a table saw.....

ok you can cut rebates.... sort of.


it has to be said that if space really is a limiting factor, you`ll be hard-pushed to find a tool that can do more than a router

rebating, joint cutting, edge-profiling, dado cutting ... even jointing (with a descent table/fence)

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Steven

Whilst I agree with every word you've written, the original question asked for opinions on the purchase of the following:

Nutool Thicknesser @ £130.00
Nutool Jointer @ £110.00
Which leaves me about £200.00 for a Saw


Routers weren't mentioned.

From this, I presume that Pete already has a router. If not, then he might indeed find one more useful than any of the tools mentioned above.

Yours

Gill