Next tool to buy

[PerranOak]

I now have a router!

It's my only power tool (apart from a normal drill).

What is the next power tool that people would recommend?

Table saw? Jointer> Band saw?

I have limited space.

Cheers.

 

[CNC Paul]

Perran,

What router do you have ?

What do you call a normal drill ?

What do you plan on making ?


Paul

 

[frugal]

I would say either a thicknesser or a bandsaw depending on what you are making.

I ended up buying both as I am rubbish at face planning the wood by hand after I resaw it to thickness

 

[PerranOak]

Cheers both.

I have a Trend T5. A Bosch hammer drill-type-thing, not one in a stand or anything. Oh, I also have a little cordless drill/driver.

I'll be making small boxes, smaller cabinets and and in-built cabinets/drawers, etc.

Are there and combination tables/bandsaws?

Space is my biggest prob.

 

[wizer]

Go for a bandsaw first off. It's said you can go almost everything that a TS can do on a BS. You'll be able to re-saw stock for your boxes, make tennons, curved work, etc. It's true that a P/T is a great bit of kit for the workshop. It breaks you free of variable PAR timber from various sources. You can, however, do a lot of this work with handplanes. It's only when you're processing large amounts of timber (for large pieces of furniture) that you really need a P/T. Whatever you go for, don't skimp. It's not worth saving a bit back to try to get 2 machines for your budget. A good quality bandsaw will last you forever and be a faithful friend. I am really getting like my BS, having gone the TS route first. Tablesaws need a lot more space, even if you get a little one.

 

[Ironballs]

I'd agree, buy the biggest bandsaw you can fit in your workshop as you'll come to love it and will only want to upgrade at a later date. With good blade guides, blade and fence, then you make very good square cuts that will require minimum cleaning up with the handplanes

 

[PerranOak]

Ah right. So a bandsaw could be used for ripping and cross-cutting but not, obviously, for thicknessing?

It would produce pretty square ends? Amazing. I thought of them as being like a glorified scroll-saw!! Wrong!!

Any ideas for a particular bandsaw? I guess I could accommodate a unit 600x600mm-ish. Is that big enough? Cost? Hmm. Got £300 fairly well ready. £400 a bit of a push.

 

[frugal]

Ah right. So a bandsaw could be used for ripping and cross-cutting but not, obviously, for thicknessing?

Wel, it can be used for thicknessing in so far as you can put through a 1" thick plank and get out two 3/8" planks. You just need something to clean up the saw marks, you can do this fairly easily with a hand plane, but I am rubbish at it, so I ended up with the thicknesser as well.

The rule of thumb for bandsaws seems to be:

1 - Figure out what you need, then buy the next sized model up as you will always regret not doing so.

2 - When you get the bandsaw throw the supplied blade away and get one from someone like Dragon Saws.

 

[Chems]

I started the same as you, I had a router. After my router I bought a cheap table saw and since getting a new blade in it I love it.

I have never used a Bandsaw but its on my to buy list, but I don't think you can rip as well with a bandsaw as you can with a table saw, that been said I bandsaw is much safer and you can do a lot more with it such as curves and tenons. But for your £400 push budget you could get a decent model of each!
I saw an SIP 10inch saw which is well regarded here go on ebay today for £300. RRP around 550-600

But I would say the best buy I've made is a planer thicknesser, it open up to door to so much more. Push the boat out and get the Axminster Cast Iron one and cheap small bandsaw second hand and you will be seriously set. In my opinion all other tools are useless with out the P/T.

 

[PerranOak]

This is it, I'm just not sure!

 

[Chems]

If it was me, the P/T and a really cheap table saw or bandsaw second hand.

I actually have this table saw:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/98020/Pow ... -Table-Saw

Which someone on here was selling for £50. I got mine for about 80. Its not great but it is good. Decent power, sturdy enough, t-tracks are parallel to the blade. Fitted it with a decent blade and its a passable saw, its getting replaced soon but its done me as a start up machine.

 

[wizer]

I really don't agree Chems. In my personal experience these cheap tools are an absolute false economy. Trying to squeeze a TS, PT AND a BS into a £400 budget is just wrong. I bought a similar Ferm TS when I started out and it scared the bejesus out of me. PerranOak, please don't be tempted by cheap power tools. If you do want a TS then have a search on these forums. The small Axminster model is widely regarded the best bet for a small entry level TS. I stand by my original comments. A good bandsaw with a decent blade will last you forever and serve you well. There's absolutely no point in wasting money on substandard tools and then having to shell out again when you realise you want proper quality. I learned all this the hard way and wouldn't want anyone else to waste their hard earned cash in these times of financial hardship.

 

[mailee]

I have to admit that I am of the table saw camp rather than a band saw but I do have both. I find that I can do far more with my table saw than with the bandsaw but having said that I can't cut curves with the table saw. I struggled with a cheap table saw for years until I could afford a decent one and now I have (12" SIP) I wonder how I managed. I have a 12" bandsaw but could do with a larger one for resawing, still I make do. Best advice I can give is whatever you decide to buy first buy the best you can afford and you will only buy once. :wink:

 

[Chems]

I really don't agree Chems. In my personal experience these cheap tools are an absolute false economy. Trying to squeeze a TS, PT AND a BS into a £400 budget is just wrong. I bought a similar Ferm TS when I started out and it scared the bejesus out of me. PerranOak, please don't be tempted by cheap power tools. If you do want a TS then have a search on these forums. The small Axminster model is widely regarded the best bet for a small entry level TS. I stand by my original comments. A good bandsaw with a decent blade will last you forever and serve you well. There's absolutely no point in wasting money on substandard tools and then having to shell out again when you realise you want proper quality. I learned all this the hard way and wouldn't want anyone else to waste their hard earned cash in these times of financial hardship.

I totally agree Wizer, your saying buy the best that you can. But sometimes you need to have something just to get you buy, and the 50-80 quid your going to spend is not a huge amount compared to the 500+ for a good table saw. Like I said I will be upgrading mine as soon as possible, but untill then my little titan has really served me well a year on.

 

[Mr Ed]

Best advice I can give is whatever you decide to buy first buy the best you can afford and you will only buy once. :wink:

I think only you can decide which machine you need/want first, but Mailee's comment is the holy grail as far as I'm concerned - buy once and buy quality.

Cheers, Ed

 

[wizer]

buy once and buy quality.

Thirded

 

[PerranOak]

I guess I just don't understand the tools.

What I think of as a bandsaw is a flexible belt-like blade that runs around wheels or some such. A tablesaw I think of as a disk-type blade rotating with the blade emerging from a flat table.

So, is a band saw ... sort of ... stable enough to cut a straight edge? Doesn't the blade flex and wobble a bit? I imagine a tablesaw being very rigid and therefore much more precise.

I'm really showing my ignorance now!

 

[Shultzy]

PerranOak, there are band-saws and BAND-SAWS. A small 3 wheel band-saws with a 1/4" blade will flex a lot more than a 2 wheeled monster with a 1" blade. Of course there are others in between but most of the large band saws will cut a 1/16" veneer without any wobble.

 

[filsgreen]

Basically Schultzy is saying don't buy a PERFORM model like I did, or anything that is yellow!

Phil

 

[bluezephyr]

What about another router?, After all the setting up getting your dovetails right keep the router and Jig seperate so it saves you doing it again.