Plunge Saw and Router advice

[HowdyNeighbour!]

@JobandKnock - It's nice to hear that the upper-mid range is equally well performing. I had a look at the Makita and it works out to be quite expensive! Cheapest I found was £20 more than what I paid for the Bosch, and that is just for the bare unit and box, not even sure if it comes with a blade, and then you have to buy batteries and charger on top of that.
- Thanks for clarifying about the fine adjustment, didn't pick that up when looking.
- I agree with you and @Spectric, as with all gear orientated hobbies, the trick is to separate the dogma and hyped from the actual quality.

@Bristol_Rob Absolutely open to 2nd hand. eBay requires great patience to spot the real bargains, as for FB Marketplace, I don't think I have ever seen so many mutilated tools! Whilst I am off work, I might check out the local auction house. I'm told there are always job lots of tools listed every week.

@recipio agree, glad for the recommendation further above for the freud blades, definitely more choice than the stock options.

Re: the Dewalt DW622, whoops! I did actually end up getting the Triton. I have big old paws so in terms of size it doesn't feel especially big and cumbersome to me. But it is heavy, I can definitely see that you can get fatigued if doing a lot of freehand, certainly one to put into a table. The DW622 does sound interesting though; I will have to keep an eye out on the 2nd hand. I have the impression that routers fall into the "You can never have too many of ..." category.

@TominDales That is a big price jump, there are some cheap tables on Amazon, although making your own would be a good learning experience.
- Also leaning towards 1/2" bits, thinking a straight profile bit with and without a bearing, and a roundover bit would be good choices for the first few bits to get?
- Agree with getting the supplier to dimension sheets and duly noted around not forgetting that doing it by hand is always an option. Skills also need to be regularly sharpened too.
- Re the Chop saw; my old man has one, so I may have to rely on using that one for the time being.
- A bandsaw will be extremely useful and is likely to be my next big tool to buy. Keeping in mind that I want to have a go at building music instruments further on down the road, forum advice on the matter say that the band saw should have minimum 10" cutting throat and minimum cutting depth of 90mm. I know I am jumping ahead of my self here, but I've been eyeing one of the Charnwood Bandsaws that fits the above specs, but is really compact and reasonably priced. Plus their shop is a 30min drive from me.
- Never underestimate air pollution, I was looking at the wickes wet & dry vacuum with the better filter as this seems a cost effective and popular choice.

Thanks for the additional information everyone!

 

[Droogs]

@TominDales Have a look at the Triton JOF001 small, lightweight and comes with both 1/4 & 1/2" collets. It's the cinderella of the 3 machines they do

 

[JobandKnock]

@JobandKnock - It's nice to hear that the upper-mid range is equally well performing. I had a look at the Makita and it works out to be quite expensive! Cheapest I found was £20 more than what I paid for the Bosch, and that is just for the bare unit and box, not even sure if it comes with a blade, and then you have to buy batteries and charger on top of that.

Did you go for a corded Bosch, though? (Didn't you quote the GKT55CE?) I was referring to the corded Makita (SP6000) not the cordless (DSP600/DSP601) which generally works out a tad cheaper than other makes simply because of the economies of scale - Makita is a very big player, far bigger than Festool and Mafell, probably a magnitude of size bigger than Bosch in the power tool field. Cordless will always be more expensive; if I weren't trade I'd never have bought into cordless (as well). In my case the decision was tipped by already owning a rake of Makita cordless tools and having ten plus batteries and three chargers. Had I been a DW user that would probably have influenced to go that way although personally I'm not a fan of the DW plunge saws.

- Also leaning towards 1/2" bits, thinking a straight profile bit with and without a bearing, and a roundover bit would be good choices for the first few bits to get?

Don't buy any set - instead, look at the jobs you want to do and buy what you need. An excellent source of router tooling is Wealden Tool - mostly next day delivery, good quality and reasonable prices

 

[Spectric]

I was referring to the corded Makita (SP6000)

This saw really works well, a good saw at a good price and you cannot really go wrong with the big brands like Makita, it also has the pre set scoring feature and plenty of power, as well as clips that keep it on the track to stop it topling when doing bevel cuts and for £390 with two 1.5 metre rails Makita SP6000J1 Plunge Saw & 2 x 1.5m Rails and Connectors or you pay £550 for this with one track supplied Festool TS 55-FEQ Plus Plunge Saw & 1,400mm Guide Rail and with less power.

As @JobandKnock has said Makita have the advantage of economy of scale so you get more for less cash and I would say the quality is more than comparable and for me I cannot see what one could do the other cannot except the TS55 has better extraction, but then considering many will be cutting sheets down outside due to lack of space is this such an issue.

Don't buy any set - instead, look at the jobs you want to do and buy what you need.

Exactly what I do, if you buy a set you get some you need, some you may need but many you may never need! Also for some profiles you may need to shop around so not only don't look at a set but it is a case of pick and mix, Wealdon and Infinity are my two go to suppliers as both deliver quality and good service plus I can collect from Infinity if I need it really urgent.

 

[TominDales]

Thanks for the additional information everyone!

Looks like you've made your decisions. Good luck. I'm happy with the Triton. Good advice on bits from @JobandKnock and @Spectric. The speed of delivery on-line these days means you can build a collection of bits a you go.