New Tools??

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Did anyone get new power tools or any tools in general for Christmas and if so have you been playing with them yet?? If so tell us a little about the tool and what your plans are for it. Were there reasons you chose one brand over another?? Did you get the tools on sale?? How about gizmos and gadgets??


I will start this off by saying I teated myself to a few things this year. I always try to get something at the end of the year. I feel I deserve it and am a tool and gizmo junkie. Can't help myself. Anyway I got a Jet mini latheVS with a bunch of tools for it. I plan on expanding my woodworking aspirations by trying some small obect turnings. I was at a couple wood shows this winter and this is where I got the lathe. I also got from Woodline Industries a pattern routing jig for making fancy dovetails such as shaped as hearts. i want to use this on some jewlery boxes. One other thing I picked up and this I have been eying for quite awhile and decided this was the year. It is a portable three-axis mill micro fence system. Made by Micro-fence and you can see it here www.microfence.com This system is so sweet and accurate it is amazing. What I am going to use it for is for some inlay work which I hope to incorporate in the jewlery boxes. Also picked up another router a Bosch PR20 which I am strickly going to use for this operation. So as you can see I had fun spending some money this year but what the heck you only live once and you never know what that span is going to be. Now all I have to do is find some more time to work some of these things in. I have yet to start playing with any of my toys. Just still trying to fit things in my shop. Trying to make a turning area but this requires some movement of things. If I ever get going I will post photos.

So I would like to hear others stories and I hope all had a great Christmas.

[Servcman]

I didn't get them for Christmas but in early November my Craftsman scroll saw had the lower arm toally self destruct. I bought a reconditioned Dremel off of Ebay to just get through the holiday gift making and was going to go from there on a new saw. The Dremel lasted for about 3 hours and was then boxed up and ready to go backto them for repair even bolted down it tried to vibrate off my bench. The people at dremel were great to work with. They had UPS out there in 3 days to pick it up for repair. It came back 2 weeks later and I had to look at the serial number to make sure it was the same saw. The saw runs great and the only thing I'm watching for now is longevity.
while the saw was out I really didn't know for how long so I picked up a Craftsman 20" and so far is running great.
I've been using the Dremel for thick wood cutting 3/4" puzzles to 6/4 hardwoods for compound cuts and the Sears for general and fine cutting.
So hopefully not I'm set til I can afford to pick up one of the high end saws.
Dennis

[Deanna]

Lets see.... I got a 3/4 planer for my birthday (which is a few days after Christmas) I haven't even tried it out yet, but I am sure that once I get the hang of it I will use it lots. I have an "in" at a local saw mill and I have all the rough wood I want. Some other things I got were a girl sized cordless screwdriver (the new small Black & Decker one) A new palm sander... which has velcro attachments for the sandpaper ...I know that the paper is more exensive, but I think it will be worth it. Bar Clamps, dremel attachements, multi bit screwdriver.... I think that's about it.

Then my saw goes hairwire....
Then the shop that I sent it to lost it....

Oh well, my house is clean :rolleyes:

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Deanna
I read your post and you casually slipped in that the shop you sent your saw to lost it. Is it found? Will you get it back some time this year? How did this happen? :eek:

[Deanna]

JT

Can you believe it?? I finally broke down on Friday and called the shop, and asked them if they weren't going to fix it then why is that they have had it for two weeks plus... they said oh no, we sent it to shipping on Tuesday.... So they kindly transferred me to shipping... shipping says (after 10 minutes of humming and hawing) we seem to have the paperwork, but we don't have the saw.... but they kindly transferred me back downstairs to the shop :mad:

Well, after 20 minutes on hold, they did find it, turns out someone had put it in the corner and forgot about it. That'll teach me for pissing off the techinician!

They told me that they will get it out hopefully sometime next week. I told them that it would have been faster for me to drive the 2.5 hours to pick it up myself.
That's ok though... next time it will be a Dewalt ( I keep telling myself that)

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Deanna

That is a bummer. Hope you stay on top of them now. I would call them every other day. You can't pi-- them off any more than what they were I guess. Save those pennies and get a good saw.

[workinwood]

Well, I have to say I did not recieve any new tools for christmas. But I did get a 51 inch High definifition TV from santa. ITS great for watching my seahawks..............superbowl bound.....yea yea :D

[LONGHAIR]

It wasn't really a Christmas present, I bought it for myself a few weeks before.....the "new" Makita lithium ion 18v cordless combo kit.
I actually paid the full price, only for it to go on sale a few weeks later (20% off). The HomeDepot people were really great about it though, they gave me the difference right on the spot, in CASH!? All I needed was the receipt.

The real point of my reply is the impact driver.........Awesome! I will never drive screws with a drill again. Drills are for drilling, this thing drives screws like nothing you've ever seen. The impact action keeps the bit firmly seated, so you don't have to push nearly as hard. It also keeps the tool from winding up at the peak of it's torque. It spins fast up to the point that the hammers start hitting. So you can drive screws faster and to an easier to determine level of tightness, because it slows down as the screw gets tighter.

Now I know, that something like this is not for everyone. I work in a commercial cabinet shop. I drive hundreds of screws on a daily basis. This truly is the proper tool for the job of driving screws. Sure drills work, and have for years, but after using this thing for a couple of months now, I can really see the difference.

I just bought a Jet mini lathe a few weeks ago. I really like it too. I came across the Harbor Freight chisel set about a week later. I only had a few of the "mini" tools before finding them. They really seem to be decent, after some sharpening of course......