I Want to Buy Some Tools.

[Traveller]

Hi All,

I have always used hand tools but have decided that getting some power tools would cut the time and effort required by a millionth, so I was wondering if anyone could pitch in with some recommendations. I have used electric jigsaws and drills so am not new to them. I don't want to spend my money on 'beginner's' stuff and then have to upgrade later on; I want good stuff from the start and the best that my budget can get!

I am looking to spend around £30-£40 each on a cordless drill, a power drill and a jigsaw.

I also want a circular saw and a router and a sander, but I don't know how much I would need to spend on those to get good quality ones.

I hope to use the tools for a variety of purposes, but probably use it on wood the most.

There are also a few questions which I have...

1. What is more important in the following tools; power or speed? I have been looking at tools and they either have a high voltage/wattage and a low rpm/spm speed or a low voltage/wattage and a high rpm/spm speed (relatively speaking). Isn't there the perfect tool with the highest power AND speed or will it always have to be a choice between the two at my budget?

- cordless drill
- corded power drill
- jigsaw
- circular saw
- sander
- router

2. Is there a particular brand that makes all the best tools or is the best tool in all of the above categories made by different brands.

3. With which tool/method will I be able to cut a perfectly straight line in..

a) big/long flat piece of wood, like the surface of a table or worktop for example?
b) a thick piece of wood, like the thick legs of a table if I wanted to shorten them for example?

4) Any opinions on Ryobi, Worx, JCB tools? Do DeWalt or Makita make anything within my budget?

I have many, many more questions about kitchen corner seating which I wish to make, but I'll leave that for now.

Any advice would be more than appreciated.

Thanks.

Trav.

 

[breezer]

you said

I don't want to spend my money on 'beginner's' stuff and then have to upgrade later on; I want good stuff from the start

and

I am looking to spend around £30-£40 each on a cordless drill, a power drill and a jigsaw.

one seems to contradict the other.

you get what you pay for. Decent kit will cost you more

 

[Traveller]

Hi Breezer,

Thanks for your reply.

I'm not going to be doing any ultra-demanding jobs; I will mostly be carrying out light DIY, so when I said I wanted the best/good stuff, I didn't mean the best overall; I meant the best within my budget.

For example, with discounts and various offers, etc, I would probably be able to get a £50-£60 drill, saw, power drill at around £40 or just over, which I don't think would be useless equipment at all.

I think for around £40 on each of the above three tools, I could get some pretty good stuff. Are the tools at this price not worth purchasing?

This, for example, seems OK. I can get £15 off this one with the second handle included:

http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/Product.asp?iProductID=21984

and another £15 off on this one as well:

http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/Product.asp?iProductID=24934

Aren't the above two classed as 'good stuff'? Will I need to stretch my budget further?

Trav.

 

[big-all]

heeelllooo travler

first one you illistrate is hip and happening get last years model it will be a lot cheeper without the nice desighn

second one you mention wouldnt touch it personaly for two possibly three reasons it says 1.2ltr i assume they mean 1.2 ah bad news fuel tank half empty before you start
3 hr charge can you afford to wait for three hrs every hour or so

third point well dont know if it has another battery

 

[Traveller]

Heeelllooo Big-All.

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated!

Which model is last year's and where is it available?

Is the battery life/charging time the only bad points about this drill?

Have you got any recommendations of your own?

Thanks.

Trav.

 

[big-all]

ok travler several points here

first strait line on a budget is batton and circular saw [larger areas]

choping off legs either chop saw or hand saw[i know its against your requirements ] jigsaws are well known for wandering off line in thick wood and not only in one plane but two unless you find a good un
i have got the ryobi 5 pice set as my backup set i realy like it its definatly up to diy and light to medium trade the only thing that let it down was the jigsaw was inacurate and a bit slow but thats ok if you know it
http://www.itslondon.co.uk/ProductDetails.aspx?ProdCode=RYOTAKE5&ModelNum=TAKE5
i paid the same without the level have seen it for about £330 i boosted it up with a second drill from argos for £80 well two infact [but thats a different story ] http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...talogId=3151&productId=126581&clickfrom=image
this then gave me 5 batteries and two chargers although the two were 1.5 ah and 3 were 1.7 ah
i also have the 1525 table saw for £105 which is ideal for ripping up wood along its length although it was inacurate the guide was about two degrees out but a bit of a file on the guide casting brought it in line

now all these tools are my secondery tools i have dewalt 18v jigsaw and drill bosch 24v drill and circular saw and dewalt 642 flipsaw plus a hitachi mv12 router but i will talk about routers tommorow if you like [i have about 7] i love em

 

[Panjandrum]

My favourite purchase was a Makita, bought after chatting with a pro. Came with two batteries and a torch. Years and much abuse later both are still going strong. At non-pro prices haven't found any kind of saw yet that cuts straighter than a handsaw. If I ever decide to build another kitchen (poor as a churchmouse) I'll splash several £00s on a good chopsaw and love it forever.

 

[nstreet]

You will struggle to get all three 'quality' tools for the budget you have suggested. You would use the whole of your budget on just one item.

However there are some good tools available for your budget. Some people may not like the B&Q performance range, but I have purchased a few of the items and had no trouble. The often do a two or three pack 'kit', so worth a look at your local store. They will often have very good 'clearance' offers on last years stock. e.g. I just purchased a petrol garden vac at 35% disc, just because it was last years model. They often do the same with power tools. Dont rely on the website for these offers as they are mostly in-store offers.

As for the best tool for cutting a straight line, that is more dependant upon the user of the tool rather than the tool itself, but for large sheet work go for a circular saw. For cutting square stock, you need to be thinking about a mitre saw of some description.

Let us know what make you go for and your experience with it for future reference.

 

[breezer]

i must confess i bought an 18v q&b cordless performance drill it only had ne pronblem, it grew legs and walked away

 

[david and julie]

I think the Ryobi tools are OK for the money, having said that the batteries used to be 2.0 amp/hr but they have dropped them a bit now. I am not suggesting these are de walt quality, but they are fine for DIY and have a reasonable warranty.

I would suggest you try Costco for these if you are or know a member. I was in there yesterday and this set was less than £200.
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...talogId=3151&productId=123299&clickfrom=image

They also had this drill driver including hammer, 2 batteries and free canvas bag for just under £40.
http://www.tool-net.co.uk/data/index.php?ToolID=320579

Both these prices were plus vat. There are also other hand and power tools although not a massive choice.

I would give the jcb or red devil etc a miss.

 

[Traveller]

Thanks again for the helpful replies.

nstreet, does Argos have anything that you might suggest?

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...553&categoryId=21553&catalogId=3151&langId=-1

Any opinions on the following?

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...ck+and+Decker&categoryId=21553&clickfrom=name

They also have a deal on a pack of two JCB drills (power & cordless) but that deal doesn't appear yet in the catalgoue or website.

..and what about the Bosch Lithium Ion range?

Thanks alot.

Trav.

Hi D&J, I've just seen your reply. Those two deals look PRETTY good to me. Unfortunately, I don't know any Costco members! Is it only for trade?

 

[big-all]

in your two links you see an example of last years models greatly reduced the last years b xd battery looks more usefull as its 1 hr charge but cant see if its got two batteries
the ryobi drill is the one ive got and i swear by them for diy and light to medium pro use

 

[Traveller]

Hi Big-All.

I don't need to have the latest and the greatest; older models will do me just fine. I can't seem to find much more info on that combi drill, probably because of its age.

I'd like to clarify that the first Argos link is the main page for the Power Tools section; I wasn't referring particularly to the B&D or Ryobi which appear on that page; I just pasted the link to the main page incase anyone wanted to scan through the tools (links on right).

The price drop is pretty drastic for something that's just one year old. Do all hammer drills allow the drill to be used normally without hammer action if wished?

 

[big-all]

yes the hammer action turns off usualy by a simple slide action of a ring

i have several tools on half price[mostly routers] some are bad buys you pays your money and takes your choice i have a powerdevil router mounted as a spindle moulder it cost £45 some years ago when the cheapest routers then where about £90 its still going strong but now you get the eqivilent router for probably £25 i have the homebase equivelent as i say £22.50p it works just as well i also bought a challenge router which was great at 60%off£23 but the collet slips if you dont wring its neck[cutter works its way out a bit] so that was a bad buy as the cost of repairing the rebate on the back of a cabinet is several hours eg glue in new wood wait to dry then rerouter with other machine so at £10 an hour cheap tools are touch and go at £20 an hour cheap tools loose there apeal but for diy they are great unless the dammage undermines you confidance

 

[nstreet]

Hi Traveller,

I have only used Bosch and B&D in the past, so cant really comment on the others. However I did buy a cordless circular saw by Kinzo, took it back the next day, battery lasted all of ten minutes before needing charging, and it wouldn't cut properly.

The Bosch green range are normally quite good for DIY. I have had a Bosch jigsaw for the last 4 years and its still going strong. All my other kit I have purchased has been the Bosch blue range (professional) or the B&Q pro range. No complaints on either.