Advice please

[Rosco]

Hi All,
I am new to posting on this list and would like some advice from the good people on this list. I am in my early 50's am disabled and have just started woodworking again now I have got a lot of time on my hands and am doing an NVQ in woodworking at college part time. I am in the process of building my own woodworking shed but with the weather not being to good have got round to day dreaming about what power tools I am going to put in it ( as we all do ). The question I have is, is it best to go for a good universal in my available space or is it better to go with separates. I like the Record range of kit as I like to buy British when I can I like the looks of their c310s universal it seems to be a lot better than the maxi26 this seems very tinny to me ( I know that it is made in France but at least it is a British firm ) or do I go for the tspp250 table saw and the pt260 planer thicknesser ( I do like the pt320 but cannot justify the hike in price ). The problem I have I am used to old Wadkin and Startrite products and just cannot see the new products in my minds eye within my available space.

All the best and thanks in advance,

Rosco ( chris )

p.s. sorry for rambling

 

[DaveL]

Hi Chris,

Hum you ramble, well you'll fit in just nice here. :wink:

Back to the tools for the workshop, how much space have you got?

Could you cope with the planning needed to use some of the universals? The time to change function can be a distraction and require very careful resetting to match stock machined earlier.

I have a planner/thicknesser the only dual use machine, it saves floor space but at times does hinder progress. When funds allow I would like to get separate machines.

There are older machines around if you don't mind buying second hand, take a look at this thread to see the 1972 Wadkin saw that I bought on ebay last year. I have changed the motor and bought other bits and pieces for it. Its now a very useable tool that will out last me. If you go this way you need someone to help more the cast iron, son-in-law in my case.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Rosco, welcome to the forum.

1st, a few questions to enble us to better answer your question...:

what sort of size workshop are we talking here?
are there any limitations of your disability? wheelchair, for example?
what sort of work are you going to be doing?

I'm sure others will come with more questions, but they'll be doing for the start.

Anyway, a lot of the record power kit is now build in Italy, i think, if not chiwanese, so going for record isn't necessarily buying british. Also, i seem to remember startrite (another good old british firm) 'amalgamating' with record power, with the resulting out-of-country manufacture of a lot of kit. Sooo, for power tools, British built is hard to come by these days, and often is sadly lacking in quality anyway, so my first advice would be to not let that colour your judgement.

General consensus in past threads about 'separates vs combined' seems tot be in favour of separates though.

 

[ProShop]

Welcome to the forum Roscoe,

I have some experience with the Record machines you mention, the tspp250 table saw in particular, this is a big machine when it's all set up with the sliding carriage, and I mean big.
I too also looked at the PT320 and went to Record in Sheffield to have a demo, and as you say I couldn't justify the price, especially compared to other machines. The Record maxi just didn't do it for me withe the belt changing etc.
Nearly all the Record power machines are now imported, some from China, the TSpp250 is the same as the Fox machine, but is cheaper than Record, although the Record has a 5 year warranty.

I'm an old Wakin etc user from years ago, I tried finding some used ones but there like gold dust. especially good ones. They don't seem to make them like they used to. (this comment will get the thread going now ).

As for universals I quite like them, if you've not used them before you just need to remember that you need to have space all around the machine to get at all the various functions. So in some ways they can seem to take up a lot of space. You could try for a Saw/ spindle moulder, and a separate planer thicknesser which is working just right for me.

Good hunting with whatever you chose.

 

[Rosco]

Hi Rosco, welcome to the forum.

1st, a few questions to enble us to better answer your question...:

what sort of size workshop are we talking here?
are there any limitations of your disability? wheelchair, for example?
what sort of work are you going to be doing?

I'm sure others will come with more questions, but they'll be doing for the start.

Anyway, a lot of the record power kit is now build in Italy, i think, if not chiwanese, so going for record isn't necessarily buying british. Also, i seem to remember startrite (another good old british firm) 'amalgamating' with record power, with the resulting out-of-country manufacture of a lot of kit. Sooo, for power tools, British built is hard to come by these days, and often is sadly lacking in quality anyway, so my first advice would be to not let that colour your judgement.

General consensus in past threads about 'separates vs combined' seems tot be in favour of separates though.

Hi,
When my workshop is finished it will be 18' x 16' deep and just outside my backdoor so I have not got any excuse to not go out there in bad weather. It is also close enough to potter out to it on my walking sticks and then scoot round in it in my wheelchair. You asked what I would be making mainly well don't laugh kittening box's, :wink: they are to be made out of mainly mdf sheets and as we show our cats a lot in the UK and Europe and have mentioned it to a few people I have now got more people waiting for the things than I know what to do with. Once I have finished that lot I am hoping to make some furniture for the home out of some nice british elm and cherry I have found.

All the best,

Rosco ( chris )

 

[Guest]

Hi Chris, I can't advise you on the machine aspect but I would advise starting with a Trend Airshield dust mask if you are working with MDF. I have just bought one and am very pleased with it, no more spitting out sawdust.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Chris,

Sounds like a decent sized shop at least!

Not going to give advice as to separates or universal, but some things to think about for making your decision:

Since you're doing sheet material work, you'll want a sliding carriage, so think about the space that takes up, and make sure there's enough room around the kit for your scooting.
Working height I guess is something you've considered anyway.
Ease of getting to the saw blade/arbour for changing the blade - how far do you have to lean over the table and so on.
On the universals, the better ones have multiple engines making changing function easier.
Dust extraction is important too - the Trend airshield has already been mentioned, but the main DX should be thought about; since you're building the workshop, how about going underfloor, so there's no trailing ductwork to get in the way of movement. (see other thread on subject)
Likewise, power under the floor could be good.

I'd be tempted, if you have a decent power machinery shop near by, to go and have a play, preferably with the wheel chair, and see how comfortable they all seem to be to get to, adjust and use.

Just some food for thought - you've probably already considered those points, but y'never know

 

[Adam]

Rosco,

Try using the search facility and type in a few things like:

Combination seperates

Combination size

seperates combination

combination space

maxi

Then click the "search all terms" and it should give you all the previous threads in which this has come up. Theres plenty of good information.

Heres a few threads:

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=860

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=613

Adam

 

[tim]

Rosco,

Welcome to the forum.

While your workshop is not a bad size at all, you will find that any big machine will have to sit in the middle of it to be able to cut full sheets ie at least 8 ft behind and in front of the blade and at least 7ft either side. As you can see thats not going to give you much room to move about. My shop is a bit bigger at 22ft x 18ft and its a pretty tight fit esp when you put other obstacles round the perimeter. Plus of course you also have to have room for you to operate the machines!

Are you going to be cutting full sheets? If so - beware - even ultralight MDF (18mm) weighs c 100lb a sheet. Maybe a wallsaw maybe a good option because you could operate it pretty simply from a sitting position and you won't have to lean over miles to change settings like in combo machine.

Dunno if this helpful.

Cheers

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

Are you going to be cutting full sheets? If so - beware - even ultralight MDF (18mm) weighs c 100lb a sheet. Maybe a wallsaw maybe a good option because you could operate it pretty simply from a sitting position and you won't have to lean over miles to change settings like in combo machine.

Yeah, I was thinking wall saw myself, and went off looking for a thread I seemed to remember, with a review of such a beast - didn't find the thread, and wondered about height limitations. But a good thought, and definitely worth considering