Beginner tool buying advice.

[Urbeker]

After many years of completing diy projects with hand tools in my garage I have moved house and now own an actual workshop. I am now trying to go about purchasing a few power tools to fit out the workshop, with the idea of first building a workbench for it. The only power tools I own at the moment are a couple of hand drills, a sander and a band-saw and pillar drill I inherited.

From my reading it seems like a decent tablesaw and a router with table are the first tools I should look into purchasing. I don't need anything fancy but I would like them to last a long while. The budget is fairly flexible but that is only because I don't know how cheap it is safe to go. The evolution tablesaw that is best reviewed on amazon is cheap and well reviewed but then half the people say it has loose fences and a badly aligned blade, which don't tally with that. I really don't know where to start apart from saying that the bosch router seems well liked, almost everything I find about saws is US centric.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[marcros]

i would start with designing your bench. have a look at what you want, and break it down into each part. Then work out how you are going to produce each part using the tools that you have. Where you come to a stop because there is no way with the tools that you have, look at what you need to buy to overcome the problem. There will always be multiple options so weigh up the pros and cons. Only then buy something!

As for knowing where to start, once you now what you need it to do, you can research better. You could soon buy a lot of tools that would be useful for a particular job, and yet never need to do that job. I have just sold a few that fell into that category- the radial arm saw, the mitre guillotine...

Also think what the next couple of project may be, and when considering what to buy for this first project, think how it could be used on the next. Eg a router table might be a good second project (or may be something you will never use)

 

[artie]

I worked for years with no vice on the bench, got along fine. Saw a cheap used one, picked it up and fitted it. I use it regularly.

Had an old bench drill the kids bought me ages ago, it was all rusty sitting in a damp wooden shed. Dug it out one day cleaned it up, fitted a new switch, now it is used on a regular basis.

Seems to be I can get along without stuff, but if I have it, it gets used.

Not sure if that's any help to you.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

May I suggest that instead of buying some tools and then deciding what you want to do with them, you first decide what sort of work you want to do, and then allow that to inform your tool-buying. For example, if you really fancy a go at woodturning, a router probably won't get used much, but a lathe obviously will. If you're intending to make some pieces of furniture for the house, a lathe will just take up space and get in the way.

Another thing I'd advise is to keep as much space as you can free in the workshop. There are quite a few people who fill a double garage with lovely kit, only to find there's nowhere to assemble whatever they're making. Open space is worth far more than a machine you use only once a year.

A good bench and a couple of saw-horses, together with a few good quality handtools can be a very versatile set-up. If you want to mechanise the 'grunt' work, a bandsaw and a planer-thicknesser are probably the two most labour-saving machines. (There are advantages to hand-tool only approach, though - far less mess, a LOT less dust, much quieter, and you've more space for work-in-hand to stand. Also, you don't have to find space and money for dust extraction equipment.) Routers are very 'marmite' machines - some people love 'em and use them for everything, some people hate them. Only you can decide that one for yourself!

 

[Urbeker]

Hmm I think I phrased my post a bit badly. I was more looking at advice for which router and tablesaw to get. I have already got a few projects lined up, for instance I know that I will need to rip a lot of wood for the workbench I have planned while I was going to use a router to smooth the laminated wood for the worktop. Having done similar things on a smaller scale by hand the idea of using hand tools for a project that size is enough to put me off completely.

 

[Mar_mite]

The Axminster ts 200 saws are rated quite highly by people on here. I have a charnwood w619 saw. Very similar to the axi. I rate that highly too. It's compact and accurate.
I have a half inch makita router which is excellent, if that helps.

 

[Ed Bray]

For a router to fit in a router table I would look at a Triton TRA001. It has plenty of power, has above the table adjustment, locks off the shaft automatically when you raise the router to its maximum for above table bit changing (single spanner) and is not too expensive compared with other 3hp Routers.

Yandles are doing it for under £200

 

[HexusOdy]

Triton router for sure. Everyone recommends the TRA001 but I have the MOF001 which has never struggled with anything and its easier to handle with being slightly smaller (and cheaper).