• If you have bought, sold or gained information from our Classifieds, please donate to UK Workshop and give back.

    You can become a Supporting Member or just click here to donate.

Lidl DIY tools 6th June

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I've had one of those track saws for years.
Twas £49.99 when I got it, I use it, daily or every other day.

One of the best value for money items I ever purchased.
 
The Mac Allister track/plunge saw is reduced at Screwfix to £79.99 (from £99.99) - altogether a rather better saw than the Parkside in my view - worth the extra tenner.
 
Has anybody got one of the Parkside Inspection Cameras and if so would you recommend it?
I bought a powerfix one from Lidl a few years ago and it is one of the tools I most regret buying, I can't honestly say that it had never ever helped me see what I needed to see and at the time I bought it it was around £70 if I remember correctly.
 
I will need to cut sheets of ply lengthways so need the longer track, and I don't really need the hassle of trying to get track from Lidl, and the track for budget saws seems much the same money whatever the brand. It would be useful to cut metal occasionally as well.

Bit the bullet - Evolution saw and 2 x 1400mm tracks, clamps etc. - £143.90 from Power Tool World.
 
Bit the bullet - Evolution saw and 2 x 1400mm tracks, clamps etc. - £143.90 from Power Tool World.

Some videos on the evolution track saw here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ0cpVt0OtLfxoMhlH4o1wg
CharlieDIYite (spelling?) also had one and talked about it on his channel, he upgraded in the end but he was doing cabinetry type work so.

My general purpose circ saw is an older evolution, I must say I have been quite happy with it, but I only use it for rough work like breaking down sheets, cutting fence posts etc. Anything that "matters" is cut using the parkside track saw.
 
I don't expect perfection for what I paid, and realistically I have only half a dozen jobs lined up for it - a large cupboard and doors, a few smaller doors and a couple of double beds. The money is justified just for them as I can work mostly alone. I shall put a fine blade on it anyway as I have no plans to cut metal for a while, although the capability is one reason I went down this route.
 
Good timing, theres a job i really really need to do and ive been putting off as i knew it would involve welding, but i dont have a welder.

My axminster saw bench i got from axminsters ebay, and it came with a flaw, which i knew about, but its a pretty big flaw. - I got the saw for 300, when it should have been 450.
The mounting bolts to hold the table to the base are squint. I'm guessing the points on the frame where the nuts the main securing bolts go in to are placed wrongly.
What this means in real money is when you try to cant the blade for miters, the blade isnt lined up with the blade opening/well to such an extent that the blade impacts into the table. there is some adjustment, but its not enough and you either have the blade straight in parallel to the miter slots, ,in which case canting it over to miter it impacts, or you readjust the fore and aft adjusters so it can miter, but doesnt line up with the slots, you simply cannot have both.
Axminster tech team adjusted it roughly, so it was nearly straight and nearly mitered but not enough for you to utilize the miter slots accurately, and as we all know thats something that has to be right or the fence will always be out of alignment, and thats not something easily fixed.

I guess the solution is to take the cast table off, grind or remove the nuts or whatever the main bolts screw into and place them in positions relative to the top. I guess whomever originally welded the saw together in China hadnt accurately placed the mounts so when assembles it was squint.

If you were look at the cast top in relation to the base, it sits squint, and is so by about 5 or 6mm.
So what I need to do is remove the cast top, remove the nuts, then with the saw upside down, have the bolts going through into the base, place large nuts on them, accurately reposition the top to the base so they are square and parallel to each other, and then weld the nuts into their new position.

So it meant me getting some sort of mig welder and trying to sort it myself in the above method.
I see from the lidl link they've just the thing I need and not too expensive either.
As to the best option, its always best to have a look on you tube to see what others make of it in review and this one appears to have been made by someone better suited to judging such things.
The review looks excellent, and the guy doing it judging from his workshop is more suited and experienced in welding. Where perhaps another pro(if you is a pro) might highlight its weaknesses in that its not a pro kit, this reviewer seemed pretty taken with it enough to give a positive recommendation.


So on the strength of it I reckon I should get one and try to sort the sawbench i've been putting off for the last 5 years.
 
I can only speak from my own experience that if a serious hobby woodworker wants to put their toe into the world of track saws the Parkside offering is a good starting point.
 
£79.99 for a welder? Pah! I've just ordered a Lincoln Electric MIG 210 MP from a Chinese eBay seller for £25.99+VAT. Considering it looks as though it retailed for over £1000 it must be legit, yea? 😁

I do now have a tracking number, so it'd got to be worth a laugh to see what turns up (if anything).
 
£79.99 for a welder? Pah! I've just ordered a Lincoln Electric MIG 210 MP from a Chinese eBay seller for £25.99+VAT. Considering it looks as though it retailed for over £1000 it must be legit, yea? 😁

I do now have a tracking number, so it'd got to be worth a laugh to see what turns up (if anything).
Hopefully you will dedicate a thread to what happens.
 
Hopefully you will dedicate a thread to what happens.
I'm kinda intrigued. I mean; it cannot possibly be the real deal, so what am I going to get? Nothing? A 1" tall plastic model? An empty box? Can't wait to find out ;)
 
I'm kinda intrigued. I mean; it cannot possibly be the real deal, so what am I going to get? Nothing? A 1" tall plastic model? An empty box? Can't wait to find out ;)

I have taken a punt on several odd listed items like this. Only one ever arrived, the rest were all scams I am assuming. I did get refunded for all of them so I can't really complain.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top