Home DIY

My wife's kind of balked at the cost of these now

Damn, she really does hate you!

Interesting that you've missed Festool from your analysis. It's much more the German quality system thing, for most professionals at least. It does work out to be good value for money if you use it a lot.

But then you'll look like all the other pro shop fitters. Mafell for the thinking / rich man.

Also, I have a Bosch 10.8v mini circular saw that's actually pretty cool. It runs on the Bosch track system and cuts up to 27mm (off track). If it's shelf thickness stuff it may be quite a good option. Very limited though. I hardly take it out the box tbh. But then I have the Mafell too.

We've danced this dance before! I have the TS55 in the CMS system and a Mafell MT55 I use most of the time. Only problem with Mafell as a brand is they don't have a very wide range of other tools and a lot of stuff is rebranded, i.e. their drills are Metabo.

They do that amazing automated portable track saw if you're bored of actually pushing the track saw on the sheet.

I'll have a look at the Bosch as it would run on the Mafell rails, useful if you're only making one or 2 cuts and space is limited, like bath boards in 3rd floor en-suites. Of course the mini circular won't help you to fit a door, forgot about that when I recommended it.

Yes, the Festool stuff looks nice. As much of our work was in pretty grim bits of South London (with some public access) I wouldn't have advised the contractors to bring their best stuff along, mind.

I'll flog you my wee Bosch if you like.

Mafell chain morticer. Pretty cool tool.

We're all being taken for mugs.
It is not as if all, (the few) electric tool manufacturers have extensive battery chemistry laboratories. The EU have fallen asleep at the wheel. The batteries used in cordless power tools should be standardised, so that the user can choose the best tool, (which will soon be brushless at an affordable price), and the best battery, rather than being tied to a specific manufacturers range.
We are so used to standardised batteries for AA, AAA, C, D types we ignore their genericity.
We should expect the same for cordless power tools.

According to the (German) technical specialists on both the Mafell & Bosch stands at a D&M Toolshow a couple of years ago, the Bosch railsaw (s?) is/are licensed from Mafell.

They are. The Bosch is very similar but doesn't have as nice a blade change, two thumb screws for angle changing instead of one, maybe some other little bits too. For the % price increase I'd always buy the beat tool I can afford.

All my tracks are Bosch. Exactly the same as Mafell but cheaper. The Bosch rail quick clamps are great.

DSS610Z ?

I have a makita drill already so happy to share batteries with that if it will happily cut through scaffolding boards/similar.

@fizzy.bleach - I have the green bosch cordless saw and drill and impact driver and garden strimmer - you are welcome to borrow any or all of the above when you like. I have three batteries and two chargers so you can fuck shit up to your heart's content.

Thanks very much! Will let you know.

Sure, but Picard hammer and Ashley Iles chisels. Anything less would offend my hipster principles. :)

Personally I think nothing says hipster like a collection of planes.

The house I grew up in had been owned by a cabinet maker and he left all his tools there when he retired, there were some superb planes in that lot.

Or a collection of lead working tools.

My father-in-law left behind some amazing tools (including some shiny planes)

Moving a 100kg thicknesser was fun. It made the router table look positively lightweight.

If you're just doing DIY buy something cheap. And an extension lead :-D
This: http://www.diy.com/departments/mac-allister-1200w-165mm-circular-saw-mscs1200/592966_BQ.prd is fine. It's good quality and does and excellent job, and comes in a sturdy case.

Another electrical question:

I have a large mezzanine shelf 2 metres high that will be used as storage. approx 2m height. Want to put a socket in the wall up there - what are the regs regarding min. socket height, or can I just install at any height similar to kitchen worktop? thx

It should be fine especially as it's not a new build. You have to be a little more concerned about the routing of the cable. Do you have a socket below it that you can run vertically from or is it easier to come vertically from above. Try to make sure it's on the same circuit breaker as the rest of the room if you run it from above, it can catch people out if it's on a different circuit!

Cheers - it's right at the end of the mains ring and currently got all the stud exposed so no prob to drop vertically from the same ring.

Next piece of shitty Italian 'engineering':
Fratelli Onofri Imperial 90 oven, trying to take out the circle element to test if it's fucked or not and replace (fan spins, no heat). The bolts holding it in look more like slightly hex rivet heads than bolts (and I can't get a grip with socket set or spanner). Do I need a special tool or do they look like rivets? I'm assuming I have to take the entire fucking oven apart if they are, in which case I'll have to get a gas safe engineer in as the gas hose is too short to pull the whole range out.

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Going to run a light as spur off the new socket (with fused switch) to illuminate the large shelf when needed

I looked up "ele4207" and the pictures suggest that you are looking at the fixed ends (possibly riveted) of two bolts. It looks as if nuts would be secured on the opposite side.

Are you sure you can't reach the connectors to the rear of the oven?

Carpentry / door question.

I have a tight door at work. Hinges are solid in the frame and don't show any wear. The frame itself doesn't seem to of shifted.

Are there any other options apart taking a plane/belt sander to the door to get it to close easier?