Home DIY

At the mention of melamine faced sheet goods, what's the answer for home cutting? Track saw with scoring function?

Just get a couple of 1 amp hour batteries, no loss of power or output.

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You actually wrote Makita too, sorry, it's been a long week...

Cheers. Feels doable. I honk I’ve worked out how to screw into wall too - drill opening in side, drill wall, insert wall plug and screw large screw in with washer larger than hole in cabinet. Or have I missed something?

Do Makita do <3ah LXT batteries? I can't find any but would be ideal for my impact.

I think 1.5 ah.

I’m going to do the same.
I stuck with 14.4v for years because of weight

Cut with the fair side down, track saw with new blade.

Any further tips? Feels simple ish to me but also worried about messing it up.

There may well be a more sophisticated approach but I would place wardrobe in alcove, drill 2 holes each side at 2/3 height, mark the brick or plaster, remove wardrobe, drill and plug, then replace wardrobe and fix in place... That won't come down without ripping it down

Laminate repair wax. Leyland do it in lots of colours if you want to go look at it

Thanks @dbr

+1 I have the Fein 110V version*, and it is a pain to hump the transformer around, (but it also powers the 9inch Makita angle grinder),
and once it is out and in use, it more than saves the time & effort.
[I got a kit/promo version with dust extract and a bunch of accessories at a D&M Toolshow].

heavier pavers can be set into sharp sand.

Careful with that. Ants love it.

It's not an impact driver,
but,
I have the older, (pistol) version of this,
as a standalone, lightweight system.

Alternative 18V system: Have you considered the Erbauer, (Screwfix own brand) or Einhell, (Toolstation own brand) options?

We’ve got a fein corded one too, takes a beating. I have a battery Milwaukee which is decent but I don’t think it will take the punishment I gove the fein.

One thing I will say is just buy cheap blades for what ever you buy. The blades are all crap cheap or expensive.

Einhell I’ve used a friend’s mitre saw and it was absolutely useless, I have a bench grinder from them which is barely acceptable. Considering it doesn’t seem much cheaper than the big brands here (Switzerland) I haven’t really considered it. I’d rather spend a bit more money on something I know will last and I will be able to expand on.

There is a laminate type blade too. All too often I can't be bothered to change to it. It has rounded teeth.

I have a scoring function where it offset the cut by 1mm. It looks kind of nice/weird butted up against oak!

You can use a frame fixing where you drill the cabinet then the wall and hammer the fixing in. I like to take a bit more time and countersink the cabinet, mark the wall for drilling, remove cab drill hole in wall and replace cab. I'm not sure why except that I've got good at it. Early days I'd be inclined to just drill the screw direct to the brickwork.

If you scroll back a few pages you will see I bought the De Walt tool. I haven’t used it in anger yet but it seems a good job. I recently bought De Walt drill and impact driver so have two 4Ah batteries to use with the multi tool. From what I have read it seems the Fein accessories fit the De Walt too but I haven’t tested that. I bought from Screwfix - bare tool £105 or thereabouts. That was with some accessories but no depth gauge or case. The cases seem pricey too.

Unless I've misread your post it Bosch have an impact driver under the powerforall battery range

This

@dbr or any other Mafell track saw users. I've had my Mt55c back out in daily use for the first time in a while, alongside a Festool. Definitely glad I got the Mafell by comparison. The one issue I've been having is that making a 45 deg mitre cut is a total ballache. Even with rail and workpiece clamped, the saw doesn't feel that happy being pushed along the track - feels dead sticky. And then the mitres themselves seem way off when I put the pieces together.

I've been making plinths and display walls for 3 weeks with it and it hasn't skipped a beat, cutting 18mm sheet all day long. Dead accurate cuts etc, but with the mitre cuts it feels like a shitshow. Any tips?

Also, there's a load of talk about making adjustments to get it so the mitre cut is bang on the rail's splinter guard, but since I've been working with MDF, I've just moved the cutting mark by 1.5mm and they've all come out bang on (aside from the mitres themselves being a bit shit).

I never bother adjusting to meet the chip strip for mitres, just compensate 1.5mm like you’re doing.

45 deg does work the saw much harder as you’re cutting like 1.5x the material, but in MDF it should be fine. I always clamp and go slow doing mitres in birch ply. Often put a coarser blade it too I think. I’ve never had a problem with the angle being off though. I guess you could fiddle what the clearance / tightness adjustment of the rail grooves. Only way I could see the angle being off is if the saw is lifting off the track so I’d be concentrating on keeping my thumb of my left hand on the little bit made for it and pushing nice and straight along the track with plenty of downward pressure. Could just be a bit of a blunt blade showing itself up when put under a bit of pressure.

Butt joints FTW 😉

Aye, I think I’m probably lifting the saw, or doing something hokey. I’ve done a few max depth cuts to trim multiple boards and it didn’t feel like it was struggling the same way with the mitres, so I think the blade is still in good fettle.
Admittedly, rushing it last thing on a Friday was probably not the best method of testing. Will try again Monday with more thorough clamping and steadying the baseplate.

But yeah, butt joints for lyf! With a cheeky chamfer to take some two-pack for that smoove finish.

If you want to smooth the edge of mdf you just need to sand it through grits 125-400. Then it’s as smooth as the surface of the mdf.

I’ve cut quite a few mitres with the Mafell and it does need you to go slow and I usually clamp the rail. I’ve not had any problems with it but I don’t usually cut more than 400mm that way.

Good tekkers. I’ve found that getting filler into the grain seems to fill the “pores”, will give the sanding a try. It’s all a bit of a rush on tho, so fill and sand in a hurry seems to be the go to!

I did it that way for years. I don’t think it’s faster or a better finish but I understand using the other technique requires less kit. I use a rotary sander as well, I think that’s probably important but I’ve never checked.

Probably quicker for getting from 120-400 grit.
I tend to fill, quick sand, second fill where needed, proper sand, and then prime. Picking up any minor bits that show up with lightweight filler. And then 2 top coats.

Was really chuffed with the walls I did the other day, although the ninja decorator did the filling. Couple 2 pack fills, paint, then a finishing skim of the joints with pre-mix joint compound. They come out totally seamless.

Dont look at the frames too closely, they’re a budget “whatever wood is lying around” special.

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