Your Favourite Tools

Your Favourite Tools

Mirka Random orbit sander and dust extraction

Kevin brought along his Mirka Random Orbit sander and dust extractor for us to try. This is one of the latest models, and the different handset design certainly made it lighter to use if you had a large sanding job.

He also brought along his Bosch sander so that you could see the difference between the two and the improvements that had been made.

Using these together with the new Mirka Galaxy sanding disks, which have ceramic grains that are self-sharpening to maintain a sharp cutting edge, helped to make short work of the samples he brought along for members to try.

Festool equipment

Garvin demonstrated a selection of the latest Festool machines for us to see. This included the cordless track saw and dust extractor, both with Bluetooth capabilities, the RO 90 Rotex and ETS 150mm sanders, and the ETSC 125mm cordless sander with the Edge sanding guide. Also on display was the CXS mini cordless drill and the Adjustable Angle Stop for the guide rail.

We all tend to forget that all these new tools arriving on the market come with a swag of new features that make them more convenient and easier to use, but do not always suit the way we work.

Pantorouter Jointing

Edward brought along a Pantorouter (which actually belongs to Carolyn) that enabled him to make mortise-tenon joints, box joints, and dovetails joints accurately.

He demonstrated how the machine is based on a pantograph, which allows a perfectly accurate movement of the router head against the stock, guided by moving different sized guides against various templates that come with the machine, and which are fixed in place.

The challenge is getting the machine setup properly, to ensure accurate joints can be made. The power of the machine lies in the ability to make highly reproducible joints quickly and neatly. He said that if you have multiple joints to make, which need to be accurately repeated, then this is the machine for you.

Edward felt that it was expensive considering that it required assembly after its arrival, the manual is poorly written, and some components were not included. Annoyingly half its components are metric (e.g. the template guides and the rulers on the fences) and half is imperial (e.g. the router bit and the templates). This makes setting up complicated and prone to error.

He felt that for the price he would have expect perfection, and having had such high expectations, this machine is slightly disappointing. He initially thought he might buy one and wanted to try it out, but having done so now he is not so sure.

He advises anyone thinking of getting one, to try it out first.

Thanks to all our presenters for bringing along all their tools and equipment for us to examine and try out in something like workshop conditions.

It is only by handling these different tools that we can assess the build quality, whether they suit what we want, and how easy they are to use.