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ISO Special Discussion Groups for Spiral Saw (Rotozip)
On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 04:07:41 +0000, (Robert Bonomi) wrote:
[snipped]
My unit is made by Tool Shop. It is 30,000 rpm with an accessory kit.
AH ha! Got it at Menards, I betcha. Their house-brand special.
Aha!, Yest I did, but I didn't use it yet until I post a few more questions or take
it back or a combination of both.
The bad news -- That tool, and *any* similar one, regardless of manufacturer,
are the WRONG THING for the type of job you propose to undertake.
Well, here's the lowdown. I manage to do my little projects in an apartment
on a single small worktable. I'm also asthmatic and so the use of the spin
drill sends the waste mostly down instead of into the air.
I've played with a a hand drill and drill guide plus RotoZip bits and had
a few break.
The point is that I need a low profile, non-industrial or non-"shop solution"...
not the proverbial "More Power!" from Tool Time. Before I made the purchase,
I studied a project from a Canadian gent who had his flatpack (pieces to be
glued together) cut buy a shop and then did the trim work including roundover
of baltic birch ply in his shop. I do not recall what sort of bits he was using.
His completed project looked fine.
Spiral saws are designed to work in _brittle_ materials -- ones that 'powder'
when 'hit' with a sharp edge. They're _great_ for drywall, and, as long as
you're careful about heat build-up, you can do amazing things on ceramic
tile, too.
For cutting wood, on the other hand, they are 'medium dreadful', to put it
charitably.
The bits don't have big enough 'flutes' to clear the wood chips, so they
are *very* slow cutting, Like only a few (maybe 5) _inches_ per minute,
in 3/4" stock, *IF* you can keep from breaking the bits.
Due to the small diameter, they don't have the structural strength for the
side pressures, and you'll break bits *real* often. Like, if you're lucky,
you'll get 4-6 _inches_ of cut in 3/4" material, per broken 1/8" bit. Don't
even _think_ about using the standard 1/16" ones.
I believe I have tried to have this discussion in the past and there were no
takers, now there are. The timing was just a bit wrong for my purpose.
And yes, I like the feel of the fixed base Skil model at Menard's and was
hoping for a deal on it for Father's Day and I would set up a small
Workmate (tm) outdoors to use it.
Before using the Spin Saw, if it is going to be totally uselss even under the
described conditions, I could exchange it for the Skil router but with
no discount. I'm aware also that a Jasper Circle cutting jig is the tool
to use for this type of hobby work.
-- But as stated I was looking for a lightweight solution and minimal waste
material flying about. Given that criteria but not wanting to go through
another package of bits is the device a waste of time?
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