Lon Ponschock wrote:




I am not much familiar with all the things that can be done with and
cautions
about using the spiral saw.


Is there a discussion which specializes in using this tool for home
woodworking?


I'm interested in the sorts of routing that can be done with the tool
and preferred
bits and jig adapters for rabbetting and circle cutting.


My main application is doing the final trim work on audio speaker
cabinets:
driver cutouts, terminal cutouts and finish work for flush mounting
drivers and edge trimming (roundover) of 3/4 birch plywood on small
surfaces with other
larger projects to come. No veneering at this time, but that is another
likely application



Any help or how to articles also appreciated.


My unit is made by Tool Shop. It is 30,000 rpm with an accessory kit.

First thing--if you're looking primarily for a cutting tool then get a good
saber saw--Bosch isn't cheap but they're worth the money. You can use a
drill to start the cut for inside cuts. While a rotary tool will cut wood
and with the right bit even gives a fairly clean cut there's a lot of
waste, a lot of chips produced, and they're hard to guide freehand--while
with much practice you may be able to follow a line a moments inattention
can make a big mess (you can do that with a saber saw too but it doesn't
tend to hare off at right angles to the cut line and pull itself along by
brute force). The saber saw will actually produce fewer chips than the
rotary saw and the ones it produces will tend to be a bit larger, so
despite it moving the chips up instead of down I would expect it to be more
friendly to your asthma--I'd get a good dust mask anyway.

Next, a rotary saw is a small router or a big hand grinder, depending on how
you want to look at it. It can with the right accessories do some of what
either does but except for the one task of cutting drywall and plaster it
doesn't do any task as well as the purpose-made tool--it's too bulky to be
a good hand-grinder and it's very low-powered for a router, not to mention
that by the time you have it fitted out to do what a router does you've
pretty much paid for a decent router.

The "wood cutting" spiral bits cut very slowly and not very cleanly.
There's a reason for the slow cut--it gives you enough control to be able
to actually cut wood with the thing hand-held. It's still going to be
trying to wander all over the place but it will do it slowly enough that
you have a chance of catching it. Put a real router bit in the thing and
it will cut a lot faster and a lot cleaner, but if you try to use it
handheld odds are that until you get a _lot_ of practice with it it's going
to ruin a lot of work for you and it's always going to be a lot happier
with a guide or template or fence. This is why a standard router would be
a bad choice for you--while there are small diameter bits for them they
have a short cutting depth and so can't be used for sawing anything but
relatively thin stock, and the smallest shank most routers will take is
1/4" so you can't use the rotary-saw bits in them.

If right now you can afford only the one tool then the rotary saw is the
only one that will do everything you say you need, albeit poorly. Two
things to look for--the ability to take 1/4" shank bits and the
availability of a plunge base--if those are not available for the tool you
have take it back and trade it in on one that does--the Dremel Advantage is
not horribly expensive, and the variable speed should give you a bit more
control. The Rotozips have a wider range of accessories available and the
low end fixed speed model is under $60 so if you're on a super tight budget
that would be the way to go--if you can afford a bit more then the RZ10 or
RZ20 would be a good choice. You're going to need the plunge base--the
standard base that comes on rotary saws is fine for sawing but it's not
wide enough to give you good stability when routing edges and the like and
the depth adjustment is not very precise or convenient either--you'll find
that that's important later--being able to take several small cuts and
reliably return to the same final depth setting is the way you work around
the relatively limited power of the tool when doing such things as rounding
edges.

For cutting with a fence or guide get yourself a 1/4" diamater downcut
spiral router bit (Amana 46202 for example)--it will make a lot of chips
but you'll find that it cuts cleaner and faster than the "rotary saw" bits,
but it's going to be hard to control without a rigid guide. Like the
rotary saw bits it will send the chips down instead of up.





--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)