Thanks for your comments Andy.


Now a _sliding_ chopsaw, now you're talking. 500 notes though, until I
get my hands on the Axminster one and see if their 150 quid one-bar
design is any good.

Most sliding chop saws don't seem to offer very much advantage over the
straight chop ones.

Anyway I going to bin the chop saw from my shopping list for the time being.
I have plenty of hand saws that will do the job. If I need to do a
repetitive job I can borrow one.


Axminster saw bench - Axminster part BTS10P

I'd probably sell it, except that it's cheaper now than when I bought
it, and it's worth hanging onto for on-site work.

Worst part is the fence (which is why I finally swapped it) It's not
rigid enough unless you use the far-end clamp. This is slow, and you
have to check the alignment carefully.

Great guarding, and it comes off easily for rebating. Incredibly
powerful for a plastic bucket with a piece of windowframe on top. I
ran lots of 3" rips through oak and it didn't even burn them.

The noise is incredible. Sounds like it blew a gasket whenever you
turn it on.

Seems like it has some good points. Everyone is spoilt by induction motors
these days. I can handle a bit of noise.

I was looking at the Elektra PK200 in Axminster which comes with a nice
package of table extensions and a sliding table for £500, but it's just a
bit too small for me, I want to be able to cut 3" on occasion (even if
slowly and carefully ) and all the tables and sliding table would take up a
fair bit of room.


Personally I'd say to put the same money into their CT330 thicknesser
and use that instead. You can do almost everything except edge
jointing with a good thicknesser, and this is a seriously good
machine. In the future you can get a dedicated jointer, for a total
cost about the same as a decent 10" combination machine.

That could be good advice, and I can probably afford a small jointer for the
price of a chop saw, there is a perform on in Axminster for 160 quid. I can
joint by hand though.

20 odd years ago I did an apprenticeship as a joiner, but then went off and
followed my interest in electronics. So I'm not afraid of the hand work,
just want some machines to help me work faster and keep the missus off my
back ;-)


The CT machines also take double-edged disposable cutters, which are a
piece of cake to replace. A sharpenable cutter (like the CCNPT) also
means an adjustable cutter, which is a PITA to adjust correctly.

Adjusting them isn't a problem for, I was an apprentice once, and setting up
the machines was part of the JD :-)


I'm also going to upgrade my current fixed speed Bosch router to a 1/2"
Axminster model AW127R

Get a Freud instead. The Axminster white range portable tools are
failing to impress me at all, and this router certainly doesn't. Not
bad as a first router, but I wouldn't rate it as an "upgrade" router.

I wondered about that, hence the questions here. You mean like the Freud
FT2000E in Screwfix for £164.99? Looks OK to me, but twice the price of the
Axminster, but if its twice the quality then I don't mind paying.

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