On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 03:12:55 +0000, in uk.d-i-y John Rumm
wrote:

Phil Addison wrote:

It's just that you put the colour in brackets. I (the reader) am not
sure if they just happen to be that colour, or if Bosch etc really call
them their Green Pro Range, or whatever. I don't want to march up to a
trade counter boldly saying "I want an xyz from their green pro range"
only to be told they are yellow this year. Its a trivial point - forget
it.

I would guess if you went into a tool shop and asked for a blue Bosch
they would know what you were on about, if you asked the same question
in Homebase however they may look at you funny (since it should be
obvious that they are all green!) ;-)

Bosch themselves do distinguish quite clearly between the ranges, for an
example see:

http://ukptocs.bosch-pt.com/boptocs-...p?ccat_id=9580
http://www.bosch-pt.com/uk/en/start/...s/Overview.htm

Ah yes, that's clear enough.

Another example:

I wanted a radiator shelf in my dining room that would match the general
shaping of the table etc. This oval ish, but with the occasional little
flourish or pointy bit. I had a nice bit of hardwood ready, and
carefully marked out all the curves such that it would have a bow front,
plus some corner details. At the time the only jigsaw I has was a 30
quid B&D "nothing special" one. It was just about possible to cut out
the shape I had marked, but the finish left much to be desired. since I
was going to be using the edge I had just cut with a bearing guided
cutter on a router it was important to get the quality of the finish as
high as possible since every tiny mark or undulation in the cut surface
would be picked up by the router and copied into the final profile.
Hence many hours of careful sanding were needed to get a surface good
enough to use. Had I have had my Makita jigsaw then it would have been a
very much more straight froward job: cut, quick sand, route.

I wonder if we should distinguish between the DIYer who would be quite
happy using your jig-sawed template for a functional shelf, vs the
hobbyist wood-worker who might regard the shelf as a piece of beautiful
furniture to be carefully crafted. Hobbyists fall between DIY and PRO.
They understand and want pro equipment. Included in this group are hobby
diyers, who do diy for the satisfaction of knowing they can, and don't
want the risk of a getting in a contractor who may cut corners and not
do it quite as he would.

Another class of diyer is one who is pushed into it to save cash or
because he can't find a contractor to do the job, or perhaps does not
know how to specify the job to a pro, or is out at work all week and
doesn't want to leave a contractor alone in his house. He could be the
sort of guy who's wife asks him to put up a curtain rail (say), and
thinks "ok, I should be able to that" rather than grabbing yellow pages
to get a man in.

Wavy cuts are a good example - it is hard to do a long cut that is not
with that type of tool. Part of this is that the lack of blade guide
accuracy means it wanders off line and you need to keep dialling in
adjustments to get back on track. With the better tool, it is that much
better at going where you want it to in the first place. I guess it is a
case with a jigsaw that even small errors in accuracy get multiplied
quite fast by the nature of the thing.

Thanks. I now have Makita (or Bosh) on my wants list :-)

Not possessing a pro jigsaw, just how is a tool-less blade fixed in?

You see the little lugs at the top of the blade:

http://www.axminster.co.uk//images/p...s/T101D_xl.jpg

The jaw mechanism grabs onto those and pulls them into the blade holder.
The jaws are opened by giving a quarter turn to the blade guard, you pop
the blade in the hole, and then release the guard which locks the blade
in under spring tension.

Got it.

Phil
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