Show off your tools!
- Thread starter SNLC
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
I would have never bought a cordless skillsaw but someone posted in the "deal of the day" thread a couple of years ago a Makita deal where they were offering various 36v (2 18v battery) tools at heavily discounted pricing. The tool came with 2 5Ah batteries, dual charger, and 2 additional free 5Ah batteries. I chose the skillsaw but, again, only to get the batteries for my cordless impact driver, drill, and impact wrench. It amounted to 4 batteries for the price of 2 with a free tool and charger. Of course once I used it I have never pulled my corded Makita skillsaw out of the cabinet.
This new saw uses one 40v 4Ah battery. Makita literature says it will cut 150 4x4s on one charge. I have only made a few cuts with it so far so time will tell. Their literature also says it cuts 2x faster than their corded version of the tool. Not sure about that but so far it cuts as fast as I want to push it. Haven't started cutting 8x8s yet so that will be a better test of its capacity.
I have the corded version of that Makita worm gear saw. It was heavy 10 years ago…with 30% of my strength missing, I don’t even look for it anymore.
I can’t see how framers used this all day long
I can’t see how framers used this all day long
The only corded tool that I use any more is the super heavy drill I use for mixing Portland cement. Can’t imagine using anything but battery/cordless for everything else.
I have a Makita drill that has always worked great. Everything else I have is M18 Milwaukee, and I’m always pleasantly surprised how long the batteries last. Except the hand vacuum cleaner - for whatever reason, it goes through a battery way faster than any of the other tools, hammer drill, various saws, nailers, impact drivers, etc.
I have a Makita drill that has always worked great. Everything else I have is M18 Milwaukee, and I’m always pleasantly surprised how long the batteries last. Except the hand vacuum cleaner - for whatever reason, it goes through a battery way faster than any of the other tools, hammer drill, various saws, nailers, impact drivers, etc.
@1911. Looks like you’ll be mixing a lot of cement 
I think that was me that posted that deal. It was like getting the saw for free.
I love using mine too, after I threw away the crappy blade that came with it.
The ones that are really amazing are the cordless Milwaukee miter saw and table saw that we have in our Fix It Team. We can work all day building a deck/ramp, and the batteries will last. Never expected that to happen.
We just invested in a Milwaukee M18 15ga nailer for trim work, man that thing is saweeeet.
Often the jobs we do have no or poor access to power, so cordless is the way to go. It is really nice not having to step over cords all over the site.
there are some tools that just suck too much power out of batteries, though. Like blowers. Will kill any battery in no time flat.
But then again, I can't quite picture dragging a cord behind one....
But then again, I can't quite picture dragging a cord behind one....
I bought Milwaukee cordless framing and finish nailers several years ago and you're right - they are nice. Framing nailer will drive 3" nails just as fast as you can pull the trigger.
Milwaukee cordless blower runs a long time on a 5ah battery. 8ah lasts longer than you want to be blowing anything given the weight.
Like the cold saw I picked up last week, I've wanted a bigger lathe than my SB Heavy 10 for years but didn't want to pay big bucks or have to drive across the country to pick up. This LeBlond 19" showed up on ebay for cheap Sat am only 60mi away so I jumped on it. Was in Ashville, NC in a private dam powerhouse during hurricane Helene and got completely flooded with 6 5gal buckets so far of silt accumulation in the bases. And it turned out I'd met seller several times over the years so got to reconnect with him a bit. May have bitten off more than I can chew. It's going to need to be completely torn down and gone through but I knew that going in. Worst case I can part it out and scrap the rest. 12" Buck set-tru chuck is worth more than I paid for it. Cleaner than expected under side cover and in gear box.
I'd bet all it needs is elbow grease. Are you keeping the heavy 10?
Nice lathe.
I used to be in the "tear it down and make it perfect" camp.
But I've found perfect can be the enemy of good.
I've taken a similar size engine lathe apart, cleaned, fixed and painted it up nice. It wasn't worth it. It was still a well used machine. Years later I bought nice ones with DRO's and tooling for fair prices to do the work I needed to do. And sold the prettied up, but worn lathe at a big loss considering my time.
I'd look that Leblond over well and, considering it's full of nice looking oil and the gears look decent, figure someone dumped the water out pretty quickly. I'd wire it up, check/fill all the lube areas and run it hard for a couple hours.
If the spindle is tight and quiet and you get good finishes, if everything moves freely and the apron and crosslide lube systems work OK I wouldn't take it apart. Probably just drain everything, clean as much silt out as possible, then refill and use it. If it's a little screwy here and there, but mostly good I'd maybe fix the worst things and just use it.
Manual machines are tough. Even good CNC's are tough. Surprising how much they can be exposed to the outdoors and water and still be fine.
But if they are really messed up- Like spindle bearings or ways are bad, It's usually cheaper and much easier to just buy a better one instead of fixing.
I used to be in the "tear it down and make it perfect" camp.
But I've found perfect can be the enemy of good.
I've taken a similar size engine lathe apart, cleaned, fixed and painted it up nice. It wasn't worth it. It was still a well used machine. Years later I bought nice ones with DRO's and tooling for fair prices to do the work I needed to do. And sold the prettied up, but worn lathe at a big loss considering my time.
I'd look that Leblond over well and, considering it's full of nice looking oil and the gears look decent, figure someone dumped the water out pretty quickly. I'd wire it up, check/fill all the lube areas and run it hard for a couple hours.
If the spindle is tight and quiet and you get good finishes, if everything moves freely and the apron and crosslide lube systems work OK I wouldn't take it apart. Probably just drain everything, clean as much silt out as possible, then refill and use it. If it's a little screwy here and there, but mostly good I'd maybe fix the worst things and just use it.
Manual machines are tough. Even good CNC's are tough. Surprising how much they can be exposed to the outdoors and water and still be fine.
But if they are really messed up- Like spindle bearings or ways are bad, It's usually cheaper and much easier to just buy a better one instead of fixing.
No plans to get rid of the heavy 10. I've had it almost 30yrs.
Agree. I've certainly gone down the tear it down/rebuild path with vehicles that never get done and have learned my lesson there. Just picked it up today so still evaluating. Gearbox was drained but there's an oily/silty residue throughout. May try washing it down w/ diesel or something and see what that does. Ways have some rust where the carriage was parked but are decent otherwise. I'm well aware that more time could be put into rehabbing it than it will ultimately be used. But on the other hand, I enjoy tinkering with stuff like this.
Great addition to your shop.
FYI A friend refurbishes machinery, including rewiring/updating controls, as a retirement hobby-side business. He is located in the north Atlanta metro, so in the same general region ...
If you want a connection, let me know.
“ I enjoy tinkering with stuff like this”
THAT sentence says it all and probably all of us have walked this path.. you have taken it big though… I’m still trying and always in awe of cool machines
THAT sentence says it all and probably all of us have walked this path.. you have taken it big though… I’m still trying and always in awe of cool machines
Thanks, I'll definitely keep that in mind.
I'll see your 10-1/4" and raise you 16-5/16"...
Yes. I mentioned that saw in my post. Too large for me!
Sorry, missed that at the end.
Used by timber framers.
If you need to go bigger than that, there's always Sawsquatch
SKIL SPT55-11 16” WD Sawsquatch Carpentry Chainsaw w/ stand – Way Source SKIL SPT55-11 16” WD Sawsquatch Carpentry Chainsaw w/ stand - https://share.google/LDZugnhFIkrZjqQHY