Bandsaw
Once you’ve decided on the model, compare the following: (1) Horsepower is the maximum power produced by the motor. Saws with high horsepower ratings are good for pattern cutting and cutting down thick stock. Higher horsepower also allows the saw to cut through thick stock without bogging down or burning the wood. (2) Throat Capacity is the distance between the saw’s blade and frame. The throat determines the maximum width of the saw’s cutting capacity. Saws with wide throats allow you to make wider straight cuts and scroll larger pieces without obstruction from the frame. (3) Blade Width is important when purchasing a band saw. Most saws accept narrow 1/8″ blades for cutting detailed designs and tight curves. Better saws also accept wider blades. Wide blades don’t flex as much as narrow ones, but they make accurate straight cuts in thick stock quicker. There are also some wide blades available that can cut metal.
A radial arm saw is a cutting machine consisting of a circular saw mounted on a sliding horizontal arm. Invented in 1923, the radial arm saw was the primary tool used for cutting long pieces of stock to length until the introduction of the miter saw in the 1970s.
In addition to making length cuts a radial arm saw may be configured with a dado blade to create cuts for dado, rabbet or half lap joints. In addition some radial arm saws allow the blade to be turned parallel to the back fence allowing a rip cut to be performed.
In the home shop the radial arm saw is an alternative to the table saw. Both machines can rip, crosscut, do simple and compound miters, dado, mold or shape, make tenons, make open mortises, taper cut, and rabbet. The radial arm saw requires less clearance or space in the shop to handle long stock. An arm saw only requires clearance on the sides, whereas a table saw needs clearance to the sides, in front, and in back. The arm saw is perfectly efficient backed up against a wall, where as the table saw wants to be placed in the center of the shop to give all around clearance. With some accessories the radial arm saw can be used as a shaper, a disk or drum sander, a grinder, a surface planer, or a horizontal boring machine, whereas a table saw’s secondary uses are limited to shaper and disk sander. The only short coming of the radial arm saw is that it cannot make finger lap joints which the table saw can.
A thickness planer consists of three elements: a cutter head which contains the cutting knives; a set of in feed and out feed rollers which draw the board through the machine; and a table which is adjustable relative to the cutter head to control the resultant thickness of the board. Some portable thickness planers differ slightly in that the table is fixed and it is the cutter head/feed roller assembly which is adjusted.
Industrial thickness planers are capable of accepting very wide boards and removing large amounts of material in a single pass. These machines are driven by powerful induction motors and are of very heavy construction. In recent times, a range of light-weight portable thickness planers have become available which use universal motors and are much cheaper than the industrial versions.
A router is a woodworking tool used to route out (hollow out) an area in the face of a piece of wood. It was a tool particularly used by pattern makers and staircase makers and consisted of a broad-based wooden hand plane with a narrow blade projecting well beyond its base plate gaining it the nickname Old Woman’s Tooth. Since about 1960, it has been replaced by the modern spindle router, which was designed for the same work, although the first electric hand routers appeared in the years just after World War I. Further refinement produced the plunge router, invented by Elu (now part of DeWalt) in
A miter saw (also called a chop saw or drop saw) usually refers to a power tool used to make a quick, accurate crosscut in a workpiece. It is most frequently used to cut wood, although some plastics and light metals can also be cut with the tool. Common uses include framing operations and the cutting of Molding (decorative). Most miter saws are relatively small and portable, with common blade sizes ranging from eight to 12 inches.
The miter saw makes cuts by pulling a spinning circular saw blade down onto a workpiece in a short, controlled motion. The workpiece is typically held against a fence, which provides a precise cutting angle between the blade and the longest workpiece edge. In standard position, this angle is fixed at 90°.
A primary distinguishing feature of the miter saw is the miter index. The miter index allows the angle of the blade to be changed relative to the fence. While most miter saws enable precise one-degree incremental changes to the miter index, many also provide “stops” that allow the miter index to be quickly set to common angles (such as 15°, 30°, or 45°).
A wood shaper, usually just shaper in North America or spindle moulder in the
Wood shapers do essentially the same job as the router table, with the main difference being that a wood shaper is a stationary machine designed for larger volume work while a router is a hand tool for lighter duty work. Routers can also be mounted on a router table, and used as a stationary tool. However, routers run at considerably higher speeds than shapers, and the use of large bits can be dangerous. Also, shapers can be used to cut much larger profiles than routers and custom-made shaper bits can be readily ordered or fabricated.
Wood shapers come in two main variants: one with the spindle on the side, so the bit cuts into the workpiece from the side, and one where the spindle assembly is mounted in the bottom of the table, so the bit cuts into the bottom of the workpiece. Of these two, the latter is more common. On some shaper models the spindle can be tilted.
Shapers can be adapted to perform specialized cuts through the use of a wide variety of accessories such as sliding tables, tenon tables, tilting arbor, tenoning hoods, and interchangeable spindles. Spindle shafts come in a variety of sizes with the most common at 3/4″ for small shapers, 1 1/4″ for most shapers, and 30mm on European shapers. Most spindles are tall enough to accommodate more than one cutter head thereby making tooling changes much quicker. Interchangeable spindles make this process much quicker as additional spindles can be fitted with other cutter heads that are pre-spaced.
Shapers range from simple units with fixed spindles, to high-end units with tilting, interchangeable spindles with reversible capabilities. European combination machines feature shapers along with sliding tablesaws, jointers, planers, and mortisers.
A drill press (also known as pedestal drill, pillar drill, or bench drill) is a fixed style of drill that may be mounted on a stand or bolted to the floor or workbench. A drill press consists of a base, column (or pillar), table, spindle (or quill), and drill head, usually driven by an induction motor. The head has a set of handles (usually 3) radiating from a central hub that, when turned, move the spindle and chuck vertically, parallel to the axis of the column. The table can be adjusted vertically and is generally moved by a rack and pinion; however, some older models rely on the operator to lift and reclamp the table in position. The table may also be offset from the spindle’s axis and in some cases rotated to a position perpendicular to the column. The size of a drill press is typically measured in terms of swing. Swing is defined as twice the throat distance, which is the distance from the center of the spindle to the closest edge of the pillar. For example, a 16-inch drill press will have an 8-inch throat distance.
A cordless drill is a type of electric drill which use rechargeable batteries. These drills are available with similar features to an AC mains-powered drill. They are available in the hammer drill configuration and most also have a clutch setting which allows them to be used for driving screws. For continuous use, a worker will have one or more spare battery packs charging while drilling, so that he or she can quickly swap them, instead of having to wait an hour or more for recharging