Grumpy MSG

I rarely see the DWS780 get discounted, but if you watch for it Home Depot, Lowe's and others offer them with either the rolling stand or the big folding stand for free. So if you are lucky, you can pick up an extra $200 accessory for free. Black Friday isn't too far away to look for a bargain or two...

That is called a pump....

The other option is to use the tool with the vacuum set up for the purpose. The Fein, Fetool and DeWALT dust extractors are set up to have the tool plug into the vacuum. Pull the trigger on the saw, the vacuum roars to life, wait for both to get up to speed and then plunge the saw into the wood. Finish the cut, let go of the trigger and the vacuum continues to run for a little bit to finish clearing the hose. I know DeWALT has clips available to clip the cord to the hose and I am sure the others probably offer the same.

I was actually surprised at the finish from the DeWALT. For small jobs it is my go to tool. Aside from the cameras, thermal stuff and lasers, the 12V MAX line really hasn't seen much changes or additions and some of the other brands are probably 3 generations ahead as far as technological advances go. I agree with their valuing ergonomics, weight and compactness in the smaller drill lines. You can always go get the bigger tools if you need them.

Makita has made great circular saws for years, and haven't changed that much in a dozen years or more. I know I took a good hard look at one while I was looking at new circular saws a few years ago. It came down to the Makita, one of the early Tilt lock Milwaukees and the Porter-Cable that was still around that was actually a contractor grade saw with the angle dust port on the front. I went with the Milwaukee and I love the tilt lock especially when cutting sheet goods. Unlike some folks around here, l like have both left and right hand blade saws available to me. There are just times that one works better than the other.

Hopefully they will have the saws so the folks who want a rafter hook can put one on and folks who don't can leave it off, they could have it go on or off with one or two screws (If they were really slick it would take the same wrench as the blade screw).

The shorter the hose the better. For what uses you have described I would go with a HEPA equipped extractor or vacuum system, and to help keep your filters cleaner us a separator like the dust deputy to remove most of the big particles. Unless you have the really inexpensive collector outside it will be spewing the finest particles right out through the filter bag instead of capturing them. The more expensive collectors do have better filters available. It is one of those cases where you get what you pay for.

I have an old corded electric Eager Beaver (McCulloch) and it hasn't been out in a few years. I do most of my pruning with an old 18V DeWALT reciprocating saw with some Diablo pruning blades. I love those blades. I even took down an 8" mulberry tree with them.

Take a file and sharpen the edge of a 3 or 4 inch stiff spackle knife, use with a straight edge like a level. Make about 3 scoring cuts. and snap, then cut the film on the other side. It is inexpensive, works great and doesn't create that static electricity charged foam dust that sticks to everything.

Spend a little money and take a welding course, it will help you figure out what capabilities you want. If you will be doing heavier welding you may want a stick welder, if it is light sheet metal MIG is easier. It is all about what you want to do as far as welders go, the Miller versus Lincoln debate is like the DeWALT versus Milwaukee one, a lot of noise, but both will actually get the job done. My advice on purchasing one though is see what you have available to you in the ways of local support brandwise before you purchase. One brand may dominate your local area due to the support from a dealer/ service center.

As Americans we love to look at other stuff, point our finger and tell folks what is wrong. I look at that saw and see it is a form of reciprocating saw and that it has a blade more like a hand saw than a Sawzall. I can't tell you what blades are available for it, what kind of stroke length it has or what kind of speed it has. I would guess that it easier to cut straight than a Sawzall and I think it would be easier to get the blade angle where you want for a cut. I can see where that saw would have a place in timber framing and probably give cleaner cuts than a chainsaw for log homes.

I would love to see how you could put an orbital function with the 4 way blade design. I can just see it now, set it on orbital and have the blade on sideways and watch it flop up and down. I think it would take some serious engineering to pull that one off. I think you would just have to pick on or the other maybe give them slightly different model numbers so you could tell the difference.

My observation on the full size versus compact is that the full size has the capability of using an auxiliary handle while the compact does not. The difference in length comes from that plus the transmission difference between the 2 and 3 speeds. I suspect there is a pretty decent weight difference between the 796 and the 996 too.

My impression on tracksaws is that most folks go with Festool. They were pretty much the first and I think it is the entry drug for many folks with a Festool addiction. I have absolutely no facts or statistics to back up my opinion, but I will offer it just the same...

Actually DeWALT had one years ago in 14.4 volts, not even 18 volts. I think they may have even sold less of them than Porter-Cable sold of their 19.2 volt routers.

It may not be as brutal as you think, If a contractor goes through one charge per battery per day, that is five cycles a week and at 2 weeks of vacation a year that leaves 50 weeks X 5 cycles for 250 cycles in a year. Some contractors are going to charge them 2 or three times a day, but I don't think that is the norm. Some aren't going to get charged even once a day, so Milwaukee is playing a game of averages. If they are using the less expensive cells and have to replace some batteries they won't worry unless the number gets to high. As I had explained to me at an auto parts store, they won't lose money on the lifetime brake pads or calipers until they have replaced them 3 times. Most people will never own a car or truck for 3 sets, so it looks great to the purchaser. It might be that they have estimated they will replace 30% of the batteries once and 10% twice and their initial price more than covers the number of warranties needed.

So you are looking for something like their 20V Drywall gun (DCF620) with an extended nose so you can stay standing and drive screws?

Any time you need to connect the hose to something with an adapter the small diameter hose is what you need to connect to a normal size (2 1/4 inch) shop vac accessory you will use the big hose. The adapter that comes with it is the DWV9120 which happens to slip into the dust bag adapter on my DW718 miter saw. I suspect it will fit in the dust bag adapter on most of the older miter saws. The newer saws like the DWS780 look like the hose adapter locks right on the bag adapter. I am sure it also hooks up to the "Perform and Protect" dust collection shrouds for the various hammer drills and grinders. The DWV9000 adapter is what comes on the end of the small diameter hose. The DWV9190 is an adapter that allows you to mount the DWV9000 on a regular shop vacuum hose. The DWV9110 through DWV9180 are the various adapters that plug into the DWV9000. You will figure out which hose to use when in just a few minutes. One of the things I did look take a close look at is the the small hose itself. the ribs on it are actually a spiral, so the DWV9000 adapter just screws on. It also happens to be the same diameter as one of the pool vacuum hoses available by the foot at Home Depot, so if you want a longer hose you can do it for about $4.50 a foot.

I talked to my local store today, Waynesboro, VA, they have a pair on order for them with a tentative arrival date of early October. The funny part about local Tough System availability is that Waynesboro only stocks DS400s, and in Christmas season last year got some tools that came with DS150s, but doesn't normally stock them. Meanwhile the Harrisonburg, VA store only stocks the clear lid organizer.

I don't have a meter to test the flow ratings, but I couldn't really tell the difference between the two vacuums and the DWV012 is supposed to have slightly more CFM.

What? No DeWALT truck box? My image is just shattered...

I recently picked up both a DWV012 and a DWV010, both through Ebay, and it was a DWV010X model in particular which comes with 2 hoses. I got both from Bollard Tools (who ships via FedEx, not USPS or UPS), the listing for the DWV010X is: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DeWalt-DWV010-X-Hepa-RRP-8g-Vac-Promo-2-Hoses-Included-/252383901128?hash=item3ac340b5c8:g:waoAAOSwPv9XMKOe The DWV012 is a 10 gallon unit and the DWV010 is a 8 gallon. Both have dual filters with the self cleaning feature. Both feature a tool start/ vacuum start ability with a run after cutoff delay. The DWV012 has variable suction 2 large wheels, 2 casters and a collapsible handle allowing it to be moves similar to a 2 wheel hand truck. It also has a roughly 1 1/2 inch outside diameter hose with a proprietary quick coupler on it. The DWV010 has 4 small casters and it reminds me of a mop bucket with it's shape and how it rolls. It does not have the variable suction feature. The 2 hose that come with the DWV010X are very different, one has the same roughly 1 1/2 inch O.D. hose with the proprietary quick connect , the second hose is a larger diameter hose with a 2 1/4 inch end that will work with more traditional shop vacuum tools and would connect up to a Dust Deputy without any effort. My thoughts on the two are: The DWV012 would have much better mobility getting into and out of a jobsite, where as the DWV010 would be much handier mobility wise in a shop environment. The variable suction is nice when you hook the DWV012 to a random orbital sander, but otherwise the dual hoses of the DWV010X make it far more useful, DeWALT has about 10 adapters that can be used to connect to the proprietary quick connect, they run around $10 to $20 on Amazon. Now for the detractors, DeWALT allowed an idiot to number these, why couldn't they be a DWV08 and DWV10, so that you could instantly tell how big they are? The other complaint is, they have the same quick connect on the hose end, but they actually have different connections at the tank end of the hose so each vacuum has a different hose, not common hoses so you can't take the big hose and connect it to the bigger vacuum.

For your pilot holes, look at the shaft of your lag screw, not the outside of the threads. you want your pilot hole about the same size as the shaft, or a hair smaller. That will give you the maximum wood for the threads to grab. Drill it a little deeper than the length of the screw it will allow for a little sawdust to be pushed forward of the screw.

With Home Depot, you can usually count on some good Werner ladder prices, A deal or two on miter saws, plenty of hand tools that they don't usually carry, some sort of multiple clamp packages (who can't use more clamps), some tool box values (Husky, Milwaukee and DeWALT) and cordless tool packages. Some of them sell out fairly quickly and others that hang around a month or two end up going for around 50% off. That is where I ended up with a DeWALT 20V-12V MAX blue tooth speaker for under $40 and the smaller 20V blower for under $50. At this point though, I don't know exactly how many "black" Fridays there are. I know the traditional day after Thanksgiving, but I have seen one in spring and it won't shock me if they call something for back to school "black" Friday.

Do some research, several companies manufacture them. look for a system that has the ability to take bag/ liners to make handling what you have cleaned up easy to dump/empty. Fein is another company that has an outstanding reputation, DeWALT does as well. Another feature you may want to look into on your Hepa vac is a self clearing filter or filters that clean themselves every 30 seconds or so. My estimate is you are looking at $300 or so to start and it goes up from there.