Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Minicraft circular saw table

Filed in the "tools I've not really used" pile is my Minicraft Circular Saw table. The full sized version scared the hell out of me when I used them at college which didn't help. Truth is, I don't often have a need to split wood in quantity anyway.

Then a need arose so out to the garage with it. While not a big tool, I reckoned that it would make a lot of mess and I was right.

Plugged in to the Minicraft transformer, the on/off  switch is located under the body which means it's well under the table bed. A bit fiddly but unavoidable. If I was really worried, an extra switch in the lead wouldn't be a problem to fit.

Ideally you screw the tool to the bench but of course I didn't bother. My task involved slicing lolly sticks in half but if long lengths were on the agenda then this would be a wise move.

A couple of devices are supplied to aid feeding the wood through straight and consistently. They clamp into place reasonably securely although a square is required to make sure the one shown is perpendicular to the table edge and parallel to the blade.

Safety is well covered, pretty much all the blade is anyway and that's what's going to hurt you.

In use, the machine hacks through lolly sticks and 4mm thick mahogany with ease. I expect it would be happy with plasticard and other woods modellers are likely to use (OK, MOST modellers, I wouldn't risk jelutong).

The main problem is the tools simplicity. If it does what you want then it's fine. But you can't adjust the blade height so my plan to cut partly through the mahogany didn't work and I was back to hand tools for that bit.

So - a good tool as long as your needs are simple. Not sure it's in the current range but you'll find plenty of eBay.

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