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  #1   IP: 12.199.102.194
Old 06-28-2019, 01:07 PM
tenders tenders is offline
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Harbor Freight find: Oscillating Multi-Tool (use as a saw)

These are $20 if you find a good coupon:
https://www.harborfreight.com/oscill...ool-62866.html

Cheaply built? Yes.
Noisy? Yep.
Vibrate like crazy? Ya, mon.
Useful? VERY VERY.

It’s called a “multi tool” and I guess it can be used for sanding, as it’s shown in the photo, but I have a standalone sander like it and hardly ever use it.

The killer app for this is as a SAW. It copies a very expensive tool originally made by Fein for which the patent ran out in the early 2010s. For this reason it was somewhat of a specialty item and you might not be too familiar with it. However, the trick with the HF version is to ignore the noise and vibration the unit makes and buy decent BIMETALLIC saw blades at your local big box store or online. It is wicked good for plunge cutting (cutting directly into the middle of something, like a drill, rather than cutting from an edge, as a band saw requires).

It cuts through:
* Stainless fasteners (and of course mild steel)
* Rusted nuts
* Fiberglass
* Replacement foam core
* G10, within reason
* Aluminum, even better than you’d expect
* Semicured epoxy (or, of course, cured)
* Wire rope, if held taut, though maybe not cables like sidestays, although I haven’t tried
* Rope, if you’re missing a knife
* Wood, of course

And can fit:
* Most anywhere, especially after you figure out that the saw blade can be mounted at 90 degrees to the body of the saw so it can poke into all kinds of nooks and crannies.

This is almost as useful as a Sawzall, with much more finesse. I’ve found it indispensable in core repairs for scraping off residual rotten balsa core/resin after the skin has been removed, and for flush trimming epoxy-soaked replacement core jammed around the edges of repairs. It’s also handy for shearing off the ends of overlong fasteners after they’ve been bolted or screwed in.

Again: it’s $20, with a coupon, and a couple of good blades are less than $10.
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  #2   IP: 24.190.16.74
Old 06-28-2019, 01:21 PM
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goodoldboat goodoldboat is offline
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new tool

This is exactly what used to cut the lower water pump bolt ...


It cut through before I even new it ... Great tool I use everywhere !!
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  #3   IP: 107.77.97.126
Old 06-29-2019, 12:17 PM
toddster toddster is offline
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That has been my go-to fiberglass cutting tool for years. Although you have to recognize when the blade is starting to go. (When you start seeing smoke, you’re waaay past that point.)

Although lately I have been favoring a battery-powered version from Home Despot. (As far as I can tell, the “Rigid” and “Milwaukee” brands are identical except for livery.) There are different heads available for the battery-powered one, including sander, jig saw, and right-angle drill. It lives on the boat.

But yeah, it’s hard to beat the $20 thing.
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  #4   IP: 138.207.175.58
Old 06-29-2019, 01:41 PM
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