Power Tools

WEN 9-Inch Band Saw

Our bandsaw projects have been extremely popular, but many viewers have commented that they didn't think they could afford a bandsaw. So we went looking for the least expensive bandsaw that (1) had the capacity to handle our projects and (2) could still be considered a decent tool. This is what we found. The Wen has a 9" throat, 3-1/2" depth-of-cut, a ductile steel frame, cast aluminum wheels and table, and a small-but-adequate induction motor. There are a few pieces and parts we thought could have been made better, but these can be easily upgraded, as we show in out video review. Most important, bandsaws depend on tuning to run properly. The Wen has all the allignments and adjustments necessary, and they are fairly easy to operate. With a little patience and care, you can get this saw to cut just as easily and accurately as one costing hundreds of dollars more.

Colton Keyless Drill Chuck

If you would like to swap the keyed chuck on your drill press for the keyless variety, we found this to be a good and relatively inexpensive choice. It is available in capacities up to 3/4” (19 mm) with a selection of several standard taper mounts. As is usual when swapping chucks, it required a little mounting and dismounting. But eventually we found a position where the Colton chuck had almost no run-out.

Milwaukee 12V Hackzall

The “Hackzall” is a good deal more than the motorized hacksaw that its name suggests. It mounts standard reciprocating saw blades, so it can do anything a larger recip saw can do, but in less space and with one hand. And it’s no harder to set up than a standard cordless drill. You just mount a saw blade and get to work. We have not yet featured it in any of our videos, but we find it useful, versatile and convenient – and we thought you should know about it.

Milwaukee 12v Drill/Driver Set

You’ve probably seen this tool floating around my workbench in our videos. We have several cordless drills, but this is the one that both Travis and I are most likely to reach for. It’s got plenty of power, even though it runs on just 12 volts. It’s comfortable to use, and the magnetic holder at the front keeps several bits and drivers at ready. There is also a charge indicator that comes on every time you squeeze the trigger – and keeps you from going up a ladder with a drill that’s just about to die.

The right-angle chuck and the other accessories that come with the drill are a plus, but I can’t say we use them much. Still, they are exceeding easy to mount and dismount. You can switch chucks faster than you can switch bits. Really!

The one place where the Milwaukee engineers might have done better is the reverse switch. It’s on top of the tool, and unless you have a fairly long thumb, you can’t easily reverse the tool one-handed. It’s annoying, but the other good parts of this power tool’s design more than make up for it.

Power Twist Belt

There’s no faster way to reduce the vibration that plagues many belt-driven tools than to replace the V-belt with a link belt. V-belts bunch up and get a little wider as it goes around a pulley, and then it narrows when it leaves the pulley. This continual expansion and contraction sets up a vibration that can reduce a tool’s precision. Link belts are designed so they remain the same size as they travel. If you’d like to see how well this works, watch our short video “Reducing Tool Vibration.”