Over at Amazon, they have some promos that you might be interested in. Several readers wrote in about the separate deals (thank you!), and they’re all part of a woodworking-themed savings event.
Some of the deals are quite good. I missed out on a Jet air filter during the holiday season, but the current promo brings it down to a close enough price.
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Bosch: $20 off $100+ (exp. 3/31/17)
Makita: $20 off $100+ (exp. 3/15/17)
Dewalt Tool Deals (exp. 3/31/17)
Powermatic Discounts (exp. 3/15/17)
The $20 off $100+ deals are only good on select products that are mainly woodworking themed.
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This Bosch oscillating multi-tool is a great buy – it’s $100 after discount. It’s been discontinued since it lacks the the newest Bosch and Fein Starlock tool interface.
This is the Jet air cleaner I bought. I swore not to buy another Jet due to the scarce availability of replacement filters for my smaller Jet air cleaner, but this model is their more popular one, with replacement filters more readily available.
There are a number of identical or near-identical clones, but I feel more comfortable with the Jet brand. I did take advantage of the clone situation to stock up on replacement filters for my smaller Jet.
Mike
Stuart,
Any thoughts on the DW717 with a $50 off $250 coupon from Lowes, bringing it down to $300 before tax?
https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-10-in-15-Amp-Dual-Bevel-Sliding-Compound-Miter-Saw/1179355
Also on Amazon for $350.
Stuart
Hmm. 10″ dual bevel, sliding.
You’ll get greater capacity than a 10″, possibly more so than a 12″. You won’t have as great a capacity as a sliding 12″, and the sliding 10″ will likely weigh almost as much.
If you have a table saw or portable table saw, the 10″ sliding miter saw might share some combination blades that are suited for both types.
Advantage of 10″ is less expensive blades.
Without actually looking at the specs, I’d assume that it comes just under the max capacity of a 12″ saw, but also just under a 12″ saw in terms of size and weight.
I personally like 10″ saws since they’re smaller and can handle most of my cross-cutting needs. When I need greater cutting capacity, a sliding 12″ saw is usually not enough.
I like Dewalt miter saws – a lot – and don’t think I could settle for a saw that doesn’t have their LED worklight system.
Mike
Sounds like a regular 10″ miter, which I already own, in combination with a tablesaw w/crosscut sled is the way to go.
Stuart
You’d have to look at the specs, or I can when I have a chance hopefully later today.
A table saw with crosscut sled would definitely give you overlapping functionality, but would take up even more space.
If you already have a 10″ miter saw, going to a 10″ slider would give you greater cutting capacity, but in a lot of cases, as you suggested, money is better spent elsewhere than on a second miter saw.
If you were to buy a second miter saw, a 12″ slider would make more sense than a 10″ slider, but would also mean a 12″ blade. Another blade isn’t a big deal unless you work with lots of different materials and have a selection of specialty blades in 10″ size.
Your question isn’t an easy one to tackle, I hope I’m helping at least a little bit.
fred
For many of us the tablesaw is at the center of our shops – but a 10 or 12 inch sliding miter saw is a nice adjunct. I bought my Unisaw in the mid 1970’s having given up on using a RAS. I did not buy a (Dewalt) miter saw for my home shop until some 30 years later – then gave it away (let the loan of it become permanent) to my son-in-law. I did miss it – and ended up replacing it with a Bosch GCM12SD.
If I were 50 years younger – and was starting over – it might be a Hammer K3 or a Sawstop cabinet saw that I’d be purchasing – and a Dewalt miter saw would still be in the hunt.
Matt
A 10″ sliding miter saw can be nice if you are doing highly-accurate work for a couple of reasons:
– 10″ blades deflect less than 12″ ones.
– You can do a score cut and then a full pass to reduce tear-out.
For small projects a table saw sled is a great alternative, but you’d still want some kind of miter saw if you need to cross cut pieces over 3-4′ in length.
I have a 12″ Dewalt miter saw and I can’t think of a time when I was limited by height capacity, though many times I run into width limitations where a slider would be nice. I guess if you cut a lot of tall baseboard or crown molding the 12″ blade would be beneficial.
fred
Larger and built-up crown moldings became all the rage in our neck of the woods. In some of the houses we worked on – with 12 foot or even higher ceilings they looked appropriate. It was hard sometimes to convince a client that they would not work as well with 8 foot ceilings.
Chance
Care to share that coupon code?
Tim
I’ve never workef in a shop with an air cleaner before.
How much of a difference do you notice?
Stuart
This one is meant for 2 car garage. It’s still in its box, but I’ll be installing it soon.
My small Jet was used in 2 apartments in the spare bedrooms I used as my workspace. It worked well on a bench top near where I was working, and the wood dust-filled pre-filter was evidence that it was working to take fine sawdust out of the air.
I didn’t have space for a large dust collector, and still don’t. But it works great with my Festool dust extractor. There’s still some particulate spread, but not as much.
The small Jet will still be used when I do woodworking in my office space, or if I need more local air filtration near project work.
In a woodworking workspace, it might not be needed as much if there’s good collection and good ventilation.
Since I have multi use spaces where I also do photography and change camera lenses, and work on other stuff, I feel we knowing or at least thinking that fine sawdust is being pulled out of the air.
James
I use a Grizzly air filter that I got for ~$165 when the PA store was closing. The air cleaner really does work well. You need it in addition to dust collection, obviously. But if you were relegated to just a shop vac as dust collection or whatever, it would make a really big difference.
Jay
There is finally an interesting Bosch tool that could be worth a spot in the old tool chest. Unfortunately the Bosch cordless jigsaw GST 18 V-LI S is not available in the USA.
Jim Felt
Jay. What’s even more annoying one British reseller has that bare tool for roughly $140 USD but won’t ship to the US. While another will for over $125 USD MORE!
Maybe I’ll look further into the EU than merely the U.K.
Jay
@Jim Felt
Contacted Bosch customer service to inquired as to availability last week. Their reply is below.
“Thank you for contacting Bosch Power Tools. While our product line is ever changing, there is no time frame on when a version of this Bosch jigsaw will be offered in North America.
At Bosch, we want to provide the best support possible. Your feedback and participation in our survey is appreciated. Please click this link to answer a few questions about your experience.”
They were no help at all then asked me to fill out their survey lol. They did at least respond to the request so there’s that.
Drew M
So, I’m looking at these OMTs and I read a few reviews saying that the new Starlock blade interface DOES actually transmit more power with less vibration than the old OIS. Also, it seems it allows tool free blade changes which would make the difference in price worth it to me.
Last night, I was thinking a cordless tool might make sense for how I would likely use this tool if I got one but I can’t seem to find an 18v version of the GOP40-30c. There’s the MXH180 but that appears to be OIS not Starlock.
Stuart
The OIS interface is also tool-free.
The Starlock interface is even quicker to use, since blade or accessory insertion can be done without the locking lever even being touched.
I’ll try to do some A vs. B comparisons to gauge vibration differences.
Drew M
Seems it is called GOP18V-28 and it is on the BoschUSA website but I can’t find one anywhere.
Chance
I HIGHLY recommend going with the Fein cordless OMT. It’s a phenomenal tool and whether you go with the 12V or 18V (12V is really all you need unless you are hogging down on it for 8 hours a day) any price you pay over the Bosch will be worth it, and just punching the part number you gave into google it looks like the Fein 12V kit is actually cheaper.
Bill
Chance,
Looks like your just the man I need to be talking to as I am about to pull the trigger on one of the Fein units. I have in my Amazon cart the following Fein OMTs; AFMT12QSL, AFMM18QSL and FMM350QSL. Each of these are in the QuickStart kit form with a few blades and the hard case. The 12volt unit and the corded 350QSL are at a great price of $239 & $225 respectively and the 18volt kit is at $339. I am a retired DIYer with a fairly extensive shop, but as I get older I find I like tools that provide less pounding and vibration to the user than to business end. This something my Dewalt 20v max OMT does not even seem to attempt. Chance, I am intrigued by your comment on the 12v vs 18v Fein as this is exactly my train of thought. Do I really need the 18v unit and with my light and infrequent use of this tool, will I ever regret not getting the 18v?
Chance
Both the cordless Feins are great tools. I have used both and the 12v felt like it cut pretty much as fast as the 18v, the advantage the 18v has is that it will simply run longer. I even confirmed this with the Fein rep. But, I have been pleasantly surprised by the run time of the 12v, coupled with the fact that the batteries charge in 30 minutes means you will never be with out a fully charged battery. I find myself using the cordless Fein all the time and being more productive, whereas I would really need to have a pretty good reason to pull my corded Fein out, and then I would really only use it for that one purpose because I was tethered to a cord, and on a job site sometimes it’s just a hassle running cords everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I am running a Fein most the day, and in that situation a corded tool is great, but the vast majority of the time I am reaching for the 12v. Basically, the 12v Fein is a great tool, good power, adequate run-time, light weight, compact size, fast battery charge time, and it’s just a pleasure to use. Oh, and in response to your “less pounding and vibration” comment, the Fein is in a whole different class than the DeWalt. The amount of vibration that gets transferred to your hand with the Fein is almost nil. Even sanding for well over an hour I don’t don’t feel worn out at all by the Fein. Hope that answers some of your questions.
Bill
Thank you for the reply Chance. Earlier I went ahead and ordered the 12v Fein and I’m fairly confident that I will be pleased with this choice. With my other cordless tools I often find myself reaching for the the smaller/lighter 12v versions rather than the bigger/heavier 20vmax tools and unless I really need the power I am rarely disappointed.
I do want to ask you about your choice of blades. My experience with the Dewalt OMT is that most of the blades I have used, either HSS or Bi-metal, don’t last very long, especially if I run into a nail or staple. For this reason I also ordered several of the Bosch carbide tooth blades to try with my new Fein. While I have never used any Fein blades or bits I have used a number of Bosch bits and blades over the years and their reputation for quality is well earned. What is your experience and recommendation in the way of blades for the Fein OMT?
Chance
My recommendation for blades? Fein! Fein! Fein! The Fein blades really are better. Their bi-metal blades are spactacular. I can confidently cut nails with the Fein blades and have no worries at all about dulling it. Most homes I trim out have stools and I have to cut the mulls where there are two or more window units put together. Each mull has two nails in it and after making two cuts to slide the stool under the mull I am essentially cutting four nails. I will do that throughout an entire large home and see no degradation in cut quality. I have good friends that swore by Bosch blades, I finally convinced them to try the Feins. One guy came up to me laughing one day, I asked him what was so funny, he said he finally tried the Fein OMT blades and couldn’t believe that he used to think the Bosch blades were the best. He couldn’t believe how much better the Fein blades were. Yes they are more expensive, but you’ll get more cuts out of them. When I bought my 12v Fein they had a rebate for a free best of e-cut blade kit, it was a spectacular deal and I still have most of the blades left since they just keep cutting.