Hi There.
I have been building models since I was 10 years old.
I got pretty good at it over the years and I was doing a lot of kit bashing and scratch building.
But, the last 3 years I have been moving around and havent had a place to build models.
Untill now.
I now have my own place with a room I have set up for my hoby :).
I have set up a long work bench, good chair, a peg board on the wall for my hand tools, and have enough models and parts to work on and build till the end of my days.
However I have only one power tool, a multipro dremel and kit.
Now that I have time, space, and some money…
I want to have some good power tools for my work bench.
So to make this long story short, I have a few questions.
What is a good yet not too noisy table top band saw for cutting just wood and plastic? looking to spend $150 - $300 dollars.
Are some of the dremel accessories such as the Drill Press, Flex-Shaft worth the money?
Years ago, I was using a hair dryer for bending small pieces of plastic and drying paint. Is that still a good idea and if so what brand hair dryer do you use?
Thank you for your time and please let me know if you have any answers or comments.
Thanks, Chuck.
Welcome to FSM Chuck. I would check out micro-mark. They have some good stuff at a reasonable prices. Other members will have some more places for you to goto. Good luck in your search.
mark956
Robert has given some solid advice and I agree with him. As far as the band saw goes you should be looking for variable speed as a main feature if you intend to cut plastic. For that matter it is an important feature for any power tool that will be used on styrene.[;)]
Chuck, I have trubble imaging what you could use a band saw for. I have one and other than using it to cut rolls of paper towel into quarters for cleaning brushs it’s just too big and clumsy. Even if you were biilding balsa planes.
A good variable speed scroll saw whith the “All Direction Blade” would be handy for some larger things like foam and timbers for Dio’s.
For me I perfer hand tools, less chance of over heating the plastic and triming of the boney tips of my fingers.
I’m going to ditto Dave here. I have worked for two model making companies, and while we did have bandsaws, I rarely used them. I found that my favorite saw in the shop was a small table saw with a thin, fine toothed blade. Good for cutting Plexiglass, styrene, foam, wood, laminates and just about anything in a straight line. A combination disk and belt bench sander is also handy for scratch building larger objects, just watch out so you don’t let it eat your work! [:0]
I took a plastics class in high school and we used a band saw extensively for cutting styrene and acrylic. They also use this kind of saw at the plastic supplier I go to, cutting the same material. Its really, IMHO, the best saw to cut plastic with, as opposed to a circular type saw. But as mentioned above, the old score and snap method is what I use.
As far as heating and bending plstics, I use a plastic bending strip. You lay the plastic on this and a book or heavy object on the plastic. After a while its bendable and you don’t have to hairdry your hand!
I definately recommend a Flex-shaft for the Dremel, makes it easier to do quite a few things.
Have fun building your “shop”.
I would suggest you look at getting an adjustable miter saw, one that can be set to any angle. Something like The Dobson Miter-Rite, #15215 at Micro-Mark. I use mine quite often.
