Laminate floor going mental

dyna-ti":3arwt8og said:

These are good and down in price now theyve put them into their DIY range
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalo ... CGkQ8wIwAA

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I was tempted to mention these tools earlier... they're fantastic, I got a cheap Argos ("Challenge Extreme" - was best budget buy in Car Mechanics test and was on special offer so even better value) version a month or so back and it's been amazingly useful.

So easy to control accurately and gets right into all sorts of spots that other cutting tools can't! Haven't tried it on steel yet but I'm already amazed at how useful it's proven... nice clean cuts too.

Ah, a variant of the Fein Multimaster, I used to have one, but that was one of the tools my ex sold at cash converters and I do agree they are good at spot jobs, there is even an attachment for ripping the caulking out on boat decks. If memory serves me well, they tend to work better when the motor unit is supported so the tool can rip away at where ever it is targeted as hand holding, well one can't really hold anything still for long and so the angle of action of the attachment will vary resulting in a messy cut.

I watched a joiner using a 3 1/2" raised panel cutter in a 3hp hand held router ,he was working very very carefully

If there was one power tool I would never want to live without, apart from the one in my jeans, it would be my router. Amazingly versatile.

The one power tool I have just about totally destroyed is my Dremel, first it was brushes, then bearings and now the speed controller is shot. Parts are available, but they are a bit pricey, may as well save and get a new one.

highlandsflyer":3i4mq9r0 said:

If there was one power tool I would never want to live without, apart from the one in my jeans, it would be my router. Amazingly versatile.

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My power tool of choice would be a lump hammer.


Those exotic woods can play havoc, my uncle laid a floor made out of some sort of asian hardwood...it looked beautiful but he hadn't left the wood in the house for long enough to acclimatise, along came winter and the whole thing tore itself apart.

Strange that your floor has been down a while though, usually things bed in. I'm suspecting water leak but i'm probably wrong.

silverclaws":3pnqoh9i said:

The one power tool I have just about totally destroyed is my Dremel, first it was brushes, then bearings and now the speed controller is shot. Parts are available, but they are a bit pricey, may as well save and get a new one.

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And there you touch on why society, these days, is more consumerist and "throw away". Because even for those so inclined to repair and re-use, it can be expensive to try and do so. Apart from doing things like that for interest or education, it's just become uneconomic, as the price for consumer goods is driven down, due to the ever increasing opportuinties to buy new.

1duck":2a18mp8n said:

highlandsflyer":2a18mp8n said:

If there was one power tool I would never want to live without, apart from the one in my jeans, it would be my router. Amazingly versatile.

Click to expand...

My power tool of choice would be a lump hammer.


Those exotic woods can play havoc, my uncle laid a floor made out of some sort of asian hardwood...it looked beautiful but he hadn't left the wood in the house for long enough to acclimatise, along came winter and the whole thing tore itself apart.

Strange that your floor has been down a while though, usually things bed in. I'm suspecting water leak but i'm probably wrong.

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I found two sources of leak, laminate in the kitchen was never a good idea, so that came up and the other area is I suspect a bridged damp course in the corner where a lot of damp is, outside the damp course is only an inch above the ground. This flat has always been known as the dampest of the lot maybe that is the cause as this place is built on sloping ground my flat is the lowest to the ground. Other than that I have suspected for a while the damp course has failed because I used to do damp coursing for a living and there is some things I recognise, but the DC is pitch not very usual for a building built in the mid eighties.

But repairs of power tools, I will repair if I can rather than replace, as my family were very much make do and mend, cash was tight when I was a kid, but the Reader's Digest Repair Manual was my bible when I was young, I learned early. But in the power tool repair industry, industry discounts made repairs viable even with the labour cost per hour. Diy machines because of their cheaper initial purchase cost, often it was not worth the repair as the labour cost of £25 an hour usually killed the job, but I used to quote up to half the replacement cost of a replacement machine and offer a replacement for comparison. Diy'ers were a pain really, because the estimate was free, so it took time to find the cause of the fault before quoting. But when I did it professionally, £35 k profit per year was usual, my wages less than half that, so there is a business there if you can get the discounts from the parts suppliers.

Brushes are easy, even if you can't get the right ones, a bit of emery cloth makes things fit and bearings off to the bearing factor as most use SKF.

Brushes are easy, even if you can't get the right ones, a bit of emery cloth makes things fit and bearings off to the bearing factor as most use SKF

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Wed had just this solution in my friends workshop
There was a 4" makita belt sander that had been sitting unloved for a couple of years for want of brushes.I ground down some from a super cheap 1/2" router and viola
Boss was well chuffed.Brownie points for me again

Hey, a 4 inch makita belt sander, ever tried using them for traction ? We did once, four of them with the switches locked on, all cables into one adaptor. A board on top of the belt sanders with a course grit fitted, workshop gofer being the lightest got to sit on the board then switch the power on, it didn't work. The belt sanders went zipping off and the board with gofer on it ended up on the floor.

But we did do belt sander races between different manufacturers, Makita was always the winner.

But anyway, belt sander racing is a sport ;

http://youtu.be/Rzg2GzXkfFc