aline said:
Anyone have experience with the tool in the link below. I was looking at a rental property remodel job today and the property owner's maintenance man said this tool is great for cutting boxes into baseboards and lathe & plaster walls. I'm considering buying one but thought I'd see if anyone had any experience with it first and what they though about it.
https://www.4multimaster.com/vcc/feinpowertools/multimaster/190648/
there's a couple flavors of this tool, and the one you want is the newer
one with the quick release blade attachment, and variable speed.
here's an example.... finished kitchen cabinet installed, with backing
in cabinet, over two layers of 5/8" sheetrock. behind that turned out
to be a 1x6 sway brace. cutting in a box for a plug for the cooktop,
inside the cabinet.
lay out the box, and start making plunge cuts. after you get
everything cut out of the way, the hole is half over a stud as
well. continue, and notch the stud as well. it cuts a perfect hole,
and the above hole took about 4-5 minutes to do, and the
resulting work looks like it was laser cut, working upside down
and backwards under the cabinet.
or, cutting in a can light, and find you have a rafter you have
to notch an inch, in a 4" can light hole. not accessible from above.
plunge cut, and break out the notch with channellocks.
or, notch a 2x6 corner of a house to put a 2" nipple in the side of a
panel... cut the plaster, and plunge cut 5" to the can. use an LB
and a ridgid nipple, and fill the entire void with structural epoxy.
i wouldn't have a work truck without one. now, the downside. the cost
of the blades, is breathtaking. the bi metal one pictured is over
$40.
each.
and these things are fair traded. no price break to speak of..
guy on ebay from san francisco sells blades he makes himself
that work well, at about $13 each. that's what i use.
if you are going to cut drywall, it eats up teeth quickly. use
an old wood blade for drywall service, and don't reuse it for
anything else, like wood.
using a blade that has lost most of it's teeth on drywall to make
plunge cuts in wood can generate enough heat to set the wood
smoldering, if not on fire.
don't ask how i know this. you don't want to know. really.
let me tell you that those arrowhead sports water bottles
are worth their weight in gold, when trying to cool down a
rafter thru a 4" hole in the ceiling. that little squirty nozzle thing
is your friend.
if you don't have one of these things, then you don't know
how badly you need one. i still use my drywall saw for most
things, but when you need to do surgical dissection of a wall,
nothing else even comes close.
randy