Power Tools Reviews

The Crain Cutter 900H 3" Heat Carpet Iron is a good investment. The time that it saves and the quality of the finished job will speak for itself. This tool should be in every carpet layer tools,whether they are a professional or the first timer.

I began making custom hardwood entry doors as a side line to my cabinet shop. After receiving several orders for extremely large oversized doors, I decided it would be more efficient to use a dedicated chisel mortiser to cut mortises instead of the method I had previously used to performed this procedure.
I needed a mortiser that would have enough clearance to mortise a 6" door stile with a minimum thickness of 2-1/4 inches. I also needed a machine that would accept up to a 1" chisel.

After comparing various manufacturer's machine specs and prices I decided to purchase the Sunhill model CT1913 chisel mortiser. I placed my order on a Friday, and on Wednesday of the following week I received my machine. All in all it was crated very well and with the use of a delivery truck with a lift gate ( the mortiser weighs in at 430 pounds) the driver and I transferred the machine to my shop floor.

I removed all of the crating and protective material and checked out the machine for any shipping damages and found none. I then attached a plug to the cord provided, read the operation manual, inserted a 1/2" chisel and ran a test piece of 1-3/4"white oak. The mortiser had no problem mortising to a depth of 3 ". I then proceded with a door stile for a set of doors I am currently building that measure 3 ft 6in wide by 10ft tall with a thickness of 2-3/4 inches. This mortiser had the power and precision to accomplish the tasks I had purchased it for saving a great deal of time in comparison to my previous method of mortising using a router. I think Sunhill provided me with good service and an excellant machine. I highly recommend it!

Frank Maglin
View Woodworks

works just like a factory direct battery. I'm very satisfied!

I bought this battery from BrilliantStore a few days ago and recieved it today. They were very communicative with me. They were very polite and professional and fast to respond. They used a yellow envelope lined with bubble-paper to send the item and they even put in an extra black foamy-thing so that the battery wasn't crushed during delivery. THAT was a nice touch!

This was by far one of the most pleasent online shopping experiences I've had. I would definitely do business with them in the future.

I recently purchased this vacuum cleaner online and am just fascinated by how much dirt it can pick up off my floor. Let me tell you that I have 8 cats and it is nearly impossible to get up all the furballs and cat hair by regular vacuums but this one has performed extraordinarily. I seriously recommend this vacuum to anyone looking for one for their home. Especially for the pet lovers out there that have the same fur trouble that I have. Have fun with you're new vacuum...I am.

Sincerely,

A Happy Vacuum Owner

I have a whole shop full of Delta machines so I know pretty much what to expect from this company. Even so, I still did lots of research before buing this planer which had nearly all favorable reviews. The most common complaint was knives dulling too fast. More on that in a moment.

Out of the box and set up was quick with no problems; tables set up perfectly. Finish was excellent with zero snipe == for a while at least. There is a blue plastic film on the center machine bed. It looks like machine bluing so I didn't realize that it was a film. Nothing in the manual about removing it, either. After a while that film began to become scraped up and would roll into little globs of plastic -- all with predictable results -- getting snipe and not cutting parallel to bottom surface.. The problem got worse and worse until I raised the cutter head way up and examined what was happening.

Once the film was removed (just peel it off) everything back to normal. At least for a while. After about a month of daily use I began to notice a depression running down the length of the boards. It started out and inch wide and 0.010" deep and over a couple weeks increased to 0.050" deep and 2" wide. After removing the blades (which were not dull or damaged) the problem became clear. Wood chips were impacted between the blade holder bar and the blade, forcing the blade to bend. Removing the blade clamping bar, examination revealed the problem -- it was bent or unfair about 0.030" and the reason for this was also clear. The stamping of detent nib had caused the bend. I asked Delta for a new one and am now waiting for it after making a temporary fix.

But for these problems that could happen with any machine, I like this machine and would buy it again.

AS for all the complaints about short blade life, let me say that I used mine daily for a month on nothing but very,very hard tropical hardwoods with no significant blade dulling or chipping. The problem with short blade life is not the blades fault but the user's. GIGO, garbage in, garbage out: if you run dirty woood or use your machine to remove paint or recondition old wood, you must expect rapid dulling. Dirt is what does it. I use a stiff brush and scrub the dirt out of my rough lumber (which is always dirty) before planing. Take very shallow cuts rather than deep ones: I never go more than 1/32. If you are trying to reduce thickness by a 1/4" or more (as indicated in some reviews), you are using the wrong machine. You should be using a band saw for resawing. If you're careful about what you run through a planer, blade replacement should't be more that 2X year.

I particularly like the blade zero feature which I use constantly since I use differing thicknesses almost every time. You press the button down which locks it in place, then lower the cutterhead onto the stock untill it "clicks" off. At this point I raise the cutter a quarter turn to remove the stock, then lower it by a half turn to make the first cut. Works perfect every time with no fuss.

Oh yeah, you need the optional chip collecter which is sold separately. This machine throws a vertible blizzard of chips. It's a 4" nozzle, so buy a reducer couplling if your dust system is 2-1/2" I used a rubber drain reducer from Ace Hardware that has hose clamps on each end which works a lot better than plastic job that will eventually crack. $9 from Ace.

Also be very careful about the folding tables: bump one hard and it will bend at the hinge points and the only fix will be to replace the table. Fold up the tables when not in use.

I just finished a large timber framing project and this saw mad it soo much easier, you can cut thru any wood, the 7.5 is way more power than you will ever need, but i like it.the 18 inch blades are very hard to come by and pricy. I ran it with 230 on the job site but now it is in my shop on 460, not a hard conversion the hardest part is getting a electrican to rewire every thing (not many houses have 460 running to there house). This saw will cut thru any wood as if you just were pulling the arm,and for 7500 it isnt your average siding cutting, dado choping kindeling cutting radial arm saw.

I really didn't realize how big this thing was until I saw the boxes it came in.... This is not really a portable feeder, if you want to use it on your table saw or jointer, you'll have to disassemble it as it weighs about 150 lbs.... It has one of the widest speed ranges on the market (6.5 - 108 fpm) and the four rollers come in handy. The 1hp motor is plenty strong to climb cut. The various linkages will take some getting used to but I managed to figure out all possible combinations. It is a worthy addition to any shaper for safety's sake. Just keep in mind the size of it!

This saw is a very nice piece. It went together fairly easily in about 6 hours of assembly and adjustment, but well worth is. IT cuts so smooth,and the Biesmeyer is a great fence, most likely the best, the only other saw that ive used in this class is the 5 hp powermatic which is also a very nice saw but costs more and i think the delta paid a little more attention to detail.

It may cost more than those cheap lathes you see at Menards, but it is worth every penny. I've had my midi lathe for over two years now and have subjected it to all types of turning abuse. To date it still works perfectly and I have never had any problems with it.

One of my favorite features of the lathe is its very sturdy construction. Even on flimsy surfaces it is heavy enough to stop most vibrations from affecting the piece. I know Delta's name has come to mean less and less over the years, but if you can find one of these used somewhere, it would definately be worth it.

On the down side, I've used the tiny chisel set maybe 3 times. And they are TINY. Even turning things as small as 2" tops makes me feel like some of them might break. Don't use these as an excuse not to go get real lathe tools.