Thread: Quality time in the workshop over Easter.

Good on you Damien. I can totally appreciate the experience. Just last week my 4yo son and I built a box together that he now uses to store all sorts of things. Very enjoyable I must say. Happy Easter to you to.

John

BTW. Nice job!

Great to see your daughter helping. A very special time for you.

That's great David.

It's always interesting to see what kids will take a liking to.

Dad's and daughters doing things together is really important for those young women; mine at 20 still fondly talks about some of the things just the two of us did together.

hi damien.

that is one cool collection of jigsaws!
but i think you will have to make room for one more.

its called the carvex and made by a well known german company.....

regards, justin.

Are you collecting or will you also sell on ebay? I don't like selling stuff myself but my son does, so he gets the job.

Re. eBay:

I do sell on eBay from time to time. It's mostly a buyer's market over here so you have to buy really cheap to make it worth your while. Following example:

(Prices in Euro)
30: Good price on eBay for a 2nd hand GST 85 PE/PBE
6: Postage
2: Grease and cleaning agent
38:TOTAL

3: Time to break down, clean and rebuild in hours

70: Resell on eBay (average based on fluctuations)
- 6: eBay fees (1 Euro entry fee + 4 Euro 0 - 50 + 5% 50 - 100)
64: TOTAL

26: PROFIT

3 hours work (not including taking photos for eBay, entering in eBay, dealing with buyers, finding a carton, packaging, bring it to the post office, etc). I've got plenty of mates back in Oz who'd be chuffed to get one as a present and they're worth a lot more to me that 26 bucks. The rest I'll just hold on to meself me thinketh. Like I said, if I see one cheap I'll snap it up, but it's mainly for a few hours therapy down in the workshop.

Re. Carvex:

For those who can afford it (I am not one of them), those who can justify it (only in my dreams) and those who can write the acquisitions off commercially (nope), there seems to be Festool - and then on various other levels all beneath it, other tool brands. I'm not saying there aren't tools out there that last longer or tools out there that can't do the job as good for (far) less money, but they are simply in a league of their own. Anyone thinking of disagreeing should imagine this: You win a trolley dash in a woodworking tool shop and there are five isles. Makita | Metabo | Bosch (blue) | Fein | Festool. Now I'm a big fan of all of these brands depending on which tool, but I gotta tell ya, I know which isle I'm heading for...


Damien

great effort

Lovely post.

Great to see your daughter taking interest in this! Women can surely be as knowledgeable and independant in this field as men are. And imagine the additional advantage: the bloke with the huge luck of marrying her in the future, will have a wife understanding where the money went when purchasing power tools. But then again, he may be in for some bashing as well: "you squandered our savings on a crappy tool like that? Next time i'll accompany you to the tool store for proper advice, after we're done shopping for clothing !" Or :"since you were to lazy to hang up the new curtains and mend the drive-in pavement, i beat you to it, so you may clear out the diswasher for the next two weeks !"

Still, you may deserve a Nobel-prize for the advancement of mutual understanding in the world of shed-hogging husbands and their wives!

cheers

gerhard

gerhard

By the way, speaking of Bosch jig saws. Scintilla's 550 model was the DNA-source for all later Bosch jig saws and it was already as good as they were ever going to be. If you ever encounter a 550 on Ebay in good nick, buy it! You are the kind of guy appreciating beautiful technology when you see it, so take one of these apart and marvel, for instance, at the way they managed the counterweight drive. It is through a gear with an inner teeth ring, through which perfectly synchronised counter-rotation was achieved. I've never seen such an intricate solution in any other tool, not even in those from Fein.

cheers

gerhard

Nice!

I've worked with old Bosch machines that had fixed bases and cut straighter than some of the new models. Interesting as well is the top end internal blade clamp. Before the SDS solution, these jigsaws were delivered with a long flathead screwdriver. Lots of other companies still had fixing bolts on the outside of the shaft even many years later.

Your workshop must be akin to a museum Big G!

Hi Damien,

the machines you mentioned were probably the 1577 (top handle/Bügelgriff) or the 1578 (barrel grip/Knaufgriff). These 320 Watts machines (50 mm capacity in soft wood)were the last models with a rigid sole, allowing only 90 degree sawing, and indeed were very precise at it. I have a 1577 new in box and i treasure it. The 1578 had a regular slide on/off switch at the side (the housing was also used for grinders) and an electronics rpm-setting wheel at the back. There was a hole in the center of its guiding knob for the screwdriver. The 1577 top handle model had an on-off slider at the front right side of the handle grip and an electronics rpm slide-regulator opposite on the left. The same models were also made for Holz Her in orange and black.

The 1580 and 1581 were the first 80's Slany redesigned versions with a swiveling (or is it tilting?) sole, and also the last with a hole for a screwdriver. The GST85PE in your pics is the last generation of this model line.

Bosch patented the term "Special Direct System" for itself, first using it for an own adaptation of the Hilti TE-C hammer drill quick lock system in 1975 (Hilti already used the TE-C system on its first home built hammr drill TE 17 in 1967). More catchy phrases like "Spannen Durch System" (system aided mounting) or "Steck-Dreh-Sitzt!" ("insert-twist-secured!") were also used. The SDS-name was a collective name for several sizes.
SDS-Plus: 10 mm shank, two slots, two ball retaining grooves
SDS- 14 mm shank, two slots, two ball retaining grooves
SDS-Max: 18 mm shank, three slots, two ball retaining grooves

So it was logical that Bosch (being the owner of the quick coupling principle named SDS) also chose the SDS-name for the quick spring-loaded saw blade mounting system for its jig saws. Both SDS-Max for large hammer drills/breakers and the SDS jig saw mounting system were introduced in the mid 80's.

As for my workplace, it was in a shed behind my house. This shed is to be torn down due to house renovation and another garden design. I could indeed put up a museum and have serious plans for that. There were machines all over the house and i threw them all out into a rented storage space. There must be close to a thousand machines by now and this is no joke. Of many brands and machine types i can produce several generations in a row, which i have done on several occasions in this forum.

greetings

gerhard