Hello!
Which tool would you recommend to achieve a straight and nice hatch in the gable of my garage? The hatch should be about 2.5 meters up on the gable. The facade is made of wood.
- Jigsaw feels a bit unstable...
- Handsaw feels Stone Age...
- Circular saw maybe?
/ d
Which tool would you recommend to achieve a straight and nice hatch in the gable of my garage? The hatch should be about 2.5 meters up on the gable. The facade is made of wood.
- Jigsaw feels a bit unstable...
- Handsaw feels Stone Age...
- Circular saw maybe?
/ d
Plunge saw with rail maybe?!? Festool TS75 or TS55, can probably be rented.
Sure circular saw, but it's kind of easier to start in the middle as you lower the blade to the desired depth at any chosen spot. Now I don't know if Festool (www.festool.se) is the most suitable machine, but it will certainly work.
They have a plunge saw at the rental house for 180kr for a day... the question is whether it's worth it when I've never used one before. Also, it's important that it's not heavy and bulky since I'll be on a ladder while using it.
Hmm... my old B&D jigsaw might have to do
Hmm... my old B&D jigsaw might have to do
If you want trim around the hatch, you'll have some "wiggle room" and a reciprocating saw will probably suffice. Otherwise, on many common handheld saws, you can remove the "guide plate" (the plate that sticks down behind the blade itself) and then, if you're a bit careful, you can lower the blade into the material. Then saw along a rail/beam.
Can't you nail down 4 boards to guide the saw at the right distance/spot? Then run the jigsaw along the boards. With a decent jigsaw, but especially with good blades, it should be straight enough that you don't notice anything from 2.5 meters away at least.
You only need to lightly staple the boards with two small thin nails per board. So you won't be left with a big hole there. But if you have some paint to put in the nail holes afterwards, it won't show at all.
You only need to lightly staple the boards with two small thin nails per board. So you won't be left with a big hole there. But if you have some paint to put in the nail holes afterwards, it won't show at all.
Creating a hole in a wooden facade is easily done with a guide rail (1.4 m long) and a plunge saw by Festo (or Bosch). I had to do this when windows were replaced in my daughter's house because the paneling was nailed into the frame.
The Festo rail has a (hanging) hole at one end. Large and not particularly well-suited for a wood screw. I therefore drilled two new 4 mm holes and drove wood screws through them and into the facade to secure the rail after I had measured where the cut should be.
The rest was a piece of cake.
I had removed the riving knife (the knife behind the saw blade), which is not recommended for safety reasons, but as long as you are aware of what can happen, it's not too dangerous to run without it. I started in the middle of the cut and moved back and forth. Then I used a hand coping saw to remove the triangular pieces at each end that are left due to the blade's curvature.
Then I joined in with new paneling, snug against the saw cut. With paint over it, you have to stand very close to see that the boards are split or cut off.
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Builder
The Festo rail has a (hanging) hole at one end. Large and not particularly well-suited for a wood screw. I therefore drilled two new 4 mm holes and drove wood screws through them and into the facade to secure the rail after I had measured where the cut should be.
The rest was a piece of cake.
I had removed the riving knife (the knife behind the saw blade), which is not recommended for safety reasons, but as long as you are aware of what can happen, it's not too dangerous to run without it. I started in the middle of the cut and moved back and forth. Then I used a hand coping saw to remove the triangular pieces at each end that are left due to the blade's curvature.
Then I joined in with new paneling, snug against the saw cut. With paint over it, you have to stand very close to see that the boards are split or cut off.
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Builder
No, for heaven's sake, don't remove the riving knife! Especially when you're sawing into a wall while standing on a ladder. It's completely dangerous, in my opinion.MoN said:
If you absolutely need to plunge the saw, you can do it with the riving knife on. Push the saw slightly forward as you lower it, so the riving knife has space. Set the depth beforehand.
Using a rule to saw along is, however, a great idea.
Otherwise, I agree that a reciprocating saw/jigsaw should work fine if you're having trim and so on.
A guide rail with a plunge saw is easy to learn to use, but the precision seems a bit overkill in this situation. But if you are using a rail, I recommend screwing it into the wall in the two small holes at each end. Use a large washer and round head and screw carefully so you don't damage the rail.
Otherwise, you can't saw backwards with it. On my Festo, the riving knife definitely doesn't spring and I doubt it does on the newer models. If so, then the function is gone. It's supposed to catch when it meets resistance forward so that the saw doesn't come flying towards the person using it.Daniel_N said:
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Byggaren
Convex head? And how do you get the saw to move forward/backward over the guide rail at the end?Daniel_N said:
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The Builder
I do NOT recommend a circular saw in any form.... Especially since it's on a ladder... We've removed the riving knife in all situations, but you must be prepared for kickback if you're not experienced and can "read" the saw... I think the reciprocating saw is the best... If you want, you can trim the blade with an angle grinder so that it doesn't flutter as much, the blade then becomes more stable and goes through everything related to wood and nails...
(The other day I was about to saw off an existing outer roof, which we have nailed a new roof over, I thought I checked everything underneath, but nope... before I knew it, I had sawn off a bracket holding a ventilation duct, the bracket was 25 x 15 mm ... didn't even notice when I cut through it..)
I'm sticking with the reciprocating saw as mentioned...
(The other day I was about to saw off an existing outer roof, which we have nailed a new roof over, I thought I checked everything underneath, but nope... before I knew it, I had sawn off a bracket holding a ventilation duct, the bracket was 25 x 15 mm ... didn't even notice when I cut through it..)
I'm sticking with the reciprocating saw as mentioned...