Welcome to Fine Power Tools. Power tools are machines that help you to easily perform repairs, home improvement works, and DIY projects. Various power tools are also used in the construction industry and woodworking operations.
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Tool Guide: Comparison, Tips, and How-To’s
This section features the lastest updates from Fine Power Tools. This includes information on different power tools, tool comparisons, how to use the tools, tips and tricks.
With numerous machines and tools available from various manufacturers, it might be a challenge to identify the best power tools for your work. People often asked me what is the best power tool for a small workshop, a DIY hobbyist, or sometimes they just want to fix things at home.
I am going to guide you in picking the right tool for the right job.
Recommended Power Tools – Reviews & Ratings
Looking forward to buy a new power tool or hand tool? Following are some of our top recommendations.
List of Power Tools and Their Uses.
Power tools can be mainly classified into corded tools, cordless power tools, and pneumatic-powered ones. However, this is not the type of classification that most of us want. You are probably looking for the list power tools categorized according to their purpose.
The following are the most commonly used power tools and explanations on how they will be helpful for your task.
Power Drills
Drills are probably the most useful power tool for any type of work. If you are a beginner, a cordless drill is a great choice as a first tool. These are equipped with replaceable heads that can not only hold drills but also driver heads. So you can mount a drill chuck and use it to drill holes, change to a screwdriver head and drive the screw into the hole you drilled, all with the same equipment.
This is an essential power tool for all of you DIY enthusiasts and those who are planning to do remodeling and home improvement.
Drivers
Impact Driver
Ever struggled to remove an old rusted screw? An impact driver will help you to fasten and unlock screws, nuts, and bolts that require more torque.
The impact driver works by applying downward as well as rotational force coupled with an internal slip clutch that provides much higher torque than a power drill. If you are a DIY hobbyist, then you may not need this since a cordless drill will perform most of the light-duty driving. However, if you are a handyman or working in the construction industry the demands heavy-duty work, then an impact driver is a highly useful power tool.
Power Saws
Power saws are perhaps the most useful machine in any metalworking and woodworking shop. If you are a DIY enthusiast, you know how often we need to cut a pipe or a piece of metal or wood. When you have to do a lot of cutting, using a hand tool such as a hacksaw will get you exhausted pretty soon. Power saws are great since they not only reduce our workload but also enable us to cut things more accurately.
This is one power tool that comes in a wide variety. Depending on your cutting application the following types of power saws are widely used.
Table Saw
A table saw is the simplest and most widely used power saw for cutting and slicing wood, pipes, and metals to the required size.
A circular saw blade that is mounted on a shaft is fixed below the table such that the rotating saw blade is protruding out of the table surface. The work-piece is fed against the rotating circular blade to perform the cutting.
Band Saw:
A bandsaw is equipped with a long continuous loop blade with serrated teeth on one side. On a vertical bandsaw you should feed the work against the rotating blade to do the cutting. With a portable bandsaw you will move the saw to make the cut.
While the bandsaw is not a widely used power tool, it is popular among woodworkers due to its ability to cut irregular shapes and resize the lumber.
Jigsaw
A jigsaw can be considered as a handheld band saw. But in case of jigsaws, a shorter blade with reciprocating motion is used for cutting.
The power jigsaw can be used to cut irregular shapes on wood, plastic, aluminum, and other soft materials.
Chainsaw:
A chainsaw is a power tool with the cutting saw blade attached to a chain that is wrapped around a guide bar. Today chainsaws are extensively used for cutting down trees, limbing and logging the timber.
While all power tools call for the proper use and safety precautions, chainsaws especially need to be used with caution.
Reciprocating Saws
The working principle of a reciprocating saw is very similar to a jigsaw. Both the power tools are equipped with reciprocating blades that move in and out to cut the material. However, they are used for different purpose.
While a jigsaw is a craftsman tool to accurately cut various shapes, a reciprocating saw is a heavy-duty tool used for house remodeling and demolishing work. Check out our reciprocating saw buying guide to learn more.
Circular Saws
Skil saw or a circular saw is a handheld power saw with a round saw blade attached to rotating arbor. They are very similar to table saws.
However, a table saw is much easier to use for making straight cuts long rip cuts whereas handheld circular saws are very versatile since they can do rip cuts, cross cuts, and angular cuts.
A major advantage of a circular saw is it’s portability since it is smaller and lighter. See our detailed guide on circular saw and circular saw blades.
Miter Saw
A compound miter saw is a combination of a circular saw and table saw. The workpiece is held on the table and the rotating saw blade is fed against the work to make the cut. The biggest advantage of the miter saw is its ability to tilt the cutting saw that enables this power-tool to make bevel cuts. Primarily used for cross-cuts, miter saws can also be used for straight cut and compound angle cuts.
They are available in different sizes and types such as the compound miter saw, dual compound miter saw, and sliding compound miter saw.
Chop Saws
These are heavy duty cutting machines used for cutting of stronger material. Chop saw can be considered as a miter saw that is set to cut only 90-degree cuts. In both the tools the rotating blade is dropped on to the workpiece to make the cut.
Chop saws are equipped with abrasive parting-off wheels or cold saw blades and they are generally used in metalworking and metal fabrication industries.
Rotary Tools:
These are lightweight handheld power tools with different rotary tips. The nifty rotary tools are possibly the most versatile power tool you can get, with which you can perform a number of operations including cutting, drilling, deburring, grinding, polishing, buffing, lapping, etc.
If you are a DIY enthusiast, craftsman or artist then a set of rotary tools is probably the first tool you want to get.
When you buy a Rotary Tools set, make sure that you are getting all the required attachments and collets. You can order the tips at a later stage. I should also mention that this type of multi-tasking tool is primarily intended to perform light-duty work. If you want to do heavy-duty work, get a dedicated power tool for your purpose.
Nail Guns
Forget about nails going at an angle, losing nails, and getting hit on your hand by the hammer. Nail guns provide a comfortable solution to do nailing quickly and accurately. While a nail gun wouldn’t make the top ten power tools list for most people, it is a highly useful equipment for those who want to do a lot of nailing work. For example roofing, flooring, and woodwork, etc.
Nails are attached to tape and are continuously fed into the nail gun which is powered by electricity or compressed air.
Sanders
Power Sanders are used for smoothening the rough surfaces with the help of abrasive material such as sandpaper. They are used in woodworking, auto body repair and home improvement works. Depending on the type of application different types of sanders are used.
Belt Sanders: This type of sander makes use of a closed-loop of sandpaper in belt shape wrapped around two cylindrical drums. At least one of these cylindrical drums is powered which rotates and drives the sand-belt continuously. Belt sanders are very useful for finishing flat surfaces.
Disc Sanders: In the case of a disc sander, a circular sand-paper is fixed onto a rotating disc powered by electricity. Woodworkers use disc sanders for rounding and smoothening the edges of the wooden pieces.
Random Orbital Sanders: In a random orbital sander, circular-shaped abrasive papers are fixed on a disc that simultaneously rotates and moves in an elliptical path. These handheld sanders can be used on curved surfaces and jobs that require scratch-free surfaces.
Finishing Orbital Sanders: These are used to get a fine finish on surfaces before painting and varnishing. The abrasive disc makes a fine oscillating motion to create a good surface finish. Typically the orbital sanders come with rectangular shaped heads while random orbital sander is almost always equipped with a round head.
Grinders
Although there are different types of grinders, the popular one under power tools category is a disc grinder or angular grinder. An electric powered abrasive disc that is held perpendicular to the body of the disc grinder rotates at speed. You can use grinders to remove excel material from the surface of different types of materials including steel and stone. In the metal-working industry, a disc grinder is also used for deburring and chamfering large steel plates.
Heat Guns
This is another handy power tool that you should have in your arsenal. A heat gun is an electrical device that blows hot air which you can direct and focus on the desired surface to heat it up. Heat guns are similar to hairdryers but much more powerful. The fan behind the equipment blows the air that passes through the heating element (electric heating coil). And hot air comes out of the nozzle.
Typically the temperature generated by heat guns can vary between 100 to 550 degrees Celsius (or approximately 200-1000 Fahrenheit). Their application includes heating plastic pipes for fitting, heating and bending the plastic, removing paint and other sticky stuff, etc.
Paint Sprayer
While you can use a brush to paint your finished product, a paint sprayer gives a nice and even coat with a good finish. They are particularly useful for painting surfaces where normal brushes cannot reach and areas that are not easily visible.
Air Compressor
Finally, an air compressor is a piece of essential equipment for small machine shops and woodworking shops. The compressed air can power a number of power tools and some of the machines.
The power tools in the above list are the most widely used ones. This is by no means an exhaustive list of power tools as there are numerous other devices used for specific jobs. Since manufacturers are continuously inventing new tools all the time, it would be nearly impossible to have a complete power tools list from every manufacturer.