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Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

paulsellers.com

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Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#51

Post by moistly »

hyperbovine wrote: post #43
JKCalhoun wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Festool's Domino system is the one product I cannot find a cheaper alternative (too pricey for me though, so sticking with my biscuit joiner). I'm very happy with my Makita track saw though that, while still pricey, was maybe 1/3 the cost of the Festool?

Dowelmax is 1/4 the cost and makes a stronger joint. ( https://vimeo.com/339631122 ) Woodworking metamorphosed at some point from "basic life skill" to "rich old guy money sport". Festool exploits the latter market masterfully.

Dominos aren’t about strength so much as accuracy. The tool makes it dead easy to align edges with faces near seamlessly and squarely. It’s a helluva improvement on biscuits or dowels.

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#52

Post by gorgoiler »

I have a set of Montana plug cutters, also designed for hand drill use: https://www.montanabrandtools.com/collections/plug-cutters/p...

A fun game to play, when cutting plugs in bulk, is to see how many you can cut before one breaks off and jams up the cutter. This is a bad thing because you have to break your flow and spend a non zero amount of time chipping the jammed plug out of the mechanism.

I can do at least five before it goes wrong and I have to stop and get out a chisel to clear the jaws. Oh, for a drill press!

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#53

Post by itsananderson »

caned wrote: post #28

Just want to make a plug for Paul Sellers. His YouTube videos on woodworking with handheld tools have kept me captivated for years. Through watching his videos, I learned how to cut mortise and tenon, dovetail, and dado joints without touching a powered tool. A weekend hobbyist woodworker, the pleasure I get from truly crafting by hand is immense. Paul is a heavyweight, and he shares what he knows without holding bac…

+1 https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulSellersWoodwork

I started watching his videos about 10 years ago, and while I've shifted a bit toward using more power tools in recent years, I still use his foundational hand tool techniques all the time. He can be a little preachy about his "hand tool only" woodworking philosophy, especially on his blog. If you can overlook that, he has a ton of skill and is good at teaching and demonstrating that skill to others through his videos.

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#54

Post by walterbell »

jagtesh wrote: post #15

Last thing I expected to discover on HN. This is incredibly useful for any DIYer. Thanks OP! Edit: Usually I refrain from thank you posts on HN but I had to make an exception owing to the unique nature of this post.

Hack All The Things! Recent DIY/workshop/garage threads:

Rivet nuts, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32235908

Making holes without an electric drill, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32124451

DIY tool storage + kaizen foam alternatives, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32066503 & https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32067236

Pozidriv + Robertson & Torx screws https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31956655 & https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31958512

Mini drill press + X-Y tables, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31875997 & https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31873273

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#55

Post by walterbell »

CrankyCanuck wrote: post #30

Plug cutters, especially those that cut a tapered plug are an interesting exercise in patent shenanigans. As mentioned in this thread, a tapered plug is almost always superior than a straight sided one...the wedge action as the plug is driven down results in a very snug fit. Lee Valley Tools has a patented Snug Plug cutter. As you might imagine, it's been ripped off by many manufacturers. Lest you thing a tapered plu…

The Lee Valley cutters are excellent, but max out around 1/2" depth. Any recommended wood plug cutters for deep (1" - 2") plugs?

Are the Lee Valley cutters related to the Fuller ones, https://wlfuller.com/html/plug_cutters.html & https://wlfuller.com/html/about.html?

> During the late 1950's, Warren Jr. renovated the countersink design -- a change that is extensively used today. Originally the flutes of the countersink were straight in design. In the new model the flutes are slightly slanted. This modified the tool from a scraper to a cutter. The design allowed the wood chips to clear, preventing clogging.

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#56

Post by walterbell »

mauvehaus wrote: post #2

If you're actually plugging holes with the plugs you make, the other thing to look for is a plug cutter that cuts a slightly tapered plug. The taper ensures that the plug will fill the hole even if it's drilled slightly undersized or (more commonly) slightly oversized. Beware that if you're driving a tapered plug into a hole near the edge of a board, you can split the board. Now you have two problems, as they say. Wh…

For plugs intended as load-bearing screw anchors to replace damaged wood, should they be fastened to the surrounding wood by:

  1. friction: tapered snug fit, expanding with screw
  2. glue: non-tapered, small cylindrical plughole gap for glue/epoxy
  3. both: tapered snug fit + grooves for glue/epoxy

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#57

Post by jameshart »

caned wrote: post #28

Just want to make a plug for Paul Sellers. His YouTube videos on woodworking with handheld tools have kept me captivated for years. Through watching his videos, I learned how to cut mortise and tenon, dovetail, and dado joints without touching a powered tool. A weekend hobbyist woodworker, the pleasure I get from truly crafting by hand is immense. Paul is a heavyweight, and he shares what he knows without holding bac…

> Just want to make a plug for Paul Sellers

Apparently you can use a Hitachi plug cutter to do that.

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#58

Post by eropple »

akiselev wrote: post #41
JKCalhoun wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume you are suggesting the Festool Domino DF 500 (the smaller one)? I'll add it to my "Wish List", haha.

Correct. Getting the bigger one is probably one of the worst decisions I’ve made in setting up my shop but at the time Festool wasn’t expecting any more to come out of their factories for at least a quarter. It’s more expensive than the 300 pound bandsaw and more awkward to use in most cases than the smaller domino. It was great retail therapy in the first year of the pandemic though. You’ll know it if you need the l…

I really like my DF500, and I'm inclined to agree with you about it being better overall now that you can use Domino Connect pieces with it. (If you're unfamiliar with the Domino Connect stuff--it makes it way easier to make a gift or something you have to ship. DIY flatpack, but way way nicer.)

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#59

Post by eropple »

mauvehaus wrote: post #45
hyperbovine wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dowelmax is 1/4 the cost and makes a stronger joint. ( https://vimeo.com/339631122 ) Woodworking metamorphosed at some point from "basic life skill" to "rich old guy money sport". Festool exploits the latter market masterfully.

I'm sorry, but you're just wrong about who uses Festool tools. Yeah, some people with a boatload of money buy it because it's the most expensive tool. You primarily see their tools in the hands of pros, because their tools are, in many cases, better than the alternatives. The value prop on the Domino isn't that it's the strongest joint, it's that it's strong enough for the application, fast, and repeatable. When you…

For me, dust collection on sanders was really nice but it really was how much less of a beating on my hands that the ETS dishes out. I went from a DeWalt to a Bosch, and the Bosch was somewhat better (and actually had excellent dust collection on its own when using a sanding mesh) but the Festool ETS125 is so much more comfortable. If I didn't have the money to upgrade the Bosch would be fine, but I do, and if I did this professionally I would absolutely find the money for my own health.

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#60

Post by cossatot »

mgdlbp wrote: post #24
pigtailgirl wrote: post #3

-- never cared about woodwork till discovering Blacktail Studio on youtube - now all I want to do is make tables - highly recommend - especially if you give zero f's about woodworking -- https://www.youtube.com/c/BlacktailStudio/videos

Matthias Wandel might interest you, woodworking with the hacker spirit (including making his own tools...out of wood) https://woodgears.ca

He posts on here sometimes: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=MatthiasWandel
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