Fein Multimaster tool

[Maria CS20 104]

Hey All, been busy as all get out with the economy as it is, Paperboard and paper mills are being hit hard and we are getting as lean and mean as possible tightening our belts and trying as all to produce more with less and increase quality since competition on the world wide market is really tough.  I am with Graphic Packaging (Health and Safety Director at the Paperboard plant), and every time you drink a Coke, Pepsi, Miller, Coors or Bud, or even eat a frozen Pizza for the most part you buy our packaging.  We invented the fridg pack, that long slim 12 pack that sits in your frig better that a standard 12 pack.  We have some amazing packing products.  THIS IS NOT A PLUG, just really proud of how we keep 1500 folks employed through inovation and use of American materials and AMERICANS, and are still adding some employees a bit at a time as we are beating China and Brazil and Mexico, and other companies at making new packaging products and owning 50% to 55% of the world wide market from a small community in West Monroe, Louisiana.  Mead is our main and only real competition and they are tough, truth is this is good and they too are a real AMERICAN company.

  We have been working on the boat a little at a time while we can with Great Grandma and two Grand kids and daughter moving in while her husband is on West Pac for 7 months.  Found difficulty cutting sets in the installed frame for stringers and framing so a bought this new tools I'd seen about two years ago to see if it will help.  I have trouble using a Japanese saw and holding steady in this hard Douglas fir and some of the hard wood we are using in CS-20 104.  Bought a Fein Multimaster Top FMM 250 Q.  Have to replace glued down oak floor that has water infiltration in mother in law suite and replace with tile along with some other speciaty jobs and hope beyond hope that it will provide a better platform for cutting and fitting framing for decking frames and stringers along with the cutting of high epoxy points better that sanders.  I think it will be a reall addition to tool set for many of the soon to be had adventures in completion of the CS-104.  Have seen several used in tight spaces and applications in the paper mill and finally broke down and cried to Mom about a real need to have to fix her mom's room and replace some cracked tile on floors in sun rooms and baths.  She didn't believe me but let me have one.  Bought the $399 package and will let you all know how it works for fine sanding and detail work, hope to use it for some inlay on the foredeck.  Got 30 days to send back but I doubt I will having used one about 18 months about 18 months ago.  Better that "rotozip" or dremel in that it has no dies torque and does not seem to want to wander in direction of rotation and really god at plunge cutting and close quarter drills for cutting notches.  Keep ya posted.

Happy Easter and Blessing to all

Jim

[PAR]

Fein and Festool both make really nice stuff, but the costs just kick my butt. I've converted a Bosch detail sander into a "multi tool" by drilling two holes in the sander's foot and installing the fine tooth offset cutting blade with some nylon insert lock nuts and machine screws. It works quite well at a fraction of the price.

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[Hirilonde]

I have owned and used the Multimaster for years, and I love it.  For detail surgery on cabinetry in expensive boats it can't be beat.  It is however expensive beyond reason, but that's what you do when you have the patent on a great idea.  Well, it has now expired, we should see some inexpensive competition, time will tell if it is good competition.

[PAR]

Yep, the cheapo versions do suck, which is why I used the Bosch, which was soft spoken and had the cycles per second necessary for the tool to work properly.

I can still remove the two machine screws and the blade, turning it back into a detail sander in less then a minute.

The Fein shop vac is hard to beat too, but gees the price makes you think it has gold plated controls.

I used to have a bunch of fancy and expensive tools, big stationary machines and hand tools. Since I closed the shop, I've found I need these tools much less often then their cost justified. The only stationary tool I use regularly now is the SuperMax 37" surface sander. It's a $5,000 piece of equipment that is a real time saver and very precise. I don't miss any of the other tools. I do still use the table saw, and router table, but the big joiner, radial arm saw, 16" band saw, the available speed (no pulleys!) drill press, etc. all have been in storage for a few years. A belt sander, 7" disk grinder, small power plane, hand planes, good chisels, Roto Zip, and the usual lot of other small hand tools have been more then sufficient for the small boats I'm now doing.

[Maria CS20 104]

You can't beat quality and like I said I have several heavy duty jobs and several commitments for some furniture beyond the boat, and last but not least, I am a tool NUT and Mom said OKAy.  Move FAST when that happens.  Of course she gets a new digital camera out of the deal, she has real talent for photos and making books documenting all the family and activities.  Pretty amazing to say the least.  AND YES you are right on about another manufacturer picking it up, just saw that Rockwell (I think) has just come out with one for half the price.  Just decided to go wth a proven and well respected tool before trying new manufacturer.  Did that once or twice before and lost $$$ as they didn't make it far before failure shortly after warrenty was gone, and MOM is hard on the tools doing things that you'd wonder about, like the time she cut the frozen salmon on the radial arm saw (previous post) it was exciting as it flew across the garage and broke a panel in the garage door.  Got to keep an eye on her still.

Best to all

Jim

[PeterP]

This site is a hoot. Cutting edge boats and wild women. Or is it the other way around? PeterP