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Power finger belt filer. Any good?

epsilonGreedy

By epsilonGreedy
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epsilonGreedy Advanced Member

epsilonGreedy

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I am going to be cutting a lot of roof-rafter seats and birds-mouths over the next week and my classic carpentry skills with a circular saw or manual chisel are mediocre.

 

I envisage doing lots of trial fits until the extra rafters align with the pitched plane of the existing roof structure, this will involve repeated trimming of 0.5mm off the rafter end seat until I get a snug aligned fit.

 

Would a finger filer be useful in this scenario?

 

Looking at something like this:

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/mac-allister-msmbs400-electric-belt-sander-220-240v/183gf

 

183GF_P&$prodImageLarge$

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markc Advanced Member

markc

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No! Great machine for finishing joints on handrails etc. But far too slow for first fix joinery, plus you tend to end up with a curved surface. Much easier with a sharp chisel and pare away at any material to be removed.

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epsilonGreedy Advanced Member

epsilonGreedy

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5 minutes ago, markc said:

No! Great machine for finishing joints on handrails etc. But far too slow for first fix joinery, plus you tend to end up with a curved surface. Much easier with a sharp chisel and pare away at any material to be removed.

 

 

Ok interesting.

 

Before ruling out a power filer I should clarify that I will use conventional cutting to get a rafter to within 2mm of alignment, so I am just looking to trim 1 or 2 mill off the wall plate seat end of the rafter and the area of such a seat will be probably 5" x 2".

 

Given this clarification would you still rule out such a power tool?

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markc Advanced Member

markc

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3 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

 

Ok interesting.

 

Before ruling out a power filer I should clarify that I will use conventional cutting to get a rafter to within 2mm of alignment, so I am just looking to trim 1 or 2 mill off the wall plate seat end of the rafter and the area of such a seat will be probably 5" x 2".

 

Given this clarification would you still rule out such a power tool?

I would still use a chisel, but if I had to choose between a power file and a hand rasp, I would go with the rasp. Power files are great on tube and cylindrical surfaces, just very difficult and slow on any flat surface.

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PeterW Advanced Member

PeterW

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5x2 will be +/- 2-3mm on dimensions anyway so a 2mm variation on the the seat will be lost in the thickness of the rafters and variation in the wall plate. 
 

I would just use a jigsaw to cut the seats after making up a marking template and then crack on. 

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epsilonGreedy Advanced Member

epsilonGreedy

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2 minutes ago, PeterW said:

5x2 will be +/- 2-3mm on dimensions anyway so a 2mm variation on the the seat will be lost in the thickness of the rafters and variation in the wall plate. 
 

 

I was planning to offer up each rafter each extra rafter in situ and then adjust the seat until a long 1.8m level lays flat and wobble free across the top of the rafters.

 

Given the natural slate covering I am trying to avoid undulations in the roof battens that will in turn kick up the corner of some slates. With my low 30 degree pitch any irregularity in the flat lay of the slates will be plain for all to see.

 

7 minutes ago, PeterW said:

I would just use a jigsaw to cut the seats after making up a marking template and then crack on.

 

 

I will try that, my fine control of an electric jig saw would be better than using a circular saw to take small notches out of a rafter.

 

I was watching a pro carpenter doing a roof on YouTube the other day and noticed he routinely lifts the blade guard to observe the progress of the whole cut. I must do that in future.

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joe90 Advanced Member

joe90

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I have a 4” belt sander, with 60grit paper 1 or 2mm would be easy, a wide belt sander would give a flatter surface, I am sure you can hire them. Why don’t you cut yourself a former out of ply the exact shape you want using the top face of the timber as a guide then you have something to go by to save heaving rafters up and down ?

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epsilonGreedy Advanced Member

epsilonGreedy

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19 minutes ago, markc said:

I would still use a chisel, but if I had to choose between a power file and a hand rasp, I would go with the rasp. Power files are great on tube and cylindrical surfaces, just very difficult and slow on any flat surface.

 

 

Think you have convinced me.

 

I have never used a multi tool before. So now after starting this thread I am wondering if I could touch-drag the end of a square multi-tool sanding blade across a 5" x 2" rafter seat end just to scrape off 0.5mm?

 

Readers might think I am becoming obsessive about this but over the next month I will need to fit about 70 jack rafters on my hip ends plus about 22 intermediate regular rafters. While doing this I will be trying to maintain a flat plane for the battens. Given the scale of the job then any power tool assistance to tweak and fine-tune the depth of a cut or notch will be welcome.

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epsilonGreedy Advanced Member

epsilonGreedy

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4 minutes ago, joe90 said:

I have a 4” belt sander, with 60grit paper 1 or 2mm would be easy, a wide belt sander would give a flatter surface, I am sure you can hire them. Why don’t you cut yourself a former out of ply the exact shape you want using the top face of the timber as a guide then you have something to go by to save heaving rafters up and down ?

 

I can now see how a wider belt sander would help produce a squarer flat finish. Back to the Screwfix catalogue!

 

I hope to do most of the cutting and trimming in the loadingbay built into the scaffolding.

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joe90 Advanced Member

joe90

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Thinking back to the last roof I built I used a hand saw, found it more controllable than a jig saw (blade wobbles). Buy yourself a new good hand saw (or a band saw if your looking for excuses to buy more tools ?).

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PeterW Advanced Member

PeterW

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3 hours ago, joe90 said:

Cut yourself a former, saves lots of grief, use it to draw pencil lines where to cut as well. ?


Yep and also use it to mark both sides of the joist and draw the cut lines so you keep the saw parallel and can also see where you need to clean the cuts down. 

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markc Advanced Member

markc

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1 minute ago, epsilonGreedy said:

 

In my experience angle grinders + wood = smoke and scorched wood. What am I doing wrong?

Nothing, an abrasive disc will always burn wood. You can profile MDF (fitting trim or cheap skirtings) with course sanding disks but the dust is horrendous 

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PeterW Advanced Member

PeterW

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2 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

 

In my experience angle grinders + wood = smoke and scorched wood. What am I doing wrong?


Get one of these .. and decent gloves and a face guard !!! 
 

Grinder Wood Carving Disc GRAFF® Speedcutter 115mm, TCT Circular Saw Blade for Angle Grinder - Woodcarving Saw Blade 22.23 mm Arbor, Sculpting, Shaping and Cutting Wheel with 3 Teeth (115 mm)

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KFJ31G6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_AMHJZ05K9SSN9A31X1B2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

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SteamyTea Advanced Member

SteamyTea

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7 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

What am I doing wrong?

Damp wood maybe. Overused disk. Only using the outer edge of the disk. Pushing too hard. Assuming that the grain makes no difference.

I also remove the guard when I have the abrasive disk on. Actually usually remove the guard on the small angle grinders.

 

I have been using angle grinders since I was a kid to sort things out, so hard to say what I actually do, it is just second nature to me.

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joe90 Advanced Member

joe90

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4 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

That looks dangerous. Shall order myself one.

DONT angle grinders don’t have blade guards like circular saws, and my blade had 20+ teeth ☹️

 

 

70F954F4-C75A-4D9E-A4BC-14C640DAC88A.jpeg

Edited by joe90
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epsilonGreedy Advanced Member

epsilonGreedy

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2 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Damp wood maybe. Overused disk. Only using the outer edge of the disk. Pushing too hard. Assuming that the grain makes no difference.

 

I have been using angle grinders since I was a kid to sort things out, so hard to say what I actually do, it is just second nature to me.

 

 

Last week I discovered that my trim router has a speed control = no more smoke. It now produces nice spiral wood shavings.

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