Putting the Fein MultiMaster to Work
by Donald Wickham
Atlanta, Georgia
When I first picked up a
Fein MultiMaster
, right away I could sense the solid German
technology and precision that went into it, particularly the benefits of Fein's decades of experience developing oscillating cutting tools.
Using my Fein MultiMaster a few times has convinced me that it is a precision tool with the power to do a variety
of tasks. In fact it is capable of many tasks that other tools simply cannot do.
It has been the perfect solution for many of my home remodeling projects.
Without a doubt, homeowners, builders and contractors who use this tool a few times will come to think of the Fein MultiMaster as a necessity.
It will pay for itself in very short order.
The Fein MultiMaster is a very safe tool
to use because it relies on oscillating technology. The attachments do not
revolve like a sawblade, but rather oscillate at a very high speed.
Since there is no revolving blade, there is no chance of kickback. And the MultiMaster is especially great for working in very tight spaces.
Perhaps the greatest advantage of having a Fein MultiMaster in your tool kit is its huge selection of attachments
that allow you to make easy work of many jobs that would be challenging (if not impossible)
without the MultiMaster.
Current models of the Fein MultiMaster use electronic variable speed motors,
so whether sawing or sanding wood, sawing metal, removing old grout, or whatever, I can set the oscillating speed to exactly
what I need for each of the many different kinds of attachments.
Perhaps best of all, Fein has engineered a quick-change blade attachment system that allows me to switch from one cutting attachment
to another instantaneously, without even having to look for a wrench. It uses a built-in rapid lever clamping mechanism that locks the
blade securely, or allows the blade to be removed and replaced with another specialty blade.
My interest in the Fein MultiMaster began when I was remodeling our kitchen and a bathroom.
While adding a new floor it became necessary to cut all of the door jambs to allow
for the added height of the new hardwood floor. The E-cut saw blade was the ideal accessory for this job
as well as many others like it,
and it quickly and effortlessly produced a perfect cut. It was also good for
cutting existing baseboard, chair rail and crown moulding to an exact measurement without
removing the moulding. This allowed us to set the new cabinets to the moulding with very little
adjustment.
Whether I'm working at home
or for someone else, time is money.
That job alone saved hours of work, and that's why I think this little machine is so valuable.
The next application I did was removing the old tile grout in a bathroom. One of the carbide segmented
sawblades made quick work of this, cleaning out all the grout lines. Of course this could have been done
with an inexpensive plastic grout rake, but would have taken hours of work by hand. The
old grout was cleaned out in no time, and after regrouting, we had a tile job that looked absolutely
new.
Using a different size saw blade, we cut a section of tile down thru
the grout lines and were able to chisel out broken pieces. The carbide rasp accessory sanded right
through the thinset in no time, giving us a clean flat surface onto which we could replace the floor tiles. And all of this
work
was accomplished safely since there were no rotating blades.
The Fein MultiMaster Top is the model I chose. It comes equipped with a great selection of attachments
that are good for so many of my needs. I also purchased the Profi Tile Kit accessory with
its variety of attachments. With this collection of attachments and the MultiMaster, I'm equipped to
do an assortment of challenging jobs that have specialized requirements.
Even with its $400 pricetag for the Top model, I am very pleased with the professional quality of my MultiMaster and I recommend it highly.
My MultiMaster has already more than
paid for itself just with these several small jobs.
I give it 5 stars!
Atlanta woodworker Don Wickham has been a Highland customer for almost 30 years.
Check out the Fein MultiMaster Top
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October 2009 Wood News
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