Tuesday, 2 August 2011

Rotozip


I bought this to use for removing underlayment below toe-kicks (see my review of the Rotozip RZ20-4500 for full description). It cut through 1/2" plywood underlayment with linoleum over it with no effort at all, as expected. The pleasant surprize was that it also went through a couple of hidden nails without trashing the blade. This blade uses a bonded grit for cutting rather than teeth.



The resulting sawdust is fine. It clouds the air and floats around the work area. This could be expected so I can't downgrade the tool as a result. Keeping the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner close to the cut keeps the sawdust from going everywhere. This helps keep the homeowner happy. Rotozip XW-WD1 Flush Wood Cutting Wheel

I bought the RZ20 and this blade to cut some laminate flooring. The blade does not fit under the stock shield. You must buy an extra shield called the x-shield for it to work. So after buying the blade, I had to buy the x-shield which includes the same blade, lol. I was only cutting 5 feet of flooring, so I wasted $30.



If you have not bought the x-shield, buy it instead of this blade. I got mine at a home improvement store for $10-15 more than the blade itself, which is included for free.



I was tempted to mark Rotozip 3 stars for nickel and diming their customers. There is no reason they cannot make one shield to fit both the metal and wood blades. It is just an attempt to squeeze more cash out of people. Not only that it makes the tool more difficult to use and store.



I decided to go with 4 stars, because other than poor design which forces people to spend more money on accessories, and spend more time swithcing the shields around it does do a good job.

I am putting down 60 cases of Pergo laminate flooring. At first I was taking the base boards off, cleaning them and reattaching them after I put the flooring down, then I saw this wheel for my Roto Zip and decided to give it a try. After a few practice attempts, it proved to be much easier to trim the base boards in place on the wall. Where this little blade really paid for itself was around and under the door jambs ! With the base boards cut in place and the door jambs nicely trimmed, the floow just slide right under in place. A little latex caulking to fill the SMALL gap, some touch up paint and it looks like a pro job !



The only complaint (why it did not get 5 stars) was after a about 10 feet of constant trimming the wheel began to smoke when cutting ? Mind you I am cutting HD type pine base board moulding. Rather than making a continous cut, it became necessary to make short plung type cuts along the board. Not a big deal, just not efficient. The sticking of the blade( and smoking) may be due to a build of of "tar/resin" from the wood ? The claim to cut 100 feet of "laminate flooring" (much harder than "pine" moulding) might be stretching it a bit, but overall the little blade works for me and saves a lot of time and labor for this homeowner.

I BOUGHT THIS TO CUT SOME FLOORING AND IT DID DO A GOOD JOB, BUT IT CAN ALSO BE WORN DOWN KIND OF QUICK, I WAS STILL HAPPY WITH THIS. IT DID CUT DOWN THE TIME AT CHIPPING AWAY ON SOME OF THE FLOORING, SO YOU MIGHT WANT TO ORDER 2 OF THEM , BUT OVERALL IT DID IT'S JOB.



R.FLORES CA

I purchased this for use with my RotoZip RZ20. I replaced the flooring in two rooms and this added an additional height of 1\2" to the exisiting floor. I used it to undercut the trim around the door frames. This cutting wheel has a diamond coating on it's edge so it doesn't look like a regular wood saw blade. I did use it with the RotoZip flush cutting attachment and wore gloves for safety in case of kickback. The blade made clean cuts, I found it best to proceed slowly and let the tool do the work.'


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