New Mexican Duracrafter here

[Shannon Chamberlain]

My grandfather built the Cambridge Duracraft for me back in the 90s. Well, 30 years and about three U.S. states later, I moved to New Mexico, and my parents followed me (more accurately, their three-year-old granddaughter) and brought the old Cambridge with them. I’m hoping to fix it up for my daughter and give it to her on the same Christmas that it was originally given to me. Since I was seven that Christmas, I figure I’ll have just enough time before my daughter can appreciate it to get it into shape. It was never really finished, but I’ve electrified it, repainted the exterior, and started priming the walls. Now, though, I’m realizing that most of the windows are pretty trashed. I’m hoping to kitbash and replace it with real, working premade windows and doors. I have a general question for experts on this, though. I work full-time and have rheumatoid arthritis. Are there particular power tools that are going to make my life easier? I’ve been checking out MicroMark and wondering if there’s a power saw that would be a particularly good investment for the kind of trim work and window replacement that I’d like to do. I’m probably going to buy most of the furniture minis or repurpose the ones I had as a kid, so I don’t need to do a ton of that kind of work. I also purchased the Adobe Dollhouse Kit from Earthntree and plan to work on that one next. At that point, I may want to upgrade to making more of my own fixtures, but the Cambridge is going to be a dry run to learn more about that. Any suggestions from experienced makers?

[FurMama]

My favorite micro-mark purchase ever, their tabe saw (blade is lowered in pic). I used it to cut all the baseboards and door frame trim for my Pepperwood Farm. This one is 20 plus years old but still works fine. Otherwise I use full size tools( band saw, drill press, bench sander, scroll saw) Never got the hang of my Dremel.

Edited March 20, 2022 by FurMama
Clarity

[havanaholly]

I have a mini table saw from Micro mark that is starting to sputter, but for what I paid for it I have no compunctions about replacing when it finally sputters its last.  Otherwise, I also use the Hubs' bandsaw and belt sander (and lathe; I make some of my own furniture).  Unless you make a fixture to hold the Dremel in place trying to use it to saw freehand might ery well free your hand from the rest of your body.