Buying a machine for work is not the same decision as buying one for a weekend job.
It has to earn its keep every week for years, and the difference between the right choice and the wrong one shows up long after the sale.
An independent view of workshop and site machinery
A welder, a generator or a pressure washer bought for site work has to earn its keep for years. Tools & Machinery is written for the person making that call: a mobile welder, a groundworker, a joiner, a garage owner, spending their own money on kit they'll use at least weekly for a long time.
Where the figures come from
A spec quoted in a guide, whether it's duty cycle, an IP rating or a tank capacity, is read from the manufacturer's own datasheet and cited so you can check it yourself. Where a price appears, it's taken from a retailer's live listing with the date noted alongside it, because prices move and a printed figure goes stale within weeks. Where checking the current price matters more than reading an old one, the guide links straight to the listing instead.
How this runs
The site carries no affiliate links today and earns nothing from any retailer. If that changes, the pages carrying them will say so plainly, where the links appear. It doesn't sell machinery itself, and it isn't tied to any one retailer's range.
Why that separation matters
A retailer with one range in stock has a reason to steer you toward what's on the shelf. A guide that isn't selling anything can say the cheaper machine is adequate for a given working pattern when that's true, name the point at which it stops being true, and compare brands against each other. That's the gap this site is trying to fill: the questions a retailer has no reason to answer for you.
Specs from datasheets
Figures such as duty cycle and IP rating are read from the manufacturer's own datasheet and cited.
Prices linked
Where a price is mentioned, it's read from a live retailer listing with the date noted, and the listing is linked.
Not tied to a retailer's stock
Guides compare machines across brands and can say the cheaper option is adequate when it is.
What this site covers
The categories here are the ones a tradesperson buys for the workshop or the back of the van: welding equipment, generators, pressure washers, woodworking machines and garage equipment. Each gets its own guides, because the questions that matter differ by machine type. A generator buyer needs to know about kVA sizing and phase; a welder buyer needs duty cycle and process. Lumping them together would flatten the detail that actually helps.
Where compressors and garden tools fit
Air compressors are not covered in depth here. That category has its own site, aircompressors.uk, with the same approach applied to compressor sizing, tank capacity and duty. Garden tools sit outside this site's scope too, and are covered on garden-tools.uk instead.
The reasoning is the same in both cases. A guide written properly needs someone paying close attention to one category. If your buying decision runs into either of those areas, the sister site is the better place to look.