Bad HF Drill Bits

[greencom]

A car salesman once told me that if he's upset over a deal, and so is the customer, then its a fair deal.

Money can be thrown away at both ends of the spectrum. Whether in the home garage, or a business, if a tool or machine can't pay for itself, then its too over priced. I wouldn't go out an buy a 10000$ Dake Ironworker to cut sheet metal once or twice a month when a 12" 100$ HB metal shear would suffice. Pick the right tool for the job, and you'll be loads of money ahead in the long run.

I've got to agree. I've been using a $12 angle grinder from HF for several years now, it's been dropped, kicked and run until it's very hot but it still runs, spending $125 on a Makita or DeWalt would waste my money. Don't get me wrong, I would go the big bucks for tools used in a commercial situation, but for my hobby uses they're ok. I had a tiop of the line Sears circular saw burn out after a couple hours of mild use, plus the same for a crappy table saw, no more Craftsman power tools for me.

[Brett]

Of all the the power tools I Have had and used, at work and at home, I would probably rank them something like this

1 Metabo, we have 8 or 9 of their 9" grinders at work. they take an absolute beating all day long they are the most abuse resistant tools I have ever seen. None of the other brands we've tried have ever come close. Well worth the $200 we pay for them

2 Dewalt, I've had very good luck with their 4.5" grinders, as well as their drills. I'm also a big fan of their cordless tools. It saddens me thinking back to a time when I didn't have an 18v cordless circular saw or impact driver.

3 Rigid, every rigid power tool i've ever used I've liked. I've had good luck with their drills, worm drive saws, and palm sanders at work, and my rigid chop saw at home is way nicer than my Hitachi at work. I've not used their cordless tools, But have heard a lot of good stuff about them.

4 Makita, other than one big grinder I tried a few years ago I've never had a makita go down, but I've never really been super impressed by them either.

5 Hitachi, they'll do in a bind, and aren't a waste of money

6 Miluake(sp?), the only milluake I've been happy with is my old sawsall I've had for years. Their big grinders were total crap, and I've burnt up way to many hole hawgs over the years.

7 Porter cable, I've not liked any porter cable tools that I've had, but I'm not really into woodworking and I guess thats their forte.

8 Ryobi, CHEAP but somewhat effective

9 Skil, CHEAP And Barely effective

Thats pretty much sums up my power tool experiences

Brett

[Josh]

I have a 13 amp Dewalt grinder... Mean little SOB. You better be holding onto it when you flip it on. It's taken a good beating over the past two years. I can tell when the bevel drive needs grease because it starts to get loud and run hot. I pop the top off it, repack it with high temp grease from time to time, and that's all it ever needed... oh, and to splice the cord back together when I cut a hunk of iron off and it fell on the cord and crushed it in half!!

that being said, the number of wheels I have fed that beast cutting iron, I could have paid for the $160 HF bandsaw I bought 2 months ago a coule of times over, and got cleaner cuts to boot.

I agree with everyone here... spend good money on good tools you'll use often. Buy cheapies on low use items... My HF bandsaw can't grind like my Dewalt grinder can.

[Nickathome]

For the price they sell some of that stuff for, even if they do break its economical to buy another.

I'm sorry, but I have to say that that kind of thinking is a large part of why our economy is in the crapper today. If you think "no big deal" when you throw away a $4.00 POS item and buy a replacement, you have basically thrown away $4.00. Do it 10 times, and you have thrown away $40.00. How many times do you have to throw your money away before it becomes a problem to you? Once is enough for me! If all the "no big deal" throw-aways could be collected from the manufacturers of the crap items thrown away over the last 30 years or so, we'd be way better off.

OK I'll get off the soap box now.

No, the reason our economy is in the toilet is the fault of these big shots who loaned money to people who should not have been given loans, and to those people who weren't smart enough to buy within their means instead of taking mortgages on homes they couldn't afford to pay.......

Anyway, I don't agree that I should spend tons of money on a tool I might use 3 times a year......If I buy a Harbor Freight wrench for say ten bucks, Sears will have it for $12.oo, Home Depot may have it for $15.00, Lowes will have the same one for $20. All will be Chinese made......All will last about the same amount of time. If I'm only using it 3 times a year, and one of those times it breaks, I've gotten my money's worth from it, and it isn't an issue to then go buy another $10.00 wrench. I'm assured to get about a year out of it.

So by your line of thinking I should've gone and spent $100.00 on a Snap-On wrench because it isn't likely to break. Yet I'm going to spend $100 on a wrench I might use 3 trimes a year for a year or two then never use again. So lets see, I might Spend a total of $30 bucks on a couple wrenches, or in the case of HF I won't spend $30 bucks because they'll let me exchange it. Hmm, so lets weigh the costs $30 or $100...........I'll go with the former and I'll let you worry about the economy.....

[Lifer]

OK. That sounds fair.

[Rick C]

I'll chime in here......I agree about the economy...if you couldn't afford a house and all of a sudden the banks are telling you you can.... thene shame on you when you lose it.... Why should I bail you out
As far as buying tools.......America doesn't make anything anymore.... I posted over the summer about my attempt to buy an american made circular saw to replace the one I had that burned out. We'll never recover if we don't produce anything.......seems everything is being outsourced overseas now.... Just my opinion...
Rick C

[Lifer]

I don't particularly care where a tool comes from, as long as it's a good tool. I'll gladly spend 15 or 20 bucks for a good tool when a 4-dollar tool "just like it" is available if I have even the remotest reservation about the cheaper tool. I had what looked like a "high quality" socket split down the side when I leaned on it just a little bit. That experience cost me several stitches on my wrist and a cast on my hand in addition to the expense of replacing the entire set of sockets (didn't want to chance another one). I would prefer to buy American-made tools, but will buy German, English, and Austrian-made tools without too much hesitation or worry. Japanese power tools are okay, too, for the most part. I will NOT buy hand tools made in China, India, or Turkey. (The socket that did me in had been made in India. I also had a Chinese-made bench vise that broke the second time I used it and a set of Turkish-made end wrenches that would spread and slip long before I could over-torque the bolt I was working on.)

[MSeriesRebuild]

I'll chime in here......I agree about the economy...if you couldn't afford a house and all of a sudden the banks are telling you you can.... thene shame on you when you lose it.... Why should I bail you out
As far as buying tools.......America doesn't make anything anymore.... I posted over the summer about my attempt to buy an american made circular saw to replace the one I had that burned out. We'll never recover if we don't produce anything.......seems everything is being outsourced overseas now.... Just my opinion...
Rick C

You are correct in that few things of this nature are actually made in the US. Some power tools are assembled in the US using foreign made components. The reason, US industry is regulated TO DEATH, they have been forced out of the country or out of business, pick one. The extra taxes that will be imposed if the Barack insurance company, and the cap & tax legislation passes into law will finish the bulk of what is left. If the voters don't clean house in DC this November, my guess is the US as we know it will be GONE. I'm also wondering if the mid-term election in November might not be too late.

[Master Yota]

Charles is correct about over-regulation in the manufacturing sector - its even worse here in Canada; which is why we are primairly an exporter of raw, and refined materials with very little manufacturing being done here. Now with rampant regulations taking hold in the mining and oil and gas sector's (forestry was beat down in the 90's) we too are walking the edge of a dangerous economical cliff.

As for tools, anything made in the "western" world is usually a good tool. I just wish they came with 3rd. world prices...

[greencom]

I don't think regulation is the only reason. I believe company CEO's just cannot resist the allure of cheap slave labor oppotunities in the far east with the must bigger profit margin that it generates, plus there are tax benefits that outway any regulations imposed on domestic manufacturing.Not many companies want to pay Americans when so much hungry cheap labor exists overseas.

[MSeriesRebuild]

I don't think regulation is the only reason. I believe company CEO's just cannot resist the allure of cheap slave labor oppotunities in the far east with the must bigger profit margin that it generates, plus there are tax benefits that outway any regulations imposed on domestic manufacturing.Not many companies want to pay Americans when so much hungry cheap labor exists overseas.

You have a point there also, the whole thing just sucks, stupidity in government, greed with the big $$$ folks in private control and so on.

[Brett]

I think what a lot of it comes down to is that the majority of americans care alot more about the sticker with the price on it than the sticker saying "Made in the USA". this means that if a company wants to maintain market share they have to control costs. The cost of meeting ever tightening govt regulation, taxes, energy, etc. keep going up. Add to that union labor collectively bargaining themselves out of jobs, and its no wonder how we ended up here.

Brett

[greencom]

I think what a lot of it comes down to is that the majority of americans care alot more about the sticker with the price on it than the sticker saying "Made in the USA". this means that if a company wants to maintain market share they have to control costs. The cost of meeting ever tightening govt regulation, taxes, energy, etc. keep going up. Add to that union labor collectively bargaining themselves out of jobs, and its no wonder how we ended up here. Brett

Funny how it's always labor's fault isn't it?

[Lifer]

Labor vs Management? That's worse than religion or politics, man! I ain't even goin' there!

[greencom]

Lifer,
You are so right, nuff said.