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Post by GTCGreg on Apr 13, 2015 2:48:28 GMT
Is it just me or has Hitachi power tools gone cheap? I have a drill of their that is 8 years old and still going strong. My dad got one to replace a 13 year old Hitachi Drill that finally died. The new Hitachi drill worked great for about a week before the plastic outer ring on the keyless check striped out, making it uses. Took it back and got replacement. Two months later, broke the same way. Returned and got a 3rd. It ALSO failed. This time he took the store credit and got a DeWalt. So far the chuck still works. Moral of the story: For power tools, avoid plastic chucks. I think all tool brands have cheapened up. Milwaukee tools use to be red plastic housing but the gray parts, such as the gear boxes were all metal. Now the gray parts are just gray plastic. That said, I have a number of all plastic Ryobi power tools that I've had for years and used (and abused) a lot and never had a problem with any of them.
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Post by silverdragon on Apr 13, 2015 6:44:32 GMT
I really don't see any advantage to those gator type saws over a conventional chainsaw. In fact, I would think they would be more awkward to use. Maybe they were just invented for people who are afraid to use a chainsaw. They "Grip". The two covers also keep flying debris down to a minimum. The grip action, squeeze whilst you cut, keeps the chain in the right place, hardly ever kicks back, and if it does, its not anything to worry about. You need both hands to use it, but then again, as someone who knows his stuff told me, if you aint using two hands on a chainsaw, your doing it wrong anyway. The fact you are squeezing them together, almost the same as using a pair of bolt-cutters, its not awkward at all. Maybe they are just a safer way of using a chainsaw, but, you have to try them first, if you do, I think you may be impressed.
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Post by silverdragon on Apr 13, 2015 7:03:39 GMT
Plastic Chucks.... Not had that here yet? We have plastic covered chucks?. But then again, I aint sure I would buy a plastic one anyway.
Tools getting "cheep", yes, I have noticed a slow degredation of quality in some brands. I would have sworn by B&Q "house" tools (MacAlister) at one point, now I would swear at them... After one broke, and a small replacement part was just unavailable, I took it back and swore at the customer service desk about the (DING) useless (DING) piece of (DING) Cr@p that could have been replaced with (DING) 20pence worth of (DING) plastic if there was a (DING) customer service-line number that actually (DING) worked.... The guy on the desk took a look at the thing, and made a phone call, the manager arrived, he also had a look at it, all the time they were agreeing with me, but unsure how to "Warranty" something out of warranty... Eventually "Not fit for use" rule applies, and they wrote me a credit note for full price paid. If you aint sure of that one, its a useful trick to know... If something breaks terminally, if you can prove that the bit that broke was of bad design and not fit for use in the first place, warranty be buggered, there is no time limit for "Not fit for use" faults, you are due a full refund.... Within reasonable time. I dont think you can take a 40yr old spade back and complain that it went rusty "overnight" because their paint job was not fit for use?..
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Post by the light works on Apr 13, 2015 14:11:12 GMT
Is it just me or has Hitachi power tools gone cheap? I have a drill of their that is 8 years old and still going strong. My dad got one to replace a 13 year old Hitachi Drill that finally died. The new Hitachi drill worked great for about a week before the plastic outer ring on the keyless check striped out, making it uses. Took it back and got replacement. Two months later, broke the same way. Returned and got a 3rd. It ALSO failed. This time he took the store credit and got a DeWalt. So far the chuck still works. Moral of the story: For power tools, avoid plastic chucks. I'll keep that in mind. I cooked off my heavy rotohammer because I didn't catch my generator being funky. maybe I won't go with another hitachi.
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Post by wvengineer on Apr 13, 2015 22:37:07 GMT
Is it just me or has Hitachi power tools gone cheap? I have a drill of their that is 8 years old and still going strong. My dad got one to replace a 13 year old Hitachi Drill that finally died. The new Hitachi drill worked great for about a week before the plastic outer ring on the keyless check striped out, making it uses. Took it back and got replacement. Two months later, broke the same way. Returned and got a 3rd. It ALSO failed. This time he took the store credit and got a DeWalt. So far the chuck still works. Moral of the story: For power tools, avoid plastic chucks. I'll keep that in mind. I cooked off my heavy rotohammer because I didn't catch my generator being funky. maybe I won't go with another hitachi. Look at the display model. If the outer ring of the keyless chuck is plastic, avoid it. If it is metal, than at least consider it.
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Post by the light works on Apr 14, 2015 4:22:46 GMT
I'll keep that in mind. I cooked off my heavy rotohammer because I didn't catch my generator being funky. maybe I won't go with another hitachi. Look at the display model. If the outer ring of the keyless chuck is plastic, avoid it. If it is metal, than at least consider it. I confirmed today my new 12V Milwaukie driver still uses metal castings, and a metal drivetrain. my light rotohammer has plastic covers on the chuck, I forget whether the heavy one does or not.
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Post by silverdragon on Apr 15, 2015 5:19:41 GMT
Looks plastic?... it isnt. This is the latest version of my Bosch SDS drill, it also has a keyed chuck that slots in the front to turn it into a conventional drill, the key is firmly taped to the lead to prevent it getting lost. The plastic is just a cover to keep all the grease in the front. Now and again, I push a little grease in on the base of a drill bit just to keep the front end lubricated. The chuck spends its time in a small plastic case and occasionally it gets a spray of a light oil keeping the rust at bay. The one I have is a mere "2000" model, still over 500watt, and enough for any home owner to remove concrete root from old post holes in the garden... it can also chase a new groove for conduit in a brick wall "like a knife through frozen butter"
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Post by the light works on Apr 15, 2015 5:30:07 GMT
Looks plastic?... it isnt. This is the latest version of my Bosch SDS drill, it also has a keyed chuck that slots in the front to turn it into a conventional drill, the key is firmly taped to the lead to prevent it getting lost. The plastic is just a cover to keep all the grease in the front. Now and again, I push a little grease in on the base of a drill bit just to keep the front end lubricated. The chuck spends its time in a small plastic case and occasionally it gets a spray of a light oil keeping the rust at bay. The one I have is a mere "2000" model, still over 500watt, and enough for any home owner to remove concrete root from old post holes in the garden... it can also chase a new groove for conduit in a brick wall "like a knife through frozen butter" yeah, that's the size of my light rotohammer.
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Post by OziRiS on Apr 15, 2015 6:55:02 GMT
Best power tool I ever bought was this one: Believe it or not, this is a discount brand called Parkside from German store chain Lidl. I paid around $40-50 for it and I've had it for 5 years now. It chews its way through pretty much anything and the battery will last just about forever. When I was building my bedroom closet that some of you may remember from the "Woodworking anyone?" thread, I took the battery out of the charger at 9 a.m. and used it for an entire day, only putting it down for about an hour around lunch and then working for another 3 hours after that. I forgot to put it in the charger, but the next day it lasted around 3 hours before it needed charging. I've had a DeWalt cordless drill that would barely last 4 hours on a full charge and Dog help you if you tried to drill into masonry or concrete with that thing! It would just stop. Well, it would smell like burnt plastic first and then it would stop... I used the parkside drill for everything on that closet project. Drilling holes in the wood, drilling holes in the walls (both masonry and concrete) and putting the entire thing together with screws. It just didn't care. Chewed right through everything and asked for seconds
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Post by kharnynb on Apr 15, 2015 11:25:25 GMT
Lidl's tools are surprisingly good for the money.
I've had a few different ones too, including a hedgecutter that has outlasted both my neighbours and my father-in-laws more expensive ones.
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Post by silverdragon on Apr 21, 2015 6:54:43 GMT
THIRTY QUID?....£29.99 sterling So good I acepted the invitation and now have one as a "spare" .... Being that Oziris recommended LIdl and their toos, it being on "offer" at Lidl, I took the plunge and went in, to make a move on their monday offer yesterday. And happy I am with it.
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Post by Lokifan on Apr 21, 2015 7:20:41 GMT
Best recent tool buy: A pair of thin wall conduit benders for $8.
I do like garage sales...
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Post by kharnynb on Apr 21, 2015 7:35:09 GMT
THIRTY QUID?....£29.99 sterling So good I acepted the invitation and now have one as a "spare" .... Being that Oziris recommended LIdl and their toos, it being on "offer" at Lidl, I took the plunge and went in, to make a move on their monday offer yesterday. And happy I am with it. I got the same. The included blades were not great but the machine is
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Post by the light works on Apr 21, 2015 13:42:36 GMT
Best recent tool buy: A pair of thin wall conduit benders for $8. I do like garage sales... heck of a deal, assuming you bend any conduit.
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Post by GTCGreg on Apr 21, 2015 13:54:52 GMT
Best recent tool buy: A pair of thin wall conduit benders for $8. I do like garage sales... heck of a deal, assuming you bend any conduit. That's the problem with garage sale tools. You often end up with things you will never use just because they were a good deal. I have an antique bolt threader set I bought at a garage sale about 20 years ago. I never needed one before I bought it, and never needed one after. But I have one now! Another tool I bought at a garage sale is a fire hydrant wrench. Maybe something TLW could use, but why in the world do I need a fire hydrant wrench? If I did ever run into a situation that I needed to open a fire hydrant, I'm sure I'm not going to have it with me. It's not something you could carry on your key chain.
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Post by Lokifan on Apr 21, 2015 14:06:30 GMT
Well, I know I have to move some existing circuits in the garage that are in conduit this year, so it's a reasonable investment (at least for the half inch). Besides, I can always sell them at my next garage sale... ...at least, that's what I keep telling myself.
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Post by the light works on Apr 21, 2015 14:15:07 GMT
heck of a deal, assuming you bend any conduit. That's the problem with garage sale tools. You often end up with things you will never use just because they were a good deal. I have an antique bolt threader set I bought at a garage sale about 20 years ago. I never needed one before I bought it, and never needed one after. But I have one now! Another tool I bought at a garage sale is a fire hydrant wrench. Maybe something TLW could use, but why in the world do I need a fire hydrant wrench? If I did ever run into a situation that I needed to open a fire hydrant, I'm sure I'm not going to have it with me. It's not something you could carry on your key chain. and when you have a stud on something with a banged up thread, instead of just forcing the nut on, you can now grab a die and dress the damaged thread. my dad has one, and it has seen a reasonable amount of use. as for the hydrant wrench - no, I don't have a whole lot lot reason to own my own - mainly because I know where I can get one should I want it.
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Post by Lokifan on Apr 21, 2015 14:45:15 GMT
Unfortunately(?), a friend of mine pointed out decades ago that I could either hire someone to fix something, or spend less money to buy the tool and learn to fix it myself. It sounded like good advice at the time, but it now explains the crowded condition of my garage--a lot of tools that were used once and never again. For example, I couldn't find a place where I could cheaply rent a breaker hammer, so now I own one.
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Post by GTCGreg on Apr 21, 2015 14:47:21 GMT
That's the problem with garage sale tools. You often end up with things you will never use just because they were a good deal. I have an antique bolt threader set I bought at a garage sale about 20 years ago. I never needed one before I bought it, and never needed one after. But I have one now! Another tool I bought at a garage sale is a fire hydrant wrench. Maybe something TLW could use, but why in the world do I need a fire hydrant wrench? If I did ever run into a situation that I needed to open a fire hydrant, I'm sure I'm not going to have it with me. It's not something you could carry on your key chain. and when you have a stud on something with a banged up thread, instead of just forcing the nut on, you can now grab a die and dress the damaged thread. my dad has one, and it has seen a reasonable amount of use. as for the hydrant wrench - no, I don't have a whole lot lot reason to own my own - mainly because I know where I can get one should I want it. I already had a small die set I use for that purpose, but the garage sale one was much larger and came in such a nice wooden case. It looks great sitting up on the shelf with a bunch of other useless junk sitting on top of it. I actually did use the hydrant wrench once as a make shift pipe vice. It didn't work very well for that purpose, but good enough to get the job done.
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Post by the light works on Apr 21, 2015 14:53:00 GMT
Unfortunately(?), a friend of mine pointed out decades ago that I could either hire someone to fix something, or spend less money to buy the tool and learn to fix it myself. It sounded like good advice at the time, but it now explains the crowded condition of my garage--a lot of tools that were used once and never again. For example, I couldn't find a place where I could cheaply rent a breaker hammer, so now I own one. I have a hardieplank shear that I bought for the cost of renting one for two days. considering it took me a few months to do the complete siding job, I consider it a good investment.
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