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Share some of the saddest tools that let you down or DIDN'T.
What are the biggest let downs you've had with tools?
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My Snap On 1/2" breaker bar snapped off and the local dealer, (truck driver) wouldn't exchange it because it was too old.
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Early 1990s plastic bodied B&D corded 1/4" drill and a B&D small circular saw. Saw wasn't the typical 7 1/4" blade it was smaller 5-6" ( don't remember exactly ) and didn't last very long cutting 1/2" plywood. The magic smoke escaped from both in short order. I was most likely trying to do more than they were designed for. Went to the local hardware and bought a Porter Cable 3/8" variable speed, reversible drill that still works great after 30 some years of use. Bought a middle of the road quality Skill 7 1/4" saw that lasted through a house addition and building my garage. Replaced it with mid priced Milwaukee saw about 8-9 years ago. I haven't worked the Milwaukee as much as I did the Skill though and it still runs and looks like new. Drills to use and abuse are the older 50s -70s B&D 1/4, 3/8" corded, metal housing, plastic grip or all metal drills. I see them at yard sales a lot for as cheap as a dollar or two. Some have been hardly used with plenty of life left, some are about shot. You can usually tell by looking. I have used up a few of them over the years. I have 4 on hand right now, they get used for the occasional crappy jobs I don't want to subject the better tools to. Some times a cheap, disposable tool is desireable. And sometimes not!
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Here's the 3/8" Porter Cable drill, I paid about $80 for it on sale 30 plus years ago. Been worth every penny! And two examples of yard-sale, older B&D 1/4" drills I bought for cheap. Both still working great. Some survive, some don't.
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The B&D drills look like ray guns that were in cartoons. So nose heavy you get a wrist workout just from holding it.
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Those older drills had a decent gearbox on the front of them. I personally have never seen one with failed gears. Bushings and bearings worn, yes. I typically split the gearbox and repack with fresh grease, oil the motor bushings, blow the dust, dirt out of the motor. Power tools that old pretty much all need it. The all metal one is probably 50 years old or more. Works great.
I bought a 1/2" Makita electric drill awhile back. With very little use the arbor that holds the chuck broke off. All of a sudden the chuck is completely independent from the drill motor. I think it was a $25 part and a 45 minutes to figure out what went wrong and what to replace. It might as well have been a Harbor Freight special.
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I had a Century 1/2" drill do that on me about 25 years ago. I borrowed from my dad and it was only a couple years old. Ooops! Sorry dad! Bought him a Craftsman to replace it. I now have the drill and it still works good.
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That's funny, I worked eight years as a full time mechanic for the Army, all our tools were supplied by the government and all the hand tools were Snap On. Any one that broke or were faulty was immediately replaced by our Snap On dealer.
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I'd be p.o.ed about that. We'd have some words and phone calls to follow..
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