Bad tool purchases

[Nancy Laird]

Right now trying to decide how far to go in cabinet TS, to upgrade from my contractor saw. Powermatic, sawstop or jet??. I'll decide when the money is available. Ray Knight

Ray, before you decide, be sure to take a good long hard look at the Steel City saws. They are very well-built, solid, and the new ones have the availability of a granite top. I was in the store the other day playing with the fences on the various saws they had displayed - Jet, PM, Delta, Woodtek, and Steel City, and the fence on the Steel City was the smoothest and easiest to move and lock in right on target. It's better than our Bies fence, and that's saying a lot. If we were in the market for a new cabinet saw, the Steel City would be in our shop right now--although we can't complain about our 14-year-old Unisaw!!

Nancy (96 days)

[Vernon Taylor]

Northstate 25" dual drum sander from Leneave Supply(machine generly well made but can't seem to keep paper on it,service or help from Leneave has been non-existant) $1700 mistake
PC Detail sander(also use the profiles for hand sanding)
Roto Zip(no explanation needed)
Little craftsman sander with three discs,kinda handy but the sanding wheels keep falling off.
PC333ROS-something wrong with switch took it in for repair died again after 20 minutes-gave up and bought the German made Ridgid 6"

[Chuck Lenz]

HOLY CATS ! Theres so many bad tool purchase posts that I'm almost afraid to buy a tool anymore. Has anyone checked any of them for lead paint ?

[Alain Tellier]

Mine is a two part...

The first one was a Skill jigsaw... which name you need a lot of to handle this posessed electric gizmo. It is impossible to cut anything straight much less follow a marked curve. An exercice in frustration and swearing.

The second one was a drill adapter featuring a drill bit on one end for pilot holes and a driver bit on the other which you use by flipping the adapter on end... This thing wobbled so much you'd think it's the reincarnation of a paint mixer!

[Bill Wyko]

Worst overall would have to be a harbor freight laminate trimmer. $20 piece of junk with so much run-out it was visible to the naked eye. wasn't worth the return shipping, so it went right to goodwill.

I regret the D4 purchase also, but only because I never use it. I wouldn't sell it though, because I might get to some day...

I bought one of those POS's. It shook so bad it made my hands feel like they were made of silicone. What a piece of junk.

[Mike Spanbauer]

I've been thinking about this thread hard and trying to come up with good choices for both, and try as might i can't think of any tools I would throw into the trash category that I've actually bought.

A lesson i learned early in life (dad was a garage owner back when they do full service from oil to engine rebuilds) and his motto was to always have the right tool for the job AND ensure you buy something that'll work when you need it again and again.

Buy once, cry once. Other side of that is that I'm an analytic by nature and often purchase a TOUGH tool.

I've certainly used my fair shair of crap, but I've never purchased one.

As to my favorite / best? That's equally difficult. I've so many tools that are a joy to use, I don't know if I could narrow it down... Veritas adjustable block plane, MM16 bandsaw, PM66 ('84 vintage), PM60 jointer - green beauty, Festool sanders...

Plus when posts like this come up I bookmark them and refer back to them before spending any money on a new tool. I'll look to see who if anyone commented on an item and ask a few questions via PM.

Great thread though!

mike

[Bill Brehme]

I am surprised nobody mentioned this gleaming jewel on top of the trash heap... Why is it gleaming? Because it is still brand new when you throw it away! Ladies and gentlemen let me divert your attention over to the Harbor Freight 'Angle Drill Guide'!!! This steaming pile of refuse is designed to turn any hand drill into a angling mini drill press. Ya Think???

This sticking, twisting, racking, plastic junk would barely let me get the drill bit down to wood. By that point you are far off your center mark.
Then your hole is out of round.

There is a permanent mark in my boot where I punted this over the fence! The next morning I climed over the fence and retrieved it, put it back in its mangled package, and took it back to HF.

I truely, fully expected the whole staff of the outlet store to be standing outside the front sidewalk, just laughing, slapping their knee, cat calling to let me in on the joke... No. They just gave me my money back .

I have seen this in other stores. So, not just to pick on HF.

Oh yea, +1 on the HF laminate trimmer: It was more plastiky (sp?) in use than it looked on the display.

[Allen Grimes]

I hate my table saw. It runs fine and I use it every day, but I hate it. I'd punch it in the face if it had one.

Other than that, I am happy with ALL of my tool purchases and plan on staying that way. Even though I know that some new shinier tools have come out that might be better than some of mine, I am still happy with the decisions I made.

[James Suzda]

As to the Performax, I let my hatred of sanding get the best of me. This machine is incredibly difficult to adjust and get satisfactory results. I have yet to sand a panel of any width and have it come out the same width on both sides. There is unbelievable backlash in the height adjustment. You never, ever want to have to back off... The original sandpaper feed belt is totally unsatisfactory. The infeed and outfeed tables couldn't get any harder to adjust.

Am I really the only vote for the Performax?

I’m another Performax 16/32 owner who has experienced the same problems and frustrations with his machine. Don’t get me wrong, I still use it, but it didn’t live up to my expectations when I purchased it.
The biggest problem I have with mine is that the right clip will let go of the paper at the worse times and then I really have a mess on my hands. Plus the breaker keeps popping even with minimal depth adjustment.
Jim

[David Weaver]

I am surprised nobody mentioned this gleaming jewel on top of the trash heap... Why is it gleaming? Because it is still brand new when you throw it away! Ladies and gentlemen let me divert your attention over to the Harbor Freight 'Angle Drill Guide'!!! This steaming pile of refuse is designed to turn any hand drill into a angling mini drill press. Ya Think???

This sticking, twisting, racking, plastic junk would barely let me get the drill bit down to wood. By that point you are far off your center mark.
Then your hole is out of round.

There is a permanent mark in my boot where I punted this over the fence! The next morning I climed over the fence and retrieved it, put it back in its mangled package, and took it back to HF.

I truely, fully expected the whole staff of the outlet store to be standing outside the front sidewalk, just laughing, slapping their knee, cat calling to let me in on the joke... No. They just gave me my money back .

I have seen this in other stores. So, not just to pick on HF.

Oh yea, +1 on the HF laminate trimmer: It was more plastiky (sp?) in use than it looked on the display.

Gotta give them credit for giving you your money back. There has been some HF stuff that I've gotten that I haven't been happy with, but I'm ecstatic with the compressor that I got for $99 - it runs like a champ.

The worst thing that I think I ever got was one of those made in china tools (probably same as HF) that you can get on ebay for cheap - when I first started, I got a biscuit joiner. The thing was fine except that the OEM blade it came with was dull and part of the guide was plastic. The dull blade burnt everything it came in contact with and sent flaming chips everywhere. If you tried to cut faster to avoid the burning, it would stall.

What a turd. I still have it because I refuse to sell it to anyone (even for $1) until I can take it apart and stone the blade to a legitimate edge and see if it will cut.

I have since acquired the dewalt biscuit joiner, but haven't used it yet (used a friends, though).

[Keith Beck]

Try using the RotoZip for cutting out holes in drywall for recessed lighting cans. Works like a champ. Loud and messy -yes. But works great.

Well, you had much better luck than I did. Mine kept breaking bits. I ended up just finishing the job with a jigsaw.

Another impulse buy that now sits collecting dust...

Keith

[Keith Beck]

I hate my table saw. It runs fine and I use it every day, but I hate it. I'd punch it in the face if it had one.

Now that's funny! Thanks for giving me my first chuckle of the day Allen!

[Richard M. Wolfe]

What's a bad purchase? For me it's a ratio of price to use/poor design/being user friendly, etc.

Yeah, I had the Skil jigsaw. Bad tool, but since I was out only ten bucks or so, plus I probably lost several pounds from the vibration it's easy to write off, other than time wasted.

A step up in expense, the 15" Delta scroll saw. Not that I use a scroll saw that much, but with that one I tried. I really did. Throw into that mix the Sears 3x21 belt sander.

Finally, for the cost it's the Delta drum sander. Wish I had spent three or four times the cost to get one that works well, because I need it and use it all the time.

It's odd about biscuit joiners. They seem to be a thing people either use a lot or use once in a blue moon. What you make, I guess. I figure I've run through about 20 boxes of a thousand biscuits and other than a table saw, router and various sanders it sees about as much use as anything I have.

Oh well, I guess bad tools have their place. If you're forced to use a piece of junk and make it work and then go to a good one you're that much happier using it and probably use the tool better than someone who started out on it.

[Bill Jepson]

Ya, there was a couple of Festools I had, ended up throwing them in the trash...

That got your attention didn't it??

Actually one of the more expensive boo boo's I made was buying a 110v wire feed welder, luckily I sold it for about 75% of what I paid for it though.

Al

Al, didn't your electricty company call to ask why your bill went down so much?!
Bill

[Bill Brehme]

I also have the Dewalt biscuit joiner. It just happens to say 'Craftsman' on it (they are identical). The box has never been cracked open. I have had it about 5 months now.