HF MultiMaster knock-off, $32

[Tom Slick]

Looked very closely and there's no pins on mine. Perhaps it came from a different Chinese factory. Aside from the Harbor Freight sticker, there's a molded-in number on the plastic housing PA6-GF30. Could be a part number - or maybe the type of resin used in the housing.

Also, the spindle has flats for a wrench as on a saw arbor like whoever designed it was thinking it would go around rather than vibrate. Or maybe it's a leftover part from some sort of small saw.

PA6-GF30 means the housing is made of PolyAmide (nylon) 6 with 30% glass fiber.

[BigguyZ]

How do the tools work without the pins? I'm interested in one of these, but I'd either go very cheap (HF) or with the heavier-duty models (not the Dremel, but not Fein either).

[feq451]

no pins on mine

I just got mine yesterday, new shipment to the store and definitely no pins also

adam

[frumper64]

Another "no pins"

I picked one up today and there are definitely no pins in the arbor. I even looked with a magnifying glass - no pins.

[LinuxRandal]

If anyone tried one of these with tile, I would be interested to hear how it works. There are a couple of broken tiles at work, that I may have to replace (supposably someone else is on it).

[MBG]

FYI:

My friend at work bought one of these today and picked up a blade set for me. I bought the real McCoy when MS had 30% off and I had a 10% PP coupon - still 6.5 times as much as the HF. I just tried the blades on the Fein and they work nicely w/o any mods even though I have the 8-pt star model.

Mike

[Andrew Benedetto]

I just got mine yesterday, new shipment to the store and definitely no pins also

adam

Got mine a few weeks ago, has the 4 pins, work great. I see them as an advantage.

[BigguyZ]

I picked mine up on Saturday. There was actually one other one on the shelf. Anyways, mine doesn't have the pins, but I'm surprised by how well the bolt and washers provided work. Tightened down, I couldn't move the blade by grabbing it and torquing it. Not it may come loose with prolonged use, but so far it seems pretty solid.

I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised by how heavy the tool feels. I looked at one of the other brands at Menards, and this doesn't seem much less ruggid.

I also picked up a set of blades, just in case. Does anyone know which non-HF blades work in this? I know Dremel has their version, as does Bosch and one more brand (I can't for the life of me remember what their name is). I could use the grout saw blade- which is the only blade type that's not included in the box...

[Andrew Benedetto]

I picked mine up on Saturday. There was actually one other one on the shelf. Anyways, mine doesn't have the pins, but I'm surprised by how well the bolt and washers provided work. Tightened down, I couldn't move the blade by grabbing it and torquing it. Not it may come loose with prolonged use, but so far it seems pretty solid.

I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised by how heavy the tool feels. I looked at one of the other brands at Menards, and this doesn't seem much less ruggid.

I also picked up a set of blades, just in case. Does anyone know which non-HF blades work in this? I know Dremel has their version, as does Bosch and one more brand (I can't for the life of me remember what their name is). I could use the grout saw blade- which is the only blade type that's not included in the box...

I bought the diamond grout blade at HFT. Look at hft web site for the blade numbers.

[woodturner]

The index pins were there on mine but I had to punch them out.

Mine don't have the pins.

My suspicion is that the initial run had the pins, but then someone (fein?) complained about infringement, and the pins were removed on later designs. FWIW, went through a similar experience over the blade chucks on an AMT scroll saw a while ago. Usually the change is made such that the user could change it back with minimal effort.

My local store had a bunch when they first came out, sold them all, then couldn't get more for a couple of months. Maybe they were changing the design to remove the pins at that point.

My two came from the batch they got after those couple of months passed. Definitely no pins on either one - but it seems like I could easily drill a couple of holes and add them.

Looking at your pictures again, it appears mine is a different design from yours - on mine, the shaft coming out of the machine is a straight shaft, and the tool holder is like a spool that fits over the shaft and is secured with a set screw. From the pictures, it looks like your tool holder is part of the shaft.

[tsbrewers]

might have been a problem with the dremel version, they have the pins, fein doesn't.

my local store has yet to get any.

Brew

[Alex Franke]

might have been a problem with the dremel version, they have the pins, fein doesn't.

That's interesting -- do you just tighten down real hard on the original Fein version?

[tjr]

Looking at your pictures again, it appears mine is a different design from yours - on mine, the shaft coming out of the machine is a straight shaft, and the tool holder is like a spool that fits over the shaft and is secured with a set screw. From the pictures, it looks like your tool holder is part of the shaft.

Interesting - there seem to be 3 designs available. I wonder if the 2-piece tool holder could be an advantage, in that a guy could put something else on the shaft instead. What, tho? Possibly a collet for rotary bits or sanding pieces?

[tsbrewers]

That's interesting -- do you just tighten down real hard on the original Fein version?

yup, on the original fein ones, it was just tension that held it on. On the newest model, they have a star on the machine and blades. The newest one also has a quick release for the blades, which is very nice.

Brew

[aggrex]

My local HF got a shipment of the Multi-Function Power Tool
#65700 @$39-20%=$32

I checked all 5 boxes and there were no pins in this shipment, Thanks OP