Router straight bit w/bearing on top

[tfischer]

quote:Originally posted by LarryG

A tip for those shopping for pattern bits, or for that matter any bit with a guide bearing: if there's a category of router bit for which it pays to spend more on a name-brand bit, this is it.

That said, I, and many others here, have found the MCLS bits to be excellent, and very well priced.

-Tim

[LarryG]

quote:Originally posted by tfischer

That said, I, and many others here, have found the MCLS bits to be excellent, and very well priced.

I don't recall saying otherwise ...??? I don't own any MCLS bits, but I get their catalogs, and seem to recall that their prices run perhaps 60-80% of Whitesides (the brand I own the most of), so I'd be surprised if they were anything BUT respectable performers.

By "cheap, generic bits" I was referred to the ones that come in big sets where each bit ends up costing about a buck and half.

[tfischer]

Sorry, didn't mean to imply that you didn't like MCLS -- was just putting in a plug for them (they tend to be much lower priced than, say, the bits you get at the BORG).

Just another clarification -- the MCLS sets (of which I own the 33-piece) are the same bits they sell separately -- at about $3.50 a bit when you buy the set. So this seems to be a great deal...

As an aside, there's always the argument of "buy a set and maybe have some bits you don't need" vs. "buy only the bits you need and pay more per bit". I counted the other day and I've used over half of my 33 bits-- and I've only done two larger projects and several small ones. Some of that was experimentation, but I can tell you I've more than gotten my moneys worth out of the $99 'middle' MCLS set -- and I'm sure I'll use more of the remaning bits in the near future... One thing I like is having a choice of bits on hand. I'm cheap, so otherwise I'd be designing projects around the limited set I had on hand, rather than what I'd really like to be using...

-Tim

[LCHIEN]

quote:Originally posted by tfischer

... was just putting in a plug for them (they tend to be much lower priced than, say, the bits you get at the BORG).

Just another clarification -- the MCLS sets (of which I own the 33-piece) are the same bits they sell separately -- at about $3.50 a bit when you buy the set. So this seems to be a great deal...

As an aside, there's always the argument of "buy a set and maybe have some bits you don't need" vs. "buy only the bits you need and pay more per bit". I counted the other day and I've used over half of my 33 bits-- and I've only done two larger projects and several small ones. Some of that was experimentation, but I can tell you I've more than gotten my moneys worth out of the $99 'middle' MCLS set -- and I'm sure I'll use more of the remaning bits in the near future... One thing I like is having a choice of bits on hand. I'm cheap, so otherwise I'd be designing projects around the limited set I had on hand, rather than what I'd really like to be using...

-Tim

ditto!

[LarryG]

Okay, Tim, I'm with you. Never a problem.

The old "Buy bits in sets" vs. "Don't buy bits in sets" argument often overlooks a critical point. The "no sets" camp argues that the set may contain one or more bits you'll never use, which means you've wasted part of your money. With most premium-priced bits that's true, because buying them in sets may only net you about a 10-15% discount over the cost of buying them individually. But if MCLS (for example) uses exactly the same bits in their big sets that they sell individually, and the price each drops from $10-15 to $3.50 or so, then you obviously don't have to buy very many bits at all before you've not only broken even but are actually getting bits for free.

I'm in about the same place with my Blades 'N Bits 30pc set as you are with your MCLS set ... I've used over half of them, and I like having profiles available that I might not otherwise own if I had to pay big money for each bit, one at a time. These budget bits can leave a little to be desired sometimes, but overall my experience is thatyou get about 80-90% of the performance of the premium brands for about 10-20% of the cost. If that's not a bargain, I don't know what is.