Cheap Tools.

[dbhost]

The Skil "Dream Workshop Giveaway" got me to thinking...

LOTS of us, probably most of us if not all, have had, at one point or another, to make the choice between the high end dream machine large capacity equipment that we all see in shops and drool over, and something that does the job well but might lack the capacity, or a few features.

We are all aware of how expensive this hobby of woodworking can be. Not just for power tool users, but even the luddites that use hand tools. Planes, chisels, and hand saws can add up awfully fast too. And let's not forget clamps!

Now, admittedly, Skil doesn't make top end tools, but their stuff isn't exactly garbage. In the shop tours plenty of folks have posted here, and on other forums, I see plenty of Skil gear in your own shops. Not to mention Ryobi, Black and Decker, Craftsman, Harbor Freight's house brands, among the many others...

So the question(s) DuJour is this...

What cheap tools do you have, that you are glad you have? what cheap tools do you have, or have had that you wish you hadn't bothered with...?

I honestly have what I would almost term the ultimate cheapo shop. I simply don't have much high end stuff. Budget, and space constraints drove a LOT of my choices. (Benchtop jointer instead of picking up a second hand 8" Rockewll due to space issues for example). I am happy with MOST all of my purchases, but there are some specific items I spent more to get what I wanted instead of going with the cheaper, or smaller alternative, my Ridgid Oscillating spindle / belt sander for example instead of a Ryobi Belt / Disc sander. (I wanted the oscillating feature, and the spindle sander is mighty nice to boot!).

I think my worst cheap tool purchase was the Skil 6" Dado Stack set I had with my BTS21. That thing was pure and simple AWFUL. I have no other way of putting it. It simply stank... Eneven bottoms, very fast wear on the teeth etc...

So post 'em up guys. Give the newbies a leg up on what works, and what to avoid...

[sweensdv]

A lesson I learned after buying my 10" Craftsman CMS was to never ever buy another Craftsman power tool. Their hand tools on the other hand are great.

[Sam Conder]

"Cheap tools" I'm satisfied with:

• HF digital fractional calipers
• Ryobi Belt Sander
• Ryobi BT3100 (although it pains me to put it in this category!)
• Pittsburg F-clamps and pipe clamps
• HF mobile base kits
• HF Drill Press (although I often pine for a better one)

"Cheap tools" that let me down:

• HF CMS Mobile Stand. Pure, utter trash
• B&D "Wal-Mart" jigsaw
• HF Jigsaw
• Ryobi laminate trim router
• B&D palm sander
• Any brand of cheap socket sets
• HF metal sawhorses
• Stanley "Contractor's" low angle block plane

[jking]

Cheap tools I've been happy with:
-HF right angle grinder
-Wilton wood lathe
-B&D cordless drill
-Ryobi detail biscuit cutter

Cheap tools I've been disappointed with:
-Ryobi cordless hammerdrill (drill works great, hammerdrill feature doesn't)
-compact screwdriver/socket driver set from Ace's bargain bin. The bits don't stay locked in the driver. (so, I'm out a whole $1)

All I can think of right now. I try to research major purchases to avoid buying duds. I've generally had pretty good luck buying cheap, low use tools.

[thrytis]

Sticking with power tools, probably the cheap tool i'm most happy with is my $40 8" Harbor Freight bench top drill press. I use it on almost every project. Slower speeds and a geared table would be nice, but i can live without it. Someday i'll get a drill press with a bigger throat and longer stroke, but i'll probably still keep the old one.

I used to have a small Delta bench top table saw (TS220, i think), which i was happy with at the time. At the time i didn't have the space for a big saw and i couldn't afford a high end portable. It wasn't the smoothest cutting saw, it was a small table top, and the fence had to be checked every time it was moved, but it did its job for two or three years until i had the space and money to upgrade. It was well worth the $120 i paid for it. If i had it now that i have more space and can afford more, wouldn't be happy with it.

I wish i hadn't bothered with my cheap Delta miter saw (MS250). It lacks in accuracy. I probably could have gotten a decent one for $50 more, and if it took me another year to afford the $50, i could have used my circular saw with a jig just as effectively in that year. I still have the saw and use it now and then, but at some point i'll spend a few hundred dollars on a nice one.

[pelligrini]

Bad buys:
Craftsman hand held Belt Sander - Belt Won't track worth sh**
Craftsman Jig saw - Hate it, gave it to the wife
Skill 10" Bench saw - Not exactly a bad buy, it got used and abused a lot (before I understood square, straight & repeatable)

Good Buys:
B&D palm sander - It was 20years old when the dust bag connection broke
Skill Circular Saw - 20 years old and working well
B&D 9.5v Cordless drill - Doesn't have the torque, but still running strong after 15 yrs. Still a nice light duty drill/driver.

[Sawatzky]

Good cheap tools for me would also be the 8 inch drill press from HF, the HF jointer, and the cheapest skil skilsaw they make. I got it on sale for $20.00 and it works great for breaking down plywood and cutting 2x4's.

Bad cheap tools were all mostly Craftsman. I tood had their belt sander and the tracking (or lack of) drove me crazy. I had a Craftsman router that worked okay, but after I dropped it it was done for. I bought a used Craftsman cordless drill that woulnd't hold a charge. I also don't like Black & Dekcer. I had one of thier higher end jig saws that was just junk.

I am to the point now where most of my tools are either high end or high middle of the road.

[poolhound]

My tools have come from a wide variety of sources, Some were brand new, many used ones from CL and a good collection of old hand tools I inherited from my grandfather.

Cheap tools I wish I never bought

1. the orange HF "quickgrip" style clamps - total POS my 1yr old neice could break them with her grip strength
2. virtually any jigsaw that isnt my Bosch
3. drill bits - cheap bits are OK for rough disposable work but they are often NOT true and break easily.
4. router and table. My very first router was some cheapie from costco. I stripped the collet within a week and it went back

like Jking says I dont mind cheapies if they get limited use e.g. HF RA drill adaptor, cheap throw away brushes. I dont have many cheap "serious" tools as having learned my lesson I now try to buy once and buy right.
I do have some great tools that I didnt pay much for and were therefore cheap to me.

My brand new Delta Jointer - $87 lowes
Ridgid planer - $150 CL
Griz OSS - $30 CL

[Shep]

Good cheap tools:
anything kobalt from lowes
Ryobi Drill Press
HF air tools
Ryobi 12v compact lithium drill.

Bad cheap tools:
Any measuring tools. Ex. tape measure, levels, etc
B&D sanders
Ryobi BTS15 (yes this is the saw I still use) needs more power but cuts straight
Skil 18V cicular saw, just not enough power.

[gsmittle]

I prefer to call them "inexpensive" tools, since they do the job but don't cost a huge amount of money. "Cheap" tools cost too much at any price.

Inexpensive tools:

BT3100
Used Delta benchtop drill press
Griz laminate trimmer (one speed, no fancy fine depth control, no frills whatsoever, $40)
Ryobi 18v cordless tools
Husky pancake air compressor
Craftsman 10" CMS
Craftsman laser level
HF floor nailer
HF pin, brad, & finish nailers

Cheap tools:

Bottom of the line B&D jig saw
Stanley chisels (a gift)
Craftsman combination square
Any Cummins (now World Wide Liquidators) hand tool
Ryobi three-base router kit

That's all that occurs to me off the top of my head. I'm slowly replacing the clunkers with better stuff, now that I know better.

g.

[ragswl4]

Cheap Good Tools:

Skil circular saw.
Skil 4V Lithium Driver (Love it)
HF DC
HF Brad Nailer
B&D 14v Drill/Driver (10 Years Old and still screwing)
GMC 18V Drill/Driver (Got 2 and they are beasts)
Ryobi 18V 5 piece tool set ($95 NIB @ the Borg)
HF Digitat Calipers
Hitachi M12V2 ($85 refurbished, another beast)
HF 13" Drill Press
HF Jointer (Cost me $100, sold but it worked good once aligned)
BT3100 (Sold to get a CMan 22114, wish I still had it but love the CMan)
GMC 3 1/2" Planer
HF Multipurpose Tool (love that thing)
Kreg Feather Boards (no rips made with them, great on the router table too)
HF Pin Nailer

Cheap Crappy Tools:

Off brand Biscuit Joiner (blade wobbled)
HF 90 degree electric drill (pure junk)
HF Recipricating Saw (pure junk)
HF Cabinet Makers Router Bit set (don't bother)
GMC Plunge router (downright dangerous)
(All were returned or sent to the Crappy Tool Graveyard)

[jziegler]

The good:

-HF Drill press (large benchtop)
-HF tile saw
-Used Stanley #5 1/4 and Sargent 414
-Hitachi band saw
-HF bar clamps
-HF calipers

The bad (with explanations for some):
-buck brothers chisels
-buck brothers bench plane (see a trend here)
-Wolfcraft router table. It got me started and I still use it since I haven't built a new one, but I never got the stamped table extensions lined up well (removed now), the bit guard broke quickly, the miter guide is a joke (made a sled) and the fence is really hard to do fine adjustments on. OK to start with, but would NOT buy again.
-Flush cut japanese saw (would probably like it now that I know more about hand tools, but I threw it out because I killed the teeth)
-Cheap pocket hold jig (pock'it or something). The bit broke after about 1-2 dozen holes, snapped right where the size changes. Never got a response when I emailed the customer service email. It cost almost as much to buy a replacement (Kreg) bit as the original set, so I got the baby Kreg set (only a few bucks more), and wish I bought a Kreg the first time.

Bought on sale for a bargain, but not dirt cheap, but great value:
Makita 14.4V drill, impact driver and light set
Ryobi 18V drill and circ saw set plus free Lithium upgrade

That's all I can think of for now

Jim

[vaking]

I can justify a price of a "professional grade" tool only if I expect to get a lot of use from this tool, particularly if there is a "revenue stream" somewhere on the Horizon from this purchase. Since wooodworking is my hobby with no revenues expected - almost everything in my shop is "amateur grade" cheap stuff. Having said that I can also add that most tools in my shop deliver exactly what I expected and I am not disappointed in them. The only time I buy professional tools is if I come accross a deal and don't have to pay professional price.
My workshop has BT3100, 15 year old 12" Craftsman band saw (bought used), benchtop jointer by Tradesman, Ryobi belt sander, Skill Circular saw, "Shopline by Jet" 3/4HP dust collector and 15" drill press (Shopline by Jet was a line of stripped down tools made by Jet for Costco exclusively). All of these tools look appropriate for my basement shop with 6'3" ceiling height and I am happy with them. A bit out of place in my shop seem Craftsman Professional 12 CMS, 1587 jig saw in Craftsman's clothing, Bosch 24V cordless hammer-drill, Porter-Cable plate joiner. I am even happy with my recent acquisition of HF copy of multi-master for under $50. I used it couple times in a remodel and I believe it already paid for itself. The most useless tool in my shop is probably the Rotozip. It also works as expected, I just don't have much use for it.

[herb fellows]

Best cheap tool: a reconditioned skil 1810 router for $30 from Amazon.

Worst cheap tool: the $99.00 bottom of the line ryobi table saw, probably from about 20 years ago!

[drumpriest]

Sweensdv, was the CMS the problem, or customer service? This argument is beyond cliche, that Craftsman sucks, because they don't make their tools. To say that all Craftsman power tools are bad means that Bosch makes a bad router, ryobi a bad table saw, rikon's parent company can't make a good bandsaw, etc.... By reductio ad absurdum the argument does not hold water.

Certainly they carry some truly bad tools, but not all of them are so....now for customer service, that's an entirely different matter.

Good cheap tools (some that I no longer have, as noted)
-craftsman (palgrem) jointer - did a good job for a long time until I could afford my 8" Jet
-craftsman 14" band saw - the euro rikonish verison. - did GREAT but got a deal on a Jet 18", so it's now elsewhere
-ryobi bt3100 - again, fantastic tool, replaced with another fantastic tool, the PM2000
-ryobi AP1300 planer - did well, replaced with dewalt 735 as gift.
-ryobi belt sander
-ryobi random orbit sander
-ryobi drills (I've had 4, they have all been good)
-ryobi circular saw (20$)
-rockler turbine HVLP, got it for 40$ and it's been great
-20" box fan + filter - I also have a jet air cleaner, but this thing really does work well.

Bad:
-ryobi CMS 10" - not a BAD saw, but no soft start can make it scary to operate and make your wood jump, it cut ok though.
-stud finders, are any of these any good?
-ryobi 3 base routers, they were cheap, and you knew it. expansion problems, lots of issues, serviceable, but a pain, when I got my Bosch and my PC it was a BIG step up.
-ryobi 1/4 sheet sander - why do they even make these??