Tweet
I recently acquired a Drill Master 94203 1" to 2-1/2" Hole Saw Set from Harbor Freight Tools to bore some large holes after my old Ace Hardware set was discovered missing. (Long story, problem since solved). As often as I have been using a hole saw, I figured a cheapie wouldn't be a bad thing. I was wrong.
The good.
The steel cups are nice and straight, and if it was completely up to the cup, this would drill nice, perfectly straight holes exactly where you want them.
The injection molded case is nice for keeping your bits and pieces organized.
Everything you need is included, however...
The bad.
The set screw threads in the arbor were stripped out from the factory, making it impossible to tighten the set screw onto the pilot bit.
The pilot bit was bent from the factory, meaning once the set screw problem was taken care of by rethreading the hole and adding a new set screw, the saw still wouldn't drill a straight hole.
The solutions to the bad.
Using a machine tap, rethread the hole for the set screw, and replace the set screw with the new larger size. Pick your tap size and set screw size carefully, there isn't a lot of material to work with here.
Replace the pilot bit with a decent quality bit. I matched up the bit with a same size old mismatched Ace Hardware bit I had in a toolbox. I ground a flat spot for the set screw to tighten down to, and installed it. NOW the hole saw set works fine.
Long and short of it, don't waste your time, unless money is really that tight, and you have a tap set handy, and even then it is a pain to deal with... You will be far better off with a better quality set...
The good.
The steel cups are nice and straight, and if it was completely up to the cup, this would drill nice, perfectly straight holes exactly where you want them.
The injection molded case is nice for keeping your bits and pieces organized.
Everything you need is included, however...
The bad.
The set screw threads in the arbor were stripped out from the factory, making it impossible to tighten the set screw onto the pilot bit.
The pilot bit was bent from the factory, meaning once the set screw problem was taken care of by rethreading the hole and adding a new set screw, the saw still wouldn't drill a straight hole.
The solutions to the bad.
Using a machine tap, rethread the hole for the set screw, and replace the set screw with the new larger size. Pick your tap size and set screw size carefully, there isn't a lot of material to work with here.
Replace the pilot bit with a decent quality bit. I matched up the bit with a same size old mismatched Ace Hardware bit I had in a toolbox. I ground a flat spot for the set screw to tighten down to, and installed it. NOW the hole saw set works fine.
Long and short of it, don't waste your time, unless money is really that tight, and you have a tap set handy, and even then it is a pain to deal with... You will be far better off with a better quality set...