Good Cheap Tools

[RobS]

Being something of a tool junkie, I'm not usually too keen on cheap tools. My normal motto is "I'd rather do without than buy something crummy". Tonight however, I have good news to report on the cheap tool front.

I burned my brush pile yesterday. All went well but partway through the burn I realized I had an inadvertent violation of my own rules. You see, I always remove nails from lumber I put on the pile. Don't like the prospect of picking them up in the tractor tires. Well, this particular burn contained several wooden pallets from last summers patio project. Pallets, of course, are held together with nails. So my burn area is now littered with nails just begging to find a tractor tire.

I recalled a trip to our local Harbor Freight store. Not my favorite place but fun enough. For some reason, I remembered the magnets they sell. Looks something like a golf club but the head is a magnet. How perfect for retrieving nails from ashes!

Stopped on the way home from work and picked one up for $8 or so. Ran home, changed and got to work. I thought about offering the kids a penny per nail but couldn't get them to budge. Too bad as they would have come out pretty well. The picture shows my box of nails and other bits of ferrous debris. Probably about 5 pounds worth in about 10 minutes of work.

I give the tool my "thumbs up", especially after I tightened the nut oholding the head on. But hey, what do you expect for a cheap tool.

Anyone else have any cheap tool success stories?

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[EddieWalker]

About two years ago I bought a new Dewalt 4 inch grinder. I used it once or twice on small projects. I bet it only had 20 minutes of total running time.

I had a big project that needed quite a bit of grinding. After about half an hour, it got super hot and died on me. I let it cool and it would start, but woulndn't get up to speed.

I went to my local discount tool store to see what they had. I bought a Nakita 4 inch grinder for under $30. I've never heard of Nakita, and thats the correct spelling, but the owner said it was a good grinder and if it died on me, he'd take it back.

I ran it for about 6 hours of almost constant heavy use on a very hot day without any problems. I've since used it a dozen times on different project without a complaint.

I'm beginning to wonder is cheaper isn't such a bad thing.

 

[imported_OWDouglas]

Harbor Freight is great for the home tool box. Tools are pretty good quality.

 

[jwstewar]

Not so much a cheap tool, but a cheap product. I got kept getting tired of paying $12-15 for wiper blades for the car every 2 or 3 months. Never could see out of the window. Got fed up with it. Finally went to Wal-Mart and found some for $6.99 each. They are 100% pure silicone. They actually had a lifetime warranty (though you have to pay $4.99 S&H) They have been on the car for almost 3 years now and are just starting to go bad. I will probably just go back to Wally World and by another set - can't go w/o wipers while I send the others back (think they were counting on that? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif). They actually have something like Rain-X on them that actually allows you to not have to run your wipers as much. For 3 years I've been pretty happy. I believe they were call Triple-Edge or something like that.

 

[texbaylea]

Grizzly is a good source of cheap tools and their machine tools are good at reasonable prices. Check them out at www.grizzly.com. They are direct importers and do not have retail stores. Their quality is very good on the larger tools and their small tools have stood up so far.

Vernon

 

[johndeere2210]

I have bought some tools from this outfit and have had good results.

www.cumminstools.com

They have quite a few factory remans on power tools with new tool warranty. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Phred]

Rob,

Yep. Those are slick.
I filled up a couple of 5 gallon buckets one day from a debry pile left by a previous owner.

One tip: Put a plastic shopping bag or trash bag over the head. Wrap it around. This way when you pick up a bunch of small fillings all you have to do is pull of the bag and the tool looks like new.

Fred

 

[goodoleboy]

I made on out of 3 welding magents i picked up for $1 a piece. They are wider than the tool you bought about 6x6 inches total surface area is about 18" wide and 6" tall. I just tied them to flat side of a deck brush with wire.When i was done I untied the wire and the magnets are ready to use for welding or picking up nails.

jwstewar,
You can buy repl;acment inserts for about $2.50 a set. Much cheaper than buying new arms.
My dad even taught me to only replace the drivers side as you cant tell the differnece of the passenger side from the drivers seat.

 

[slowrev]

I have found that the el-cheapo 4 inch grinders seem to work well. Last week I bought a 10" sliding compound miter saw at big lots for $70.00, CMC brand ? I used it for about 4 hours straight over the weekend and it works fine. Watch out for the 99.00 ones at harbour freight though, the slide bearings are rougher than a cob, I checked 2 out in the store and said no way. Just beware, some of the cheap stuff is pure junk and some is fine for non professional use.

 

[mwechtal]

Vernon,
Actually, they have 3 stores. Go to the web site, and click on SHOWROOMS. My dad loves to go to the Muncy PA store. He just can't afford to go there too often. They always have something you need real bad.

Mike