At what point do you justify buying more tools vs making do with what you already hav

[aczlan]

As far as I’m concerned Dewalt and Milwaukee are the king of the hill. My pick for the 2 is Dewalt. I don’t think anyone else has put forward the innovation in recent years that those 2 have. I have quite a few Makita tools that I think were first class in their time but have been surpassed in recent years. I second the porter cable being junk idea.

We have DeWalt at work, a contractor came through with Milwaukee and I would say that both are neck and neck.

Aaron Z

 

[rodnok]

Go to your local rental shop and rent a rebar cutter. If you will be using one frequently just buy one.

 

[rScotty]

Had to undo the lug nuts on the JD310 TLB with a flat tire. The big lugs just laughed at a 4 star lugnut wrench and cheater. So I went back and got the Milwaukee V28 battery powered impact wrench. Darn thing is so overbuilt and heavy that I swear it makes my arm get longer just carrying it across the field. But put it on a lugnut and the weight is your friend. No kickback, just smooth controllable action..... and off comes the lugnuts.
rScotty

 

[4570Man]

Had to undo the lug nuts on the JD310 TLB with a flat tire. The big lugs just laughed at a 4 star lugnut wrench and cheater. So I went back and got the Milwaukee V28 battery powered impact wrench. Darn thing is so overbuilt and heavy that I swear it makes my arm get longer just carrying it across the field. But put it on a lugnut and the weight is your friend. No kickback, just smooth controllable action..... and off comes the lugnuts.
rScotty

Cordless impacts are impressively stout. I use mine all the time. I just bought another one after finally getting tired of suffering with the 1/2 where it’s way too big for the job.

 

[dragoneggs]

Cordless impacts are impressively stout. I use mine all the time. I just bought another one after finally getting tired of suffering with the 1/2 where it’s way too big for the job. View attachment 608881

The Dewalt impact drill/driver is also an amazing little tool!

 

[4570Man]

The Dewalt impact drill/driver is also an amazing little tool!

I have it’s brother with a 1/4 insert. Impacts in general are sweet but the dewalt is a cut above what it comes to tough fasteners like tapcons. Now of they made a quite version that’s affordable.

 

[Diggin It]

On 'making do' ...

I've been setting some 4x4 posts for a shed extension. Was considering getting the made-for-the-task strap-on post levels. They're cheap at HF, but apparently I'm cheaper. I used two 4' levels and duct taped them to the posts.

 

[4570Man]

Probably what I would have done simply because the time to get the post level would far exceed the time to use regular levels.

 

[spitter]

40 years of carpentry I have never used or seen one on the job. The old timers new how to improvise and invent things not because they where cheap because they just didn't have money and barely eeked out a living. A nut on a string for a plumb bob for example. They use to make their own rasps from wire lath and a 2x4. I was lucky enough to work with a lot of them to learn a bunch of tricks . New guys think I am some kind of wizard for all the home made or make on the fly stuff I do. I always say I ain't that smart your just that stupid.:drink:

 

[downsizingnow48]

This morning I installed a new shower door requiring 12 1/4" holes drilled in the 1" sq glass mosaic tile walls. Glass mosaic tile is hard to drill. I have put together a small arsenal of tile drills that make the job go easy.

I could "get by" with one drill but the job goes a lot better with three. In the picture below:

1. Top is a Kobalt carbide drill. It is very easy to start the hole with, especially if you put a couple thicknesses of scotch tape on the tile which helps keep the drill from skating and lets you see your mark. But the Kobalt is extremely slow at drilling.

2. Middle is a Bosch carbide drill. It has a different profile and drills very fast but is much harder to start than the Kobalt. Also, when the nose breaks through the back of the tile, the Bosch starts to vibrate and hammer badly risking chipping or breakage.

3. The bottom is a Milwaukee diamond hole saw. It is hard to start and slow to drill. It is also difficult to remove the glass core which has to be removed often so the drill will continue to remove material. But the big advantage is using it at the bottom of the hole, it goes through smoothly with no danger of chipping.

So using the three in sequence makes for a faster and better job than if I wanted to "get by" with just one.