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

[dragoneggs]

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.

Thank you for the great tip on drilling. I need to install a glass door in our guest bath shower that I recently remodeled. Everything else done but the door!

 

[spitter]

Most tile it's better not to hammer , just to drill . Seen to many wah whos run right into hammer into tile and crack the sh-- out of it. Finished product take you time .Save the hammer function for conc. slab.:drink:

 

[Diggin It]

I went looking for a thread about battery vs. electric tools, but maybe this is the one I was thinking of. I get confused easily these days. The only other one I could find was on gas vs. electric.

Found a situation where electric wins out, hands down. Maybe it's the brand, the tool type or the task, not sure. Got a lime green Ryobi recip saw. It works OK, but only for short duty cycles, cutting small things. For sustained cutting, it gets too hot. The first one I had started smoking from the motor area after about a half hour, so I had it replaced by HD. This one almost gets to that point if I try to cut much more than a 2x4. When cutting 4x4s yesterday, I went straight to the corded Dewalt which handled the job easily. Is it just the Ryobi recip saws? Or battery recips in general?

 

[rScotty]

I went looking for a thread about battery vs. electric tools, but maybe this is the one I was thinking of. I get confused easily these days. The only other one I could find was on gas vs. electric.

Found a situation where electric wins out, hands down. Maybe it's the brand, the tool type or the task, not sure. Got a lime green Ryobi recip saw. It works OK, but only for short duty cycles, cutting small things. For sustained cutting, it gets too hot. The first one I had started smoking from the motor area after about a half hour, so I had it replaced by HD. This one almost gets to that point if I try to cut much more than a 2x4. When cutting 4x4s yesterday, I went straight to the corded Dewalt which handled the job easily. Is it just the Ryobi recip saws? Or battery recips in general?

I don't know if it is battery recips in general, but my Milwaukee V28 reciprocating saw doesn't get hot with use. I often use it at the woodpile for limbing up to about 5" diameter instead of a chainsaw. Using a big tooth aggressive blade it goes right though. I take a spare battery along, but generally get the work done on one. A gas chainsaw - even a little one - is faster of course, but the Milwaukee battery reciprocating is fast enough for this light work - and so handy that it sees a lot of use doing light work like limbing.
It's also the saw I take along when I go up in a tree for pruning.
rScotty

 

[Carl_NH]

Found a situation where electric wins out, hands down. Maybe it's the brand, the tool type or the task, not sure. Got a lime green Ryobi recip saw. It works OK, but only for short duty cycles, cutting small things. For sustained cutting, it gets too hot. The first one I had started smoking from the motor area after about a half hour, so I had it replaced by HD. This one almost gets to that point if I try to cut much more than a 2x4. When cutting 4x4s yesterday, I went straight to the corded Dewalt which handled the job easily. Is it just the Ryobi recip saws? Or battery recips in general?

I have Bosch 6 1/2" 18V circular saw, does great for cutting 2x4 and plywood, shingles, and other light duty sawing. If I am cutting 4x4s it will do it but I prefer the electric Makita for the heavier wood. For reciprocating, I have the Bosch 12V "mini" and that has performed well - cut up an entire fiberglas tub surround - took two batteries but they are the smaller 1.5 mah type. For more serious demo work I get the electric Sawzall. Happy with the performance of these tools especially the 18V 1/2" impact driver.

 

[4570Man]

I went looking for a thread about battery vs. electric tools, but maybe this is the one I was thinking of. I get confused easily these days. The only other one I could find was on gas vs. electric.

Found a situation where electric wins out, hands down. Maybe it's the brand, the tool type or the task, not sure. Got a lime green Ryobi recip saw. It works OK, but only for short duty cycles, cutting small things. For sustained cutting, it gets too hot. The first one I had started smoking from the motor area after about a half hour, so I had it replaced by HD. This one almost gets to that point if I try to cut much more than a 2x4. When cutting 4x4s yesterday, I went straight to the corded Dewalt which handled the job easily. Is it just the Ryobi recip saws? Or battery recips in general?

I have a cordless Makita recip saw and a Portercable corded version. The Makita doesn’t overheat and last pretty good on batteries. I haven’t used the corded version in years. Cutting a single 4x4 would be a piece of cake cutting 20 would be doable but at that point I’d be getting my miter saw. One tool that I find myself getting the corded version is a circular saw. The cordless does a pretty good job but the blade speed is low and the corded does a cleaner job. Next job it wins is where binding the blade is going to happen. Not binding the blade is very important on the cordless because it can’t power through that. Now the cordless has the obvious advantage on portability and ease of use because it’s a lot lighter.

 

[PILOON]

A true tool junky never has enough tools!
His excuse is you need the right tool for the job and every job has a special need.

You name it, Snap On as the right tool for U and now days you need a computer to select your proper tool.

Gone are the days of Vice Grips and a hammer.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I have a 35 year old Milwaukee sawzall that still works perfect but haven't touched it since I got the Makita cordless recip saw. It cuts faster than the old Milwaukee, has a much easier blade change, never gets warm, and I've never needed to change batteries to get a job done. Plus of course no cord to drag around and fool with up on a ladder.

 

[Diggin It]

That brings up a question. Is there a kit to convert the Allen screw type blade clamp to the newer lever type?

 

[BukitCase]

Yes, there are several - Visa, Mastercard, Amex....

Seriously tho, never seen one and "mad scientist" tho I tend to be, I wouldn't know where to even start... Steve