Tools & equipment that are fantastic.

[ArlyA]

I will say, a few tools from HF seems to do fine. I'd guess they have upped there quality over the years.

 

[scootr]

Same good ryobi experience here. I have 30 yr old 18v drills, saws, flashlights, and more that were used in daily trades and now still serve me. Makita was another good brand of battery power tools. My buddy has an array of 20v Dewalt drills and ratchets that work great. I have a 40 yr old HF 4" bench sander that is still going.
Corded angle grinders from Dewalt and Makita working great after more than 20 yrs.

 

[jjeff]

I own a cheap corded Hitachi, a recorded variable speed metabo when they built real quality imo, two cordless DeWalts,one 18 one 20 volt and a corded Makita. I own 3 larger 7-9" grinders and polishers, Milwaukee, a Ridgid and a older variable speed Makita for polishing. Most now make funny bearing noises but all still work and work good for my needs, only grinders that failed completely was a cheap Chicago electric hf brand (gear box exploded) and a larger 7-9" hf polisher/grinder. One thing about being a self proclaimed deal finding tool horder, is certain tool brands i shy away from especially if at auction or used, brand names I'm familiar with from experiences using them Ill buy without much hesitation, if the price is right unless it's a used battery pack which ill always buy new during promos. Recently talked about a Lincoln 140c welder that never operated correctly despite owning and using a few Lincoln welders over the years that were problem free, I'll never consider buying a Lincoln welder again and will now stick with Hobart, same with certain tools of the HF brand.

 

[Gator6x4]

I have an old Craftsman angle grinder, still works. I also have a DeWalt Angle grinder that works. The only time I have had a battery or electrical tool fail was the battery died and the replacement battery cost was more than a new tool on sale. Now I have dropped several tools and had to replace them. Seems the suddenness of stopping or the impact on a concrete floor is something that they didn’t like and they cracked or broke.

 

[ArlyA]

I have an old Craftsman angle grinder, still works. I also have a DeWalt Angle grinder that works. The only time I have had a battery or electrical tool fail was the battery died and the replacement battery cost was more than a new tool on sale. Now I have dropped several tools and had to replace them. Seems the suddenness of stopping or the impact on a concrete floor is something that they didn’t like and they cracked or broke.

When 4.5 grinders make funny bearing noises, 90% of the time it's the angle gears have gone dry. Pull the arbor cap off and add some.

 

[jjeff]

When 4.5 grinders make funny bearing noises, 90% of the time it's the angle gears have gone dry. Pull the arbor cap off and add some.

Definitely put it on my list of projects I should do. If it's real bad should I also add some sawdust j.k. lol.

 

[5030]

I have a friend who has a steel fabrication business. He told me that angle grinders, don’t last that long for him, no matter what brand. He used to buy the better tools, but now buys HF angle grinders. He said that HF grinders last only half as long as his better tools, but he can buy 4 of them for the price of one better grinder.

All my angle grinders are air powered, nt electric and I've found from hands on experience that the HF line of air grinders are the exact copy of the IR units at about half the price so that is what I buy.

Buying any tool is entirely my choice (it's my money) and I pay little attention to other's opinions on here and elsewhere concerning any of them. I do use TTC (Torque Test Channel) as a sounding board often times but not 100% of the time.

IMO, Ryobi tools suck big time as well. Had a couple that puked pretty quick and went to the landfill.

 

[ArlyA]

Definitely put it on my list of projects I should do. If it's real bad should I also add some sawdust j.k. lol.

One of my 20yo ones started to "rattle" and thought it was on its last leg. Took it apart and found the grease was to thick to be on the gears. Got another dated one from parents that sounded the same. Left old grease in and added some new on top. Just like new!

 

[5030]

One thing I do with EVERY gearbox on EVERY tool I buy before I even use it is, I take it apart and clean out all the Chineseum wannabe grease and replace all of it with real synthetic EP grease. Always. Cheap Chineseum grease looks like thick Soy sauce and stinks too. I don't wait for them to rattle, I do that right away. By the time they start rattling, the damage is already done. Even the one cheapo HF corded 4.5" grinder I have an have beat on forever, is quiet as a mouse and never gets hot either.

No point in waiting until the 'horse is out of the gate' to rectify what will become an issue, no matter what and that applies to even the cheapo throw away grinders.

 

[jjeff]

Yeah as an occasional purveyor of more complicated cheap Chinese junk ill usually go out of my way to make it more durable and keep it somewhat functional, including adding a little bit of synthetic two stroke to gas on Chinese knock off 4 strokes during initial break in. Snow drift but had good results using quality lubricants, occasionally welding extra bracing and gussets in, using higher quality fasteners etc.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

One thing I do with EVERY gearbox on EVERY tool I buy before I even use it is, I take it apart and clean out all the Chineseum wannabe grease and replace all of it with real synthetic EP grease. Always. Cheap Chineseum grease looks like thick Soy sauce and stinks too. I don't wait for them to rattle, I do that right away. By the time they start rattling, the damage is already done. Even the one cheapo HF corded 4.5" grinder I have an have beat on forever, is quiet as a mouse and never gets hot either.

No point in waiting until the 'horse is out of the gate' to rectify what will become an issue, no matter what and that applies to even the cheapo throw away grinders.

I had a twenty-year-old Dodge Dart, which had never been out of Vegas, when I was going to college in the late 80s. It rained and the wipers blew the fuse when I turned them on. So, that weekend, I tore into it, and being in the starving student mode, couldn't afford a rebuilt wiper motor. So, I tore the old one apart to see what was wrong. The brushes weren't even worn in, little alone worn out. Turned out the grease was so dry it was hard and jammed the gears. Cleaned out the old grease and put in some new. It worked for the next decade, when I finally paid off my college debt, and saved up enough to buy a new car.

 

[Oaktree]

Turned out the grease was so dry it was hard and jammed the gears. Cleaned out the old grease and put in some new. It worked for the next decade, when I finally paid off my college debt, and saved up enough to buy a new car.

Did something similar with the rear hatch wiper motor on a 90s-vintage Grand Cherokee I had. The lube in the shaft bushing would turn to glue and bind up. Half hour job to remove, disassemble, clean and re-lube and it was good as new.

 

[Oaktree]

Buying any tool is entirely my choice (it's my money) and I pay little attention to other's opinions on here and elsewhere concerning any of them. I do use TTC (Torque Test Channel) as a sounding board often times but not 100% of the time.

IMO, Ryobi tools suck big time as well. Had a couple that puked pretty quick and went to the landfill.

And that's why arguments on who makes the "best" tool, truck, tractor, etc. are very much YMMV. I've never gotten a bad Ryobi tool, HF's been about 50/50, and their QC seems to be iffy at best.
Good luck finding a battery for a discontinued line of HF tools, Ryobi has used backwards-compatible batteries on their 18v line for 20 or so years. In fact, that's how I got started with them...someone had given me a couple tools that didn't have batteries. Discovered that the current line of batteries fit them just fine and never had any reason to go anywhere else.

 

[5030]

Whatever blows your dress up I guess...

 

[5030]

I've only had ONE Bauer cordless tool fail and it was replaced. no questions asked and I recently replaced ALL my welding machines with HF's top line IGBT welders including the 2 Hyper Therm plasma cutters and so far (and I use my welders a lot), I've had no issues at all. I even added an Everlast TIG cooler and CK Worldwide series 19 water cooled torch to the Pro-Tig 205 TIG welding machine. I sold the Hyper Therm plasma cutters simply because the consumables got out of sight cost wise, especially the 'Fine Cut' consumables. Lets see, I now own a Pro-Tig 205 with a water cooled torch, 2 Titanium plasma cutters, one for hand use and the other is coupled to my CNC plasma table and I purchased everything and had a wad of money left over from the sale of my Lincoln Square Wave TIG machine and the 2 Hyper Therm cutters and I even threw in a full 120 CuFt bottle of inert gas and the regulator with the deal. Not that the Lincoln Square Wave was a bad machine because it was not but the Pro-Tig is a much better and more versatile machine, 100% digital readout and many presets to eliminate fiddling plus the foot pedal on the Pro-Tig is light years better that the Lincoln. Finally, I have a 3 year replacement guarantee on all of them. Not that I anticipate any issues as I've been running the bags out of all of them and so far, no issues what so ever. In fact the Pro-Tig develops a much more stable and smooth arc and is much easier to light off the Tungsten with.

IGBT machines are the only way to fly today. Very efficient electrically and much, much lighter than any comparable transformer machine.

 

[MossRoad]

Tool that has paid for itself over and over again...

 

[Gator6x4]

Tool that has paid for itself over and over again...

View attachment 871180

I have two of those I think. Purchased the second one when I could not find the first one. Now you know I found the first one after purchasing the second one. A couple of week ago I was looking for one of them to pick up something on the floor. Guess what? I said the He** with this it is metal use the magnet to grab it up off the floor.

 

[wilso]

Does anyone have any experience with the Penn Tool Co tools? I've recently come across its site and found several items I became interested in. But I never tried this brand. Of course, I can contact penn tool co customer service but it would be great to find out real people's experiences.

 

[jjeff]

So making a somewhat valid effort to organize, and clean my tinkering shop this weekend came across the the most fantastic tool box and tools in my hoarding inventory. Manufactured in the USA by a three or four old at the time however no child labor laws were broken. Its now permanently hanging on my shop wall.

 

[gsganzer]

I travel and commission new power plants and other power generation and oil/gas process equipment. I'm always looking for the perfect travel bags for my tools/meters. I have the typical Pelican Air case for packing/hauling my stuff as checked baggage when flying. But for the job site itself, I always like a tool bag for walking out and around the site/process equipment.

I wanted to share this company that makes some awesome tool bags, meter bags etc. This stuff is well made and well thought out. Definitely made for the trades.

Veto Pro Pac Bags