Crappy tools

Hilti... the answer is Hilti.

Yep. I had some holes to drill in relatively green concrete. I bough a hammer drill from HF. It just flat didn't drill worth a damn in the concrete. I gave up and borrowed a Bosch drill. It worked 10 times better. Then I found a used Hilti...That thing drills concrete better than the HF drill does wood. Yep it cost a bit more but I've got a drill that will drill holes when I want to and not just help me learn new cuss words.

Stu

I have a massive B&D commercial quality, the sort that'll take you for a ride if the drill snags. One of the brush holders broke. I've drawn the broken part up in CAD, it's on my TODO list... In the mean time, I bought another even bigger one at a yard sale that uses a #2MT, and came with a 1/2" chuck. I'd bet both are nearly as old as me (low 50's)

Some time back I wrote about my experience with a cheapo 1/2" electric impact wrench. It was noisy as hell, sounded like a rock crusher. Took it apart to find that wasn't far from the truth, someone had intentionally put grit into the gearbox/impact mechanism! Cleaned and regreased, it sounded just fine. Sold it for $20 at my last yard sale, which paid for the nice Makita 1/2" electric I found at another yard sale!

Jon

I bought a nice old 1/2" slow speed drill (deifinitely will pull your wrist if it snags) for $5 on ebay, picked up near my house. I have been happy with my dewalt drill however.

i

Megabucks - the answer is megabucks.

I could have bought a nice Hilti hammerdrill tonight for $60, but it was hammer only - and I really need a 1/2 drill more than I need a hammer-drill at the moment.

What model is hammer only??? I've never seen one.

TM7S-VSR is what you want. Used to be able to get it for about $200 US.

Excellent score! I seldom see anything of interest on ebay that's close enough to pick up. One of the downsides to rural living....

Jon

I seldom see anything worth buying on ebay as well. But I keep looking. Sometimes things work out great.

i

Found my OLD B&D 1/2 inch in a salvage yard. It was locked up and had a questionable cord. Looked OK so I grabbed it off the pile. Brought it home, took it apart and found a small piece of swarf stuck in the motor. Cleaned it out and put a newer cord on it and started drilling holes. I made a new dead-handle for it.

Works GREAT...

Didn't go look at it, but it is over 15 years old and the seller said "hammer only" It's on the kitchener waterloo KIJIJI.ca site.

On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:55:56 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus22050 scrawled the following:

I'm up over 350 items bought, usually for 5-25% of the cost, and about half of them brand new. I learned how to do late bidding very early on, as I learned to limit my bids to rational figures for the get-go. Works for me. I lost about 30 bids recently on valid copies of MS Office 2007 Professional, finally winning one for $150. Retail is $499.95 from M$.

A client gave me a nice tip and suggested strongly that I get a copy of Office to work with her, so I did...on her!

Yeah, I just checked and my feedback # is 377. I have been very happy with 370 of those purchases, happy with 4 more, and have returned 3, with money back in all cases. I didn't get my return shipping fees from the last return, though. Overall, I'm way, way ahead with eBay purchases.

OK, there are dozens of things I see and want on eBay but the unwashed yuppie bidders run the prices way up. I find them elsewhere for much less, which is alright with me, too.

-- There is no such thing as limits to growth, because there are no limits to the human capacity for intelligence, imagination, and wonder. --Ronald Reagan

You have precisely the right attitude. My buyer feedback is 1043 (my buying and selling accounts are separate), and selling feedback is

1348, 100%. Someone said, if you win a lot of auctions, you are paying too much.

I try to use the same approach in investing, too.

i

I've bought at least that much. Buying on ebay has been a genuine benefit to my business. It's finding worthwhile items on ebay that are close enough to pick up that's rare. And there's been a LOT of things on ebay I would have bid on, but seller stipulated pick up only, no shipping. Driving to Michigan in the winter in a Ford Escort to pick up a lathe is not exactly a workable proposition...

Jon

I am happy with the Makita I bought for around $50.00 about 20+ years ago at the Pascal's outlet in Brampton. Junior's FiL has the exact same dual range, variable speed, reversible with or without hammer action 1/2" drill and has used it a lot more than I've used mine, and his is still going strong. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

My TM7S-VSR is around 15 years old. It is a hammer drill (as opposed to rotary hammer), 1/2" chuck, selectable hammer drill or drill only, and hi/lo gear range.

The only Hiltis that I'm aware of that aren't selectable to a drill only mode are the really big stuff like TE-72. I'd recommend looking up the model number in question on the Hilti site to get the correct information.

On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:16:05 -0800, the infamous Jon Anderson scrawled the following:

Yeah, heavy, pick-up-only items usually go for a song. Driving to the Midwest any time is not high on my To-Do list, either.

Locally, stores wanted $13 and change for a simple freakin' 3-way light switch. (I wanted to pee on the displays.) Trotted home and got on eBay, found them (brand new, of course) for $2.95 each. I ordered 2 and paid a total, with shipping of $9.30, doubling my order and saving $4 by not using the local guy. I'll give the local guy an extra buck or two, but not TEN. Grrrr...

-- There is no such thing as limits to growth, because there are no limits to the human capacity for intelligence, imagination, and wonder. --Ronald Reagan

so, if you want a really nice hammer drill, my friend just asked me to sell off one for him - a Red Head 747 - in a metal case with a pile of accessories - is this made by Bosch? it says ITT, but maybe Bosh bought out their tool division - it's certainly heavy and rugged and ought to do the trick

and he also asked me to sell this RAMSET thingie for him:

Damn right. I've used a few different hammer drills in my life but my brother's Hilti is sweet. He has good taste in tools when he uses them to earn a living.

Milkwaukee isn't bad if Hilti is to pricey.

Wes

One Hilti bit costs as much as some hammer drills.

Steve