This Harbor Freight clone of a Fein MultiMaster tool is on special this Black Friday for $39.99. I was there when the doors opened and had to jostle my way through the throng of maybe eight people waiting to get in.
The manager had to dig some of these from the backroom and the store did not yet have the replacement packs of attachments.
That said, I got it home and opened the box.
The tool weighs about three pounds and seems VERY sturdy. It's larger than a Dremel, but it still fits in the hand comfortably.
The tool comes with a set of blades (bits? attachments? thingies?), a set of spare motor brushes, an allen wrench for changing the blades, and a couple of pieces of sandpaper. Oh, and a 16-page booklet of warnings ("Do not use under water," "Not for use on over-ripe fruit").
The supplied attachments include:
- A 1" cutting blade
- Another cutting blade
- A Pac-Man shaped cutting blade
- A scraper blade (semi-flexible)
- A sanding block and a couple of bits of sandpaper.
Usage is straightforward: Attach the desired blade (and apply a lot of torque to the allen screw!), plug it in, turn it on. It cuts wood very quickly, it sands like you suspect it would. Interestingly, the cutting blades have no kerfs or sharp edges. They're merely serrated.
The sanding block and the supplied sandpaper operate on a faux-Velcro principle.
I haven't tried removing tile, cutting pipes, or removing grout, but I'm sure the tool would do those jobs quite well.
Using an allen wrench to change bits seems a bit primitive, but no more so than a regular wrench to change out a router bit or angle-grinder wheel.
So far, in my modest remodeling efforts, I've undercut about a zillion door frames in order to install flooring. I wish I'd had one of these tools - it will make the effort for the remaining targets so much easier.
I've never used the Fein tool, but, after watching the Fein demo video, it seems as if the HF tool will duplicate exactly the Fein's antics.
------- P.S. While I was out at dark-thirty a.m., I picked up the 5-gallon wet-dry vac at Walmart ($15.00). I tried it out. More than adequate suckage.
P.P.S. I noticed that one person was trampled to death (and the doors ripped off the wall) at a Long Island Walmart this morning. Nothing like that happened here, possibly because a quarter of the shoppers carry guns. Sample conversations: "May I have that last X-Box you're holding?" "Certainly. Be my guest."