Harbor Freight Rotary Tool

Today's Harbor Freight add in our Sunday magazine has an 80 pc Rotary Drill Set for $6.99. The ad shows a drill and a mess of drills. Can I assume that the drill itself is part of the 80 pieces??? I know the quality will be typical Harbor Freight, at best, but for the few uses I would give it I don't need craftsman (or is it craftperson) quality. And I don't mean Sear's Craftsman.

Reply to
hrhofmann
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Yes. I do model making. It is fine for small jobs like that. My larger Harbor Freight "Dremel" tool, of course, is for larger stuff.

Reply to
deadgoose

It would be good if you gave the link. I think I know what you mean but since I'm not sure it's the same, I'm not going to talk about mine.

It's hard to keep track becaues all drills are rotary.

Yes, and the case too**, but if there are 80 pieces, what difference does one or two make?

**But not the plastic bag the drill is in. And not the instructions either.
Reply to
mm

If it pictures the drill motor, you get the drill motor.

But like others have said, don't bother. It's only worth about $1.99 on a good day. The motor is weak, fit and finish is poor. It won't even get your one job done.

Reply to
mkirsch1

OK - I'll pass on it. There was no link to show, it was a paper adv in the Sunday supplement magazine.

Reply to
hrhofmann

Of course there's a link...there's *always* a link. ;-)

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Reply to
DerbyDad03

I think I found it:

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Described as 20 dollars marked down to 10, but no one plays more games with prices than HF. Still, 7 is as cheap as it will get, IF it is the same as this.

I have the one that is one size bigger, from them that plugs straight into the wall, and has a bent body at the rear. I have never used a real Dremel, but mine doesn't seem to have much power. Still it holds little things like the accessories below and it spins, and when my door latch was installed so the door wouldn't latch, I used it and a small grindstone to get the thing to latch. Took ten minutes at least, but going slow can be a good thing. Some things I would just do while watching tv. But that was one size up from this one.

  • 16000 RPM * 1mm, 3mm, 3/32", 1/8" collets * Spindle lock for easy collet changes

Accessories: 25 cutoff wheel discs

1 mandrel for cutoff wheels 4 polishing cloth wheels 1 mandrel for polishing cloths 1 carbide burr 4 drill bits 4 piece collet set 2 sanding drum wheels 4 sanding drum sleeves 1 mounted nylon brush 2 wire brush wheels (steel and brass) 10 aluminum oxide mounted grinding stones 1 grinding stone 20 diamond burr bits AC/DC adapter with 55" cord 120 volts, 60 Hz Amps: 0.7 no load 1.2 load, 0.6 start up Rotary tool dimensions: 4-13/16" L x 1-3/8" diameter Shipping Weight: 1.30 lbs.
Reply to
mm

Of course, for $6.99 you'd get a bunch of "accessories" for your Dremel.

There's gotta be more than $6.99 worth of bits, cut-off wheels, collets, mandrels, etc. if you had to buy them separately.

On a related note, how come there's never any spare collet wrenches hanging with the Dremel accessories at the home centers? At least not at mine.

On a related related note, I keep a small flat blade screwdriver in my Dremel kit. It's much easier to use than the screwdriver end of the collet wrench for changing the always-shattering cut off wheels and other mandrel mounted accessories.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

re: " I have never used a real Dremel..."

You should try one. I'm sure you'd be quite surprised at the difference between the HF Rotary Tool and a real Dremel.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

It's hard to say. First I'd have to find a need to use one. Then I'd have to find one to borrow. I can't buy every tool that is useful. I don't have the money. I don't even have the space anymore. :)

Reply to
mm

Exactly. I almost bit just for the attachments for my Dremels, but shied away because of shipping costs and because I just don't need them NOW. Next time I see it on sale I'll drive the 20 minutes to pick it up at the local HF, and get some of their other throwaway garbage. I've been there once, and it's a cheap tool mecca. My kid is a professional suspension mech, and has Snap-on, Matco, etc, but still buys some tools there. Stuff like prybars and wrenches he cuts down. He laughed at the Snap-on guy who wanted about a hundred bucks for a

30" prybay. You might even make do with their cheap cold chisel sets if you torch the cutting edges and quench and temper them properly. But I have $150 in Sears giftcards, so I'll use that for the most used hand tools. I lost my old simple slip-joint Craftsman pliers and miss them badly. Good teeth, good grips. Looks like somebody took most of my visegrips too.

--Vic

Reply to
Vic Smith

That is NOT the adv that was in our sunday paper magazine!!! So there!!!!

Reply to
hrhofmann

You might never need a Dremel, or know you need it. Best use I've found is the cutoff wheel on the flex extension to get in tight spots where it's hard to get a hacksaw in. Got the Dremel as a gift. Always wanted one, so I dropped hints. When I realized I had it, I put it to use. But I've only used it a few times. My son uses his much more doing automotive work, and had gone through most of his accessories and mine. I managed fine without it.

--Vic

Reply to
Vic Smith

I like cheap prybars. Either they work, or if not, nothing compares to the feeling of having bent steel with my bare hands.

Visegrips, definiteky better than the cheap imitations.

Reply to
mm

I'm confused...you said you have a HF version and that it doesn't have much power.

Therefore you must use it...therefore you must have a need to use one.

What am I missing?

Reply to
DerbyDad03

But it still worked, and I haven't used it since that one time. Maybe it took 15 minutes instead of 10, I don't know. And there's an advantage to going slower; it meant I checked more often in terms of amount removed and took off only as much as needed. If it had been more powerful, I think I'm more likely to have taken off more than was needed.

I've only used it once, 2 or 3 years after I bought it. I'm willing to spend some money for a tool I haven't used when I can predict that I will use it. But if the cheap model didn't exist, I would have waited until it was definitely needed before buying the more expensive Dremel.

I also could have removed the strike plate from my front door jamb and used a regular file to enlarge the hole. That would have meant putting the strike plate back on every time I wanted to test it, but maybe I could have marked a line on the strike plate, with crayon or nail polish on the triangular bolt, and gotten it the first or second time.

Above. BTW, before I bought the HF device, I made one from a spare sewing machine motor and a hand-held flexible extension to an electric drill. Like this, without the foot control, and lower quality:

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of the low quality of the extension and thus the internal friction, and the low power of the motor, it had very little power. I had the parts, so it cost me nothing. I had it for 10 years without even needing it, but I concluded it would take maybe 10 or 20 times as long as the cheap HF device that I later bought.

BTW2, when I searched for the OP's item in HF, I didn't come across mine. I suppose if I knew what to call it, I could find it. Unless the OP's model has replaced mine, but mine plugs straight into the wall and I think has more power than the little one with the 80-piece kit. (I wish I could search harbor freight on "Dremel substitute"!

Reply to
mm

hr(bob) snipped-for-privacy@att.net wrote the following:

You have to take a few of the responses with a grain of salt. To them, if it is not a Fein product, it is crap. I will admit that most , if not all, of HF products are made in China, but so are a lot of American branded tools, and probably using the same standards and in the same factories as the more popular tools.

Reply to
willshak

re: "If it had been more powerful, I think I'm more likely to have taken off more than was needed."

I don't know what features your device has, but my Dremel is variable speed. At it's lowest speed it would be tough to take off *anything*, never mind "more than was needed."

BTW...I lucked out. When I had to replace my old B&D rotary tool, after many years of what I thought was adequate service, I went to Lowes.

They had a $90 Dremel kit on sale for $75, with a free engraving tool, lots of accessories and a carrying case.

I had a few "return credit" cards in my wallet and a gift card from my kids.

I walked out with a Dremel kit similar to this one, but with more accessories and an engraving tool, for $7.

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Performance-wise it smoked the B&D rotary tool.

It's one of those tools that once you have a good one, you'll find all sorts of reasons to use it, from grinding the nub off of pill containers to make them non-childproof to carving pumpkins to cutting off rusted (and shortening new) bolts to cutting slots in stripped screws to spinning bearings to get them clean, etc. etc.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

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