Power tools Milwaukee vs Chicago

Chicago Electric is Harbor Freight's line of tools with a name chosen to obviously confuse people with the Milwaukee brand name. They do that with other lines too. Central Pneumatic is not Chicago Pneumatic, Chicago being the recognized brand name in this case.

That said, they may get the job done or they may require repair out of the box. For Harbor Freight, the fewer moving parts the better although they can screw up a machinists vise.

I've got an electric impact driver that I bought for one project. It survived and has come in handy several times. A pancake air compressor blew out the regulator after a couple of uses. I didn't need a regulated supply, so i replumbed it and it's still goign strong. A floor jack spit out the cradle when the rivet broke on first use. A bolt fixed that.

The wrenches aren't too bad. I use them for tool sets on the bikes. If they get ripped off it isn't a big losws.

some people love HF, some hate it. It has it's uses but go in with your eyes open. Fortunately there is a local store so I can fondle the items first hand rather than playing mail order roulette.

You do know parts are available to solve your blade loosening problem ? IIRC it's just a collar and an allen screw , might cost all of 15 bucks .

The new Milwaukee Sawzall has a clipin blade too - and using a star washer on the allen screw keeps it from backing out on the old one. Mine has to be AT LEAST 40 years old

Sawzall have had a turn and snap type for a quarter of a century. My 50th Anniversary Super Sawzall has one and that was purchased in 1999.

Still sticking with Milwaukee.

Considering the tightening screw is 40 years old, it's probably worn a bit. They did supply a second one that I just put in. Maybe that will solve the minor problem.

Yes. I think the allen screw was just a bit worn

Duh, start washer

thank you

OK chances are I will never have to replace the one I have

Probably not. OTOH, I have one from Harbor Freight and the plastic is starting to crack, even though haven't abused it. (Still, it probably won't break before I'm done with it, or I'm done.)

When I was a kid, I used a hand drill and one day I was shocked to see that my dad spent maybe $10 to buy a Black and Decker power drill.

I still have it but mostly now use a cordless.

As far as maintenance, I did once have to take the B&D apart to oil it.

You still had the screw they gave you 40 years ago?!!!! I'm good at saving things for a long time, but things that small eventually get mixed in and can't be found.

I would have likely gotten the "smart idea" to tape it to the inside of the handle (after unscrewing the handle) so I wouldn't lose it - and then 15 years later when the tape let go and the handle started to ratle, I'd have taken it apart and found the loose screw, and forgetting "I" had put it there and what it was for, have torn the whole tool apart trying to findwhere it had come from, then put it back together and tossrd the screw into anold coffee can of screws - where I would have found it when looking for a screw to fix something totally unrelated 5 or 10 years later - - - -

ROTFL

Considering that it never comes out...no mystery

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I was talking about the second one!

except the "spare" screw supoplied 40 years ago was never installed until just recently - as you would understand if you actually read the post - - -

Duh.

Anyway it was still in a sealed bag

I think the star washer was good advice that I should have thought of