Screwgun Recommendation

Good luck registering the Ridgid. Ridgid refused mine because the HD receipt wasn't adequate. Don't know what the hell they wanted as I chose not to fight this one.

I have one of the great Skil's too if we are talking the same model. It is automatic locking so when you don't give it power it locks the front automatically and you can use it as manual screwdriver. Too bad the batteries are so expensive and don't last.

I picked up a factory reconditioned DeWalt about 10 years ago for about what you would pay for the Harbor Freight clone. It has been trouble- free.

I am seeing the reconditioned screwguns at HIGHER prices than new ones at Lowes or HD.

No, we are not talking about the same model. Mine is a professional screwgun for screwing in drywall and decking.

I don't see any that use uncollated screws. The collated screws are VERY expensive compared to the loose screws and do not have the variety of styles and sizes available in loose boxed screws (trim screws for instance or pan head).

If you really like the Skil brand gun you have, try here for the part:

That has every part of the gun EXCEPT the specialized tool holder. If I had a metal lathe and carbide cutting tip I could turn down the shaft of a DeWalt bit holder

Don't machine shops do that sort of thing for people who hire them?

If it is really just one setup and one operation, how much would they charge?

I think they have metal lathes!

I bumped into a machine shop around here and auto parts stores have names, and the yellow pages.

Finding a reputable one who will do a small job like this and not charge half the price of a new gun is difficult. The charge for setup is more than the cost of the machining. What I need to find is more of a hobbist, not a business.

Not if they can get away with out

I have a 1/4 million in capital equipment, how much should I charge?

Seriously, unless you have a friend.......

have metal lathes!

According to Mike Dobony :

Something like that you can probably do while holding the bit in a drill against a grinding wheel and go slowly, dip the end in water frequently.

In other cases, you might be able to drive the shank out of the body far enough to work using a flat end punch and a decent hammer. If it falls out, glue it back in with epoxy.

Aha - look half way down

So, the OP should go there and only be willing to pay a reasonable price, and see if they'll do it. You don't get anywhere if you don't ask. He had sense enough to ask this ng for ideas. He should ask a mahcine shop guy.

This was partly rhetorical. A guy who isn't busy or wants to be a nice guy will charge what he thinks it is worth to the customer if he won't feel put upon doing so.

Welll you shouldn't charge 10,000 dollars. You can't expect to make a year's interest in 10 or 20 minutes.

If you have all this machinery, you don't go to other machine shops and you only know how much you would charge. I've always assumed that things I never bought before cost a lot of money, and I'm often wrong. This included foam rubber, lucite, and welding. The welding guys have thousands of dollars of equipement and a whole shop they own or rent and both of them wanted very little to do a welding job that took at least 20 minutes when one did it. (I priced the welding at one shop next to the place I expected to order the part, but when the time came had it done near where I live.)

If you can get a piece of hardened rod down .070+-.005 on the full length of

The wall is too thin on that type of bit holder. It must be a single piece of metal to be able to machine it to those dimensions and still last.

There I am with the same thing as the DeWalt, PLUS shipping and handling! From the picture I can tell that the diameter is too large!

I WORKED in a machine shop. A friend is the only option until I have the space and extra money to set up my own hobby machine shop. The lathe in question for the smallest size that would do this job, but not other wished-for projects is about $700 unless I can find one in an estate sale.

Depth adjust. I didn't have time to mess with this and needed it right away so I went ahead and bought the Ridgid.

Also, when should I ask the machine shop guy? When I loose the price of the gun anyway by taking off work to locate a machine shop that would do this for a reasonable price? I DON'T have any vacation time. I also need it by today, by this morning! Therefore I bought the Ridgid yesterday because of the low torque of the Harbor Freight gun.

Mike D.

According to Mike Dobony :

If you're using a grinder, water is just fine. The idea is to keep it cool.

Uh, no, take a look at the shank lengths. It's 1/4" hex stock, _not_ the outer diameter. #71433 would have probably done you, #71435 definately would.

If all you need is a bit like the Harbor Freight one referenced, I will do that for you. How many do you want done?

NO charge. You pay freight.

Email me off line and we will work it out.

camperkn at yahoo dot com