Bosch oscillating tool review

[Leon]

The older Fein's blades mounted like a circular saw blade, strictly friction fit, no lugs. If you want the non slip you need the adapter. I have not found the non lugs to be an issue however.

[notbob]

It's still better than having those sets "back ordered" then sent, one piece at a time, at min shipping fees. IOW, a complete shipping order fer each piece of a set. That's how Cooper Tools usta do it.

Infuriating! ;)

nb

[nailshooter41]

Mike, yes they have. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, and a well written review is worth about that much, check it out. This is a well wri tten article, and the comments at the bottom certainly reflect my feelings. Is this a solution to a problem that didn't exist? Is this a marketing p loy?

eview/

It has a drawing, and then a picture of the "3d system" blades with the lar ge concave cap that looks like an old beer bottle cap.

Here is a look at the various adapters for he new Starlock, including one f rom Festool. I would be PISSED OFF beyond reason to have a $500 - $650 Fes tool multitool only to find that to use certain blades I will need to buy s omething else, a frickin' adapter for a tool that worked great as designed.

From what I have read, Bosch CLAIMS that their new offering will still use any blade out there with the tool as purchased, no adapter required. Fein on the other hand makes no bones about it, you need the adapter to use the old style blades with their new system. Note too, they do mention in the r eview/article that there is speculation that the new blade configuration is nothing more than a market gimmick.

Regardless of Bosch/Fein's claim that they will lock up better (no empirica l evidence presented or found by me) and that they will reduce multitool in juries (huh?), I don't believe it.

It is obvious that these guys want back in the blade business. Repeat buye rs of consumables are what make some of these tools profitable beyond their actual utility. I think that Fein has made that clear with their now "top line" model that will not use any blades except their new configuration. N ow that the folks on the Pacific Rim have mastered their multi tool blade/a ccessory manufacturing I almost never buy the Fein/Bosch blades, or anyone else's. I have bought a bunch of these, and at $1.75 each they kill it.

p/B00YG84DJ6

When I got my first batch, I put them on a tool, and cut through 10 nails I shot into a board for testing purposes. Barely showed any wear. Cut thro ugh a couple of yellow pine 2x6s, then through another 5 nails. As with al l bi metals, the smaller teeth can make it a challenge to cut wood, but the se worked as well as expected. After all that, the blade still had a lot o f life left in it. Knowing that I could cut through sheet rock and into a

16 gauge plumbing shield, rip down the length of a nail that was used for a previous repair (like an 8d), cut downwards through a sole plate and nick concrete, and all the other stuff that happens to these blades during blind /plunge cuts, why would I spend $10 a piece when they could be ruined in a few seconds? The only blades that beat them out on the job, and I wouldn't want to live on the difference, is the Bosch or Fein. DeWalt, Dremel, HF, Lowe's (Blue Hawk) are OK to awful in quality. Besides, if I am going to spend that much for blades, I am going to the top of the chain for an extra couple of buck s.

BTW, lots of Youtube chatter about the Starlock system, some like it, some don't, like most, they use these tools once or twice a month (if at all), b ut the ones I watched don't consider the cost of consumables as part of too l ownership and cost to own. Saving $7 - $8 a blade or more can easily put you in the range of buying other tools you might need.

I guess this blade change business pisses me off as I have lost money on it in the past. I had industrial rated circular saws that I spent a /lot/ of money on that had diamond arbors. Remember the diamond knockouts on the s aw blades? Seen one lately? The new blades without the knockout were chea per and easier to make, and rendered the knockout obsolete, even though it was vastly superior at holding blades. Likewise, same deal on recip saws. Bought two saws that used blades that had an extra indexing and hold down notch stamped into the blade. They quit making the saw blades with the not ch in them, so the new blades (as we have now) wouldn't work as the peg in the saw chuck wouldn't allow the blade to sit flat when tightened. Had the same thing happen to my larger jig saw with an old Bosch I bought. I had to use Bosch blades as they had a slightly thicker shaft. An old Rockwell that was in the tool box for a while used the same blades. Then they start ed with "T" blades, and simply quit making the blades those saws used.

Each time these changes came about I was left holding tools that represente d a good sized investment that were useless after blades stocks ran out.

I think that with the millions of multi tools of all sorts (including Fein! ) that use the old system, blades and secondary market blades will continue to be available. Not too worried, but still pissed off at myself for buyi ng into tools that used only proprietary consumables. Never again.

Robert

[-MIKE-]

My Fein has the splines on the mount and all its blades have the slots.

[-MIKE-]

My Fein has what looks like the starlock mount. I guess I have a newer one.

[nailshooter41]

If you bought on or around late May of 2016, then it might be a Starlock. It would be marked as a Starlock machine.

If you can pick up a blade with the bottle cap top without touching the release/lock lever like this

you have a Starlock.

If your blades look like a bottle cap at the mounting head of the spindle like this

you have Starlock machine.

Robert

[Leon]

No lugs on mine, wanna trade? :-)

[-MIKE-]

Ok, now I get it. Well according to that page and what I see on the blades, they still fit my Fein. I just have to use two hands. The tool-less, quick fit lever on my Fein is certainly light years ahead of the old wrench method.

That new system certainly is slick, but it's certainly not enough to make me covet it or go trading in any time soon.

[-MIKE-]

you have a Starlock.

I do think it's thick in irony that they came out with a new "standard" blade to fit all multitools but there's still 3 different kinds. :-)

[nailshooter41]

Whoa... talk about an early model!! How old is that machine?

I believe you never had a problem with it. Think about it, all your circular saws use friction fit, and unless you have a dirty bushing the blades never slip.

OTOH, I thought the Fein machine started with the wavy pattern around the spindle hole, but no lugs. If it is these, I never saw any reason to change the configuration as I couldn't see how the blade could ever slip.

goo.gl/F24sDF

Robert

[Leon]

Got it in August 2006

I bought just as there was talk about the lugged model was soon to appear. found it on the internet for $306. It has the metal case and IIRC was considered the TOP. Had lots of sand paper and sanding profiles, e-cut blades, sound blade, and grout blade.

[J. Clarke]

Nope. My Fein is flat as a pancake in those areas. And the "adapter" is pretty much worthless unless you weld it on.

And yes, it is a problem. Circular saws turn in one direction, the one in which (if the saw is well designed) the friction tightens the bolt. The Fein oscillates, one direction tightens the bolt, the other loosens it. After a while no matter how much you tighten it, it comes loose. Doesn't help that it's tightened with a little dinky Allen wrench.

The blades you link are for the SuperCut, not the original MultiMaster.

[krw]

That's the nice thing about standards. There are so many to choose from! ;-)

[nailshooter41]

Never knew that the early Feins had nothing more than a friction fit. Trul y, that doesn't make any sense, and I can't figure out how the tool would e ver work for more than the lightest applications. I expect my multi tools t o be able to cut everything on the job without the blade coming loose, and even the cheap HFs do that just fine. They have crudely cut lugs (8) that hold the blades using a hardened, cupped washer held in place by a hex head screw.

Knowing that Fein was (is?) the undisputed king of oscillators, I have to s hake my head with wonder that all the heralded German engineering couldn't solve the problem of slick blade retainage surfaces /before/ the tool was f irst released decades ago. Surely that had to be an issue they realized in testing. I guess with nothing to compare it to, it was just accepted that blade slip page was the way the tool operated.

Robert

[J. Clarke]

Fein ultimately did recognize the issue and made a half-hearted attempt at a retrofit for the early tools--a little washer with four lugs on one side to engage the blade and some carbide grit on the other that was supposed to bite into the platen (or whatever you call the part that the blade is tightened against). Didn't work very well because you couldn't tighten it enough to get it to bite. Some people took a stick welder to the thing--one of these days I'm going to try that.

[Leon]

I think I have had mine slip ONE time and it simply was not tightened enough. The fact that the blade oscillates probably cancels the tendency to loosen, it tightens as much as it loosens. I recall talking to a factory rep about the new lug design that was to come out shortly. I wanted to know if I was going to want to wait. He of course said no, but he said that I would not be losing any advantage.

I think that if slippage had been a concern that the competition would not have come on so strongly when the patent for the non-lug model ran out.

[Leon]

Just another thought on this. If your patent runs out you need to "improve" the design so that you will have an advantage over the soon to come competition. Had slippage been a serious problem I think they would have addressed it some where in the 20 years before the patent ran out. It is not unusual for a manufacturer to give in to a perceived need that the customer wants, more of a marketing thing.

IIRC the time my blade loosened was when I had the blade turned a little left of the direct line of push, naturally the blade wanted to turn the attachment bolt in the loosening direction.

But with simply pushing the tool in line with the direction that the blade is pointed, I have not has a loosening issue since.

Also, and this may be the trick too, the rep that I spoke to indicated to not simply push the blade and tool straight into the work. He indicated to also use a slight back and forth motion to help clear the teeth. I did find that the tool cuts faster when using that motion.

[J. Clarke]

You're either very lucky or have the muscles of a gorilla if you've never had the blade on a first generation Fein pop loose in the middle of a cut.

[-MIKE-]

Believe it or not, my HF tool did *not* have those lugs and it rarely loosened. I know HF added them at some point, but I have the model without.

[Leon]

I really believe the lugs are a feature that is not necessary unless you tend to be hard on the tool, and maybe not even then.