Worthless Tools Gallery. What Tools do you regret buying?

The "Irwin 7 1/4" 15702ZR 6-Tooth Fiber Cut Cement Board Saw Blade" total junk. It didn't make it through 2ft of cement backer board before it shed all 6 of it's carbide teeth. JUNK JUNK JUNK!
 
In my younger days bought a nice shiny yellow no-name emt/conduit cutter. So frigging bad no matter how hard ya try to guide and finesse it it just spirals its way down the pipe as its rotated. Lol. Not sure why its still hanging next to my real one!! I should toss it.
 
The "Irwin 7 1/4" 15702ZR 6-Tooth Fiber Cut Cement Board Saw Blade" total junk. It didn't make it through 2ft of cement backer board before it shed all 6 of it's carbide teeth. JUNK JUNK JUNK!


Not to break the spirit of the thread but, what do you use to cut cement board. I was gifted 28 4 x 8 sheets of cement siding, it has a wood grain on it, painted white (primer?) Plan on using it to line the blacksmith shop. I made a couple of cuts with a 7 inch metal cutting abrasive wheel in the skill saw, lots of dust and horribly slow. Picked up a masonry one, is it going to be any better?

Greg

Will post some of my useless purchases, will just have to think which were the worst.
 
HF transfer punches. They are too soft and the tips get dull in 6061 aluminum with one light whack. When the SB13" comes in I will drill a hole in the middle of them lengthwise and put in a long dowel pin. I can use the same pin for all the punches, and the punches will just act as a guide. Making it possible to transfer holes of thin materials. Or so that's the way it works in theory :)
 
My old transmig 130 finally started getting a bit variable in performance so I went for a brand new 3 in one from ebay.
Worse purchase I've ever made.
The first one arrived with burns on the mig tip but worked a treat, very smooth. I primarily use 0.6mm wire.
Then it stopped with no warning, working yesterday, not working today.
It was replaced under warranty and a brand new unit arrived within the week.
Awesome I thought.
No burn marks on the mig tip so yep, brand new.
First problem, wouldnt take .6 wire. numerous phone calls and emails ignored.
Made a new wheel to take the .6 but it wouldnt push the wire.
At least the .8 wire worked but thats too big a weld for most of my work.
You guessed it, the mig stopped working a month later.
Not a thing from the company total ignore.
At least the tig and stick work very well but I need the mig. I feel a mug.
The company is AGR Machinery and it appears from all the internet traffic that this is their normal modus operandi.
 
Not to break the spirit of the thread but, what do you use to cut cement board. I was gifted 28 4 x 8 sheets of cement siding, it has a wood grain on it, painted white (primer?) Plan on using it to line the blacksmith shop. I made a couple of cuts with a 7 inch metal cutting abrasive wheel in the skill saw, lots of dust and horribly slow. Picked up a masonry one, is it going to be any better?

Greg

Will post some of my useless purchases, will just have to think which were the worst.




For cutting that board I use a plywood blade in an old junkey skill saw that I keep for just shuch things. Where a dust mask and goggles the dust flyes.
 
In my younger days bought a nice shiny yellow no-name emt/conduit cutter. So frigging bad no matter how hard ya try to guide and finesse it it just spirals its way down the pipe as its rotated. Lol. Not sure why its still hanging next to my real one!! I should toss it.


i think i bought your conduit cutters twin.:banghead:
i tried to cut some 1/2" copper tubing for a air compressor repair job a few moons back.
has the same spiral cutter issue right out of the box.
i threw it out and finished the job with a hacksaw and small half round file to smooth out the cut.
i now have a Blue Point (Snap-On tools) mini tubing cutter and multiple Rigid tubing and pipe cutters of may sizes.
i would recommend either brand to anyone who would listen.
 
Actually fellows, worthless tools do have value. If some obnoxious soul wants to borrow a tool, just hand him that worthless piece of #%&! and tell him he can keep it. Chances are you may get rid of two problems at once. Mark
 
The solution is the Makita 18v litium ion tools. All my cordless stuff is now makita with the 18v, 3.0 AH , lithium ion batteries. They aint cheap, but worth every penny. Makes every other cordless tool that I've ever owned look like a kids toy. I don't say that lightly.

We liked ours so much we purchased a second one, so we don't have to fight over them. It's also useful to have one with a driver bit, and one with a pilot drill in it so you don't have to constantly change between them.

But back to the topic, tools I regret buying...

I had a small benchtop Ryobi drill press, it was horrid. I purchased a set of those TiN coated HSS cutters. They were pretty marginal (useable, but I think I have destroyed nearly every one of them). I have a Xacto jewelers saw that is so uncomfortable and badly designed that I am tempted to chuck it in the trash (and they are more expensive than better made models ???).

That's a pretty short list. Overall, I have had pretty good luck.
 
One thing the r/c care world taught me was if it aint a LIPO battery it aint worth using. Lipos hold the same power spec from start to finish more or less then they have a protection mode that cuts power back to tell you to charge it.
I have a real love/hate thing going on with my battery-powered portable tools. Several years ago I went whole-hog on 18v portables. They work great, fantastic.

The crappy batteries are the gotcha.

They're the older Ni-CD, always discharged before use, don't hold charge, can't find proper replacements, newer expensive replacements prevent the tools from fitting nicely in their boxes, and they're now nearly useless.

There is a battery rebuilding service, expensive, but no guaranty that they'll have any useful life.
 
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