What about Shars Tools?

[devils4ever]

Besides the 6" caliper I just bought from them, I have their 12" digital caliper. It is really, really nice. The jaw is very smooth moving. It's not quite a Starrett or Mitutoyo, but it's very close.

So far, I'm impressed with everything I've bought from them. I place them in between the low-end Chinese stuff and the high-end Starrett and Mitutoyo stuff, but much nearer to the high-end.

 

[Al 1]

It won't help with out-of-stock items, but quite often you can purchase from them on ebay (discount_machine is Shars) for less than buying the same tool on the Shars web site.

I have done the same. Better price when purchased from Ebay. , same product.

 

[rabler]

I’ve been watching for their Tegara 690V vise to come back into stock

 

[Jake P]

I bought a Shars DTI a few months back and recently bumped it hard enough that it's now erratic in it's readings. Looking into having it repaired I came to the conclusion that it was not worth it and the best was to just get another one. This was a .0005 resolution DTI.

I got my second this past Friday and promptly went to put it in my Noga arm on the mill and it would not fit in the dovetail holder. Upon inspection all three of the dovetails are oversized enough that it will not fit in either of my three Noga arms. The first one fits just fine. The two adapters that came with it for other mounting options are both milled oversized to fit the DTI. And the adapters from the first one (the one that fits the Noga's just fine) also will not fit on the new DTI.

I've sent an email to Shars, so I'm very curious to see what they have to say about it.

 

[pineyfolks]

I have some of their toolholders and they were fine. Lately I've been finding a lot of offshore items out of stock or on backorder. I was looking at a harbor freight toolbox and they won't be in until November.

 

[Jake P]

I bought a Shars DTI a few months back and recently bumped it hard enough that it's now erratic in it's readings. Looking into having it repaired I came to the conclusion that it was not worth it and the best was to just get another one. This was a .0005 resolution DTI.

I got my second this past Friday and promptly went to put it in my Noga arm on the mill and it would not fit in the dovetail holder. Upon inspection all three of the dovetails are oversized enough that it will not fit in either of my three Noga arms. The first one fits just fine. The two adapters that came with it for other mounting options are both milled oversized to fit the DTI. And the adapters from the first one (then one that fits the Noga's just fine) also will not fit on the new DTI.

I've sent an email to Shars, so I'm very curious to see what they have to say about it.

I got an email from Shars at 0700 my time (pacific), so they were on the case first thing this morning. They told me that they would try to get replacement out right away with return for the one in my possession now.

So that's a great response in a very timely manner! It's my first time dealing with any issue from Shars. I've only made three purchases from them do far and they have shipped very quickly each time.

 

[macardoso]

I have been buying from Shars for years and consider them more or less my one stop shop for hobby machining supplies.

They are more expensive than a lot of bottom-of-the-barrel import vendors, but their quality and service is quite a bit better. On the few rare occasions where I got a product with an issue, they made it right.

Shipping is comparable to "normal" shipping costs such as Grainger or McMaster Carr. It isn't the free shipping we are used to but it is fine. Makes me plan a bit more for when I want to place an order.

They have an ebay store "Discount Machine" that sells a subset of their website items, sometimes at reduced prices or free shipping.

I highly recommend Shars.

 

[macardoso]

I'll add one more comment. There seems to be different quality levels on shars. Thinking back almost 10 years ago they used to sell some really cheap stuff that was poor quality (I'm thinking about indexable tools and vises specifically). Then they started offering some nicer vises and newer indexable tool holders with nice laser engraved data - higher cost obviously. Now they carry some high end name brands too, and some of the cheapest stuff is discontinued. Looks like they are slowly climbing the ladder of quality, with prices climbing as well. I bet this is true for a lot of their products.

The indexable tool holders I've received lately are superb in fit and finish, especially compared to the exact same SKU purchased years earlier.

 

[Janderso]

it would not fit in the dovetail holder

I have had that problem as well. =cheap Ebay DTI

 

[WobblyHand]

Since this thread is still active, wanted to report that Shars (discount-machine) refunded my money for the digital height tool, including shipping! They admitted their listing mistake (new stock no longer matched their description) and made good. Will buy from them again.