Worthless Tools Gallery. What Tools do you regret buying?

[gr8legs]

I have a couple of air chisels that seemed like a good idea 35 years ago, but never really get used. I bought them for cutting and separating exhaust system parts. They *will* work for that, but there are many other tools that work better. Even at that time, an oxy-acetylene cutting torch was faster and easier, and nowadays plasma.

Both of my air chisels still work like new (I keep them well oiled), but they haven't been used for an actual job in over 30 years. I smile when I walk through the DIY stores and see new air chisels amongst the other air tools. I wonder who is buying them and what they are using them for.

GG

Air chisels are wonderful for reclaiming used masonry bricks - put a regulator in the air line to drop the pressure to 30-50 psi (ymmv) and the chisel will peel off old mortar like string cheese. We got a couple hundred used bricks cheap for a walkway project and the air chisel was a godsend.

Subsequently used one to remove mortar in a chimney to facilitate remove/replace a brick or two.

Definitely wear your safety glasses AND face shield. Projectiles everywhere!

 

[mws]

Good question. It was explained to me about 50 years ago by my shop teacher. Always put a 0 reading (like 0 to 1) mic away with it open a bit, (maybe 0.025 or so) so that if the temperature changes, the mic won't expand and spring the mic frame. There may be other reasons to do it also, but I'm not aware of them. But every machinist I know leave their mics open a bit. It just seems to be the right thing to do. Leaving it open further than 0.025 would be fine, like you I normally leave mine where I last measured, but just not 0.

I learned the same thing from several machinists. I usually leave about .002" the keep crud off the mic faces. I knew a die maker who had a bunch of oil soaked felt disks, cut with a paper punch, that he left between the faces when storing them for a while.
Similar techniques apply equally in other areas as well. Like, never back-seat a valve stem completely, always turn it back in a 1/4 turn or they can weld themselves solid. I confirmed that the hard way. I never (unless I have to leave a set-up overnight) leave any clamps, chucks, collets, tool posts, etc., tight when not in use. I came home from vacation one summer and found a forgotten R8 collet fused into my mill spindle. I had to dismantle the mill and put the quill into the press to pop it loose!
Thermal cycling can do amazing things, it is one of the leading cause of long-term failures in Integrated Circuitry. Which is why I don't turn my home PCs off.

 

[OldPhart]

Man, do I feel old...I've owned a BUNCH of the items mentioned here, especially the '70's Cfartsman power tools. Got lucky with their table saw though, it has worked for nearly 40 years.

Probably still have the Solidox set buried somewhere in the basement. Having learned that the pellet is probably sodium or potassium chlorate I just might dig it out someday and give it another go with a larger homemade pellet of same compressed with my HF "12 ton" press.

Got the still-unused air chisel from ~ 35 yrs back, I'll have to try it for stripping mortar off salvaged brick/block-TYVM for that idea!

Gotta stick up for the much-maligned Ryobi cordless tools here. The P234 impact driver is absolutely the handiest cordless tool I've ever owned, and I have a bunch of 'em. I have 9/12/14.4v Makitas, old Cfartsmans, HF no-names, old Skil 12v [darn good drill with light battery that runs a long time on 1 charge-probably why they no longer sell 'em] and a couple I can't recall just now. The little impact driver will drive 3" #10 deck screws into Doug fir with no pilot holes all day long, won't chew up the #2 Phillips heads unless I'm REALLY careless about alignment/pressure, and will do at least 200 of 'em on a single charge of the smallest P100 lithium battery.

The little 5" cordless saw is a workhorse also but don't expect the P100 battery to give you more than a few 2x4 crosscuts in rapid succession before the overtemp protection kicks in. The nicad packs [with all their shortcomings like weight/memory/self-discharge, etc] are MUCH better for a heavy sustained draw.

I can reasonably expect to cut 30-60 lineal feet of 1/2" plywood or probably the same number of 2x4's on one charge of a well-maintained nicad. Wouldn't work for a professional framer but for an old DIY guy like me the hassle of keeping a couple of extra batteries in the 6-slot smart charger is not nearly as great as mucking about with extension cords or a generator if I'm building something in the back 40.

The cordless nailer ZRP320 [now replaced by the P854/ZRP854] is also a very handy gadget for installing panelling or T&G cedar siding. Takes awhile to learn how to hold it for consistent strikes which don't require setting the brad heads flush but once again, VERY handy for sites with no power and small jobs for which dragging out the compressor, hose and extension cord is time-consuming.

The P530 rotary tool is my second-favorite Ryobi tool after the impact driver. Great for switch box/outlet cutouts, etc.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread but Ryobi DOES make some good tools now and the universal battery system helps a lot in reducing the number of chargers and batteries needed to keep a fleet of tools running. Yes, the batteries are not wonderful and aren't of pro quality, but they are not priced like a Milwaukee or Bosch, either...just my $0.02...

 

[sk1nner]

I am in no way saying ryobi makes only junk tools. I just had no luck on having a charged battery when I needed it and have it last. All I was saying is that for my money I would rather deal with a cord and have all of the power I need. I do see the usefulness of cordless, but for my particular situation they are not a good fit, wish they were though.

 

[rcaffin]

Chinese drill bits: some of them had tips which were ground off-centre, so they all (reliably) drilled about 0.3 mm oversize - until the tips broke through at the other side. They got relegated to woodwork.

Chinese cup-head or allen bolts, on various bits of equipment. Apparently made from mild steel. I found if I replaced them immediately, the rest of the equipment was often OK.

Chinese allen keys. Mostly they seem to be made from mild steel as well. Lean on one and it burrs around in the socket. Lean on a Bondhus or Unbrako, and something ELSE gives. (Hopefully the stiction on the thread.)

and just to prove I am not too biased:
Nice looking German-branded wood-working square - which is out by about 0.5 degrees.

Cheers
Roger

 

[bpratl]

Chinese drill bits: some of them had tips which were ground off-centre, so they all (reliably) drilled about 0.3 mm oversize - until the tips broke through at the other side. They got relegated to woodwork.
Chinese cup-head or allen bolts, on various bits of equipment. Apparently made from mild steel. I found if I replaced them immediately, the rest of the equipment was often OK.
Chinese allen keys. Mostly they seem to be made from mild steel as well. Lean on one and it burrs around in the socket. Lean on a Bondhus or Unbrako, and something ELSE gives. (Hopefully the stiction on the thread.)
Roger

I agree 150%, after spending many hours getting rid of the wobblers and replacing them with good old USA ones, from a master Letter/Number set. I now have too many woodworking bits now. Bob

 

[4GSR]

Change the subject a little,

Bought a couple of taps that were mislabeled as "ACME taps". Turned out to be ancient "Square" thread taps. One of the old taps has a date of "4-8-19" almost 100 years old! It's also marked " C F SCREW TAPER" Very good chance they came from a old lathe manufacture. Third one is marked "1 ACME 8 by 3/8 L". It's a three start thread with .375" lead! The only place I've seen a three start thread like this one used was on the cross rail on a small planer I use to have and it was a "square' thread form.

Anyways, there are useless to me. Will make more wall decorations for the shop!

 

[timvercoe]

First off, I would not say that too loud around here... I don't think I have ever bought a tool that I regretted buying. As mentioned above every tool has a purpose, it just may not be the one that it was originally purchased for. I even like cheap tools, that way I don't feel bad when I hack it up to make it into a tool that I need. I also like having tools that I can "loan" out and not worry about ever getting it back. Being the guy who has all the tools means that friends expect that you can loan them everything. The problem with that is I make my money with my tools and can't afford to have a knuckle head friend ruin a tool because they don't know what they are doing.

I tel em' sure you can borrow it but it comes with an operator, 88 per hr....

Tim

 

[EmilioG]

I read that brown and sharpe hole gages were not well made. That the set was horrible, very springy and loose.
I was very surprised to hear this. B&S usually make quality tools.

 

[RJSakowski]

I bought a house brand 4" angle grinder from a local building & supply. It lasted about 5 minutes. Since then I am leery about buying cheap tool with an electric motor.
I used to buy Craftsman hand tools in the sixties and seventies when they had an unconditional lifetime guarantee. The 3" aluminum C clamps used to break with disgusting regularity and I would take the back for replacements. One time the clerk said "how are we going to make a profit if you keep returning them?" I "said make a better clamp". I made a deal with them; rather than get new aluminum clamps, I said I would take the less expensive cast iron clamps. I still have those cast iron clamps.
BTW, HF hammers usually don't go too far wrong. And I have quite a few of their $5.00 multimeters. Free right now with any purchase. I throw them in my tool boxes, the car, the boat, etc. At that price, I consider them disposables.