UKdrills

[Paul Barker]

none of us as a clue

Non of you amateurs in this subject … not us.

[Daniel Quinn]

Paul I have learnt you don't let logic get in the way of your opinions .

[Morgan Jones]

Buy cheap - buy twice. Good quality tools work out cheaper in the end; I still use screwdrivers I bought as a teenager.

I bought an 18" steel rule from Poundland and used it for marking out the cutting lines for a pair of small loudspeakers. When I came to assemble panels, I found my straight lines weren't. I assumed it was my shoddy woodwork (I'm rubbish at woodwork). But when I found all my cuts were curved, I wondered. Turned out the rule was ground to a slight curve! Constant width, just a slight convex curve on one side, concave on the other. Went straight in the recycling bin. I check rules now.

On power tools, I bought a blue (professional range) Bosch jigsaw in 1992. "It's the one the chippies use," said man at trade shop. I winced at the price but discovered it would cut beautifully straight lines in 18mm MDF. Quickly. Eighteen years later (after a lot of use), it didn't cut such straight lines. Chap at (different) trade shop said, "That'll be the backing bearing for the blade has worn, do you want me to order a new one for you?" Works as good as new.

The thing is, good tools not only last a lifetime (or more), but they're a pleasure to use, are maintainable, and produce better results. It's well worth going to model engineering exhibitions for metalworking tools. There will be one at the Leamington cow shed in October and there will be an aviation surplus chap selling all sorts of cutting tools, including boxes of Presto drills. Not quite as good as Dormer, but accurately ground from proper metal. Last time I was there, he still had 6mm to 10mm in 0.1mm increments for £80. I have two of those boxes. I have a single box of Dormer in the same sizes (£250) for more critical work.

Finally, beware respected names that have been bought up or outsourced their manufacturing. You can now buy a Rabone 6" rule that was made in China; nothing like the quality of my Rabone 6" rule bought in 1990. I've also seen stuff marked Eclipse or Moore & Wright that is nothing like the quality of their stuff from the 80s. Car boot sales can be good for quality spanners (King Dick, Bedford, etc).

[steve s]

Many names from my tool kit mentioned there morgan, there are a few modern manufacturers of quality tools, my festool track saw an example, 9 years ago I had sleepless nights worrying if I should invest £450 in a saw.. turned out a really good investment, a real pleasure to use.

I smile at those cheap Chinese lathes that vibrate with even a thought of a proper cut, then for similar cost, a solid British made job can be bought, but 60 year's old not look quite as attractive.

[Ant]

All my bosch blue tools are still in use, apart from one. the router is 1997 vintage bought second hand in 2004, jigsaw 2004 new, mitre saw 2006 new. Very expensive for me when bought, but i have not had to buy replacements so thay have paid for themselves many times over. Only one that died was the cordless drill, and that was the batteries not the drill. Replaced with a dewalt which is perfectly adequate

My trend t5 router finally died a couple of years ago after much very hard use and was replaced with a katsu laminate trimmer which is more useful, my big hitachi router finally died and was replaced with a new trend t7 which is not nearly as solid, but i needed one then and there.

I took the opportunity to rationalise the routers i had because i was using them all for different jobs, so the little katsu is used as its supposed to be, for laminates, the hitachi and now the big trend for big material removal jobs and the bosch mostly lives in the router table. Paul fetched me a really nice router table which i have yet to use, it will be much easier to set up and remove the bosch from the new one.

Practically all my hand tools are old. Some were my grandads and i take great pleasure in using those.

My hobbymat lathe is a late 70s one and a few small mods to it have made it lovely to use. I bolted mine to a 3/4" steel plate with levelling feet to cut down vibration, added a larger handwheel to the leadscrew (off a singer sewing machine), took the top slide off and fitted a solid dovetailed toolpost to add rigidity and made some quick release bolts to allow the carriage to be locked properly.

I had the misfortune to try a no brand lathe when looking to replace the hobbymat and it was bloody awful. Worse than the hobbymat was when i couldnt change the speeds, impossible to get a decent surface finish, and bugger all torque at low speeds. I rebuilt the back end of the hobbymat with some replacement parts instead..

The mill however, is chinese but has been very good. I didnt have the option of a old goldie because i dont have the space, but the seig branded one i bought has done everything ive asked from it

[pre65]

Car boot sales can be good for quality spanners (King Dick, Bedford, etc).

Reminds me of the time when Larry Grayson interviewed Graham Hill and King Dick was mentioned.

Can't find it on YouTube.

[Morgan Jones]

Nothing wrong with an old lathe provided it's not too worn or too abused. I bought my Hobbymat new in 1989 - I wanted an SME V but figured that for £1200, I could buy lathe, make arm, and have lathe left over at the end. So I did. Very nice little lathe and recommended. Fitting thrust races to the Hobbymat's cross slide and tail stock made a huge difference, as did fitting lignum vitae (lawn bowls) rotating handles. I also took the top slide off and fitted a Dickson quick change tool post. That all happened after I made new handles for the Bantam and the Hobbymat was jealous. The Bantam suffered a lot of abuse (but very little wear) at its school but I've almost repaired it.

Everyone smirks at King Dick. Good spanners, though. I bought a set of offset ring and open-ended in Imperial and Metric from Evesham market for £5 per set in 1983.

Almost forgot: If you add an adjustable support under the Hobbymat motor you can prevent its weight from twisting the bed and causing cylinders to become cones. I keep meaning to put a more rigid top on the butcher's table that supports it.