On 19/09/2011 10:07, Clive Page wrote:

A few months ago I read a longish thread here on Screwfix vs
Toolstation, in which at least some people seemed to think that
Toolstation were better, or at least cheaper. So when I needed to drill
a few holes in plastic (polymethylmethacrylate) I thought I'd give them
a try, as their prices were indeed cheaper than others I could find.

For the 14 mm hole I bought an "HSS Balcksmith Drill Bit" said to have a
reduced shank (item 73936). There's no information either in the
catalogue or online as to the diameter of the shank, but the
illustration shows the shank to be *much* smaller than the drill. So I
got one - it's in an opaque package so I couldn't inspect it in the
shop. When I got it home I found it to have a 12.5 mm shank, so the
transition in size from shank to drill is barely perceptible. I didn't
have a chuck that would take a shank that big, so I could use it only by
grinding the shank down to a sensible size (not easy with my primitive
grinding skills).

To be fair a 1/2" shank is exactly what one would expect on a drill of
this type. Fits nicely in a 13mm chuck - which is what most decent
drills, drill presses, and lathes etc will have.

I also needed to make some larger holes, so got 10-piece a holesaw kit
(item 23014) which was a lot cheaper than any other I could find. I
can't remember the last time I bought anything of such poor quality. The

Yup, the word to watch for here is "silverline" - TS do lots of it, and
at best the quality can only really be described as barely adequate.
Much of their stuff is pretty poor. Still the price was probably a clue
as well.

The service from the counter at Toolstation seemed faster than with
Screwfix and they gave me a refund without problems, but if some items
are as poorly described as my drill, and others are of this appallingly
low quality, then I won't bother with Toolstation again, it was a
complete waste of my time.

Having established that they do fast service, and change defective
products without complaint, that would seem like a good read *to* use
them again. The lesson worth learning I would have thought is to keep
away from the implausibly cheap stuff made by silverline, blackspur,
forge steel etc,


--
Cheers,

John.

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