"Clive Page" wrote in message
...
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).

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 hex key
rotated without gripping the grub-screw in one of the arbors (though the
other one worked). The saws themselves had a hole with flats designed to
fit one arbor or the other: one of the saws had the flats too small i.e.
the hole was nearly circular, so the saw rotated on the arbor unless it
was done up extremely tightly. Two of the others had the flats so large
so they wouldn't even fit on the arbor designed for them without being
filed down. I took the whole kit back back and got a refund.

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.



Branded as Silverline any of them? If so, no real surprise- their stuff is
seriously crap.

Tim..