On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 18:22:03 -0800, Winston
wrote:

wrote:

(Snip)
The cheap Makita stuff is every bit as bad as the Craftsman low end
stuff. Cheap Bosch stuff too.

I still own the inexpensive Makita drill and circular saw I purchased
~20 years ago. They both still work just fine, though both have been
through some pretty tough use.

Ya guess I got the best of a bad design?

Me, neither.

In that time, I have 'used up' a cheap B&D 3/8" drill, a more expensive
Sears 1/2" drill, a cheap impact wrench and a couple Skil circular saws.
Didn't take long, either.

My 'King Kong' (Really) drill press and Enco (bad old days) belt sander
both keep on chooglin. I do not know why.

--Winston
20 years ago Makita built ONLY quality stuff. The bean counters got to
them like every other company - and chances are VERY good your 20 some
year old Makita will still outlast the one you would buy tomorrow.

B&D is one real good example of a company that went from "top shelf"
stuff to "down the tubes" over the last 20 or so years. Likely almost
30 years since they started the downhill slide. They bought DeWalt
because they needed a "respected" name for their "pro quality" tools.
No-one would trust a B&D any more.

A SEARS drill is a cheap drill - like a B&D. I have an electronic
feedback electronic controlled Craftsman drill that I find to be VERY
good, as well as a pair of craftsman cordless drills - 12 and 14.2
volt that I'm happy with.

As an electrician, My dad used up a fair number of drills - 3/8 and
1/2" OVER THE YEARS - and he used Makita cordless drills as power
screwdrivers. IIRC the red ones stood up real well, then the green
ones just dropped like flies. I still have his old Craftsman
Professional 1/2" drill (model 315) That he bought in 1967? and he
used to rough in several thousand houses. He had it out for repair
ONCE and bought some other make of drill to use in it's place. IIRC it
was only after burning out 2 or 3 replacements inside a period of
several months that he decided to get the old one fixed. It is still
one nasty thing to hit a spike with drilling on a ladder - it'll take
you clean off the ladder faster than you can say "craftsman". Not
variable speed.