Has anyone used the Rockwell Sonicrafter as compared to the Fein
MultiMaster, and at less than half the price, is it less than half as good?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...ockwell+rk5102
or: http://tinyurl.com/bwnox8

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

Has anyone used the Rockwell Sonicrafter as compared to the Fein
MultiMaster, and at less than half the price, is it less than half as
good?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...ockwell+rk5102
or: http://tinyurl.com/bwnox8

I just bought the Dremel version to undercut door jambs for a wood
floor I'm installing. At first, I thought I'd wasted my money. It
wouldn't cut for beans. Then I realized the adjustable speed knob was
set on "1". I'm happy with my purchase. It was $100, and I saved
several hours compared to cutting jambs with my hand saw.

--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX USA

On Mar 7, 7:41*am, willshak wrote:
Has anyone used the Rockwell Sonicrafter as compared to the Fein
MultiMaster, and at less than half the price, is it less than half as good?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...ias%3Daps&fiel....
or:http://tinyurl.com/bwnox8

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

Who is Rockwell now, Rockwell I thought was sold to Porter Cable in
the 80s and the name dropped. Its probably cheap chinese made, Fein
has the bugs worked out and had made good equipment.

willshak wrote:
Has anyone used the Rockwell Sonicrafter as compared to the Fein
MultiMaster, and at less than half the price, is it less than half as
good?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...ockwell+rk5102
or: http://tinyurl.com/bwnox8

And the Harbor Freight model has a device for 1/3 of the Rockwell price!

Harbor Freight has a sale on its model for $39.99 through, I think, March
26th.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=65700

I've got to believe these tools are all roughly equivalent. Harbor Freight,
Rockwell, Bosch, Fein, Dremel, etc. They do differ in some features
(variable speed, quick blade interchange, double-insulated, and the like),
but all do the same job with, in large measure, interchangable blades.

The features-at-the-margins are much like spirit levels or bit holders built
into a drill. Nice, but really, how often...?

On Mar 7, 12:24*pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
willshak wrote:
Has anyone used the Rockwell Sonicrafter as compared to the Fein
MultiMaster, and at less than half the price, is it less than half as
good?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...ias%3Daps&fiel...
or:http://tinyurl.com/bwnox8

And the Harbor Freight model has a device for 1/3 of the Rockwell price!

Harbor Freight has a sale on its model for $39.99 through, I think, March
26th.http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=65700

I've got to believe these tools are all roughly equivalent. Harbor Freight,
Rockwell, Bosch, Fein, Dremel, etc. They do differ in some features
(variable speed, quick blade interchange, double-insulated, and the like),
but all do the same job with, in large measure, interchangable blades.

The features-at-the-margins are much like spirit levels or bit holders built
into a drill. Nice, but really, how often...?

Well the HF, Skill, might run 8 hrs, the bosch should run and not
break.

ransley wrote:
On Mar 7, 12:24 pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
willshak wrote:
Has anyone used the Rockwell Sonicrafter as compared to the Fein
MultiMaster, and at less than half the price, is it less than half
as good?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...ias%3Daps&fiel...
or:http://tinyurl.com/bwnox8

And the Harbor Freight model has a device for 1/3 of the Rockwell
price!

Harbor Freight has a sale on its model for $39.99 through, I think,
March
26th.http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=65700

I've got to believe these tools are all roughly equivalent. Harbor
Freight, Rockwell, Bosch, Fein, Dremel, etc. They do differ in some
features (variable speed, quick blade interchange, double-insulated,
and the like), but all do the same job with, in large measure,
interchangable blades.

The features-at-the-margins are much like spirit levels or bit
holders built into a drill. Nice, but really, how often...?

Well the HF, Skill, might run 8 hrs, the bosch should run and not
break.

Good point. The Bosch retails for about four times the HF model. So IF the
HF tool lasts ONLY eight hours AND you plan to use the tool more than 32
hours total, you'd be ahead with the Bosch.

Unless you got a Bosch made on Friday...

HF makes some really good stuff. I'm particularly enamored with their sponge
brushes - set of 12 for 88¢. Just yesterday I bought a one-pound rubber
mallet for less than a dollar! Admittedly, some items die of shame right
after you get them home (rubber air hoses for example), but I'm pleased with
roughly 87.3% of the stuff I've bought there. They have a pretty good deal
on cat toys, too.

I read all the reviews before I bought the Dremel.

Rockwell scored pretty high. The problem is that very few places carry
replacement blades. The Bosch got very poor reviews for battery life
issues. So I bought the Dremel.

I used the Dremel to cut door jambs. It's ok. Not thrilled about blade
life. On the other hand, the blades are a fraction of the Fein blades
and they're stocked at the local Home Depot. I also used the scraping
blade to remove a caulked in place shower door. It did the whole job
in less than 2 minutes. It was like butter. In my book, it paid for
itself on that one job.

My experience with Harbor Freight power tools is that they're ok if
you're going to use them once every five years. If you're going to use
it for several projects, just buy the extended warranty and get a new
one for each project. That assumes you live close to a HF store.
Otherwise, forget it.

On 3/7/2009 10:24 AM HeyBub spake thus:

willshak wrote:

Has anyone used the Rockwell Sonicrafter as compared to the Fein
MultiMaster, and at less than half the price, is it less than half as
good?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...ockwell+rk5102
or: http://tinyurl.com/bwnox8

And the Harbor Freight model has a device for 1/3 of the Rockwell price!

Harbor Freight has a sale on its model for $39.99 through, I think, March
26th.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=65700

You've posted this information before, 'Bub, and now it's getting to the
point of being positively tantalizing. Unfortunately, it seems you
haven't actually bought that unit and used it yet. (Or have you?)

Has anyone got the Harbor Freight version? I'm really curious how it
works, and would like to hear from anyone who has actual experience with it.

In general I agree with you about HF tools. My most recent "major"
purchase was their Sawzall clone for $20 (how could I *not* buy it at
that price?), which has performed admirably so far and has more than
paid for itself. I look forward to purchasing more "Chicago",
"Pittsburgjh", etc., tools in the near future.


--
Made From Pears: Pretty good chance that the product is at least
mostly pears.
Made With Pears: Pretty good chance that pears will be detectable in
the product.
Contains Pears: One pear seed per multiple tons of product.

(with apologies to Dorothy L. Sayers)

David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 3/7/2009 10:24 AM HeyBub spake thus:

willshak wrote:

Has anyone used the Rockwell Sonicrafter as compared to the Fein
MultiMaster, and at less than half the price, is it less than half
as good?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...ockwell+rk5102
or: http://tinyurl.com/bwnox8

And the Harbor Freight model has a device for 1/3 of the Rockwell
price! Harbor Freight has a sale on its model for $39.99 through, I
think,
March 26th.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=65700

You've posted this information before, 'Bub, and now it's getting to
the point of being positively tantalizing. Unfortunately, it seems you
haven't actually bought that unit and used it yet. (Or have you?)

Has anyone got the Harbor Freight version? I'm really curious how it
works, and would like to hear from anyone who has actual experience
with it.
In general I agree with you about HF tools. My most recent "major"
purchase was their Sawzall clone for $20 (how could I *not* buy it at
that price?), which has performed admirably so far and has more than
paid for itself. I look forward to purchasing more "Chicago",
"Pittsburgjh", etc., tools in the near future.

Yeah, I got mine on "Black Friday," the day they came out. I've mentioned,
here, several times the uses to which I've put the tool. Undercutting door
jambs is almost trivial. I've used it for finishing the cutouts on laminate,
where most of the cut was done on a table saw, removing the gunky glue on
transition strips in anticipation of new glue, cutting plexiglass for a
picture frame, trimming vinyl tile, a tiny amount of sanding (just to see),
cutouts in drywall for electrical outlets, and a few other things.
Admittedly, I don't do construction - just stuff around the house.

I have not tried to uproot tile, cut copper pipes, or remove matted hair
from my cat, but I suspect it'll do those jobs too (if I can find four
people to hold down the cat).

I saw a medical TV show the other day (House) where the surgeon was opening
up some dude's chest. I swear the doc had one of these machines (not
necessarily the HF model) except that the blade was angled 90° to the main
axis of the tool! Now, I don't see why you couldn't take the HF model, bend
one of the cutting blades at right angles to the normal direction, and start
a new career as a thoracic surgeon!

Sumbitch! I need to get me a book or two (I already have a mask and latex
gloves)!