What are your worst ever tools?


Mine would be the pack of Blackspur screwdriver bits I knew I shoudlnt
buy, but was tempted, just the thing for this one job... the first bit
managed one screw, and was totally mangled. Maybe they were made of
butter cunningly wrapped in tinfoil.

Then there were the B&D drill bits... couldnt even drill a single hole
in pine. But, to be fair, regrinding them made them functional, so
could be worse.

And those idiot designed screwdriggers. Great idea in principle,
useless junk IRL.


NT

In article .com,
writes:
What are your worst ever tools?

Then there were the B&D drill bits... couldnt even drill a single hole
in pine. But, to be fair, regrinding them made them functional, so
could be worse.

Bought a small plastic case of B&D drills when I'd left my
set somewhere else. The plastic gripped the bits too tight
to get them out by hand, and after levering out with a
screwdriver, each bit was bent, which was also a good
indication of the crap quality they were.

Bought a wood chisel from Wickes last weekend. Got home and
took the protective plastic off the end only to find it wasn't
sharpened and had a flat end.

One of the best bargins was a set of 3 450mm masonary bits,
6mm, 8mm, and 10mm IIRC, I bought from a market stall for 99p.
I only wanted to drill one hole, and expected to have to
chuck them after that, but I've had them for many years now,
and they still work brilliantly.

--
Andrew Gabriel

In message .com,
writes
What are your worst ever tools?


Where were you buying these torx drivers from ?


--
geoff

On 16 Apr 2005 15:47:53 -0700, wrote:

What are your worst ever tools?


A B&Q battery-powered circular saw, bought to trim three doors and
some flooring. Useless after the second battery charge, replaced it
and the second one didn't last as long!

raden wrote:
In message .com,
writes

What are your worst ever tools?

Where were you buying these torx drivers from ?

probably screwfix or toolstation, why?

NT

wrote in message
oups.com...
raden wrote:
In message .com,
writes

What are your worst ever tools?

Where were you buying these torx drivers from ?

probably screwfix or toolstation, why?

NT


I know the ones you mean....I have to confess to making the same mistake!
Mine was a 100 - off selection box from Screwfix for a tenner - must have
had my brain disconnected. I think they might work just once as hand
driver tips, but in a power driver what a laugh! The driver I used them in
was a Makita impact screwdriver (a mean tool, BTW) and I might have as well
ground up a round wire nail and put it in the end. I reckon that toffee
would have performed better.

One of those occasions when something that looks to good to be true...is.

Tim

On 16 Apr 2005 15:47:53 -0700, wrote:

What are your worst ever tools?


Mine would be the pack of Blackspur screwdriver bits I knew I shoudlnt
buy, but was tempted, just the thing for this one job... the first bit
managed one screw, and was totally mangled. Maybe they were made of
butter cunningly wrapped in tinfoil.

Then there were the B&D drill bits... couldnt even drill a single hole
in pine. But, to be fair, regrinding them made them functional, so
could be worse.

And those idiot designed screwdriggers. Great idea in principle,
useless junk IRL.


NT

Any B&Q Power Pro tools .........

Rick

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article .com,

Bought a small plastic case of B&D drills when I'd left my
set somewhere else. The plastic gripped the bits too tight
to get them out by hand, and after levering out with a
screwdriver, each bit was bent, which was also a good
indication of the crap quality they were.

that has to be a record - so bad they couldnt even survive being
unpacked! lol


NT

timycelyn wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com.
raden wrote:

Where were you buying these torx drivers from ?

probably screwfix or toolstation, why?

I know the ones you mean....I have to confess to making the same
mistake!
Mine was a 100 - off selection box from Screwfix for a tenner - must
have
had my brain disconnected. I think they might work just once as
hand
driver tips, but in a power driver what a laugh! The driver I used
them in
was a Makita impact screwdriver (a mean tool, BTW) and I might have
as well
ground up a round wire nail and put it in the end. I reckon that
toffee
would have performed better.

One of those occasions when something that looks to good to be
true...is.

Tim

oh... thanks for the caution. I probably will get them though, I so
rarely use security bits and wont be putting them in a power tool. I'll
have no-one to blame but myself.

NT

In article , Rick news@pen-
y-geulan.com writes
On 16 Apr 2005 15:47:53 -0700, wrote:

What are your worst ever tools?


Mine would be the pack of Blackspur screwdriver bits I knew I shoudlnt
buy, but was tempted, just the thing for this one job... the first bit
managed one screw, and was totally mangled. Maybe they were made of
butter cunningly wrapped in tinfoil.

Then there were the B&D drill bits... couldnt even drill a single hole
in pine. But, to be fair, regrinding them made them functional, so
could be worse.

And those idiot designed screwdriggers. Great idea in principle,
useless junk IRL.


NT

Any B&Q Power Pro tools .........

Rick

Yep!, the creme of the crap..

Total waste of money;(
--
Tony Sayer

Steve Firth wrote:

wrote:


What are your worst ever tools?


Mine would be the pack of Blackspur screwdriver bits I knew I shoudlnt
buy, but was tempted, just the thing for this one job... the first bit
managed one screw, and was totally mangled. Maybe they were made of
butter cunningly wrapped in tinfoil.


By staggering coincidence a Blackspur spokeshave, bearing the tag "Made
in China" with a heroic picture of a train crossing over a long
embankment with happy workers waving back at the viewer.

The blade was apparently made out of lead and the plastic thumbscrew
from the material used to pack meat at Tesco.

I have a small vice somewhere that is cut with an eccentric thread, and
takes a crowbar to tighten it.

wrote in message
oups.com...
What are your worst ever tools?


A JCB half-sheet sander (shook itself to bits)
Performance Power jigsaw (near useless)
Performance Power electric plane (ground it's own base with the rotating
blade)
Paying for Bosch to refusbish an expensive SDS drill - their repair lasted
but something else not covered broke in days.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
wrote:

What are your worst ever tools?


Mine just *has* to be the B&D GL690 strimmer. Quite expensive for a
strimmer - 60 quid or so - but totally unreliable.

Main problem is its spool - which has some cunning ratchet mechanism which
is supposed to feed extra line out, as necessary. The spool fits into a sort
of cassette - with a plastic pawl on a plasic pivot pin providing the
ratchet. Problem is that the pivot pin breaks off - with the result that,
depending on where it ends up, it either stops feeding line out or it feeds
out miles of the stuff which promptly winds rounds the shaft and jams the
whole thing up.

The first time it broke, I took just the cassette (which contains the
ratchet) back to Focus and asked for another one under warranty. "We can't
give you a new cassette (which they sell as a consumable) - we'll have to
send the whole machine back to B&D and let them deal with it - but you can
*buy* a cassette if you want". After reminding them of their obligations
under the Sale of Goods Act, and mentioning Trading Standards, they nicked a
cassette out of a brand new strimmer, replaced it with my broken one, and
sent the lot back to B&D. What a way to run a railway!

Later I bought a another new cassette when I ran out of line, so I now have
two - *both* of which broke last time I used the machine. Rather than
wasting time taking them back *again*, I've re-manufactured them with much
stronger pivots, so time will tell whether that is successful.

In future, I shall avoid B&D strimmers (and probably B&D everything else)
like the plague!
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

wrote:

What are your worst ever tools?


Mine would be the pack of Blackspur screwdriver bits I knew I
shoudlnt
buy, but was tempted, just the thing for this one job... the first
bit
managed one screw, and was totally mangled. Maybe they were made of
butter cunningly wrapped in tinfoil.

Then there were the B&D drill bits... couldnt even drill a single
hole
in pine. But, to be fair, regrinding them made them functional, so
could be worse.

And those idiot designed screwdriggers. Great idea in principle,
useless junk IRL.


I've got another contender. I once had a strange shaped screw to undo,
couldnt find anything to fit it anywhere, couldnt even find out what it
was called. So I took a steel nail, grinder, file etc and made one to
fit. Had it fitting beautifully in about 15 minutes. Ground the nail
head to grip it with pliers... I proudly put it in the screw, gave it a
turn, and took it out: the thing was thoroughly mangled, and the screw
unmoved.

NT

wrote in message

I've got another contender. I once had a strange shaped screw to undo,
couldnt find anything to fit it anywhere, couldnt even find out what it
was called. So I took a steel nail, grinder, file etc and made one to
fit. Had it fitting beautifully in about 15 minutes. Ground the nail
head to grip it with pliers... I proudly put it in the screw, gave it a
turn, and took it out: the thing was thoroughly mangled, and the screw
unmoved.

Thanks for that!

Mary

NT

Any B&Q Power Pro tools .........

I have several that I'm quite happy with. Some that I'm not.

The 1/2" router is a waste of time. The lock doesn't work. Any slots you
route start out deep and get steadily shallower as the thing rises upwards.
You need about 20kg of force to prevent this.

The jigsaw is great. Comfortable handle, fast and really effective pendulum
action. Much better than the Bosch one I'd borrowed before it.
Unfortunately, I appear to have lost it.

The spiral saw was a complete waste of time.

I even have some non Pro Performance Power tools that have seen good
service. In particular, my circular saw (once the original blade was
replaced) is absolutely great. Smooth, and powerful. I'm also pretty pleased
with the twin bar sliding compound mitre saw, although they do several crap
models if you're one to get distracted by laser sights instead of going for
the twin bar operation, which is far more important. The 1/3 sheet sander
was attrocious, though.

Christian.

I bought a Flymo hedgecutter that seemed very small for its quoted
power.
After cutting a section of hedge with a few thick bits that stopped
the cutters, it wouldn't cut any more - any branch would cause it to
jam.

I opened it up and discovered there was no clutch mechanism (or
equivalent) - the first jam had stripped all the nylon gears.

Changed it for a big f@ck-off Bosch one - that'd fell a redwood.

The 1/3 sheet sander
was attrocious, though.


I have one of the 1/3 sheet orbital sanders and while not the best tool
I have ever used I find it hard to knock something that I paid £25 for
and intended to use for only one job. I expected to have to bin it after
one job but it's basically as good as new.

To be quite honest I find it a bit strange that people complain about
many of these cheap tools. Only a complete Muppet would think that you
are going to get top of the range quality from the cheapest tool on the
market.

I bought a B&Q value garden fork to dig over a little section of ground
(I joked with my partner when I picked it up that it would probably break).

It lasted one, yes just one, fork full before two of the prongs broke
off. When we took the thing back the way they accepted it back made me
feel like this was a common problem.

I have one of the 1/3 sheet orbital sanders and while not the best tool
I have ever used I find it hard to knock something that I paid £25 for
and intended to use for only one job.

Yours was clearly a different model. Mine cost 5.99 and was of even lesser
value, in that it was totally useless!

Generally speaking, my experience with cheap power tools is that they are
worth a punt, particularly if you take the time (and a little expense)
replacing the blades that come with them. Only occasionally has the tool
been no good at all. Probably the best bargain was my angle grinder, for
5.99. It works. What more do you need?

Sometimes the tool just isn't up to scratch, but most of the time, you end
up with something very useful at a fraction of the cost of the "real" thing.
And for some of us, that difference is the difference between having a tool
that does the job and having no tool at all, as not everyone can afford 400
quid on a compound mitre saw, or 150 quid on a circ.

Christian.

ScrewFix El Cheapo (Ferm) Power Plane,
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...156&ts=3D34171

I hadn't used any Ferm tools before I thought it was worth a shot for
=A320. Purchased a set of decent replacement blades, fitted them then
went to attack the door.

The thing spun and looked like it was doing something but barely made a
scratch on the door. Sat there trying to adjust the depth, allignment
etc, then noticed that the drum the blades were attached to was at an
angle. Took the thing apart but no way of coaxing it to straighten out.

=A320 down the drain.

Just a quick one:

A homebase junior hacksaw with a blade connector that is very slightly
wonkey so you can't cut a straight line.

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 13:37:00 +0100, doozer
wrote:

The 1/3 sheet sander
was attrocious, though.


I have one of the 1/3 sheet orbital sanders and while not the best tool
I have ever used I find it hard to knock something that I paid £25 for
and intended to use for only one job. I expected to have to bin it after
one job but it's basically as good as new.

To be quite honest I find it a bit strange that people complain about
many of these cheap tools. Only a complete Muppet would think that you
are going to get top of the range quality from the cheapest tool on the
market.

Thats the problem, they are not cheep, they are in the middle price
bracket. You can get much cheeper.

Rick

A packet of 3 Wickes jigsaw blades for cutting metal or plastic. Proved
to be incapable of cutting or even marking the piece of steel sheet I
had been cutting. I put the old blunt blade back in to make sure it
wasn't me blaming the tools. And yes, I did start a new cut.

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
t...
Any B&Q Power Pro tools .........
The 1/3 sheet sander was attrocious, though.

The new replacement model with the Velcro pad is a lot lot better. I'm in
real danger of not wearing it out and getting a free replacement before the
warranty expires :-)

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 19:02:54 UTC, "Aidan" wrote:

A packet of 3 Wickes jigsaw blades for cutting metal or plastic. Proved
to be incapable of cutting or even marking the piece of steel sheet I
had been cutting. I put the old blunt blade back in to make sure it
wasn't me blaming the tools. And yes, I did start a new cut.

A tin of twist drills inherited from my late father-in-law. All brand
new...probably from some slightly dubious source, knowing him :-)

Broke a 1/16 twist drill a few weeks ago; suddenly remembered 'Pete's
tin'. Found a replacement, and fitted it to my hand drill. Didn't seem
very sharp, but was starting off gently (only softwood, mind). Pressed a
bit harder.

I still have this twist drill; still in one piece. A slight drawback is
the 90 degree change of direction halfway down...

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

Set Square wrote:

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
wrote:


What are your worst ever tools?



Mine just *has* to be the B&D GL690 strimmer. Quite expensive for a
strimmer - 60 quid or so - but totally unreliable.

Main problem is its spool - which has some cunning ratchet mechanism which
is supposed to feed extra line out, as necessary. The spool fits into a sort
of cassette - with a plastic pawl on a plasic pivot pin providing the
ratchet. Problem is that the pivot pin breaks off - with the result that,
depending on where it ends up, it either stops feeding line out or it feeds
out miles of the stuff which promptly winds rounds the shaft and jams the
whole thing up.

The first time it broke, I took just the cassette (which contains the
ratchet) back to Focus and asked for another one under warranty. "We can't
give you a new cassette (which they sell as a consumable) - we'll have to
send the whole machine back to B&D and let them deal with it - but you can
*buy* a cassette if you want". After reminding them of their obligations
under the Sale of Goods Act, and mentioning Trading Standards, they nicked a
cassette out of a brand new strimmer, replaced it with my broken one, and
sent the lot back to B&D. What a way to run a railway!

Later I bought a another new cassette when I ran out of line, so I now have
two - *both* of which broke last time I used the machine. Rather than
wasting time taking them back *again*, I've re-manufactured them with much
stronger pivots, so time will tell whether that is successful.

In future, I shall avoid B&D strimmers (and probably B&D everything else)
like the plague!


All strimmers are crap except te ones that have a fixed lenght of wire
or chain ion em. Thats is: don't buy a spoool strimmer unless you just
trim the odd daisy.


I reckon I'll use my model aircraft instead. Fire em up and let the prop
do the business. Or stick a steel prop on.

Mike wrote:
"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
t...

Any B&Q Power Pro tools .........

The 1/3 sheet sander was attrocious, though.


The new replacement model with the Velcro pad is a lot lot better. I'm in
real danger of not wearing it out and getting a free replacement before the
warranty expires :-)

What are these velcro padded sanders. I ask, as I went to velcro many
years ago, when Sandvic (sp) introduced this system. I am now saddled
with a B & D sander that has the Sandvic velcro pad glued to the rubber
backing pad on the sander. Can I remove it? Only if I take the rubber
pad with it.

I too might be looking for a new sander soon :-(

Dave

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

All strimmers are crap except te ones that have a fixed lenght of wire
or chain ion em. Thats is: don't buy a spoool strimmer unless you just
trim the odd daisy.

Not my experience at all, I've used three strimmers of the years:-

A B&D bought 20 years or so ago which did sterling service around
our previous house. It did wear out eventually, the strimmer line
simply wore a groove in the hole where it comes out of the spool.

A big McCulloch petrol engined one which we still have (but I'm
about to sell). It also doubles as a brush cutter but I've rarely
used that facility. Even as a strimmer it will remove just about
anything, however it's rather heavy and feeding more strimmer line
is a bit of a hassle.

A brand new, very little, B&D GL423 (Focus only) which cost
£19.99, works well and the Reflex auto feed has been reliable so
far. For the minor edging etc. that we want it for it's ideal, I
have other mowers for the heavy stuff that I used to use the big
strimmer for.

Using wire or chain on a strimmer partly destroys one of their
advantages, they don't do much damage to posts, bricks, trees, etc.

--
Chris Green

On 18 Apr 2005 05:20:29 -0700, (rockdoctor)
wrote:

I bought a Flymo hedgecutter that seemed very small for its quoted
power.
After cutting a section of hedge with a few thick bits that stopped
the cutters, it wouldn't cut any more - any branch would cause it to
jam.

I opened it up and discovered there was no clutch mechanism (or
equivalent) - the first jam had stripped all the nylon gears.

Changed it for a big f@ck-off Bosch one - that'd fell a redwood.

I'd a B&D hedge trimmer which got so hot when cutting a decent sized
hedge that the plastic mounting for the gears melted.

And somewhere I've got a very, very cheap cross-head screwdriver that I
gave a bit of a twist once, and where there is now a quarter turn
between the start and end of the splined bit of the bit.
--
On-line canal route planner: http://www.canalplan.org.uk

(Waterways World site of the month, April 2001)

"Dave" wrote in message
...

The new replacement model with the Velcro pad is a lot lot better. I'm
in
real danger of not wearing it out and getting a free replacement before
the
warranty expires :-)

What are these velcro padded sanders. I ask, as I went to velcro many
years ago, when Sandvic (sp) introduced this system. I am now saddled
with a B & D sander that has the Sandvic velcro pad glued to the rubber
backing pad on the sander. Can I remove it? Only if I take the rubber
pad with it.

Why remove it ? Normal sandpaper seems to work happily over it.

wrote:
What are your worst ever tools?


Mine would be the pack of Blackspur screwdriver bits I knew I shoudlnt
buy, but was tempted, just the thing for this one job... the first bit
managed one screw, and was totally mangled. Maybe they were made of
butter cunningly wrapped in tinfoil.

Then there were the B&D drill bits... couldnt even drill a single hole
in pine. But, to be fair, regrinding them made them functional, so
could be worse.

And those idiot designed screwdriggers. Great idea in principle,
useless junk IRL.


NT


1. Screwdriver bits left behind by a tradesman. He claimed no knowledge
of them ... and having tried them out (&binned) I would not want them
back either.

2. Various slide compound mitre saws with bent fences and lacking the
ability to get to 45 deg angles etc etc! Mainly B&Q PP models BTW - some
are much better than others, I think.

3. B&Q PP power planer, died after a few sides of doors.

4. The combination sharpening stone I got from a timber merchant, all
lumpy and curved on one side - useless ... could not be arsed taking it
back and replaced it with a better one from Poundland! Really.

5. The table saw (Focus/McKeller) I have that won't quite get to 90 deg,
OK for sheet work bloody annoying for deeper cuts. I suppose I need to
take it back ... but the mitre saw fiasco wore me down a bit!

6. Plasplug silicone sealant/mastic spreader thingy set - can't get them
to work proper - maybe its just me!.

Over the years, I have also converted some perfectly good tools to
useless ones by misuse (drills, chisels, screwdrivers, paintbrushes ... ).

Alex

wrote:
What are your worst ever tools?

A Flymo Compact Turbo "lawn mower" - winner by a good margin!
Various non-hard files, a set of monkey-metal allen keys, etc.

Chris Bacon wrote:
wrote:

What are your worst ever tools?


A Flymo Compact Turbo "lawn mower" - winner by a good margin!
Various non-hard files, a set of monkey-metal allen keys, etc.

Draper stud extractors. Had a front brake caliper and the brass bleed
nipple sheared off. It had a nice hole down the middle so a perfect
candidate for a stud extractor. I was just turning it into the hole and
only holding the end of spanner between finger and thumb (definitely no
pressure) when the extractor just disintegrated. No chance of drilling
it out, so off to the scrap yard for a replacement caliper. Grr!

Phil

In article ,
P.R.Brady wrote:

Draper stud extractors. Had a front brake caliper and the brass
bleed nipple sheared off. It had a nice hole down the middle so
a perfect candidate for a stud extractor. I was just turning it
into the hole and only holding the end of spanner between finger
and thumb (definitely no pressure) when the extractor just
disintegrated. No chance of drilling it out, so off to the
scrap yard for a replacement caliper. Grr!

Similar experience, except mine was a Dormer
stud extractor. Still got the rest in the
nice wooden box, not sure I'd ever want to
trust them again.

--
Tony Williams.