I stopped by lowes last night and had a look at the tool section. I
noticed that they had some large hitachi tools there now. They had a
large, floor standing drill press with a laser crosshair for around
$280. They also had a contractor's saw that looked very good. I think
it was around $500 with stamped steel wings. Has anyone had any
experience with these tools? If they're better than grizzly, it may
make more sense to buy them there rather than pay the shipping from
griz.

They also had a 14" delta band saw with an open base. Anyone know what
motor is in it?

brian

Griz has cast iron wings not stamped ones, and their fence is comparable to
the Bies.


"brianlanning" wrote in message
oups.com...
I stopped by lowes last night and had a look at the tool section. I
noticed that they had some large hitachi tools there now. They had a
large, floor standing drill press with a laser crosshair for around
$280. They also had a contractor's saw that looked very good. I think
it was around $500 with stamped steel wings. Has anyone had any
experience with these tools? If they're better than grizzly, it may
make more sense to buy them there rather than pay the shipping from
griz.

They also had a 14" delta band saw with an open base. Anyone know what
motor is in it?

brian

" They also had a 14" delta band saw with an open base. Anyone know what
motor is in it?

brian

1/2 on the one I have, Get bigger moter if you can

From recent observation, if you see a heavy power tool you really like at
Lowe's you had better buy it. Apparently what they are selling today is at
the whim of their buyers and accountants. We have watched the local store
go from Delta to Jet and now to a mixture of Delta and Hitachi.

Our next trick is trying to keep up with their supply of replacement parts
in the future - like planer blades and the like. I recently watched the
price of blades for my older Riobi planer go from $19 a set to as much as
$70. Lowes and HD just walked away from supporting these products.

Personally my experience with Griz has been good.

I have the Hitachi drill press and am very happy with it to date. The
Laser cross hair is not as sharp as I expected, but the mechanics of the
drill press seem solid.

LFW

brianlanning wrote:
I stopped by lowes last night and had a look at the tool section. I
noticed that they had some large hitachi tools there now. They had a
large, floor standing drill press with a laser crosshair for around
$280. They also had a contractor's saw that looked very good. I think
it was around $500 with stamped steel wings. Has anyone had any
experience with these tools? If they're better than grizzly, it may
make more sense to buy them there rather than pay the shipping from
griz.

They also had a 14" delta band saw with an open base. Anyone know what
motor is in it?

brian

They also had a 14" delta band saw with an open base. Anyone know what
motor is in it?

If you mean hp it is a 3/4 horse. I do not know who makes the motor for
Delta. The saw itself is their Chinese version. I have seen mixed reviews
of the saw. It has a lot of good features but seems to lack in workmanship.

Hey Bruce , made any pens lately.

Ken

"Bruce Wiseman" wrote in message
. 63.158...
They also had a 14" delta band saw with an open base. Anyone know what
motor is in it?

If you mean hp it is a 3/4 horse. I do not know who makes the motor for
Delta. The saw itself is their Chinese version. I have seen mixed reviews
of the saw. It has a lot of good features but seems to lack in
workmanship.

"Ken" wrote in
news:QYhbe.15904$WI3.14938@attbi_s71:

Hey Bruce , made any pens lately.

Ken

Hi, tried to post back to you on email but it bounced. Haven't made a pen
for a week - going into withdraw!

Bruce

Cast iron wings cost you $80 more.

I would agree with you on the point that Lowes is quickly going down
hill.

I would not buy anything there that I did not have a second source for
parts and service.

I suspect that Home Depot is doing the same thing.

I think what is going on is that now that they are established in the
market, they are slowly but surely trying to maximize their profit
margins by squeezing their suppliers. Their suppliers respond by
supplying tools that are cheapily made and even more designed to self
destruct after a certain period of time.

I try to buy good tools. When I walk through both of these stores, it
is getting harder and harder for me to find anything to buy.

Really quite sad.

TMT

Too_Many_Tools wrote:
I would agree with you on the point that Lowes is quickly going down
hill.

snip

I recently went into a Lowes for the first time.

The following are my obversations of that experience.

1) They were located in a shopping center which makes them a total PITA
to get in the front door when compared to stand alone stores like Home
Depot.

2) Needed to buy a roll of clear contact paper.

They didn't have a clue what I was looking for and the balance of their
shelf paper inventory was what can only be described as very modest.

3) Needed to buy a 1-1/2" plastic conduit sweep ell.

Their inventory was almost non existant. No 1-1/2 devices in stock.

I won't be going back any time soon.

As far as the merchandise available at either Home Depot or Lowes, they
are both playing the 80-20 game.

After all the current Home Depot CEO is a former GE bean counter so what
do you expect?

For those not familar with it, the 80-20 game is an accounting exercise
to maximize profits.

80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers.

80% of your profits come from 20% of your sales.

80% of your complaints come from 20% of your customers.

You can keep going, but you get the idea.

There is absolutely no place for high end products in the inventory of a
business that plays the 80-20 game, thus the people on this list who
want to buy quality tools won't find them at Lowes, Home Depot, etc.


HTH

Lew

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message

1) They were located in a shopping center which makes them a total PITA to
get in the front door when compared to stand alone stores like Home Depot.

Generalizations are generally wrong.
We have a half dozen HD stores in a 30 mile radius and every one has at
least one other store sharing the parking and entrance, in some cases, many
more than that. There is one stand alone and that is the worst one to get
to (much traffic on a one way street) and to park at in the odd shaped
parking area

The GE numbmind approach towards business is grossly overrated.

What usually happens when the bean counters take over is....

80% of your customers never come back after finding you only carry 20%
of the parts they needed.