Early fathers day

Alan Bienlein

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Well loml got me an early fathers day present. She went to harbor freight and got me the multi tool. Tried it out on a piece of plywood and it had no problem cutting a sguare hole in it. I've used the fein at work and to me the fein is only slightly smoother than the harbor freight version.
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I got the dremel version of it off of 'woot' and I wish I had gotten the HF model. Not only is the HF cheaper, but they have a ton of blades and accessories for it (that don't fit my dremel version).

They are a pretty neat and useful tool!

Congrats! :thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
There are a bunch of those on the market. They run from about $20.00 up to hundreds. Wat does a $200.00 one do a $20.00 won't?

My point exactly Frank. I almost bought the fein a year ago but something told me to wait. I got to use the fein at my new job and thats when I mentioned to loml that it would be a handy tool to have. She cut the coupon from harbor freight out of one of my magazines and the rest is history. Walked in to the shop yesterday and there was a package gift wrapped on my workbench. For once I had no clue as to what she had bought for me for the first time.
 
My point exactly Frank. I almost bought the fein a year ago but something told me to wait. I got to use the fein at my new job and thats when I mentioned to loml that it would be a handy tool to have. She cut the coupon from harbor freight out of one of my magazines and the rest is history. Walked in to the shop yesterday and there was a package gift wrapped on my workbench. For once I had no clue as to what she had bought for me for the first time.

Super. The good wife is also a smart wife. :thumb:
Now use the savings to take both of you out to dinner.
 
Alan I have been fascinated by that tool since coming to North America. Seen the Fein so many times and always thought mmmm that tool looks like one of these gimicks that they sell on the TV. Ya know the kind that look great but when you get it and try it, it aint so.

I am delighted that you got one and approve of it as a worthwhile tool. Now i can add it to my tool list.

As a matter of interest how deep do you think that blade you used in the plywood would cut?

How does it cut? by that i mean is the action a vibration side to side or is there a little bit of a cam in the vibration. :dunno:

Compared to the Fein where to you notice the roughness in the vibration on you hand or in the actual cut neatness?

From the gossip i have in my head i understand these units are on the market now because the original patent for the Fein tool has expired.

You got a great wife that gets you tools like that.:thumb: But i guess she sees the quality of her kitchen and figures you a keeper.:D:thumb:
 
How about the noise Alan? I've heard the HF is very loud, but I wonder about how the HF and Fein compare. I have no problem with loud--that's what hearing protection if for. Just wondering???
 
Rob it is a side to side action for cutting. Probably about a 1/8" stroke. I had no problem starting it on the line and keeping it there. I realy didn't notice any vibration. Atleast no more than the fein.

As far as noise Ron it had a mild high pitched sound the first time I turned it on. The next time I used it the niose was gone and it was pretty quiet. This tool might get more use than I originaly thought!:D:thumb:
 
...Wat does a $200.00 one do a $20.00 won't?

Possibly last longer. Possibly, but not guaranteed. Harbor Freight has a roller-coaster reputation for hand power tools, but a good reputation for accepting returns if something does go wrong. (Still can be a problem if you live in Tokyo, huh Stu?) And even if you're past the warranty period, you can buy a lot of $20 replacements before you've spent as much as buying the $200 model.
 
Possibly last longer. Possibly, but not guaranteed. Harbor Freight has a roller-coaster reputation for hand power tools, but a good reputation for accepting returns if something does go wrong. (Still can be a problem if you live in Tokyo, huh Stu?) And even if you're past the warranty period, you can buy a lot of $20 replacements before you've spent as much as buying the $200 model.

Yes. How often a tool will be used is a huge consideration. If it is something you reach for two times a year, spending a couple hundred is not an economical purchase.
Last year I needed a replacement cordless drill. After shopping and help from here, I dropped aprox. two bills on a DeWalt. Turns out it was not a wise decision. No problem with the tool. Excellent tool. But I do not use it very often and I have three others of different makes. A $50.00 HF, Grizzly, no-name or B&D would have served me just as well.
What really bums me out.....(am I digressing? So, wats new? :eek: ).... is I am at the point in life when I am thinking about what will happen to my 'stuff' when I'm gone. My son will probably just haul everything to the auction house and sell for pennies on the dollar. e.g. Like new DeWalt drill will sell for about $5.00.
 
just as well.
What really bums me out.....(am I digressing? So, wats new? :eek: ).... is I am at the point in life when I am thinking about what will happen to my 'stuff' when I'm gone. My son will probably just haul everything to the auction house and sell for pennies on the dollar. e.g. Like new DeWalt drill will sell for about $5.00.


nah, youre not the only one thinking this.
Ive tried to justifyo myself buying 10 thousand dollars worth of machines in a 2-3 year period, knowing I might not be well enough in a couple of years to operate them.
Ive reviewed this with my son, and he is aware of where to locate fair prices and different people to contact if he needs to sell it off.
 
Hey Alan,

I've been thinking about one of these for a while but the Fein price tag was giving me nightmares and the Dremmel version has had a lot of bad press. Did not even know that HF had one! And..... it just so happens that a friend sent me a $30 gift card for HF for my birthday!

So, my question (to anybody). HF has two models of this - one without, and one with, variable speed. Is the variable speed worth the additional $30?
 
Look at it this way Rennie at $30 more it's still cheaper than the fein. I had no clue this time about this present so I'm not going to complain about not having variable speed.
 
Just because I'm an altruistic kind of guy, I stopped by Harbor freight and picked up one of the Variable speed units today.

I have to admit, for a HF tool, I'm kind of impressed. It has variable speed (duh), soft start, and it works rather well.

I used a saw blade attachment on it to cut the ends off some base board. I'm replacing the corner on a wall where the previous owners put a wooden corner protector. I'm going to replace it with a rounded corner.

The biggest problem I had was convincing the check out girl I didn't want the extended warranty on it...
 
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