Tell us what tool broke recently, and whether you’re getting it fixed or replacing it. How much use did this tool get?
Maybe we’ll see patterns of strengths and weaknesses for certain makes/models after awhile.
My 10 y.o. PC 347 circ saw’s electric brake was working intermittently. Left it for an hour at the local shop – they replaced both brushes as one of the brush springs had broken. The saw now stops on a dime.
Replies
My 16 ga Paslode finish nailer just blew air when we went to use it today. Turned out the drive pin jumped and as soon as I put it back in, we banged away like mad.
Broke? I only buy the highest quality tools I can afford. I can't remember anything ever breaking.
Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
Brand new Craftman 100ft tape, used it for 15 minutes cutting TJIs....rolled it up and broke at 3 ft.
I didn't do it....the buck does NOT stop here.
Air hose. It was lying across a halogen work light and I didn't notice. But it sure got my attention when it popped.
Second time that's happened ... sort of. About 2 yrs ago I set my circ saw down and the blade snagged the hose.
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I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Edited 2/10/2005 8:59 am ET by Ed Hilton
Not exactly today.... but last week was rough...
Bosch wormdrive got run over by the Lull. The day before that, my Porter Cable jigsaw crapped out and got replaced by a Bosch. Yesterday I went to put a new cutting edge on my snowplow and found my $200+ Ingersoll Rand impact wrench (used maybe 6 times) would just run constantly as soon as you plugged the air to it.
Man.... seems like the more tools you own... the more tools you break. Makes sense I guess.... but dang it's disappointing!
I would have paid good money to see the look on your face when you guy ran over the saw with the lull ;)
Nothing broke this month, yet, but I had a PC hammer drill and a PC 3x24 belt sander both stop on me at the end of the year. No smoke, but no go. I could tell the belt sander was acting up by having to "push start" it towards the end, but the hammer drill didn't give me any warning. Borrowed a Hilti to finish that job.
D&L
emglo compresssor died. next day my makita worm drive fell off a saw horse and the body cracked were the base bolts. I super glued it but i dont think its gonna make it.
Nothing lately, but I used to say my 5 year old could break an anvil . . . . with a banana ! !
Now he's 14 and on to bigger and better things.
Greg
>> ... could break an anvil . . . . with a banana!That sounds like the story about the psychology experiment with the 4" diameter chrome steel balls out of a really big ball bearing. The punch line is, "One was broken, one was missing, and he was trying to smuggle the third one out in his luncbox." I've heard it told about several differnt occupations. The first time, it was a hard rock miner.
I heard that one about engineers from A&M, UT, and OU. Fixed one, broke one and stole one.
"A hard head makes for a sore a$$."
?tell it to the rest of us?
I actually handled it pretty well. I handle the big stuff (and I guess a saw really isn't that big a deal in the big picture) better than the small stuff. I'll blow a gasket over sloppy work, nails left out in the rain, or food left in the trailer..... but the big stuff rolls off pretty good.
I didn't actually see it happen, but when he came up to me and said.... "I just f*cked up"... I knew exactly what had happened. I knew where the Lull was, I knew where my cutting set up was, and I knew I had just heard the Lull's back up warning. I just said, "tell me you didn't run over my saw". He said "I can't". I said, "put it in the back of the truck where I can't see it". That was the end of it.
At the end of the day I gave one of my standardized mini-speeches. Something to the effect of..... screw up once and it's a mistake... we all make 'em. Make the same mistake again and you either don't give a f*ck or you're too stupid to be on a construction site.
yeah, #### happens...
still a little funny, don't ya think?
I drove up to a project a few years ago to drop something off, parked, left the engine running, ran inside, then was leaving.
This numb nutts that I used to work with , set his 77 in back of my truck, right in line with the wheel, while he was unloading his tools..
so I go to leave, not knowing there is a saw in my path, can't see it in the side mirrors at all. so I cream the saw...
he got pissed cause I ran over his saw, I did feel a bit bad, and felt I was being way nice by offering to pay half, he thought I should foot the entire bill and got real pissed.....
maybe I was wrong, but I told him to get f'd and my 1/2 offer was now null and void ;)
how stupid can you be to put a tool, directly in back of truck that has the engine running?
not that I'm saying your's was the same situation, just thought I'd share my "truck ran over the saw" story
I can't say that I rolled a loader, but I buried a 1 yr. old skytrack so bad that none of the accessories work and you have to get on the throttle gradually or she'll choke out. Actually, another idiot got it stuck and then I got it more stuck, to the tune of 12" of water inside the cab, and thanks to a tree it didn't roll or I would have been swimming in about 35 degree water. Ooops.
something similar happened to me
about 10 years ago I was working with a guy that would never take the blame for anything
one day, he pulled the company job-site table sawout of his truck to get something.
he set it right in front of my truck
when I pulled out,I heard this crunching noise, and thought "what the fu** was that?" Stopped, got out, and saw a dead table saw wedged underneath.
he insisted that I should have looked in front of my truck before I drove off.
yeah I was told the same, you should have looked in back of your truck before you drove off...
yeah, bite me.... I generally like to think, someone isn't stupid enough to put something directly in back of my truck, and then walk off, especially something small enough that it can not be scene.
"I generally like to think, someone isn't stupid enough to put something directly in back of my truck...... especially something small enough that it can not be scene"
like a porsh 928? I bought a 7200$ hood/paint job well my insurance
maroon pulled up tight behind me and I backed up two feet for a semi you cant see them lil cars in the mirrors
Dan
1st it was my truck... then again it's a Ford so that's always broke....
then it was circular saw this morning... crash... housing..
add the RTA grinder to that this afternoon...... gears...
tonight my hole magnum binds / winds up and the twist lock cord gets torn out of the handle...
something I've been working on most every day / night for about two months and is 98% completed.. splits... an hour ago...
aaaarrrrrrgggghhhhh........
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
You had a busy day!
production sure slowed to a crawl...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
The ingersol rand impact wrench may just need a good oiling. I own 2 1/2" and 1 3/8" and if they are not well oiled they can stick.
"Bosch wormdrive got run over by the Lull."That's like when President Nixon said, "Mistakes were made."
LOL.... well said.
Puerre1........PC 71/4 circ saw ....couple of weeks ago a nine yard conc. truck ran over it . I'm pretty sure "Tony Stewart" was diving the truck but I salvaged the cord.
Most times my tools need an outside influence to meet their demise. A few months ago my 12" dewalt scms jumped out of my lift basket and smashed into the sidewalk. I replaced it with the 12" Bosch scms.
Five years ago most of my stationary shop equipment was put out of commission by a flood. I now have most everything back to working order, a lot of things seem to get lost and only found when I buy a replacement or look for something else .
I would love to know what was going through your head as you watched that $500+ slider make it's way to it's demise.
That musta $ucked.
Oh well...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Oh well, that's healthy and it always comes first. The F-word is sure to come soon and gd next.
The neighbor's post hole digger ripped a digger tooth loose. It could have been worse. He's got a grade five shear pin on it. Fifteen dollars for the welder, cut that pin out with the sawzall and he's back in biz. It's a used PHD so I have no idea how much abuse it's seen.Big Macs - 99 cents
Hard overcome the laws of gravity, I will never forget to make sure my extension cords are long enough. That was an expensive lesson , cursing could be heard for miles.
Just had a Makita cordless drill clutch replaced ($50) after 13 months of use. Nice job, 'warranty.'
>> cordless drill clutch replaced..if it happens again, you can get a jacobs brand replacement for around 20 bucks______________________________________________
--> measure once / scribble several lines / spend some time figuring out wich scribble / cut the wrong line / get mad
Here is another one that "mysteriously" was found broken when I got to our home site at the end of the day.
Justr look for the guy who wet his pants and the mystery will be solved.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
I think it had something to do with my neighbor from hell. Any wet spots on his pants would be caused by his lack of understanding on the function of a zipper. Unfortunately he was not found under it. It cost about 8k to upright loader and fix damages.
...yikes.. Any help from ins. on that?______________________________________________
--> measure once / scribble several lines / spend some time figuring out wich scribble / cut the wrong line / get mad
I was real lucky the insurance company decided it was vandalism, if it wasn't they would have paid the first $500. and I would have paid the rest. The worst part is I borrowed that machine from a friend of mine, if it was mine I would not have felt so bad about it.
wow, borrowing it from a friend and then that.. It makes my un-mentionables hurt just thinking about being in that situation.. Glad to hear Ins. came through though______________________________________________
--> measure once / scribble several lines / spend some time figuring out wich scribble / cut the wrong line / get mad
Puts the nickel and dime stuff in perspective, Just looking at it pains me.
How was that one explained? I'll bet no body saw it happen.
Kipherr
It's a long story but the short version is. I parked the loader next to where I was building our home, I turned the loader so it was not straight, pulled the air brake knob out, and took the keys. The machine was parked on a very sleight grade, it stayed in that spot for about a week and a half.
The day I got an engineers report back stating our construction was not causing any of the damages to my neighbors property they claimed we were causing, I found the loader over an embankment at the end of the day. My neighbors got the report the same day.
If someone pulled the airbrake knob out and turned the machine it could have started to roll. It could have been a weird construction accident but nothing in the braking system was found to be defective when it was fixed.
Edited 2/11/2005 12:07 pm ET by arrowpov
With neighbors like that who needs enemies
Did the police investigate?
Had to twist the police's arm to take a report, they were clueless on what to do, no investigation. When my friends business partner got there the first thing he said was "is anybody under that thing ?" nobody thought to check for that.
These neighbors are not the most liked people anywhere they live.
5yo+/- milwaukee hammer drill. It was bucking its way through a top plate with a spade bit, and won like it usually does. When I put it down, I noticed the motor's brushes were on the ground. The cap covering the rotor was attached with a plastic screw, and the screw sheared - probably too much torque during the drilling? anyway, to my surprise, there under the cap is a replacement screw and a pair of replacement brushes. Way to go, Milwaukee! Now all I've got to do is get that fargin' sheared screw out.
Nice touch of class to have spare brushes supplied like that. I was caressing a Mil Hole Hog the other day: it exuded a sense of purpose and quality that's hard to resist. I walked nonetheless.
Try not to use the word "caress" and "hog" in the same sentence..... gives me the willies. ;)
Porter Cable Brad Gun... The pin kept stayin in the out position, leaking air. Decided to open it up to check the oil. I must have screwed up putting it back together, cause when I tried it again, the pin jamed, broke, and cracked the sleve inside.
Just my luck, the HD near me is remodeling and put all the display items on sale. I got a new one for $53 and I now have backup parts.
Jim
Coventry Woodworking
What broke today? Well, for me it should have been no surprise, but it was truly a disappointment.
As a Handyman, one of my most well used tools is my drill driver. And everywhere it goes, I take along a set of bits and such that I just got after Xmas this year. It's from Hitachi, and has just about everything you could want to put in the end of a drill. Drill bits, spade bits, plug cutters, masonry bits, driver bits of almost every type -- truly a useful assortment.
All in one of those cheapshid blowmolded cases, with the even cheaper plastic latches. I knew when I bought it that the case would be its downfall, but I was hoping for at least a few months.
But one of the plastic latches bit it last night.
Unless you're the lead dog, the view just never changes.
not broke yet, but my old Paslode finish nailer is starting to leave the drive pin extended more and more, no matter how often I clean and lube it
My five-year-old DeWalt 4.5" grinder just stopped working! That tool has helped me so many time doing so many different things and then it just stops. A lot of my tools have been breaking lately, and I'm wondering if it's because employees aren't treating them well. I bought a replacement which has a different securing nut...
DeWalt are infamous for that...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Does that grinder have replaceable brushes? Are they easy to get to?
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
I've got the same 4.5" grinder under the Black&Decker Industrial label. Only gets occasional light use. The gears always felt a bit coarse to me, but so far so good.
Have you tried small financial incentives to encourage your guys to go easy on the tools?