Tools for a new shop... Package Deals?

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I shouldn't be forgetting brands like porter cable...especially when I grew up reading the Tool Crib catalog as soon as it got to the mailbox. I second the Porter Cable router recommendation.
And yeah, get craftsman tools. I recently had a 30-year-old ratchet wrench from a yard sale break, and I took it in to the Sears store, and they sent me a new one in the mail (they didn't have the right one in stock). Free. I didn't even have to pay shipping. I didn't believe it until I saw it, and it's true!

Be aware with the craftsman thing... they discontinued the tape measure guarantee recently. They will still cover the housing if it brakes, but will not cover the blade. I have yet to take in my 30' that I have kept the same linage going for about the last 8 years (after replacing it 4 times) and it really needs it.

 

[gafftaper]

Well since I started this thread I might as well join the hijack.

Sorry Soundlight, but I'm not much of a fan of the color teal either. Although I lean more toward Red than Yellow.

I had a Makita die on me in my high school teaching days when buying a new drill was a huge piece of my budget. Actually I switched over to Black and Decker. I could get 12 volters for about $35 at the factory outlet. The worked pretty good, and when you are dealing with high school students who are likely to drop, loose or steal the equipment, it doesn't make much sense to put out $150+ on one drill. To those of you running a highschool no budget shop find a Black and Decker Factory outlet store at the outlet mall (see their website). Factory refurbished sales bring the price down to something you can afford. They won't last as long as the other brands mentioned here but there aren't many tools that can handle the abuse of high school students. At these prices you can afford to buy some new ones each year.

Anyway my current inventory wish list is a combination of Porter Cable and Dewalt power tools. For hand tools it's a combination of Craftsman and Husky (also guaranteed for life). All the really big toys will be from Delta. And for the miter saw, a wild card. Hitachi has this really cool 12 inch blade sliding saw. It can do 12 1/4 inch cut and handle a board over 4 inches thick. It's got a laser sight and a digital read out to tell you the precise miter and bevel angles. It won a bunch of awards when they brought it out last year, it's a very cool toy.

 

[soundlight]

Hmmm...I've never used the Black and Decker cordless, but I've heard quite a bit about them. How reliable are they? Do they have enough power behind them? What model/voltage do you have?

 

[Van]

Sorry 'bout the hijack. Answering my own question from Earlier. Did you know that Dewalt got their start as re-built Black and Deckers ? factory returns, surplus etc. were taken in re-furbished then repackaged. Then they wound up getting more popular than the original B&D models.

 

[gafftaper]

Hmmm...I've never used the Black and Decker cordless, but I've heard quite a bit about them. How reliable are they? Do they have enough power behind them? What model/voltage do you have?

I would give Black and Deckers a solid recommendation for the high school shop on no budget or for home use by a weekend warrior. They are cheap and they work fine. They don't have as much tork as the better brands and they are not designed to stand up to the wear and tear of a professional shop or even a college shop. But in High School where you probably have one or two broken, dropped, or stolen every year it's a much better way to go. I had a set of 12 volters for my High School shop and they were a bit under powered for handling more than a 2.5" and 3" screws on a fresh charge. But again, I got them for about $35 each factory refurbished from the B&D outlet store.

My personal home drill is a B & D 18 Volt and I've never had a problem with it. The battery life is a little short when you are driving 3 inchers, but I've never met a screw it can't handle. I got a great deal and only paid $100 for a combo kit with the drill, a 5.5 inch circular saw, a flash light, a "dust buster", and two batteries to run it all. It only get's used 2 or 3 times a month for an hour or so... not 6 hours a day 6 days a week like some shop drills.

 

[Wood1000]

I would look at Makita,Dewalt,and Porter-cable for tools. Now I would also look at Delta for woodworking machery.

 

[taylorjacobs]

we own dewalt screw guns at our shop they have been thrown dropped of 12 foot ladders...mostly by me...painted on the works and all of them work fantasticly. on that note whats your opinions on running down batteries on cordless devices. i was taught to always rin it all the way down to save batterie life, but my new TD swares it will switch the polarity on the batteries...ive always run down the batteries and this has NEVER happened to me...what do you know on this

 

[Radman]

we own dewalt screw guns at our shop they have been thrown dropped of 12 foot ladders...mostly by me...painted on the works and all of them work fantasticly. on that note whats your opinions on running down batteries on cordless devices. i was taught to always rin it all the way down to save batterie life, but my new TD swares it will switch the polarity on the batteries...ive always run down the batteries and this has NEVER happened to me...what do you know on this

I could be wrong, but it sounds completely absurd that the battery would switch polarity ever.

 

[Van]

we own dewalt screw guns at our shop they have been thrown dropped of 12 foot ladders...mostly by me...painted on the works and all of them work fantasticly. on that note whats your opinions on running down batteries on cordless devices. i was taught to always rin it all the way down to save batterie life, but my new TD swares it will switch the polarity on the batteries...ive always run down the batteries and this has NEVER happened to me...what do you know on this

Well switching polarity on a battery isn't going to happen. However, in the early days of cordless tools is was highly recommended to completely run your batteries prior to charging. Now Unless you are still using 7.2v Makitas in your shop it's not a practice you need to continue. Most modern chargers have cicuitry built in to help determine whether they need to be discharged, and what the voltage cycle should be for charging.

 

[fosstech]

It is true that a battery will reverse its polarity if you run it down past zero volts. This happens when you have cells in series, and one of the cells hits zero before the rest. The others that still have positive voltage will "force" the dead one into the negative. When you go to charge it, the now reverse polarity cell will heat up to the point of melting/leaking/exploding. It probably isn't possible to do with a cordless drill motor, but you can do it if you're using a light bulb or if you short the battery.

Back on the subject, we have a bunch of DeWalt 14.4v XRP drills here at IC, along with a right angle drill and two impact drivers. They were considering getting 18v models last summer when they bought them, but the 18v drills/batteries are a bit too heavy for general shop and load-in use. One of the students here bought a Makita lithium-ion 18v drill. I had the opportunity to use it, and it's really great. The variable speed trigger is better in the upper ranges than the DeWalt XRP's we have. Don't know if it will hold up as well as the DeWalts, but the 18v battery is smaller and lighter than the 12V DeWalts they used to have here.

All but two of our major bench tools are Delta. Both table saws (one is usually in storage), radial arm saw, sanding station, jointer, planer, both drill presses, and the small band saw are Delta. The sliding compound miter is a DeWalt, along with the smaller 10" chop. The big band saw is a Powermatic we got new this year.