Tools that work & Etc.

[ebb]

[Hope Kurt doesn't mind my piggybacking on the subject here.]

The Rockford SoniCrafter looks like a TRUE CLONE of the Fein at about half the price -
with all the accessories and a VACUUM PICKUP available.
While these tools don't produce much airborne dust, there are jobs that require no dust.

When you punch in the above title you get a million Harbor Freight hits.
Harbor Freight has at least three versions of a multi-function tool for between $30 and $70.
Guys complain the attachments are poor quality (blades) and none have a vac pickup.
They are all made by the 6 Foot Power Cord factory in China, and sold under the rubric 'Chicago'.
None have VARIBLE SPEED - single speed only.


My Multi-hundred Dollar Fein Multimaster has dial variable speed.
But we get shafted by the price of replacement accessories, altho the blades, by forum consensus, are the best available.
The hard edged tool case this multifunc comes in has exterior hinges on the bottom!
so that it will unbalance and tip over on any but a dead flat horizontal surface. Fancy case, not a clever design but will take the tool WITH an attachment.

Now the SoniCrafter has a soft bag. Great idea. But one guy said it's too small to put the tool away with a blade attached, so he said. This is a huge gripe with me. Tools that make you remove the accessory to put it away are thoughtless and stupid.

Most of these tool cases are just big enough for the tool, have hardly room for a stiff kinky cord and never enough room for the compliment of attachments.
Just bought a very high-end Bosch lithium drill ($100 cash back) that has NO place inside for their own plastic index of drill bits. For crying out loud! I think it's this kind of thing that has fried my brain.
The midget onehanded Porter Cable belt sander comes in a bowling-ball style case and has no storage for the belts. What's the matter with these jerks?
My little cordless Hitachi hammer drill lives in a hard case that also doesn't stand up on the nobbles at the opposite end of the case handle.
And every time the case is opened there is a jumble of bits in every corner.
You know why....? Because the lid molding doesn't match the tray compartments when closed!

The Dremet Multimax ($100) sized like the other oscillating multifunction tools has no vac attachment.
Another point to look at is number of oscillations per minute. The assumption is the more OPMs the smoother the tool does its thing. Fein says theirs vibrates at 21,000 OPMs. You'll find others at 10,000.

One other thing: my Fein multi is a LOUD tool. I don't know how others fair on that score.
I find it NASTY - to say the least. And will only use the tool when I absolutely have to. NOT often!

One guy said the CHEAP tools here are "OK for cutting pumpkins."
In some ways you get what you pay for.
In one case, the multi speed Fein Multimaster and expensive blades and number of nearly useless accessories like the tile degrouter, the concrete scraper, the nasty rasp thingy, the half round 'saw' blade, the hook and loop sanding grits that don't stay on the plate, the useless molding sanders - it's not a tool I reach for very often working on the boat, and definitely NOT worth the insulting $$$$$$$$.
The SoniCrafter like the Fein comes in various versions, each 'kit' more expensive the more accessories they toss in. It may be worth while to buy just the basic tool and add only the attachments you want.


Kurt,
I've read that the SoniCrafter (this may be true of other VARIABLE SPEED RO MULTIs)
can be cooled off by running them at high speed NO LOAD for 2 - 3 minutes.