Milwaukee is our main line....been trying to get the Boss to switch to Makita. I really like the fact that they are "their own man". And a bonus from Makita is that some of their tools are actually Made in USA in Buford, GA. It seems that most homeowners expectations/needs are met with the Red tools. I'm in the supply chain dealing with Oil & Gas, Construction, Mining, Municipal, Industrial and Automotive users. Currently, Oil & Gas are the kings of destruction, with Construction close second. A lot of the use I see borders on abuse, but that is the environment in these types of industries.
Makita being "their own man" is good and bad, they are in desperate need of a couple items and yet for some reason dont have them.....how does a brand like Makita with over 200 tools running on the 18V platform alone not have a grease gun?
Dunno? Why doesn't Milwaukee or DeWalt have a coffee maker?? I will ask the Rep next time I speak with him. Not sure how private ownership is bad compared to being a Chinese subsidiary?
yeah....coffee maker is a neat idea but i really gotta wonder how they decided to make that and not a grease gun. how about the dust buster? i laughed at them but ordered some just for kicks, surprisingly they actually sell fairly well i assume its their independent streak that prevents them from building some of the stuff that would be a big seller.
Is Mel your Rep? Are you having any luck with the silica vacs? They may realize that the market is saturated? Maybe just not able to compete? Margin not high enough to justify development? Who knows? We just bought some Milwaukee G gun combos on a "while supplies last" promo. Price wasn't too bad. Normally, we move the Alemite cordless guns moreso than the ones from regular power tool lines. Also, had an 18v 1/2" Milwaukee come back in after being sent out for repair about two weeks ago. Tool never worked when it got sent back to customer. Out it goes...again. Full disclosure, I also sent out a Metabo today. A smaller rotary hammer that the selector switch has gone out of.
I dont do allot of tools....just something i am starting to dabble in since they are available. lots of reasons to not build something but there is a big one for doing it.....everyone else has one and most construction guys want one line of batteries....since grease gun is a big seller they dont want passed over because they dont build one. even if they lose money on it they have to have one or they have no chance of getting in with some companies.
I used to have a Black and Decker Professional rotary hammer in the spline drive. I got it at a retirement auction of a local plumber- he had been working in the area for 65 years when he decided he had enough. I wouldn’t still be using it, but someone decided to take it and several other tools out of my truck one night...I needed to finish the job up, so I went to Harbor Freight Andy got the SDS Max drill. Surprisingly it is still running 5 years later. I don’t use it daily, only occasionally to drill 1 3/8” holes for fence posts that have to go thru a rock ledge in our pasture. If I had to use it every day, I would probably get a Milwaukee, as that is what all the local stores sell anymore.
Couple more headed back to the Mothership. Back to the grease guns...had to send one of those out 2 weeks ago because it would not prime. It was fixed under warranty. The above impact is locked up. The chuck on the drill seized on a bit.
Have the same drill at work...it does that too. The first one did it a few months in, then they replaced it under warranty due to some really screwy electrical gremlins, the new one locks onto a bit every now and again too...just did it yesterday. I figure since it has a 5 year warranty, I'll let it go until it gets bad, or has other issues before sending it in. This "fuel" series is a little hotrod drill, but not nearly as durable as the 28V we had before!
My old Nicad drill has a Rohm chuck on it. Never an issue. Don't know what is on them now. The drill itself was made in Germany...by Hilti, I suspect. I think I'm gonna start a powertool repairs thread and post pics of stuff I send out and why. I've been picking on Milwaukee a bit, but I have my reasons. I send out all kinds of stuff.
I needed to drill about 12 holes in concrete steps to mount a metal handrail, I bought a reconditioned Bosch spline rotary hammer drill from Amazon. It seems new and drilled the holes amazingly quick. First I tried a Milwaukee regular hammer drill, it was not up to the task.
Now that thar be a hole maker! Don't see many that big come through these parts. Some of the bits for that will cost more than an average drill does! Dunno what you paid, but I'm looking at dealer pricing right now on my other screen...if you got it for less than $800 you did good. A standard drill with hammer feature is mostly just for some small tapcons and whatnot. Anything that takes spline bits should have some guts to it. The bits are getting harder to find now though. Mostly SDS Plus and SDS Max out there.
Could not see until I turned off ad blocker. $70 less than new. I assume they still carry a factory warranty.
