Sears tools

I recently purchased the Sears "Professional" Lithium batteried driver
drills. I purchased two because I was in the process of erecting a metal
building. The batteries and charger worked good but the keyless chuck on
both drills exhibit what I call "Auto Loosen". I have several other keyless
chucks in my shop and none of these exhibit the same characteristics. I
called Sears Customer Service to complain and they told me to visit my local
Sears dealer. The local Sears dealer told me to call Customer Service.
Whoa!! I've been a victim of that before. I will now look for my tool
requirements somewhere else.

Stu Fields

"Stuart & Kathryn Fields" wrote in message
.. .
I recently purchased the Sears "Professional" Lithium batteried driver
drills. I purchased two because I was in the process of erecting a metal
building. The batteries and charger worked good but the keyless chuck on
both drills exhibit what I call "Auto Loosen". I have several other
keyless chucks in my shop and none of these exhibit the same
characteristics. I called Sears Customer Service to complain and they told
me to visit my local Sears dealer. The local Sears dealer told me to call
Customer Service. Whoa!! I've been a victim of that before. I will now
look for my tool requirements somewhere else.


I bought a 2 speed 18V Ryobi, three years ago, and it worked out so well I
bought a second one just for the heck of it the next year. They are now 2
and 3 years old, and are used in my business almost daily. Lost a couple of
batteries over the period, but the drills, chucks and chargers couldn't be
better.

"Stuart & Kathryn Fields" wrote in message
.. .
I recently purchased the Sears "Professional" Lithium batteried driver
drills. I purchased two because I was in the process of erecting a metal
building. The batteries and charger worked good but the keyless chuck on
both drills exhibit what I call "Auto Loosen". I have several other
keyless chucks in my shop and none of these exhibit the same
characteristics. I called Sears Customer Service to complain and they told
me to visit my local Sears dealer. The local Sears dealer told me to call
Customer Service. Whoa!! I've been a victim of that before. I will now
look for my tool requirements somewhere else.

Hand tools are generally average or better quality.

Sears gives its tool manufacturing (and everything else they sell) to the
lowest bidder that meets the specs.

The general rule for sears power tools, is to stay away from them.
Exceptions are if you look to see who made the item.

Shoot, I have an Emerson riding lawn mower. You can look up the prefix of
the sears item number, to see who made it. (whatever it happens to be)
http://www.owwm.com/Craftsman/Manufacturers.asp
--
Jim in NC

Maxwell wrote:

I bought a 2 speed 18V Ryobi,

So did I and I couldn't be happier with it.

On Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:15:10 -0800, "Stuart & Kathryn Fields"
wrote:

I recently purchased the Sears "Professional" Lithium batteried driver
drills. I purchased two because I was in the process of erecting a metal
building. The batteries and charger worked good but the keyless chuck on
both drills exhibit what I call "Auto Loosen". I have several other keyless
chucks in my shop and none of these exhibit the same characteristics. I
called Sears Customer Service to complain and they told me to visit my local
Sears dealer. The local Sears dealer told me to call Customer Service.
Whoa!! I've been a victim of that before. I will now look for my tool
requirements somewhere else.

Stu Fields


I've been replacing all those hand tighten chucks with the old keyed
type. I just can't get the hand tighten type tight enough, and the
chuck will slip, spinning around with the drill bit not moving. A new
chuck is pretty cheap, but getting the original one off can be a bitch
on some drills.

"EC" == Ernest Christley writes:

EC I won't be buying a DeWalt again. They seem to have some
EC management that has decided to cash in on their quality name.

That's a shame. I have a DeWalt cordless drill from a few years ago,
still works fine. But I'm noticing more and more that formerly
good-quality names, like Craftsmen, are using low-bid stuff from Asia
that is mediocre at best.

Ultimately it's us who drive this. We're infatuated with cheap and
retailers peddle it to us. Quality matters to only a few.
--
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all
other countries because you were born in it.
~ George Bernard Shaw

"Stuart & Kathryn Fields" wrote in message
.. .
I recently purchased the Sears "Professional" Lithium batteried driver
drills. I purchased two because I was in the process of erecting a metal
building. The batteries and charger worked good but the keyless chuck on
both drills exhibit what I call "Auto Loosen". I have several other
keyless chucks in my shop and none of these exhibit the same
characteristics. I called Sears Customer Service to complain and they told
me to visit my local Sears dealer. The local Sears dealer told me to call
Customer Service. Whoa!! I've been a victim of that before. I will now
look for my tool requirements somewhere else.

Stu Fields
A few years ago I bought a new 21mm open end wrench from Sears for a special
project. The wrench promptly broke so I took it back for a new one - it
broke too. When I returned the second one, I got the floor manager to talk
to me. At the wrench counter I fitted two wrenches together and easily
broke one of them. The manager didn't look happy with me so he tried it and
broke one.

I was prepared to stand at the wrench counter and break wrenches until I got
my money back but it didn't come to that.

I used to say don't buy cheap tools unless you intended to destroy them in
one project. Now you can't even do that.

Bill Daniels

Ernest Christley wrote:

I won't be buying a DeWalt again. They seem to have some management
that has decided to cash in on their quality name.

That's a shame. Nearly all of my tools now are from the 18V
Dewalt line to include: Hammer Drill, Regular Drill (which is
used to drive the VTHRUST tow bar in th hangar), Right Angle
Drill, Rotozip-like thing, circular saw, recip saw, jig saw,
finish nailer, grinder, flash light, and vacuum cleaner.
I think the only thing I don't have in the line is the
impact wrench. Haven't had a problem. I even got satisfaction
out of both Lowes and Dewalt after they initially denied
my rebate on the six-tool set.

I've had no problem with the XRP batteries.

"Ron Natalie" wrote

That's a shame. Nearly all of my tools now are from the 18V
Dewalt line to include:
I've had no problem with the XRP batteries.

One big difference in how long they last, is how you treat your batteries.

One of the biggest battery killers is running them until they won't hardly
turn the tool motor without any load on it. You should stop using the
battery, and get a fresh one immediately after the RPM starts to drop
noticeably.

If you run your battery real hard, let it cool for at least 30 minutes, and
an hour or two is better, before you charge it. After it is fully charged,
it should be allowed to cool down a bit before you use it again.

All this requires is enough batteries to do your job with some resting time
between cycles. An extra couple batteries go a long way towards making all
of them last much longer.

Also, some of the Dewalt chargers come with a button on them, that you push
to run them through several cycles of discharge and recharge, to condition
them. I think that helps them out a bit, but it should not be over used.
All batteries, and it does not matter which brand, have a limited number of
cycles in them, before they start to go bad.

Another thing I do, is to take the pack apart when it goes bad, and right
after charging, read each individual cell's voltage. It will be very
apparent that a few are totally zapped. If you have at least two bad packs,
you can remove the bad cells from one, borrow cells from the other, and have
a good battery pack, for a while, at least.
--
Jim in NC

Are you trying to make a statement about your brother in law?

Ernest Christley wrote:
Morgans wrote:


I baby my batteries with the tenderest of loving care. I made two
battery packs last 10 years, using it for nearly everything, and the
batteries were still good enough to pass on to a brother-in-law.

--
Scott
http://corbenflyer.tripod.com/
Gotta Fly or Gonna Die
Building RV-4 (Super Slow Build Version)