Tool Shop Oscillating Tool Review
Ezilda Newnam
I have the HF version as well and the way i look at it (like the other posters), is that its a cheap investment into a tool that could be very useful for specific applications and i wont care if it breaks! So far its been great and i have not regretted it!
I purchased the Genesis oscillating tool about 6 months ago when renovating a basement bathroom. I used it to scape laminate floor from concrete, grind concete around a w/c flange, trim mouldings and sand old adhesive residue.
I have bought two of the HF variable speed units and used them in our work and they have held up fine. I have had failures with other HF power tools but they replaced them with no issues and they are still on the job. Now that blades fit most all Multitool brands the selection is better. Never could justify the Fein cost. As good as a Hilti tool? Hardly but then they use double helical gears and bearings vs oil soaked bushings. Abuse any tool and it will not last. Hit a nail with the wood blades and you will be replacing it.
Mine just failed.
Bought two years ago, so no warrantee, from Princess Auto in Canada, this was only the 8th or 9th time I have used it. There is no possibility that it even has one single hours worth of use.
Genesis anything?
Never again.
As mentioned in the recent tool sightings post, I had visited London this past July. The trip was quite leisurely paced, so I had time to scout out a few tool shops, the first of which was The Tool Shop in Victoria.
Ouch. I was way tougher on them in my notes than I remember being. In their defense, The Tool Shop seems like a decent DIY or hardware store. Still, with a name like theirs, we had expected a more elaborate and less grungy tool selection.
Dust extractors work really well with handheld power tools with built-in dust ports. They are not a good solution for tools with larger 2-1/2 in. dust ports such as many miter saws, table saws, band saws, or other stationary equipment. While you technically can find Frankenstein adapters and hoses together to make a dust extractor work on stationary power tools, I could not find any. I am choosing to take it as a sign they are not supposed to be used this way! The better solution is the shop vac or the dust collector.
If there is any other issue with the dust extractor, it is the price. It typically costs about 3 to 4 times more than a shop vac. You may pay anywhere from $400 to even $600. They have a lot of technology built-in, such as the HEPA filters, self-cleaning filters, and auto start features which make them more expensive.
Using a shop vac with stationary tools works reasonably well. You will have to empty the vacuum much more often vs using a dust collector. A single session of planing a few boards can fill a 16-gallon shop vac. A dust collector has a large collection bag and sometimes uses 55-gallon drums or even garbage dumpsters at large shops. The filtering capability of even the best shop vac is not nearly as strong as even a small dust collector. Dust collectors are simply able to pull air and dust at a much greater CFM (cubic feet per minute). A shop vac is strong enough to get the majority of dust, though.
Most dust extractors have this AC outlet built-in. Because it can take longer to start, larger duct collectors often are simply left on while you work. Some of them come with remote controls that you carry in your pocket or shop apron. I would tend to lose things like this while working, so I would just as soon have a switch on the wall near my tools to turn the dust collector on and off.
Even in large workshops with built-in dust collectors, shop vacs still have a place. It is often not cost-effective to hard connect every tool in a shop with all the ductwork needed for a sizable dust collector. Sometimes it may be easier to just buy a dedicated shop vac for the one lone tool in the corner that is too difficult to connect to the dust collector. In this way, you end up using the shop vac as a small dust collector.
There are kits such as the ones made by Powertec, which have clear tubes, elbows, fittings, and blast gates to turn your shop vac into a miniature dust collector. The shop vac sits in a fixed location while the tubes attach to the walls and ceiling, connecting all of your stationary tools. The key to successfully using these systems is to have a single straight mainline run without bends. Then use shorter hoses to run from the mainline straight to each tool. In the end, it will look like you have a pet hamster living in your shop with a giant habitrail!
One of the valuable upgrades you can make to your vacuum is a cyclone attachment. Perhaps the most popular is the Dust Deputy. Cyclone filters attach to a 5-gallon bucket and sit between your tool and shop vac. Dust and debris go into the cyclone filter first, and all the heavy particles fall into the 5-gallon bucket before the rest travel onto the shop vac. The result is that cyclone filters can capture about 98% of the dust in the 5-gallon bucket leaving the filter on your shop vac cleaner and running more efficiently.
If they move enough air (have enough CFMs), dust collectors can include features like floor sweepers. These let you sweep your dust and debris over to a vent in the floor where it automatically sucks everything up. No more bending over, no more dustpans!
Many years ago I invested in a Foredom with keyed chuck. A much higher cut than Dremel and the likes. Cuts, drills, bores and works on any materials, including the hardened steels (provided you have carbide tooling and a very steady hand).
One other suggestion that you probably already know. If you require a lot of pressure with the rotary tool for the jobs 1. make sure you have the proper attachment (they have many options with different degrees of cutting/grinding abilities), and 2. if you still require a lot of pressure with the proper attachment see the previous paragraph.
The same applies to angle grinders, which are another high RPM, low torque tool that tends to have extended runtimes. I bought a new one recently and was shocked how many 1-star reviews the good brands hand. Dewalt, Makita, Bosch, etc - all of them had numerous owners complaining about them dying after a few hours of use.
A few years ago I found and bought a Hilda rotary tool with continuously adjustable electronic speed controller. Its manufacturing finish may seem a liittle bit shoddy for perfectionists, but in my experience with it, works like a charm. It is this one:
My Dremel is around 20 years old. Not used a lot, but has worked fine for the most part. The speed control was a little temperamental. If turned up all the way it would turn off and if on very low it would also turn off.
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Milwaukee is a manufacturer of contractor-oriented power tools and is owned by TTI, a parent company that also owns Ryobi and Ridgid. Milwaukee is the most premium brand of the three. It makes oscillating tools that are widely available at hardware stores, Home Depot, and online.
Porter-Cable is a brand owned by Stanley Black+Decker and is considered a midlevel brand, a step up from Black+Decker but a step down from DeWalt. Its oscillating tools are geared toward the consumer market and sold at hardware stores and home centers.
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