Tools you hate using or just don’t get on with?

[HollowpointParticipant @hollowpoint]

I was just wondering. Do any of you guys find that you don’t seem to be able to master a particular tool or technique? For example, I know many people struggle with parting off or screw cutting.

But for me, there are 3 that I am simply terrible at/with:

1. Slitting saws – I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that runs perfectly true and I don’t think I have ever managed to cut a nice accurate slot. I quite often destroy the teeth too!

2. Reamers – I don’t know what I am doing wrong but the reamed holes I make are almost always worse than just drilling or boring.

3. Fly cutters – Maybe it’s just mine, but it’s always out of balance and vibrating horribly. I’ve never managed to achieve the mirror like finish that some people can.

So I am interested, is there anything YOU are particularly bad at? Or is there any tools you just hate using?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Nothing that springs to mind for me but I’ll offer these in response to your hates.

1. They never seem concentric so I don’t worry about that. Destroyed teeth are usually down to running too fast, a 100mm HSS saw only wants to be doing about 100rpm max in steel. Too fine a pitch will clog and not help with getting a straight cut. Save fine pitch blades for slotting screw heads or cutting thing >3mm material.

2. Hand or machine reamer? What size pilot hole?. Typically A machine reamer wants to run at half your drilling speed a hand one under power very slowly. 0.2mm undersize drill for >8mm holes then 0.3mm less for upto 15mm holes. and use lubricant.

3. Again flycutters don’t want to be that fast, a typical MT3 or R8 one with 63mm head may be swinging an 80mm dia at the tip so 100rpm with an HSS tool in steel which should not get too out of balance. This also means a slow feed rate is needed Correct grinding to prevent rubbing and keeping the tool sharp is the way to a good finish

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

I just can’t get on with other people’s hand tools. My own are familiar old friends, and I understand their ways, but alien tools aren’t friendly.

[Nigel BennettParticipant @nigelbennett69913]

Worst tool ever – the misnamed “Easy-Out”. All you end up doing is expanding the thing you’re trying to extract so it’s an even tighter fit in the hole, and then snapping the damned thing off flush so now you have a hardened piece of steel down the hole so you can’t now drill it out. I threw my set of the things away.

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Tweezers for inserting taper pins in small clocks.

However much work I put into dressing the tweezers, and however much care I take in gripping and holding the pins, I inevitably spend 10 minutes on my hands and knees in the workshop looking for the pin that took flight.

Oh and the pin that squirted away is always smaller than anything I have in stock – so I have to thin one down!!!

[John MCParticipant @johnmc39344]

Those telescopic bore gauges.  They seem to be popular but I’ve never had much luck with them.  Fortunatley, there are much better ways to measure a bore.

I was gifted a set of them many years ago, I was delighted and grateful until I tried to use them to determine the diameter of a bore accurately.  When asked, by the gifter, how I was getting on with them, I answered honestly!  He agreed with my thoughts and suggested passing them on to anyone who wanted them…

I have, due to circumstance, tried to use them occaisionaly, still hate the b****y things.

[John MC]

On John MC Said:

Those telescopic bore gauges.  They seem to be popular but I’ve never had much luck with them.  Fortunatley, there are much better ways to measure a bore.

I was gifted a set of them many years ago, I was delighted and grateful until I tried to use them to determine the diameter of a bore accurately.  When asked, by the gifter, how I was getting on with them, I answered honestly!  He agreed with my thoughts and suggested passing them on to anyone who wanted them…

I have, due to circumstance, tried to use them occaisionaly, still hate the b****y things.

couldn’t agree more, I have much better success with internal spring callipers, just hold up to the light when presenting to the micrometer

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

hand-held routers

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