# Look for HUGE savings at Home Depot



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

I had to go to Home Depot tonight aroudn 7:30PM...just before it closed. They're closed on T-Day...so they'd set up the Black Friday sales stuff since they close at 8PM now...and the signs were UP. If you need tools....or are plannning on giving tools for Xmas gifts, they have a bunch of tools that are going to sell for 40% off. I saw the Ryobi 10" chop saw for $59.95. That's a $100 tool. The Ryobi multitool 18v system (drill, light, sander, charger, etc) was to be sold for $50ish. 

I asked how long this was going to last. The manager said three days...Fri, Sat, Sun...but was limited to stock on hand. Well...they had at least 50 of those chop saws piled in the aisles. Hopefully, there will be a sales flier in the paper to tell me what MORE will be offered at a discount.

For the first time in my life...I may actually go OUT on Black Friday...to shop...for myself. I'd LOVE to get a DeWalt 18v hammer drill for under $200.


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

DeWalt Hammer drill has (balls) power, we have two of them for the job. Plus they take can repair them reasonably priced. I also bought a 4" batt DeWalt side grinder for cuting rail ( I mean rebar) in the field.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Last weekend, when the brushes finally went in my 15+ year old bargain basement Bosch/Skil saw, it was time to go shopping. Not wanting a $30 saw or a $200 saw for my level of uses, I bought a new Hitachi saw. 

Nice saw, with case, $69.99 white tag, Lowes in Hermitage, TN. 

Yesterday, same saw, same store, $99.99.....but they are having a tool sale this weekend, so someone will get some "savings" I guess!


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## Paul Norton (Jan 8, 2008)

Our Home Depot hasn’t realized there has been a downturn in the economy. I smoked my 12 volt Black and Decker screwdriver/drill last week taking a lumber cart apart. Unfortunately they don’t make them anymore, so I picked up the HD tool catalog. Anything drill or heavy screwdriver with batteries was $200 and up. I thought the catalog was out of date, so while at the store I checked out the battery powered drills. Nope, they had the same ridiculous prices as the catalog and no sales.

I gave up on the battery idea and priced corded tools. They had variable speed, Ryobi drill with a 24 position clutch for $45. As its top speed was 600 RPM, it should do well as a screwdriver. I cut the picture out of the catalog and gave it to the boss to buy it for me for Christmas. She showed me a Sears’ flyer with a 24 volt drill set on sale for half price at $99. The Canadian Tire flyer had two similar items on sale at $99. I won’t be buying power tools from Home Depot.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

I was given a Makita professional 3/8" battery drill years ago in trade for some brake work on a Mazda MX3. The only catch was it came without batteries. I bought one for it in the fall of 2000. The drill still works and the battery still takes a charge amazingly. 

This is the only battery tool I have seen such luck with.


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By NTCGRR on 11/27/2008 7:14 AM
DeWalt Hammer drill has (balls) power, we have two of them for the job. Plus they take can repair them reasonably priced. I also bought a 4" batt DeWalt side grinder for cuting rail ( I mean rebar) in the field.


I borrowed a DeWalt hammer drill from a friend to use during the remodel. I have a 19.2V Craftsman drill...and this DeWalt makes it look like a lightweight. I've never seen a drill with so much power. In low gear, you can hurt your wrist if you stall the drill. I started using concrete screws to put up curtain rods in a concrete wall...and it drills concrete in the hammer mode like it drills wood in non-hammer mode. It was the ONLY drill I had that would drill through porcelain tile...man that stuff is hard.

One really neat feature of the DeWalt is the case it comes in. It has compartments to hold the charger and extra battery like most drill cases...but it also has a place to store a full box of drills, other drill attachments, a tape measure, and more little tools. It becomes a tool kit in effect.

Normally the drill sells for $300 and up. Last night at HD it was on sale for $229...close to my $200 goal.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Mike Reilley on 11/27/2008 12:13 PM
Posted By NTCGRR on 11/27/2008 7:14 AM
DeWalt Hammer drill has (balls) power, we have two of them for the job. Plus they take can repair them reasonably priced. I also bought a 4" batt DeWalt side grinder for cuting rail ( I mean rebar) in the field.

Normally the drill sells for $300 and up. Last night at HD it was on sale for $229...close to my $200 goal. 



Look around and see if you have one of those per-centage or fixed dollar amount off coupons from them. 

We often get them either via the mail or as a cashback reward from one of our bankcards.

Good luck!


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Yeah, Mike, the Home Depot insert in the LA Times was the first thing I read. They've got a 2 gallon air compressor with two different nailers (pin and brad, I think) on sale for $59! I figure that's less than it would cost to fix my Micro Mark air compressor, which has a stuck electrical shutoff switch. I tried taking it appart (good luck with that), but didn't see anything that I could fix to make her work properly. As is, the thing keeps running until the safety valve pops, not a good idea. I also need a 1-1/2 inch drill bit so I can drill a hole in this hunk of some kinda plastic a kindly MLS-er sent me. I am making a holder to keep me from knocking over my Plastic Weld/MEK/paint jars. Now, will I get up at 5 a.m. to get to Home Despot at 6? Stay tuned.


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## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

When I was there picking up that gas grill for 1/2 price (stainless steel one for $249) 
I picked up the $59 chop saw for my up and coming project  , I know if I didn't, I would be killing myself come February. 
http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/11/postid/63617/view/topic/Default.aspx 

I was also eyeballing the nailgun + aircompressor, but I prefer stainless steel screws on my elevated track. 
Imagine dumping track out nailgun style lol, change it every few months lol (if it only worked like legos lol)


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Just got back...it's a good sale. Lots of $5 and $10 tool kits..great for stocking stuffers. I got a 100 piece driver/drill kit by Ryobi for $10 and a DeWalt drill/driver set for $10 also. Also got Ryobi Li-ion powered screwed drivers for my boys....$30 each. I have one of these and really like it. It has a light on it, a clutch, and great torque. Very handy tool.


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## Robert Fasnacht (Jan 2, 2008)

*Paul*

*Sorry you had to necessarily turn to a corded power tool. I resisted battery-power tools for years until my son who has been in the construction bidness finally convinced me that dragging around power cords was truly old fashioned.*

*In that context, have you (or others) considered Harbor Freight tools. Don't sneer. Made in China, yes, but so is everything else today. Forty-five or more years ago I used to receive a cheaply printed Harbor Freight flyer and I always thought the company would disappear because of the "cheap" stuff they were constantly trying to foist on to the unsuspecting buyer. Well, I was wrong and Harbor Freight is still around now with neighborhood stores and a lively web site.*

*Last summer I built a 107-foot, four course, landscape garden. My plan required me to sometimes cut landscape blocks in a special way not considered by the manufacturer. For a time I used a 7 1/4 skil saw to make the cuts but that was too tedious and sometimes inaccurate as the block had to be turned over to finish the cut. Something had to be done so off to Harbor Freight I went. For less than $135 total I walked out of the store with a 14" masonary saw with a diamond blade. The saw has performed flawlessly and has many more cuts in it before it becomes unusable. Another example for you guys pouring concrete to construct your layouts, like me. Harbor Freight sells a $99 cement mixer. Okay, at that price it must be a use one time piece of junk. The mixer is being used to create a massive outdoor layout at the West Florida Railroad Museum by the Emerald Coast Garden Railway club (www.ecgrc.com) and has mixed more than 8,000 pounds of redi-mix concrete so far and is barely scratched.*

*I used to be loyal to Craftsman tools of all sorts but my pathway to Sears includes a stop first at my nearby Harbor Freight store and, these days, I never seem to make it to Sears anymore.*

*Hope this gives you some tool buying guidance and/or assurance.*

*Bob*


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I had a Hitachi 7 1/4 circular saw I bought 25 years agao. Yes that long. It just gave up the ghost this summer. The dang thing was heavy. It took all kinds of abuse. I several times I put in a Masonary blade and cut bricks with it. I had it in a dock box in the back of my pic up. I left the lid open and there was a Cloud burst. 12 inches of water in the box. That saw was totally covered. Let it dry out and it still ran. 

I bought a skill worm drive to replace it. It works well .


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## Guest (Nov 29, 2008)

nobody uses Black & Decker anymore? 
i have one, bought in the '60ies. had to rewind the wires of the motor about 20 years ago. 
it still serves.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

It is surprising how many people think that an electric or electronic item is totally ruined if it gets wet... it IS true that it WILL (probably) BE ruined if you plug it in and apply power WHILE it is wet, but if you dry it out thoroughly without applying power it will usually be no worse for wear.
As a teenager (1960's) I helped a TV repair shop one summer and the first thing the owner did when he got a TV or Radio in for repair was to take the chassis out of the case, cover or remove any paper or cloth items (speaker, tuner cord, etc.), put it in the back of his pickup truck and drive to the self-service car wash where he would clean it with the water wand. Back at the shop he would blow dry the chassis and let it dry for 2 days (with an oscillating fan blowing on it). Then he would reattach the things he had taken off and oil moving parts. Sometimes that was all it took to fix it and he made $40.00 to $50.00 for the service call (yes, early '60's).


I have, in the years since, salvaged Radios, TVs, Stereos and computers from flooded basements and calculators and Cell phones that were dropped in swimming pools and toilets (yeah, I rinsed those reeeeaaaallllll good!) by just drying them out and sometimes replacing the fans (the bearings get real sticky and hard to re-oil).
Long boring story:

I was the Manager (well, "Acting Manager" - all the responsibilities with none of the perks - they never got around to hiring a new one when the old one left) of the Automatic Test Equipment Lab for many years and it was under a large air conditioning heat exchanger, used for most of that part of the building. At about 2:00 AM the phone rang at home and my wife got up and answered it. When she came back to bed and laid down I waited a moment to to see if she would say what the phone call was about. I finally had to ask her, "Who was that?"... she sleepily replied, "It's for you." It took a moment for it to sink in that I needed to go answer the phone!

When I did, it was one of the guards at work, waiting patiently on the other end of the line. He said he had gotten my number from a "contact list" they had for trouble in various places in the plant. He then asked if I would want to know if water got on the computers in the ATE Lab. YEOW! YES I did! I told him I would be there as soon as I could. Unfortunately, in my groggy state, I went back to bed!

Unable to actually get back to sleep (for the next 2 hours) because I just knew there was something I was supposed to do, I finally got up and dressed and drove to work. I figured the guards would be wondering where I was, since I was sure they knew I lived less that about 5 minutes away. I flashed my badge to the guard as I went in the main entrance and he only nodded at me and said nothing... I wondered if maybe I had dreamed it all.

The plant was mostly dark as I went to the Lab and opened the door. I flicked on the lights and all looked pretty much normal... hmmmm... maybe I had dreamed it! Then I looked up... and saw nothing but the white grid of the suspended ceiling and the under side of the badly bent drip pan of the heat exchanger. All but a couple of the cornboard ceiling tiles in the far corners of the room were gone!

I walked to one of the terminals of the 3 mainframe computers and noted that it was turned off. That was very unusual, so I looked closely at the screen and noted what appeared to be a couple of water streaks down the screen. I picked up the keyboard (which was LARGE and built like a tank!) and tipped it toward me to look under it to see if there was water under it. I then had to go home and change my pants as I had dumped about 3 cups of water down the front of my pants... the keyboard case was, well, I said it was built like a tank, but that reference was to its rugged construction, but now I mean like a water tank! The guard paid no attention to me as I left, my wife didn't know I came home to change clothes, and the guard said nothing when I got back to work.

I met a Painter on the way to the Lab that time and he told me he had been painting the walls in a conference room earlier that morning and as he was going to break he heard water running behind that door. He said, "I thought, that's not a bathroom in there, why would there be water running?" He said that as he opened the door the ceiling started to come down, but he had a couple of plastic drop cloths in his hands, so he "just threw them" over most of the computer equipment and thought maybe he had saved everything. He was so proud, I didn't have the heart to tell him this was my second trip. 

The painter said that one of the maintenance men had opened the inlet valve for the heat exchanger in preparation for the summer cooling season, and then gone on break. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to close the drain valve and the water took so long to go through the pipes in the exchanger that he had left the room before the drip pan began to fill and eventually collapse/overflow onto the Lab ceiling below.

Anyway, I (carefully) took the keyboard apart and took the circuit board inside to a sink in another area and rinsed the whole thing off. During that, I noticed little "colored ribbons" going down the drain... about 1/4-inch long and very, very thin... red, green, brown, etc.... "What are those things?" I thought. Then I recognized that they were the color code bands from the carbon resistors on the board. The heat exchanger water had antifreeze in it and that had attacked the resistor color bands.

I put the keyboard back together, checked all the other equipment for water (Very gingerly!) and found nothing else had gotten wet. In reality, the painter HAD saved several thousands of dollars of paper documents and computer equipment... the computers were running at the time so water would have ruined he electronics as it shorted high Voltage electrical currents to places where only low Voltages were supposed to be. Also, the disk drives were not hermetically sealed in those days and water would have wreaked havoc on the read/write heads as it flowed over the 20-inch diameter disks.

I started everything back up and all was well. (I tried to get the painter a bonus but nobody would listen to me!)

BUT! Nearly the SAME THING happened about one year later, only this time there was no painter walking by to save the day! I had rearranged the lab to get documents to another area and the computers to areas were the overflowing drip pan missed them for the most part. Still I had to call the service department of the computer manufacturer come to do the salvage work. That same keyboard had gotten wet again and they insisted it be replaced. I tried to tell them what had happened the last time and what I did. They took it apart and found that the antifreeze this time had been in it for a bit too long and it had attacked the copper traces on the circuit board and had eaten them almost in two... instead of nice straight sided lines of copper they looked like the audio traces on a motion picture film. I never understood why it affected the copper traces on the printed circuit card but not the copper pipes in the heat exchanger and the pipes that carries it all over the building to/from the other heat exchangers and the main cooling tower beside the building.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Semper Vaporo on 11/28/2008 11:41 PM

It is surprising how many people think that an electric or electronic item is totally ruined if it gets wet... it IS true that it WILL (probably) BE ruined if you plug it in and apply power WHILE it is wet, but if you dry it out thoroughly without applying power it will usually be no worse for wear.


True. Taking it to an extreme, a few years ago my boss asked me to look into a W116 Mercedes 280SE that had sat at the shop for a couple years. Brought in as a flood car. He asked me to get it running, as they wanted the motor for another Merc. It was a bit ugly (paint fade) and had some silt inside of it.

Well, I took "get running" as to more than just firing it up. Within an hour and a couple odd bits, the car was going up and down the road, all windows, lights, climate control, etc were working. Battery, fresh oil and transmission fluid were all it took.

Needless to say, they did not part it out and it was used as a daily driver for a few years afterwards.

Nokia mobile phones can survive in water quite well, won't tell you how I know this......


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## Paul Norton (Jan 8, 2008)

There may be a battery powered screwdriver/drill in my stocking yet. Every week the boss gets a ten pound bundle of sales flyers and she shows me the prices of battery powered tools are dropping faster than the stock market. But I am not sure I want to buy another battery powered tool.

Years ago she bought me a small Black and Decker screwdriver and snake light for Christmas. I thought it was just another hi tech gimmick, but it did prove to be handy for small jobs. After a couple of years the battery faded and was not replaceable, so she bought me a 12 volt B&D screwdriver/drill for Christmas. Not much of a drill but a handy screwdriver and very reasonably priced. Last week however, while removing screws from a 3/4 inch plywood lumber cart, I smoked the motor. Too much stall speed load I guess.

Battery powered tools and portable telephones while handy, have proven to be a PITB over the long run. The boss doesn’t seem to grasp the concept that the portable telephones have to recharged, not just dropped for another when it starts to beep. Leave a message at the beep is a common occurrence at our place despite having 6 portable phones, all of which die a slow death on the kitchen table where she likes to talk to her sisters and aunt. I dread the day the six battery packs have to be replaced, if I can even find them. By then it will probably cheaper to buy a dozen new phones than replace the packs.

Battery powered tools are even worse. Unless the job is pre-planned the first battery pack fades when the first hole is drilled. Slip in the second pack and you might get the screw half way in before it dies. Corded tools however always go when I pull the trigger and they are strong. There is no way a 24 volt battery pack is ever going to generate the power of a 120 volt corded tool.

Life expectancy of a battery power tools is measured in years. The battery packs fade and are more expensive to replace, if you can find a replacement pair, than a new tool. I can buy a corded drill cheaper than one battery pack, and they last for decades. The boss seems determined to buy me another battery powered drill, but I am not sold on the idea. That $45 Ryobi drill will probably do everything I want it to without being recharged, and will probably last longer than I will.

I already have a DeWalt corded drill and it is an extremely strong piece of equipment. But despite being advertised as a variable speed drill, it isn’t under load. It only has two speeds: off and 6000 RPM; so it is useless as a screwdriver. The variable speed Ryobi with its keyless chuck, 24 position clutch and 650 RPM maximum sounds like it would make a good, long lasting, always ready screwdriver. There is no where in the house I can’t reach with an extension cord or outside with the power cord for the lawnmower. Now all I have to do is convince the boss, which is not going to be easy. She has already made up her my mind and won’t want to be confused with facts.


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Paul Norton on 11/29/2008 10:45 AM
But I am not sure I want to buy another battery powered tool.



You NEED to see one of the DeWalt DC925KA hammer drills. This is a moose of a drill...and it's battery powered. It will change your perception of battery drills. It sure changed MY perception of them. Talk to folks that USE these drills professionally. The DeWalt NiCad battery (the one they call XRP) is good for 800 recharges before it begins it's collapse. That's a $200ish drill kit on eBay (I found where I can get it for that!!!). 

If you want a LONGER LIFE...use the DeWalt li-ion battery. It's good for 2000 recharges...but this is a whole lot more expensive. The Li-ion batteries are $150 each. The beauty of the Li-ion technology by DeWalt is that the batteries do not just die...like the NiCads. They hold their charge for months...if not years. My Craftman 19.2v drill seems to lose it's charge overnight.

Lastly...you're right that the corded drills have MORE power....the good ones will use 600 watts of power, compared to only 480 watts for the battery ones I mentioned above. My issue is whether the power is useable. The cordless drills have gear shifts...low, mid, and high gear. The corded drills don't. In low gear, if the cordless drill stalls, I cannot control the drill...it has THAT much power. Because of the gearing...and the clutch on the drill is important. IMHO, the cordless drills have way more versitility in general use than the corded drills...which are one geared, no-clutch, speed controlled drills only. 
My personal experience in using the DeWalt drill was with the older DC725KA drill...with the OLD NiCad battery pack (the XRP pack holds more energy alledgedly). I used that drill to drill 1" holes through 2x4s to route power, ethernet, and video cabling through my house during the remodel. I only recall replacing the battery once during the day I did the drilling...and that drill KICKED MY BUTT. I drilled through at least 80 2x4s. I learned quickly to use the clutch to set it so it would NOT TWIST MY ARM OFF if it bound up during drilling the 1" holes. I used this drill...because my Craftsman 19.2v drill would only drill about two 2x4s with the same bit before the battery went tilt...and I couldn't recharge the batteries fast enough. My conclusion....these DeWalts are "different".


Like I said initially...you NEED to try one of the newer cordless drills...and if it's a DeWalt, you'll really see a huge difference.


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## Larry T (Jan 2, 2008)

* ...moreover, they have a G Christmas train set for $25.00!!! Albeit battery, it is a great thing for the Christmas tree...*


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Mike,

Picked up the following this morning for $110 bucks + tax.










Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## paintjockey (Jan 3, 2008)

I have an old Black and Decker drill that I use alot, metal case, heavy. You just can't use it in the rain or it will shock you. the new stuff I won't buy cause it just won't hold up in commercial use. Nice enough around the house though. 


Marty, the Dewalt hammer drill is a monster, but have you ever tried a Hilti? I know they're not battery but I have a TE 52 and a TE 72. The 72 will run a 24" long 2 1/2" masonry bit through a solid wall in no time. The only problem is it weighs about 25 pounds.


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## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

Our local HD let me down Friday morning. I read thru all the flyers to see if there was anything getting out of bed Friday morning for. Only two. Staples had a 19" flat screen computer moniter for $99 and HD had the Porter Cable compressor kit with a single nailer for $99. Was not worth rushing out at 6 am for but if I had time, it was worth stopping before the sale was over at 11am. So 5 am I lay awake in bed Friday morning with my body telling me it was time for work. (sigh) So I get up, get showered, and go to Staples whose registers were down. After waiting an hour in line there I get to HD to find the compressers all sold out. I wandered the store three times still not finding anything I HAD to have or give as a gift, so they got only a few bucks out of my wallet for parts to fix the 2 out of three toilets that had "issues" and I went home hooked the new moniter up to the desktop and fixed both toilets within an hour. Not a bad morning really. 

Chas


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