New Harbor Freight Flex Shaft Sander

[kmmcrafts]

I am signed up to get emails from HF and this was in today's email about new tools in the Bauer line-up, I have a few of the Bauer cordless tools ( leaf blower, 4" angle grinder and a random orbit sander.. my son has the pole saw ) and we've had good results so far.. 

I might give this thing a go as I sold my rigid belt / spindle sander and I've been thinking about trying some intarsia.. I have a gift card to spend some money there too, LOL

Anyway I thought some of you all might be interested in this new item.

https://www.harborfreight.com/20v-cordless-variable-speed-rotary-tool-with-flexible-shaft-tool-only-58672.html?utm_source=responsys&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2024_01_10_wk0224_Bauer_TARGETED&uid=927cd95d91488623d38497685b411479a3ced9fafa9783dfff6ee4193eceb7c1&infy=6636035305&bxid=6636035305&mi_u=6636035305&mi_ecmp=2024_01_10_wk0224_Bauer_TARGETED&plcc= 

[Scrappile]

My question is where are you going to use that you need it to be on a battery?  it would never be used outside my shop,  The thing I like most about it is the dial in speed control.  

[dgman]

Mt thought exactly! Plus, you have to buy a battery and charger if you don’t already have them.

[OCtoolguy]

2 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

I am signed up to get emails from HF and this was in today's email about new tools in the Bauer line-up, I have a few of the Bauer cordless tools ( leaf blower, 4" angle grinder and a random orbit sander.. my son has the pole saw ) and we've had good results so far.. 

I might give this thing a go as I sold my rigid belt / spindle sander and I've been thinking about trying some intarsia.. I have a gift card to spend some money there too, LOL

Anyway I thought some of you all might be interested in this new item.

https://www.harborfreight.com/20v-cordless-variable-speed-rotary-tool-with-flexible-shaft-tool-only-58672.html?utm_source=responsys&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2024_01_10_wk0224_Bauer_TARGETED&uid=927cd95d91488623d38497685b411479a3ced9fafa9783dfff6ee4193eceb7c1&infy=6636035305&bxid=6636035305&mi_u=6636035305&mi_ecmp=2024_01_10_wk0224_Bauer_TARGETED&plcc= 

The first thing I'd want to find out is the availability of replacement parts. The cable comes to mind. They don't always service what they sell. 

[kmmcrafts]

 You guys bring up some good points.. 

I do like to do as much sanding etc as i can outside is what my thought was.. saves having to clean up the shop.. and I've been wanting to try intarsia and read a lot of sanding and shaping is involved.. 

I wouldn't need batteries and chargers as I already have them for my leaf blower.. 

I'll have to look it over good next time I get to their store..

[Jim McDonald]

Except how and where the battery connects, it looks a lot like my Ryobi. The handle is almost identical and I bet that shaft is going to have a hex attachment where it hooks to the motor. 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

I will never buy any tool with a motor from HF. I do not trust the things they put out. They are cheap for a reason. Yes this so called new line is suppose to be a step up but says WHO?  Step up from what. You can have it  Wish you the best of luck. 

[kmmcrafts]

29 minutes ago, Jim McDonald said:

Except how and where the battery connects, it looks a lot like my Ryobi. The handle is almost identical and I bet that shaft is going to have a hex attachment where it hooks to the motor. 

You bring up something that I've been thinking about for quite some time.. Many of that brand of tools "look" a lot like some of the other brands.. one of the cordless drills and one of the flashlights looks identical to my DeWalt... Even the batteries are very close but they don't swap as I tried that, LOL

[kmmcrafts]

3 minutes ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

I will never buy any tool with a motor from HF. I do not trust the things they put out. They are cheap for a reason. Yes this so called new line is suppose to be a step up but says WHO?  Step up from what. You can have it  Wish you the best of luck. 

I understand that, I too won't buy a lot of things from them.. mostly things I know will get used a lot and hard use.. I do buy things that are sort of low use.. 

Just as in this instance, I just want to "try" to do some intarsia.. I can't see spending a few hundred for a flex shaft sander if I decide it's not for me..  Heck a dremel tool and a flex attachment cost more than this thing.. I already have the batteries.. and to be quite honest I haven't had too bad of luck with a lot of the power tools over the more recent years.. that said 15 years ago I bought a Sawzall that wouldn't even cut a piece of 2" PVC pipe before it broke.. three more saws before I got a small plumbing job repaired, LOL.. They've come a long way with those power tools since back in those days.. but as i said.. If it's going to get some hard use.. I'll buy name brand stuff..  

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

1 hour ago, kmmcrafts said:

I understand that, I too won't buy a lot of things from them.. mostly things I know will get used a lot and hard use.. I do buy things that are sort of low use.. 

Just as in this instance, I just want to "try" to do some intarsia.. I can't see spending a few hundred for a flex shaft sander if I decide it's not for me..  Heck a dremel tool and a flex attachment cost more than this thing.. I already have the batteries.. and to be quite honest I haven't had too bad of luck with a lot of the power tools over the more recent years.. that said 15 years ago I bought a Sawzall that wouldn't even cut a piece of 2" PVC pipe before it broke.. three more saws before I got a small plumbing job repaired, LOL.. They've come a long way with those power tools since back in those days.. but as i said.. If it's going to get some hard use.. I'll buy name brand stuff..  

I wish you best of luck. Hope to see some Intarsia  work. I always loved looking at that type work but never got that pure desire to dive into it. Right  now I am finishing up a bunch of pens and my next adventure as I put the pen turning aside for awhile, will be boxes. I want to use up some of the lumber I have stashed away over the years so that when I do pass my family has less to get rid of. I am thinking  would be easier to give away boxes than board feet of lumber.  Also have some turned trinket boxes in mind. That is my next adventure. 

[BadBob]

Having a Grizzly G9928 flex shaft sander and Dremel tools to compare, I much prefer a foot speed control to twist a knob to set the speed.

If I had the batteries already, I might give it a try. My Grizzly costs $109, and you still need something to hang it on.

I have zero issues with buying from Harbor Freight Bauer or Hercules brands, although I would prefer Hercules. I don't have any of their battery-powered tools because they didn't exist when I started buying them. 

[FrankEV]

I have been using  my adjustable speed plug-in Dremel with a wand accessory for over three years with no problems.   Dremel offers the same type bits for sanding or sculptuing. and accepts any other mfg 1/8" shank bits.  Dremel products are available at  Lowes, many orther retailers and on-line..  Definately more expensive but dremel has been around for a long time.

[kmmcrafts]

I would have had the Hercules brand if they would have had the leaf blower and battery in stock on the day I had a special clean-up job to do and needed the blower that day. That said.. I'm actually glad they didn't because once you start a collection of battery tools it's much easier to stay with tools with those batteries. Some of the Hercules brand tools cost almost as much as a DeWalt or others.. not far from it, and they don't have as large of a selection of stuff to choose from in the Hercules brand as they do in the Bauer. 

There is a lot of stuff in the Bauer brand I could see myself using since I have another 24 x 24 workshop that has no power run to it.. It's quite a ways to run power to it and it did used to have power before the new shop went up. But it was old and not up to code since it was built back in the late 50's.. Since it's mostly used to store tractor collection now I see no reason to spend big money to re-wire the entire thing for that occasional use.    

[rjweb]

Kevin, i just got an email from HF that they are having a special sale this weekend 10 to 30% off on how much you spend, RJ

[kmmcrafts]

Right, they always running a sale of some sort and most times I can get stuff 25% off list so that puts it at $30.. I don't plan to go anywhere this weekend.. my area is saying 14" of snow and wind so blizzard like conditions.. Temps going to drop off to around a high of 12F.. Yay winter finally arrived..  We've been spoiled this year as the temps have been around the 40's or better during the day and mid 30's at night.. We've had a couple snows but nothing to really amount to anything that I'd have to go plow the drive.. mostly melted off in a day or two.. but now looking like our high temp won't be above 32 until maybe middle of Feb. 

[BadBob]

You can buy adapters for most 18/20 volt batteries to use with other tools.

I sure do wish they would standardize on batteries.

 

[rjweb]

I understand that Kevin, no snow here but suppose to be in 30's monday and tuesday, that means have to turn the heat on, RJ

[OCtoolguy]

12 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

I would have had the Hercules brand if they would have had the leaf blower and battery in stock on the day I had a special clean-up job to do and needed the blower that day. That said.. I'm actually glad they didn't because once you start a collection of battery tools it's much easier to stay with tools with those batteries. Some of the Hercules brand tools cost almost as much as a DeWalt or others.. not far from it, and they don't have as large of a selection of stuff to choose from in the Hercules brand as they do in the Bauer. 

There is a lot of stuff in the Bauer brand I could see myself using since I have another 24 x 24 workshop that has no power run to it.. It's quite a ways to run power to it and it did used to have power before the new shop went up. But it was old and not up to code since it was built back in the late 50's.. Since it's mostly used to store tractor collection now I see no reason to spend big money to re-wire the entire thing for that occasional use.    

Some of us have to struggle with 2x4 shops and you've got two? Life ain't fair.

[kmmcrafts]

25 minutes ago, OCtoolguy said:

Some of us have to struggle with 2x4 shops and you've got two? Life ain't fair.

It's basically a shed, really rough shape.. though not as rough as I thought. I use to think that one windy day or a good heavy wet snow is going to make it fall down.. really it's a pole barn that more than half the poles rotted off at the ground level. Back in the mid 90's I took a few of the old poles out and put in some small treated 4x4 post just to help get buy until I could afford a new shop. The roof leaks in several areas inside so it's really nothing special about it and why I don't want to spend money to run power to it again. Had to disconnect power when the new shop went up as the line ran right through the area of where the new shop is. Anyway, last summer a big Maple tree that stood right by it fell and landed right onto the roof. My nephew who is a tree guy came and looked it all over who was brave enough to go inside with the tree still on it.. even braver he went up top and cut the tree up and got it off the building ground the stump and within a half day you wouldn't even know there was a tree there. Totally surprised me that the tree did very little damage.. mainly just a couple small dents in the metal roof, LOL.

It's a good storage spot for my old tractors and lawn equipment etc.. Thinking someday I might take it down and build a new one on that existing slab.  

[Liz Weir]

I have a lot of HF tools and have had good luck with most of them. I replaced our old Skil table saw with the Hercules model and followed that up with the Hercules 12" double-compound sliding miter saw. I have a Bauer palm sander because it was on sale almost $50 cheaper than the Hercules model and I needed it then. The palm sander is the only tool I had a problem with - the base had a burr that was digging into the motor housing, making it difficult to adjust the bit depth. HF exchanged it for me immediately and the replacement has become one of my favorite tools.

I don't have any battery tools from HF because we started on the Ryobi tools 15+ years ago and have stayed with them (we have about a dozen batteries of various sizes by now).

My next major purchase is going to be HF's 2hp dust collector - our woodshop is in the warehouse with all of our merchandise (mostly t-shirts) and the sawdust is getting out of hand 

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, Liz Weir said:

I have a lot of HF tools and have had good luck with most of them. I replaced our old Skil table saw with the Hercules model and followed that up with the Hercules 12" double-compound sliding miter saw. I have a Bauer palm sander because it was on sale almost $50 cheaper than the Hercules model and I needed it then. The palm sander is the only tool I had a problem with - the base had a burr that was digging into the motor housing, making it difficult to adjust the bit depth. HF exchanged it for me immediately and the replacement has become one of my favorite tools.

I don't have any battery tools from HF because we started on the Ryobi tools 15+ years ago and have stayed with them (we have about a dozen batteries of various sizes by now).

My next major purchase is going to be HF's 2hp dust collector - our woodshop is in the warehouse with all of our merchandise (mostly t-shirts) and the sawdust is getting out of hand 

I have had that dust collector for around 8 years now and It has been a good one.. Many good reviews of it too... I don't have a whole shop full of HF tools but I've got a fair amount and I've not had any issues with any of them.. Years ago yes.. some of the stuff was junk.. but in more recent times I've had really good luck with a lot of stuff from them. 

[hotshot]

On 1/11/2024 at 10:02 AM, rjweb said:

Kevin, i just got an email from HF that they are having a special sale this weekend 10 to 30% off on how much you spend, RJ

I love and hate harbor freight, at the same time.  Hercules cordless rocks, period.

But their advertising kills me.  30 percent off no exclusions* . . . . of course the * always has the "gotcha", in this case, "On Items $20 or under", which "is an exclusion" at least in my book.

But, then I get over it, and see the bang/buck on Hercules tools, even at full or bundled prices.  I've pretty well stopped paying for the yellow plastic and now everything new is Hercules, and they have been holding their own.  It's not that HF doesn't still carry crap, but it's always a cost/value proposition.  Their Cement mixer is underpowered, but I work around it, and since I can afford the cheap option, cheap wins.

Edited January 17 by hotshot

[Scrappile]

The most important thing here is good to see you post again, @hotshot  You have been missed.

[kmmcrafts]

So I bought this tool yesterday because I had a job of changing out my toilet flange and I needed to cut some of the old PVC pipe / flange away and Harbor Freight happen to be the only place i could find a very small saw blade on a arbor.. I originally was going to use a drill to do the cutting. I do have a dremel that may have worked too but I really didn't want to take my plunge router attachment off of it so I bought this flex shaft tool..

Maybe I expected too much from this but it lacked power on the slower speed setting and on the higher speeds it kept just turning off.. to the point I had to keep flipping the switch off and back on again.. It did come in handy and I'd probably still be trying to use the drill so it was useful but.. as I was working with it I found that if I took it super slow it did work great.. so again maybe it was just my expectation of a larger more powerful saw.. I've had a few dremel tools over the years and I always felt the same about those so it might be just me expecting a very small tool to have the power of my higher end air powered saws / grinders etc.. that i use for working on cars etc. 

Maybe it would work great for sanding and or carving with some small bits.. I sort of figured the PVC pipe would be soft enough that this would have powered right through..

[Roberta Moreton]

I will look at that the next time we are in town. I would like the flex shaft part.