Tool Gloat

[Mayhem]

I'm in Hong Kong for a meeting and decided to buy some of the tools that are cheap here but expensive to ship (saved $176 in postage).

CTC tools were unable to ship to my hotel, so I had to go and pick them up. It took 4 different train lines and a 15 minute walk (each way). At one point I thought I had left HK and entered China! The man I met in their office was very friendly. I bought a 75mm (3") boring head with a NMTB30 arbor and 12 brazed carbide bars, and a full set of ER32 collets. The quality is very good, which is a bonus and I was able to inspect them before paying.

The boring head set cost me $113.00. If I bought it locally it would have cost me $319.00 and I would have had to buy the arbor, which adds $71.50 to the price - total saving of $277.50.

The 19 piece collet set (2mm - 20mm) cost me $65.50. Local price for an 18 piece set (3mm - 20mm) is $352.00! - total saving of $286.59.

I think the cross country trek was well worth it and would have cost me less than $10 in train fairs.

I also bought an 82 piece metric gauge block set from YS tools, who delivered them free of charge to my hotel. I have a set of inch ones but as I have both metric and inch metrology tools, this will make checking them easier.

The set cost me $89.99 and the price locally is a whopping $493.90 and it is the same grade - total saving of $403.91.

So, all up I saved $967.91 on what I would have had to pay if I bought them locally at home. I'm well pleased with that. In fact, it doesn't make what I would have paid for in postage all that bad, but hey, better in my pocket than somebody else.

[TomG]

Wow Darren, you could just about throw a baseball to Hong Kong from where you are. Why so much for shipping? I ordered a bunch of the parts for my anodizing set-up on Ebay from Chinese and Taiwanese sellers and all of the shipping was free.

It sounds like you added some nice tools to your collection along with a good story.

Tom

[sasquatch]

Wow!! BIG savings,,(well not really savings, just more money left to buy MORE tools with!) Lol

[EdK]

This certainly deserves a

Ed

[Mayhem]

Thanks Guys

Tom - the postage beats me and I can only guess it has to do with the weight. I know some sellers offer free shipping because eBay disables the rating for postage time. I guess too many people were complaining about the time taken to get their goods. I have heard that they literally can go on the 'slow boat from China'.

Sasquatch - You are correct but I look at it as saving my savings! Also, I can easier justify an expense of $268.49 than one of $1236.40 to my wife (which therefore saves my hide). So savings any way you look at it!

[Mayhem]

OK - back home and had a chance to unwrap everything and have a good look. I must say that the quality has been higher than I had expected given some of the reviews I've seen.

The boring head seems to be very well made and the movement is nice and smooth. The boring bars are the ubiquitous brazed carbide tip ones and I wasn't expecting great quality. I didn't unwrap these until now as they were nicely shrink wrapped and not going to smack into each other or run free in my suitcase. Whilst the carbide will need a sharpening with a diamond file they actually look to be quite good. The only negative is the poor fitting wooden base! They will get a new one.

Collets look good and there are no burrs or other flaws that I can see. I did notice that the slits on the 1-2mm collet are cut a little different (thickness of the slit) but I'm unsure if this will make any difference. I'll actually struggle to find anything that small to put in it to check for run out!

I know how much you love pictures:

Boring head and bars
   
   

Collets - the set covers 1-2mm through to 19-20mm in 1mm increments. Here are the 1-2mm and the 19-20mm side by side
   
   

The gauge blocks are individually wrapped in grease paper
   
   

[EdK]

(04-03-2013, 03:33 AM)Mayhem Wrote: ... I did notice that the slits on the 1-2mm collet are cut a little different (thickness of the slit) but I'm unsure if this will make any difference.

Darren,

Maybe it has something to do with the smaller collets having 6 slits while the 20mm has 8.

Ed

[TomG]

Nice haul Darren. You'll get a lot of use out of that boring head.

Tom

[Mayhem]

If you look closely Ed, you will see that the slits are the same thickness on both collets, with the exception of the last 2mm (closest to the centre). At this point, the width of the slit decreases significantly. On some of the slits, the centre line is common, on others, they are off.

Look at the slit at 3 o'clock and then compare it with the one at 9 o'clock. As I said, I doubt that it will make any difference but that is the only flaw I can see on them.

[EdK]

(04-03-2013, 06:42 AM)Mayhem Wrote: If you look closely Ed, you will see that the slits are the same thickness on both collets, with the exception of the last 2mm (closest to the centre). At this point, the width of the slit decreases significantly. On some of the slits, the centre line is common, on others, they are off.

Look at the slit at 3 o'clock and then compare it with the one at 9 o'clock. As I said, I doubt that it will make any difference but that is the only flaw I can see on them.

OK, I see what you're saying. Please ignore my previous comment.

Ed