Technical What has happened to Milwaukee Tool Company?

OT: Regarding tools, I

• started with 9.6v Makita (loved them),
• then Dewalt 18v & B&D 18v Firestorm,
• Dewalt went li-ion with all new batteries so I dumped them and kept the B&D
• Got a wild deal on a Ryobi ONE+ mower & strimmer and impressed.
• Slowly acquiring ONE+ used tools

I am a Ryobi fan because they are the only outfit that introduced their new Li-ion battery tools and the new battery fit all their Old Tools !!!!!

THAT is the sort of thing the makes me loyal to a brand.

I still have the B&D tools and made a Ryobi adapter to B&D so I'm one battery now.

Back in the 70's 80's Milwaukee made the most heavy duty drills and saws money could buy. I had one of their 12v hammer drills and it was a total fail, no battery life. Perhaps that was when they started their decline.

Dewalt beat Makita to the punch otherwise I might have upgraded to Makita Li-ion but they are just too expensive. I'm just a hobbyist at best and can't warrant the cost.

 

I am also a Ryobi fan. While I think the tools are pretty durable I finding that the batteries can be a **** shoot. I also have trouble distinguishing what the green light on the charger is trying to tell me: charging or maintaining.

 

I had a full Ryobi set. I burned out every piece but one impact gun. I expect that one will go soon, too.

I tried to get the magic blue smoke back in, but it got away.

 

Never had luck with Ryobi myself. The company that bought Milwaukee also owns Ryobi, Oreck, Hoover, Homelite, Dirt Devil and AEG. Based in Hong Kong with factories all over the world.

 

Seems like M's collection of powertools is a chaotic mix coming from many different "sources." There is no "theme" for their line. Dare I say that is not totally unlike Harbor Freight ? (!) (LOL M's full .pdf. catalog is like those HF cats they used to mail out - just a random list of tools. ....But, even those cats had a TOC years ago (!) - but then, so did M (!)

 

Very few of the tool companies make 'legacy'-level tools anymore. Most of them have been bought up by larger conglomerates who then 'consolidated' their lines for maximum profit and/or expanded their line beyond their signature products, many times by simply rebranding someone's else's tool.

I picked up most of my tool brand preferences when working on large industrial jobs. These jobs nearly always had the various contractors purchasing power tools for the skilled trades (as well as many hand tools, anything beyond their 'required' tool list) and you pretty much saw the same brands on every job. For them, reliability was king, tool cost ran a distant second as productivity losses from broken tools would quickly eat up any savings.

 

What has happened to Milwaukee tool company? That is the question. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that they may have had a screw loose. Lol

 

I went from Craftsman to DeWalt and had trouble with battery life on both of them. Soon as the warranty expired (2 yrs), so did the batteries. I know, everyone else hasn't had this happen, I'm the only one.

So I tried Kobalt and never looked back. They are usually cheaper to buy, well made too. They come with a 5 year manufacturers warranty and a 3 year battery warranty. So far I have not had even one tool or one battery go bad. I now write the purchase date on each battery. Noticed the other day that one of them is 2017 and still strong.
The larger 4 aph batteries are usually going on sale about now (for Xmas) and you will find them probably for about $50. (At least thats what they were last year ......before Bidenflation) A comparible Craftsman was bout double that and the DeWalts were 2 for $180. Both have 2 yr warranties.

Next time you go to Lowes, take a look at them. COMPARE REPLACEMENT BATTERY PRICES. Buy one of the 3 tools in one box and you get a 2aph battery and a charger as well. Then pick up a 4aph battery on sale to go with it.........and you will be hooked.

 

I still have my SDS hammer drill and angle drill. I paid over a grand for them both in 1998. They made me a lot of money. I used to buy there battery drills until one broke down on me right in the middle of an electric service. I ran to the Harber Freight that was a few blocks from the job and bought a $20 batter drill that came with two batterys thinking I get a Milwalkee after I get this job finished. That was 12 years ago and that $20 special is still working. You can buy extra 14 volt batterys for them for $12 bucks! Thats two batterys!! They actually work better then the Milwalkee and weight half.

 

I bought a 4" Makita angle grinder, 115v. maybe back in 1980, $70. Still working, light enough for one hand grinding, the 7" B&D was getting hard to use one handed. Some where in '88 I bought a Makita SDS Hammer Drill, 115v. Makes putting holes in concrete fun!

 

Corded tools were the best - lasted forever. If you embraced the early M cordless tools, you threw your money away - and this was a company that "had your back" and you could count on. My last M tool was a new corded 4000 rpm 1/4" drill - the high speed is amazingly useful and my fave of all my drills which includes a few 1/2" M's.

I would give Makita the Gold Medal for their first cordless entry: the 9.6v line.

 

I don’t normally need a cordless anything, but needed 8 16 foot boards for my horse trailer, issue was I pulled the old boards out and pretty much had a hollow floor.
So on the way to Home Depot, went to HF, bought a Bauer cordless circular saw. , then went “Hmnn” why drag a cord out front, so also got a 1/4in impact driver.
That was 4/5 years ago, both batteries still hold a great charge.
That said they surely don’t get daily use, but still work fine when needed, in fact used both this past weekend to make some 4 layer car ramps for a friend.
Sometimes we can get lucky on cheap.

 

Don't understand the fascination with battery powered. I've tried a few over the years, none worked out very well, now they're useless.
I've got orange, red, and black extension cords. They always do the job. TVA electricity is cheaper than batteries.
Didn't mean to sidetrack.
Only batteries in my garage are in the cars and the wireless headphones.

 

I am a Milwaukee cordless user. I have some air tools and a few corded electric tools. The Milwaukee cordless are always my first choice, if they are applicable to the job. I often need tools in the driveway where I don't want to be bothered stringing out an extension cord. I have not had issues so far with any of my Milwaukee tools or batteries. The only issue I have with battery tools in general is that once you pick a platform you are kind of stuck with it, unless you have excess money.

 

Would a Diamond Grit Blade work?

 

DeWalt have some good hack saw blades in 32 tooth count.

 

All my battery stuff is Porter Cable. Same battery fits all of them. Don't know how I ever made it without the sawsall. Only used it for wood so far, but has saved me a lot of manual labor. Use my 1/4" Porter Cable impact all the time. If it won't break it loose, I drag out the air tools. Have twisted 1/4" bolts in two with the P-C...