ALDI

Digital vernier caliper £7.99

Do you think it would do the job ?   

Tools have plummeted in cost  over the years  , some of its total pants  but  many are of reasonable quality .     And not at Millwauke  prices.  

https://www.aldi.co.uk/workzone-digital-caliper

Gets good reviews, there are a few half decent ones in this price range.

It's okay for the average Joe but probably no good for the rocket scientists.

It'll do for what I want.

I've had one from Aldi for years, but I bought another one recently from them, only because the new one comes in a hard plastic case, my old one didn't and it kept getting switched on and flattening the battery.

Had stuff from Aldi. Years ago a leccy stapler that just went "bang" one day and died. 3/8" router, a part broke and no spares available. 

Of late though I've bought their 140A inverter welder and the compressor. Can't fault either.

I've had two of those over about ten  or twelve years. The first one died of a broken battery housing, happily replaced a couple of years ago. Cost of ownership probably about £1 / year.  Like most Aldi tools has a three year guarantee with no argument  replacement.  Agreed if it was my living I would want something better, but for occasional hobby workshop use I find Aldi gear excellent.

Onoff said:

Had stuff from Aldi. Years ago a leccy stapler that just went "bang" one day and died. 3/8" router, a part broke and no spares available. 

Of late though I've bought their 140A inverter welder and the compressor. Can't fault either.

Click to expand...

I already have a rather expensive inverter welder that does stick and tig, however, I was in my local Aldi and they had one of their inverter welders left, it was reduced to £19.99, so I bought it. I don't do much welding these days, but I figured that if my other one does pack up at least this new one will do for a while, for the price it was a no brainer. 

phil d said:

I already have a rather expensive inverter welder that does stick and tig, however, I was in my local Aldi and they had one of their inverter welders left, it was reduced to £19.99, so I bought it. I don't do much welding these days, but I figured that if my other one does pack up at least this new one will do for a while, for the price it was a no brainer. 

Click to expand...

If it was this then for £20 it was a steal.

Think I paid £59.99 (had a £10 off code). Not as smooth as my Parweld XTS162 but amazing for the price. On one of the forums someone was on about trying a TIG torch on it. 

I can highly recommend their ( and  lidl ) stepped cone bits .

bought a cheap lidl LiOn drill last week from just for ONE job!.......really impressed and paid for itself already. It has a right angle adapter as well as one for getting into tight corners and some weird paper cutting device

kerching said:

I can highly recommend their ( and  lidl ) stepped cone bits .

bought a cheap lidl LiOn drill last week from just for ONE job!.......really impressed and paid for itself already. It has a right angle adapter as well as one for getting into tight corners and some weird paper cutting device

Click to expand...

They were doing a 20V drill with a respectable 50Nm torque I noted. Their power tools certainly feel sturdy and up to the task. Up there in quality of finish with the big names imo. Plastic that feels like it'll pass the "drop" test and well bonded rubber grips. Reminds me of old Bosch stuff brought up to date.

I've a 230V multi tool excellent bought in an emergency when mine died, a 230V drywall gun again brilliant and a 230V SDS drill. Only really used the drill for mixing plaster and tile adhesive. Was on the point of taking it back as it kept cutting out. Cleaned it up and put back in the box. Gave it one last try and it seems to be all working again. Maybe some plaster or adhesive dust got in there....

I bought the Lidl mains multitool for £25 recently, that replaced the precious one bought for £30 that went bang after 10 years use.

I also bought one of their mini 12V drills a while back. It was quite reasonable for it's size but it went bang and let it's smoke out after 6 months so I took it back and got a refund.

I worked on this site in east London where all the labourers were thieves, literally put something down and like that it was gone. 

So a lot of the guys heavily invested in Lidl tools, combis, sds, grinders all seemed up to the job, not great, but got through they day without being stolen and survived being dropped off towers etc.

Was drilling 14mm holes in slab with this fella who had the sds, it didn't last long, lots of rebar, next day he had a new one.

Onoff said:

a 230V drywall gun

Click to expand...

Funny you should say that! I bought one about 9 months ago as I knew I was going to need one.

this weekend has involved fitting sliding mirrored wardrobe doors in back bedroom, lowering ceiling and re plasterboarding it.

that wa why I bought the gun

bit of a faff to set up but once done it was great....then after an hour or so it went . I had to put so much pressure on to get screws to even start!!!!!!!     Whoops, freaking thing had gone in reverse, muppet. Paid for Itself yesterday, I think it was £19.99 or £24.99. Never used one before, I like the way the collated screw 'bandolier" clip,together.

ah well, back to finish it off now

Kitchen fitter who I work with regularly asked to borrow my £25 Lidl multitool, that has been with me for at least 4 years as his cordless Makita one was away being repaired. Later that day he had a call from the repair shop which he put on speaker phone. His Makita was ready to collect, bill was £59 + Vat. I think he makes a weekly trip to Aldi/Lidl now to see when their multitools are coming in again.

I have an unused one that I bought to replace mine when it eventually lets its smoke out. Still in the box.....

sprocketflup said:

Kitchen fitter who I work with regularly asked to borrow my £25 Lidl multitool, that has been with me for at least 4 years as his cordless Makita one was away being repaired. Later that day he had a call from the repair shop which he put on speaker phone. His Makita was ready to collect, bill was £59 + Vat. I think he makes a weekly trip to Aldi/Lidl now to see when their multitools are coming in again.

I have an unused one that I bought to replace mine when it eventually lets its smoke out. Still in the box.....

Click to expand...

Pretty sure if was @ProDave said the latest Parkside multitool has quick change for the blades. Mine doesn't as that bit older 

Onoff said:

Pretty sure if was @ProDave said the latest Parkside multitool has quick change for the blades. Mine doesn't as that bit older 

Click to expand...

Yes the latest £25 Parkside multitool is quick change, and comes in  a neat blow moulded case.

Onoff said:

If it was this then for £20 it was a steal.

Think I paid £59.99 (had a £10 off code). Not as smooth as my Parweld XTS162 but amazing for the price. On one of the forums someone was on about trying a TIG torch on it. 

Click to expand...

That's the one, yes it will do TIG, but your gas flow would be constant, and could get expensive on the gas, on a proper tig the gas shuts off when you break the arc.

I have thousands of pounds worth of high end tooling, from Kango breakers, through most types of power tool, usually all Makita, right down to things like sockets, spanners screwdrivers etc, EVERYTHING was high end. Recently though, I've taken a different approach, at my time of life I've decided to look at things from another angle, if something is going to be used every day, or several times a week, then yes, I'm going to buy a dear one, however if it's for a one off job, or something that's only getting used 4 or 5 times a year then I'm going to try a cheaper one.

I've got some ridiculously expensive kit in my loft that has only been used 2 or 3 times, I bought a new Makita collated screwgun, several years ago, it was nearly £300 at the time and I used it for a total of about 8 hours, in fact a mate borrowed it recently and he's used it more than me. Aldi stuff does in general seem pretty decent and if it's got a 3 year warranty then fair enough, after all if they think it'll last the average diy'er, 3 years, and we know how a lot of them abuse tools, then given careful use by a tradesman it should at least last several years longer if used infrequently.

kerching said:

I can highly recommend their ( and  lidl ) stepped cone bits .

bought a cheap lidl LiOn drill last week from just for ONE job!.......really impressed and paid for itself already. It has a right angle adapter as well as one for getting into tight corners and some weird paper cutting device

Click to expand...

I ended up buying 2 of them, they have some really good attachments as you said. The first one only lasted a couple of days then it went, and I don't mean broke, lol, my grandson was helping his dad with some diy stuff and wanted a small cordless screwdriver, so I ended up giving him mine and buying another. I don't mind really, I think it was only £20, and to be honest every time the youngster comes down I send him home with some tool or other, there's that many kids that don't know a screwdriver from a spanner these days that it's a pleasure having one that wants to go on the tools, if only he'd stop telling his dad that he's doing things wrong and threatening to ring grandad. lol

Just boxed up and found the receipt for the £34.99 Parkside SDS drill. Hammer function no longer works and I've hardly used it. Pity as it looks and feels proper. Failed me on an outside socket today. On the plus side I was only about 1/4 of a hole out lining up with the back box knockout inside. The hot air gun soon warmed up the 20mm pvc pipe through the wall!



Off to Lidl pm tomorrow for a refund. Bought on a whim when my Bosch 230V hammer drill died on me. This Parkside had SDS and was more convenient at home than the 110V Makita. Might give one of those Evolution drills a try:

https://cpc.farnell.com/evolution/sds4-800/sds-hammer-drill-4-function-230v/dp/TL18868