Alternate thread title:
Are made-in-USA Slugger annular cutters better than Chinese ProPoint? (Jancy Slugger by Fein, USA)
I chased down a Kijiji seller's poorly worded ad for Slugger annular cutters.
No asking price was given; it was just "make an offer." Since it was a two-hour drive, I offered a lowball price.
It was painful to get a reply, (only after a week and a repeat request) finally he replied to my offer with one word "Sure"
Getting contact info and an address was equally painful and slow. For some reason, he wouldn't respond to my request for a better description of the cutters he was selling. So I decided to risk the road trip to see if it was legit. It was and I came home with these:
The two 9-piece sets (one for 2" hole depth and one set for 1" depth) are 9/16" to 1 1/16" by 1/16ths. The centre pins (pilot pins) I bought from Accusize. For the pic above, I removed the protective wax on the 2" cutters, some of the wax had already fallen off the 1" cutters.
I have a 6-piece set of ProPoint, M35cobalt, cutters purchased a year ago on Kijiji (unused set for $100 from a pawn shop, delivery included).
I did a couple of test drill holes comparing the ProPoint and Slugger. There is little (measurable) difference in hole quality. The Slugger seems to produce larger swarf with less blue chips (heat) and drill a little faster - but the difference is small (& subjective).
The sample, in the pictures below, is 5/8 x 3" flat bar. It is sitting on a mirror to improve the view of the whole hole quality.
(Spell check wanted me to change hole to whole - so I used both for a 'bit' of a chuckle, pun intended.)
Also (in the drill hole sample above), there are some twist bit holes to compare hole quality. The newly hand-sharpened twist drill holes are good, but the annular cutter holes have superior quality. (Two 1 1/16" holes and two 11/16" holes, one each with the Slugger and ProPoint, Slugger holes on the right). @Susquatch (previously on the Forum) mentioned disappointment with the annular cutters drilling an unacceptably oversized hole. IMO, that was not the case with my little test. These holes measured (as close as I can measure without a gauge pin) at 0.001 to 0.003" and 0.004 to 0.005” larger than the bit dia for the 1 1/16 and 11/16" holes respectively. Yes - agreed - this is a very small sample size! Maybe the difference (Slugger vs Chinese for consistent hole size and hole quality) would be more pronounced after several dozen holes??
Sluggers come from the USA but these have been sitting on someone's shelf for years. The labels on the plastic cases are faded, there is a trace of surface rust and the protective wax coating is very brittle.
I did some research on the pricing for annular cutters (these prices are for 1" cutting depth, 2" depth is generally 25 to 40% more expensive):
Accusize 11 piece set @ $258 (note - an 11 pc set includes 7/16 and 1/2")
Vevor 11 pc set @ $163 (on Amazon these are $199)
Amazon 11 pc set of Sluggers @ $888
KBC branded 6 pc set @ $337 (note - a 6 pc set skips 3/4, 7/8 and 1")
KBC's Evolution 6 pc set @ $154
KMS February sales flyer has Sluggers at great prices with 20 to 30% off:
6 pc set @ $280 (free delivery + tax) their regular price is $400
9 pc set @ $441 (that's a 6 pc set + the 3 missing sizes which are also on sale)
PS1 - I have $200 invested to get my 2 sets of Sluggers. I sometimes have to walk away from Kijiji sellers, but not this time!
PS2 - I was going to put this in the "It followed me home section", but I thought the drilling quality comparison warranted a separate thread.
Are made-in-USA Slugger annular cutters better than Chinese ProPoint? (Jancy Slugger by Fein, USA)
I chased down a Kijiji seller's poorly worded ad for Slugger annular cutters.
No asking price was given; it was just "make an offer." Since it was a two-hour drive, I offered a lowball price.
It was painful to get a reply, (only after a week and a repeat request) finally he replied to my offer with one word "Sure"
Getting contact info and an address was equally painful and slow. For some reason, he wouldn't respond to my request for a better description of the cutters he was selling. So I decided to risk the road trip to see if it was legit. It was and I came home with these:
The two 9-piece sets (one for 2" hole depth and one set for 1" depth) are 9/16" to 1 1/16" by 1/16ths. The centre pins (pilot pins) I bought from Accusize. For the pic above, I removed the protective wax on the 2" cutters, some of the wax had already fallen off the 1" cutters.
I have a 6-piece set of ProPoint, M35cobalt, cutters purchased a year ago on Kijiji (unused set for $100 from a pawn shop, delivery included).
I did a couple of test drill holes comparing the ProPoint and Slugger. There is little (measurable) difference in hole quality. The Slugger seems to produce larger swarf with less blue chips (heat) and drill a little faster - but the difference is small (& subjective).
The sample, in the pictures below, is 5/8 x 3" flat bar. It is sitting on a mirror to improve the view of the whole hole quality.
(Spell check wanted me to change hole to whole - so I used both for a 'bit' of a chuckle, pun intended.)
Also (in the drill hole sample above), there are some twist bit holes to compare hole quality. The newly hand-sharpened twist drill holes are good, but the annular cutter holes have superior quality. (Two 1 1/16" holes and two 11/16" holes, one each with the Slugger and ProPoint, Slugger holes on the right). @Susquatch (previously on the Forum) mentioned disappointment with the annular cutters drilling an unacceptably oversized hole. IMO, that was not the case with my little test. These holes measured (as close as I can measure without a gauge pin) at 0.001 to 0.003" and 0.004 to 0.005” larger than the bit dia for the 1 1/16 and 11/16" holes respectively. Yes - agreed - this is a very small sample size! Maybe the difference (Slugger vs Chinese for consistent hole size and hole quality) would be more pronounced after several dozen holes??
Sluggers come from the USA but these have been sitting on someone's shelf for years. The labels on the plastic cases are faded, there is a trace of surface rust and the protective wax coating is very brittle.
I did some research on the pricing for annular cutters (these prices are for 1" cutting depth, 2" depth is generally 25 to 40% more expensive):
Accusize 11 piece set @ $258 (note - an 11 pc set includes 7/16 and 1/2")
Vevor 11 pc set @ $163 (on Amazon these are $199)
Amazon 11 pc set of Sluggers @ $888
KBC branded 6 pc set @ $337 (note - a 6 pc set skips 3/4, 7/8 and 1")
KBC's Evolution 6 pc set @ $154
KMS February sales flyer has Sluggers at great prices with 20 to 30% off:
6 pc set @ $280 (free delivery + tax) their regular price is $400
9 pc set @ $441 (that's a 6 pc set + the 3 missing sizes which are also on sale)
PS1 - I have $200 invested to get my 2 sets of Sluggers. I sometimes have to walk away from Kijiji sellers, but not this time!
PS2 - I was going to put this in the "It followed me home section", but I thought the drilling quality comparison warranted a separate thread.
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