Detroit Tools

[Handstitched]

G'Day,

I recently had the job of repairing a vintage case, a job I wish I had a quality rotary tool. After a bit of a search , I found  a ' Detroit' rotary tool. I couldn't find any reviews, here in Oz. They have all  the bits 'n' bobs as you would expect.  Are they any good &  who makes them ?  

My first impression is that they are American made, are they?  

 https://www.totaltools.com.au/123239-detroit-130w-217pc-rotary-tool-kit-dmg130?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhK3H6_fV8QIViQ4rCh0Q_gVJEAQYECABEgIrtPD_BwE 

Thanks for your help  

HS

[tsunkasapa]

The website looks a lot like our Harbor Freight. HF carries what I call 30/5 tools. If they last the first 30 minutes, they MAY last for 5 years. But I was unable to find any other listing for the brand.

[Klara]

My money is on "Made in China" as for nearly everything. Which needn't mean it's bad. I have had a cheap Dremel knockoff for 10 years and whenever I need it it does the job.

Actually, my main problem is the lack of instruction. I have no idea which bit to use for what job...

 

[sbrownn]

7 hours ago, Handstitched said:

G'Day,

I recently had the job of repairing a vintage case, a job I wish I had a quality rotary tool. After a bit of a search , I found  a ' Detroit' rotary tool. I couldn't find any reviews, here in Oz. They have all  the bits 'n' bobs as you would expect.  Are they any good &  who makes them ?  

My first impression is that they are American made, are they?  

 https://www.totaltools.com.au/123239-detroit-130w-217pc-rotary-tool-kit-dmg130?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhK3H6_fV8QIViQ4rCh0Q_gVJEAQYECABEgIrtPD_BwE 

Thanks for your help  

HS

I have one and it works fine but it is noisier and vibrates more than my Dremel.  Given the choice, I don't use it.

[Rahere]

3 hours ago, sbrownn said:

I have one and it works fine but it is noisier and vibrates more than my Dremel.  Given the choice, I don't use it.

Likely why they include the flex extension. Set it up to flail water for three hours, if it survives you'll know the bearings are OK. From the vibration, one wonders. 

[Spyros]

Υeah it's probably about as Chinese as Milwaukee tools, you can't make all that in the west and sell it for 49 australian dollars.

But it's not about where it's made, it's about how it's made.    Go to Kevin lee or Kemovan in China and they will make you some high quality tools (and charge you accordingly).

[Spyros]

1 hour ago, Rahere said:

Likely why they include the flex extension. Set it up to flail water for three hours, if it survives you'll know the bearings are OK. From the vibration, one wonders. 

I have a similar one from a brand called "OZITO", which is short for "Aussie tools".  The brand started its life as tools made in Australia for the Australian market, then eventually got sold, and they kept the brand name but it's now all cheap tools made in China and imported to Australia, and you can only find them in a big box store.  They are pretty much the cheapest electric tools you can buy in Australia.  But, they are honest about it, in fact it's the only tools I've seen that have a big red tab hanging from the cable that says "FOR DIY USE ONLY".  They're just not built for tradespeople throwing them around and stepping on them in job sites.

But you know what? if you use them with care every now and then in a normal workshop environment they get the job done and they last forever and a day.  I have OZITO angle grinder , jig saw, heat gun, leaf blower, belt sander, and this little rotary tool that I use for burnishing leather and widening holes, and they've all been working perfectly fine for years and years. 

I don't see any reason to buy expensive tools for light jobs.  The tools that I use heavily every day is a different story.

[Handstitched]

G'day and thank you for your replies. 

8 hours ago, sbrownn said:

I have one and it works fine but it is noisier and vibrates more than my Dremel.

Does it say anywhere , on the tool,  packaging or storage box where its made?  I can hazard a guess. 

@Spyros I still have a few ' GMC' tools , (that are no longer made),  drill, jig saw,  bench sander and a compressor , and ,  touchwood, they still work fine . 

Its seems that we can't get away from ' Made in China' . 

I might have to take a bit of gamble. It doesn't seem to matter what brand I go for, it will still be ' Made in China'. 

3 hours ago, Spyros said:

I don't see any reason to buy expensive tools for light jobs

I agree. This will only be used for the occasional restore job, cleaning/polishing, removing rust on small components etc. 

Thank you once again for your help  

HS

[dikman]

It would be made in China. I bought a Detroit bench grinder from them, which is made in China. Total Tools, in my experience have been great to deal with. The kit you show looks pretty good for the money, it's got lots of bits with it. I have two Ozitos, which work fine, although the handpiece on the flexible extension gets hot fairly quickly. I recently bought a Dremel 4000 at a good price from Cash Converters, mainly because the flexible shaft and handpiece are heavier duty than the "clones". I also have a Dremel battery operated unit which works fine but battery tools are only good for quick jobs.

You could try and find a used Dremel on Gumtree, Cash Converters (search their website to save running around), or any pawn shops in your area. Avoid the Dremel 3000 as they have had a high failure rate due to the design of the wiring connections inside.

Oh, and the good thing about the Ozito is they have a 3 year warranty and Bunnings generally don't hassle over warranty issues.

[jimi]

There is one the same, yellow and called rockwell?? I do not think it is made in the USA. https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/rockwell-shopseries-rockwell-shopseries-rotary-tool-130-watt/344538.html

[Rahere]

It must be said, with my economists hat on, it's insane the West has allowed price fixing to drive its own industries out of business. We had a severe reality check in the UK after the container tsunami destroyrd JIT, and extended the diy solution we found to the fentilator shortage to address other shortages.

[sbrownn]

2 hours ago, Rahere said:

It must be said, with my economists hat on, it's insane the West has allowed price fixing to drive its own industries out of business. We had a severe reality check in the UK after the container tsunami destroyrd JIT, and extended the diy solution we found to the fentilator shortage to address other shortages.

I don't think it is related as much to price fixing as it is the customers penchant for lower prices that have driven some of our own industries to move manufacturing to China.  Most industries, no matter how automated they are, require human labor and companies relocate to areas of the world where human labor is cheaper in order to be competitive with companies that have already outsourced to low cost labor areas. 

Where a item is manufactured has little relationship to its quality as most companies have access to high quality level engineering design and manufacturing technology; they build at various levels to enter certain price point market sectors and are in China because the labor costs over the entire spectrum from product development to production are cheaper.  The current level of China bashing reminds me of the "made in Japan" bashing that took place after WWII and IMHO is more propaganda  than actual reality.  The fact is that we are in a competitive world market and the "West" is going to have to find ways to compete.   

[sbrownn]

10 hours ago, Handstitched said:

Its seems that we can't get away from ' Made in China' . 

Indeed, and most people shop for a combination of quality and price point which is, IMHO, a good shopping strategy.       

"Why are foreign nations so appealing to manufacturers? Simple economics, for starters. In 2010, compensation costs (wages and benefits) for manufacturing jobs in the U.S. were $34.74 per hour on average, according to the BLS. That’s lower than in 13 northern and western European countries, but far higher than costs in China: $1.36 per hour (in 2008), based on BLS estimates. Another manufacturing powerhouse, India, has even lower hourly compensation costs than China."

I wasn't aware the labor cost differential was so high even in 2010 but at a ratio of 25:1 a person might be willing to sacrifice some quality for a significantly lower price.  Granted it wouldn't be 25 times lower but it could be 100%  lower quite easily while maintaining equal quality.  Sacrifice some quality and the price drops even more.

Given the "expected" standard of living in the US, America will have a difficult time competing labor wise with countries where a living standard 90% lower is something workers are striving for.  

 

 

[Rahere]

2 hours ago, sbrownn said:

I don't think it is related as much to price fixing as it is the customers penchant for lower prices that have driven some of our own industries to move manufacturing to China.  Most industries, no matter how automated they are, require human labor and companies relocate to areas of the world where human labor is cheaper in order to be competitive with companies that have already outsourced to low cost labor areas. 

Where a item is manufactured has little relationship to its quality as most companies have access to high quality level engineering design and manufacturing technology; they build at various levels to enter certain price point market sectors and are in China because the labor costs over the entire spectrum from product development to production are cheaper.  The current level of China bashing reminds me of the "made in Japan" bashing that took place after WWII and IMHO is more propaganda  than actual reality.  The fact is that we are in a competitive world market and the "West" is going to have to find ways to compete.   

This isn't "current level of China bashing", it's been common ground for grief at a diplomatic level for upwards of forty years now. They play on your cupidity.You cannot compete with a country which doesn't play fair with freely floating currency. The only thing you can do is slap trade barriers on them.

Edited July 10, 2021 by Rahere

[sbrownn]

26 minutes ago, Rahere said:

This isn't "current level of China bashing", it's been common ground for grief at a diplomatic level for upwards of forty years now. They play on your cupidity.You cannot compete with a country which doesn't play fair with freely floating currency. The only thing you can do is slap trade barriers on them.

I don't have any more cupidity than you do I just have a difference of opinion.  I don't think trade barriers and trade wars don't work very well.  The best solution is to find a way to compete.  If you can't compete making high labor widgets then up your educational level and find areas you can compete in.

They probably feel like you can't compete with the US inflating their "world currency" without floating their own...what's the difference?  All countries play fast and furious with their currencies.  

[sbrownn]

35 minutes ago, Rahere said:

They play on your cupidity.

You should find a way to comment without personal attacks.  I could easily say that they play on your ignorance but what's the point?  I'm sure you aren't ignorant so why assert you are just because we differ on opinions?  Make your point without personal attacks and you add credibility to your arguments.

[Rahere]

I was talking about society as a whole. It's no wonder the Internet is a scammers paradise, if this is what comes up when anyone tells it as it is. You also just joined my rogues corner.

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, Rahere said:

This isn't "current level of China bashing", it's been common ground for grief at a diplomatic level for upwards of forty years now. They play on your cupidity.You cannot compete with a country which doesn't play fair with freely floating currency. The only thing you can do is slap trade barriers on them.

i agree with you for once, whoda thunk it. But lets say it for what it is they treat their people like slaves  and steal the intellectual property  of every other country so they don't pay the necessary living costs or design costs that the rest of the world does. They spend their money on influencing politicians in every country. 

[Rahere]

Just to elucidate. I'm a Veteran, not because I think I qualify, but because other veterans do. I put my precious hide on the line in the 70s, and did better still in the 1990s. I have no illusions whatsoever about the Communist Animal Farm of China, and this modern fad of differentiating the people from the Government is dumb beyond belief. If a couple of billion Chinese can't sort out the mess they're making, don't come bleating to me. I am firmly of the opinion that the polluter pays, which means China's corrupt balance of payments gets wiped out to pay for the global economic damage they did, on two counts, Covid-19 and flooding the ports in containers full of goods which cannot be delivered.

[fredk]

This whole thing of manufacturers getting things made cheaper in another country, then trade tariffs imposed et cetera is nothing new. The Romans and Greeks had the same problems over 2000 years ago and it happened right thru the centuries to modern times

[Rahere]

7 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

i agree with you for once, whoda thunk it. But lets say it for what it is they treat their people like slaves  and steal the intellectual property  of every other country so they don't pay the necessary living costs or design costs that the rest of the world does. They spend their money on influencing politicians in every country. 

That's because, being a believer in democracy, I'm a centreist, which places me somewhat to the left of your Democrats. It does not make me a Communist, however, any more than it makes me a Fascist. My first run in with the KGB was aged 11, it fell to my mum, former SOE, to instruct me in the protocols of State Security. What an 11 year old was doing correctly identifying a Head of a Russian State Industry in 1966 is another story: it was the start of the Fiat Lada theft, and the goon was his bodyguard. I've had frequent meetings with our security services down the years, because I'm rather good at their interest areas: the last time, they discovered the first thing I did was sign the local head of your Secret Service up. That's because I was dealing at Head-of-State level, in full view of and complete disclosure to half the Cabinet. Not for the first time, either, by a very long stretch. It's why I work in leather, it's grounding, in practical terms. Feet on the ground.

 

[dikman]

13 hours ago, jimi said:

There is one the same, yellow and called rockwell?? I do not think it is made in the USA. https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/rockwell-shopseries-rockwell-shopseries-rotary-tool-130-watt/344538.html

Yep, looks to be the same thing, just a different colour and label. I had another hand unit that looked the same, other than a yet another colour and label. For occasional use these are fine and at the price if they eventually die it hasn't cost you much (and you still have all the bits to use with the next one ).

I keep the battery Dremel and an Ozito down in my leatherwork shed. I use the drum sander and a small wooden burnishing bit I made to get into tight places. The Dremel 4000 is hanging over my workbench in the garage as I find it handy for all sorts of finicky jobs.

[Handstitched]

G'Day, 

The ' Rockwell' tool looks identical, apart from the colour.  I guess it was naive of me to think that the ' Detroit' tools are actually  made in the U.S. , the price should have been a give away.  I was just trying to be supportive and  do the right thing by buying either Australian or American .   I'll just have to bite the bullet and go for the Detroit, I can at least be supportive of the name   , and its only going to be used occasionally anyway. I also have a  ' Spear & Jackson ' pneumatic staple gun.I do have an ' Ozito'  electric staple gun, good for small light jobs.  S.& J.  tools were made in the UK once upon a time, not anymore. 

HS

Edited July 11, 2021 by Handstitched

[tsunkasapa]

Sadly, Buck knives, an American icon, are now made in China.

[Klara]

https://www.protoolreviews.com/news/power-tool-manufacturers-who-owns-them/43632/

At first glance I don't see Detroit, but I still find it interesting. Given that practically everything is made in China I guess the next best thing would be to buy things owned in whichever country you want to support. 

Btw, Detroit is probably protected as a brand name in Australia, which means its owner should be listed in some Australian database which with a bit of luck might be accessible free of charge. If you can find it..

 

Edited July 11, 2021 by Klara
Added a thought