Aldi air tools

[miggymarky]

Are these any good,seen an air drill set the other day in there for a tenner,but was a bit dubious about buying it.

 

[brightspark]

there not rolls royce but worth a punt 4 a tenner

 

[rkde]

I managed to kill my first one within 2 weeks heavy use, got another one though and for the price they are OK

 

[Chickenjohn]

Are these any good,seen an air drill set the other day in there for a tenner,but was a bit dubious about buying it.

Save your money and buy some decent tools. I bought a few of these Aldi air tools and while they sort of work (so I cannot justify taking them back) they don't work particularly well. Cheap but most definitely not cheerful. Even my machine mart air tools work a lot better than the ALDI ones. And don't get me started on the ALDI regulator and plastic hose.....oh wait, it is summer, so I should just be able to uncoil it now, on a hot day.

 

[tigler]

My experiences are to the contrary !!
I have the air drill and ratchet and also bought a mate 1 of each. He has a motor sport team and is a complete tool abuser !! He just doesn't care about his tools AT ALL !! I actually find his treatment of tools offensive to my mechanical sensibilities ! To be fair, most of the time his primary objective is to get the job done and running 4 race cars is very demanding on time, particularly at an event. So, my idea was that buying him premium tools would make me cry when if I witnessed them being destroyed but giving him Aldi stuff would mean that if he wrecked them it was not much lost.
Well, he's had the drill and ratchet for over a year now and they are still working happily !! In fact the air drill is his favourite gadget as it is compact and allows access to nooks and crannies which are prolific on race cars !!

 

[Graham S]

I was happily using my Aldi air shears just yesterday, for occasional use I have found all the tools OK. Worth lubricating well I think.

Graham

 

[breezer]

Yep my aldi air shears are one of my favourite tools.

Also picked up the drill & ratchet, both been used and worked fine (the bits weren't up to much but what do you expect) If they do these again I'll probably buy another set of shears

 

[rkde]

While I didn't have much luck with the drills the shears are excellent and I have 2 of them, I would buy them again. They work and get the job done

 

[breezer]

The only thing I didn't like about the ratchet was the fact that the exhaust is at the front, meaning anything you are working on gets covered in oil.

I imagine they are all similar though

 

[Chickenjohn]

My experiences are to the contrary !!
I have the air drill and ratchet and also bought a mate 1 of each. He has a motor sport team and is a complete tool abuser !! He just doesn't care about his tools AT ALL !! I actually find his treatment of tools offensive to my mechanical sensibilities ! To be fair, most of the time his primary objective is to get the job done and running 4 race cars is very demanding on time, particularly at an event. So, my idea was that buying him premium tools would make me cry when if I witnessed them being destroyed but giving him Aldi stuff would mean that if he wrecked them it was not much lost.
Well, he's had the drill and ratchet for over a year now and they are still working happily !! In fact the air drill is his favourite gadget as it is compact and allows access to nooks and crannies which are prolific on race cars !!

Maybe the key to getting the ALDI air drill to work well is LOTS OF AIR PRESSURE/CFM and the average home compressor just does not have the balls to run it properly. Certainly does not work very well for me. Any tips on using it?? Is there a control I've somehow missed on the drill that is limiting its power???

I stand by my comments about the Air regulator/oiler and air line that came with it. Very poor quality, not recommended. And the ALDI air saw I have again, works, but is crap compared to the air saws they have at college.

BUY DECENT TOOLS IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT!

 

[tigler]

Any tips on using it?? Is there a control I've somehow missed on the drill that is limiting its power???

Abuse the hell out of it, don't oil it, throw it around the workshop, leave it out in the rain, etc, etc !! Works for my mate !!

 

[Chickenjohn]

Abuse the hell out of it, don't oil it, throw it around the workshop, leave it out in the rain, etc, etc !! Works for my mate !!

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Obviously where I've been going wrong is babying the drill; reading the instructions, oilling the tool with air tool oil, setting the pressure correctly etc. I will try some abuse.

 

[tigler]

I have the same philosophy as you, always taking care of my stuff, using it properly etc etc. My Aldi drill seems to appreciate the attention and works well, but I do have a good compressor that is set never to drop below 90 PSI and use good air motor oil.
Racer boy on the other hand only oils his when I bleat at him and then with whatever oil is available because it is "all just oil innit", and runs it off a 150 PSI air line because he only knows what maximum is !! It still works well though and rips through box chassis rails, hundreds of pop rivets a week, enlarging holes in anything you care to mention with a normal HSS drill forced to breaking point !!

 

[Chickenjohn]

I also have a DA sander that I bought from Shiremore compressors and that works brilliantly, as does their air chisel. My Clark belt sander also works well, apart from the crap 40 grit belts I bought from toolstation- they wear out in about 3 minutes. Same with the cheap die grinder from Screwfix (was on offer) works well and the Clark impact gun worked very well once I sussed out what the little control on the side did! I think what I'm saying is the compressor, tank and airline seems to be fine so the last variable is the little tool, or possibly the big tool using it!

I will go out to the garage, give the drill a good talking to and have another go.

 

[tigler]

Make sure the airline to the drill is 3/8" bore and not too long, airline restriction has a surprisingly detrimental effect on tool performance.

 

[ajf]

i got the aldi air drill,air shear ,air cut off tool and the impact wrench for £42.96

 

[brookie456]

Take it back and get a replacement, had an air wrench which lasted 30 seconds, went back and swapped it, 2 years later still going strong. Have the small drill at work - prefer keyed chuck, and still abused 3 months in - 3 people trying to kill it so not doing bad for £6! Not an Aldi apologist by any means, but the final inspection/QC seems to suffer...but the 3" cut off tool I have is brilliant, so the Cl*rke (rubbish) is off to work for some abuse

 

[classic2cv]

I bought an air drill , air cut off tool & air ratchet from Netto about 2 years ago and there still working fine

I also bought an air shear from Aldi, it cuts 20 swg steel quite well

i use the oil that comes with the tools and they all still work ok

 

[tigler]

So it would appear that there can be quality control issues with Aldi air tools, nothing a return under warranty wouldn't solve and it is 3 years !!

 

[pedrobedro]

I bought an air shear and it works fine although I only used it a couple of times. I have a rattle gun which is good for undoing tough nuts as well you just have to use a bit more than the recommended 90psi I have removed flywheel and crank nuts with it. I bought a cut off tool which works but it uses too much air.