There was a posting about angle drills in August, and Ted mentioned an angle drill from JM Tools in Riverside, CA. Being totally skeptical (I mean how could they make a drill that sells for 1/5 the cost) that it could even come close to the Sioux/Milwaukee angle drills, I figured that what the heck, for $30, I couldn't go wrong. Worst case scenario would be that I would get a few days out of it, and it would be fried. I burn out one or two sets of bearings on my S/M per year. It runs me $70 or so to get them repaired. I also sand with 3 inch discs which will put a lot of stress on a 'drill' that isn't intended for use as a grinder. I am generally hard on my tools, prefering ones that will stand a lot of use and abuse.
When the drill arrived the first thing that I niticed was that the joint where the halves of the casing came together showed a slight(1/32 inch) gap. The vent holes on the case are curved rather that straight as on the S/M drills. The chuck is slightly different. When I plugged it in and fired it up, I found out that it is the slower speed model, rather that the high speed model that I normally use. I have, and use both. I now have about 40 hours on the cheap drill, and it shows no signs of wearing down. Did I say that I am hard on my tools? With the way this tool performs, I can see no reason to buy or repair the S/M drills again. I will post when I finally burn this one up. If it lasts through Christmas, as I would expect the S/M drills to do, it will be a super bargain.
This is my opinion only, and I am in no way affiliated with the store that sells them.
robo hippy