Bought the expensive automatic taper vs the manual one - big difference in cost

I dropped $400 on a fancy automatic taping tool last spring thinking it would speed up my jobs. It did help on long straight runs, saved me maybe 20 minutes per room. But then I loaned it to a buddy for his basement job and the motor seized up mid-wall. Took it apart and the internal gears were plastic, just stripped out. Now I'm back to my old manual banjo that cost me $50 used. It's slower but I've never had it break on me in the middle of a Friday afternoon. Anyone else find the expensive stuff just adds risk instead of saving time?

2 comments

2 Comments

saraho4810d ago

Plastic gears in a $400 tool is just insulting for what should be pro-grade gear.

rivera.jesse10d ago

Dude my buddy Mike bought a Dewalt drill last year for like $350. The gearbox literally cracked on the second day he was building a deck. He wasn't even pushing it hard, just driving some lag bolts. The plastic housing just gave out and the gears started grinding. He sent it back and they gave him a replacement that also felt super flimsy. He gave up and bought a Milwaukee off some guy on Facebook Marketplace for half the price and its been running like a tank ever since.