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3rd Aug 2018, 04:47 PM #1Golden Member
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Location
- Adelaide
- Posts
- 574
Experiences About Frost Brand tools.T
I had to assist my 93yr old father in law in mounting a flat screen tv on a wall, before I went I asked if he had all the tools that would be needed, I was assured he had everything including 2 new sets of drill bits, once there he proudly showed me an imperial and also metric set of drill bits branded Frost he had purchased that morning "good aussie made drill bits" he said "Frost have always been a quality brand". Handing me his old 7.2v cordless drill he dropped it and it landed on the drill bit - on picking it up I saw that the bit was bent at right angles not snapped off as I would have expected.
This echoes my own personal experience with the Frost brand, needing some 4,5 and 6mm taps I found my self at Bunnings looking at a Frost brand tap and die set 3mm -12mm normally $75 but reduced to $35 as someone had swiped the tap handle, Frost was a good brand I thought and they looked ok so they came home with me. I was tapping into soft cast iron - my elderly Riobi cordless drill had no issues drilling through 12mm thick castings. Partway through the job I noticed that tapping was becoming harder, I think most can relate to this as a blunt tap as well as being harder to turn also has a different feel to it, you can feel it is no longer cutting the same and feels more like it is forcing it's way through. I checked under a strong magnifier and could see that the cutting edges were starting to round off, this was with the 5mm tap - I counted the number of tapped holes there were only 9, how pathetic I thought.
Later I did some reasearch and found that Frost are now owned by Sutton Tools - the Frost brand which was once respected for quality gear is now the cheap arm of Sutton and is in my opinion about the quality you would expect to find in a Woolies or Coles grocery store.
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3rd Aug 2018, 05:36 PM #2Senior Member
- Join Date
- Feb 2014
- Location
- Werribee, Melbourne
- Posts
- 177
Not long back I bought a set of 3 metric Frost taps to do a job quick job for a friend and had a tap snap on the first hole (correct clearance, mild steel).
It was hard as glass and snapped almost as easily.
I did see they were made in China when I bought them at Bunnings but it was a Sunday afternoon and I wrongly assumed they would do for one job.
I actually finished the hole holding the broken piece of tap with vice grips - it snapped right at the top of the threaded section.
They are definitely not high quality items any longer.
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3rd Aug 2018, 05:41 PM #3
I moved away from using Sutton.
Remember this ad.
"Buy Aussie made and save my job" while at precisely the same time they were having Frost made in China.
I still try to buy Aussie made HSS stuff when I can, and Capitol, made in Victoria, fits the bill.
Grahame
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3rd Aug 2018, 05:56 PM #4Senior Member
- Join Date
- Feb 2014
- Location
- Werribee, Melbourne
- Posts
- 177
I got a couple of HSS BSC Taps made by Capitol last year and they are beautifully made items.
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3rd Aug 2018, 07:26 PM #5Diamond Member
- Join Date
- Mar 2014
- Location
- South of Adelaide
- Posts
- 1,225
Frost is suttons budget brand of tools and they are crap, made in china to a price for the masses that just wont to buy the cheapest crap possible. I would make a drill before i bought a frost one. I have always found sutton branded tools to be really good, i use a lot of their drills and endmills at work and they perform really well.
On a side note, a few years ago at work we bought a Capital 1 1/2" unc tap. We had previously be borrowing a tap, to power tap some holes in aluminum bronze plates. I put the new tap in and about halfway through the drill press stalled. End up with 2 of us swinging on the tap wrench to finish the hole. Checked the tap and the relief was ground wrong on the tap. Ran down the road and borrowed a tap from another machine shop to finish the job, because of course it was urgent. Capital replaced the tap, it was just a bit inconvenient.
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3rd Aug 2018, 07:26 PM #6Most Valued Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Location
- SA
- Posts
- 1,649
Sadly this situation applies to many once dependable and quality European tools.
Many are now living off of their brand names.
Try Fuerda, once great, now total crap. Yes, I've been down that path and the stuff is terrible.
They even went to the extent of rebranding it as Sanou, but still poorly made garbage. Same with Vertex.
Sign of the times.
You are actually better off buying some better know Chinese brands.
Jimy stuff is actually pretty good.
Cheers RobThe worst that can happen is you will fail.
But at least you tried.
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3rd Aug 2018, 07:33 PM #7Banned
- Join Date
- Jan 2018
- Location
- Aldinga Beach.
- Age
- 73
- Posts
- 148
I refuse to buy Frost or Sutton anymore, aside from being just HSS, they aren't that good quality anymore. I buy HSS CO drill bits on ebay from China, haven't had a dud yet, the smaller sizes come in packs of ten mostly.
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3rd Aug 2018, 08:03 PM #8Most Valued Member
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- melbourne australia
- Posts
- 3,228
Frost are crap, but all my Sutton stuff is great. I will buy Oz made when available. However, I can’t quite bring myself to part with $48 for a Sutton 12mm cobalt drill bit.
Chris
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3rd Aug 2018, 08:06 PM #9
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3rd Aug 2018, 08:33 PM #10Golden Member
- Join Date
- Aug 2012
- Location
- Australia
- Posts
- 645
I stopped buying taps when I brought Goliath HSS. I stopped buying drill bits when I brought Dormer (yes Brazil). Guhring are every bit as good. Shame they are so hard to deal with.
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3rd Aug 2018, 11:29 PM #11Most Valued Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
- Location
- Australia east coast
- Age
- 71
- Posts
- 2,713
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4th Aug 2018, 03:06 PM #12Most Valued Member
- Join Date
- Aug 2011
- Location
- Melbourne
- Posts
- 4,779
I once bought some Frost drill bits.....
Only once.
Simon
Sent from my SM-G900I using TapatalkGirl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.
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4th Aug 2018, 05:17 PM #13Member: Blue and white apron brigade
- Join Date
- Feb 2006
- Location
- Perth
- Posts
- 7,182
The Frost branded tap and die sets at Bunnings appear to be the same as the rebranded generics available online for about 1/3rd the price.
About 15 years ago I purchased 40 piece sets of metric (M3-M12) and imperial (1/8-1/2") generic Tap and Die sets - I wish I could have afforded quality set with the nice 3-taps (Taper, Int, Plug) per tap size but I couldn't, so had to settle for the cheapies.
Like most things it depends on work load and how well they are treated, and my experience has been as follows
I'm not in business so my work load is light and about half of what I do is in Brass, ally and plastic.
A good quality lube like Trefolex makes a BIG difference in mild steel especially with cheap taps and dies.
For Al I often tap using taps in a cordless drill and meths as a lube - this makes big difference and leaves no mess behind.
As I broke/damaged/lost the most commonly used sizes I replaced them with better quality ones.
The only dies I have replaced are the M6, 1/4 and 3/16"
The taps that have been replaced are the 1/8 to 1/4" and the M3 to M6.
With taps I also replaced them with their "3 tap (Taper, Int, Plug)" set.
I have also since replaced the "replacement" M3, M6, 1/8 and 3/16" taps several times over but I don't count these as I would have had to replace these anyway.
I have thought a few times about buying better quality sets but cannot justify this now that my most commonly used sizes are all OK.
In the last few years I started working with M12-M24 and 1/2-1" tap sizes and once again I can't justify the cost of pro level sets so have done the same thing and just purchased cheap sets and haven't had to replace anything so far.
Of course this is not going to be very productive if you are in business where usage is much greater and time is money.
BTW The only thing branded Frost I have a is 75 piece set of screwdriver bits - I haven't used them much but when I have they seem to be OK. We have lots of "blunt" and wonky Frost drill bits at the mens shed.
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4th Aug 2018, 08:47 PM #14Senior Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2016
- Location
- Sydney
- Posts
- 283
I run a CNC. I stopped ever putting a Sutton or P&N drill bit in the machine because most of them were just slightly bent - when new. That can be deadly in a CNC.
These days I buy Dormer from Bolt & Industrial.
Curiously, the carbide end mill cutters I buy from one or two companies in China are just fine. I have even had custom jobs done by them.
Cheers
Roger
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4th Aug 2018, 09:05 PM #15
It is starting to look very much like that the quality control /quality assurance has seriously slipped with the company in question.
I have not had issues with their products manufactured here in this country.
What is of major concern is the attitude of this company. They must be well aware that a certain group of the products they sell are not up to standard or general fitness for purpose and has been so for quite some time, but seem quite willing to let this situation remain unchanged.
As evidenced here in these posts the DIY and industrial consumers are quickly waking up to substandard products.
Either they stomp down hard on the shoddy manufacture or stop selling the brand as there won't be many repeat buyers.
Grahame
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