Thought you guys would enjoy this

Hawk

North Central Texas
Do a search, gotta be someone someplace with them. Try Ebay too.

I've bought a couple of different after market brands of Veraspak batteries that wouldn't charge after the second use.
Was hoping someone had bought an after market brand of the Verapak that they were happy with and that lasted.
There are so many after market brands sold on the internet that are completely worthless!
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I have heard of places you can send your old stuff into and they would replace the batteries inside.
but I can't find the places mentioned now or even whom I heard mention it.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Keith, it was said in jest, but truth is no one ever uses a rope. That would take time and forethought, so the power cord gets used most of the time. Same for securing the saw so it won't fall- loop the cord around a rafter and there ya go! For many years I thought the main reason they made a straight claw hammer was so you could sink it in a stud so it wouldn't get lost. After all, a straight claw hammer is near useless for pulling nails, you want the curved claw for that, but no one uses a curved claw hammer anymore. Not "Macho" enough, and you can't really pull nails with the $100 titanium wood handled super hammer anyway. I can only assume no one actually pulls nails anymore. Must be the straight claws are for using the hammer like an ice axe and stopping your skid off a roof, which I've done a few times!

FWIW- Habror Freight is doing some pretty fair improvements in the higher end tools they offer. Their cordless stuff is getting better, and you can still afford their batteries. Another forum I'm on has the "I HATE Harbor Freight and will viciously attack anyone that says anything remotely nice about their junk!!!!!" crew. Those guys all buy Snap On and Milwaukee and apparently have an inexhaustible bank account someplace. They also tend to be the guys that talk about waxing their tractors, so that tells you where they are coming from. Any defense of Craftsman, Kobalt, S-K or other non- Snap On tool will result in the hounds being unleashed. Say anything positive about HF and it's likely a hit man will be dispatched to your location to assist in your suicide via 2 bullets to the back of the head. It's pretty funny to see the virtual spittle being flung from their mouths as they do their best to eviscerate the poor boob that just needed a cheap 20 ton press to straighten stuff around the shop. Tool snobs, gotta love them for the laugh factor if nothing else.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I've bought a couple of different after market brands of Veraspak batteries that wouldn't charge after the second use.
Was hoping someone had bought an after market brand of the Verapak that they were happy with and that lasted.
There are so many after market brands sold on the internet that are completely worthless!

Just a thought, have you checked your charger out? I was going through batteries for my PC cordless stuff pretty fast. Picked up some factory new batts on sale and they were never very good. Turns out my charger went belly up. Of course the chargers cost is more than the batteries and the tools themselves were falling apart, so I stopped throwing money at them and got out the old reliable Makitas. Battery cost is about the same for 10x the tool.

There should be companies that offer a warranty on the batts. I'd get the charger checked first though. I happen to have a Versapak charger that must have been my worthless son in laws that turned up here. Not sure it's the one you need, but you're welcome to it if it's the type you need.
 
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RBHarter

West Central AR
I have heard of places you can send your old stuff into and they would replace the batteries inside.
but I can't find the places mentioned now or even whom I heard mention it.

There's a place in Reno call batteries etc . They deal mostly in small battery packs like lap tops . It ain't cheap but if it's one hard to find or not available it's actually pretty reasonable . I'm sure there are others .
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
Well I am a big fan of the Milwaukee M18 Fuel cordless system, and I am such a dinosaur that my buddies at work used to call me Dukeasaurus. In Winter I run a 5" Lazer Mag ice auger on my older Milwaukee M18 Fuel 725 inch pound cordless drill, and a 6" Nils auger on the 1,200 inch pound version. I drill lots of holes and I have never needed the spare battery I carry.
I next added the matching cordless impact driver and carry it in a milk crate in the truck with SAE and Metric deep well impact sockets, an old IH bottle jack, and a chunk of plank. Best test of the impact wrench was one day I came across a farmer with a shredded tire on his loaded skid steer trailer. The spare was mounted exposed up front and the three nuts holding the spare were very rusty. I saw him struggling with a 4-way spanner so I stopped and offered to help. I dug out the Milwaukee and he said, "Oh I don't think that little thing is gonna help." I handed it to him and it started loosening the first bolt right away amid a little cloud of rust and much screeching. As the first lug nut was coming off in the socket I saw he was going to drop it in his hand and before I could yell he yelped a short curse. That lug nut was hotter 'n hell. He managed to get all three nuts off without a problem and he told me he was going to buy one next chance he got.
Pistolero mentioned dragging a generator out in the woods. Been there done that building and maintaining deer stands, an out house in a camp ground and other projects. Never again, Milw. cordless M18 Fuel skill saw and sawsall to the rescue.
I am not made of money, but by God I'll spend what I have earned, saved, and invested on stuff that makes my life easier and happier.
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
Maybe there is a market for replacement power cords with a built-in rope...

One hand power tool you never see marked down, and I've never seen a knock off HF version of, is a bandsaw corded or cordless. Been wanting to get a cordless one to take with me to cut off 20' long metal stock but they are all $300 - $400.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Some of the higher-end extension cords have an Aramid-fiber cord run through the center between the three conductors. Just sayin'.

My $$$ Matco and Snap-On tools (carefully and specifically selected) sit right next to my Husky, Kobalt, and HF tools in a pro box and pro tool cart. Still using the 20-oz ball-peen Husky hammer, same handle, for over 20 years. A word of caution: HF prybars will get you HURT. Buy good ones, off the tool truck. Some times you really do need the very BEST tool, but more often, a cheap version of the CORRECT tool is far more valuable. I can buy a lot more correct tools if I shop cheaper venues.
 

Rally

NC Minnesota
Amen Ian! My dad found a pick bar along the road one day. I watched it bend on two occasions while under load. About a week after the second occurrence, we were at the landfill dumping some demo material. I put the bar in the metal bin without him noticing. Bought him a replacement later and told him what I'd done with the bar. Took him a year to get over it. LOL
 

Hawk

North Central Texas
Bret, as for Chargers, I've got two.
I get the same results with either one I use and I made a third one that has a light and variable charge, just for the new batteries I bought, trying to take it easy on them. I just think some of the rechargeable batteries that you buy on the internet are just crap.
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
"I just think some of the rechargeable batteries that you buy on the internet are just crap."

Exactly.

Won't mention the brand, but bought an Amazon drill/driver replacement battery, and that was a mistake I won't make again. It has very little torque, and its service and shelf life is pathetically short.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Maybe there is a market for replacement power cords with a built-in rope...

One hand power tool you never see marked down, and I've never seen a knock off HF version of, is a bandsaw corded or cordless. Been wanting to get a cordless one to take with me to cut off 20' long metal stock but they are all $300 - $400.


Keith, look up Harbor Freight item # 63444. It's 115v, not cordless. There's super coupon out this month that gets you that saw for $95.00, marked down from $140.
 
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L Ross

Well-Known Member
Some of the higher-end extension cords have an Aramid-fiber cord run through the center between the three conductors. Just sayin'.

My $$$ Matco and Snap-On tools (carefully and specifically selected) sit right next to my Husky, Kobalt, and HF tools in a pro box and pro tool cart. Still using the 20-oz ball-peen Husky hammer, same handle, for over 20 years. A word of caution: HF prybars will get you HURT. Buy good ones, off the tool truck. Some times you really do need the very BEST tool, but more often, a cheap version of the CORRECT tool is far more valuable. I can buy a lot more correct tools if I shop cheaper venues.
Grab hooks, I only buy forged U.S.A. made grab hooks.