Deals at Home Depot

[Gabriel Billings]

Hello. I've been a forum lurker for a while, and thought I'd finally post. I apologize in advance if someone has already posted this, or if there are any rules against openly discussing prices. I poked around and didn't see any evidence of either, so I'm guessing it's ok.

I've been interested in rounding out my tool arsenal, and my last three missing pieces were a jointer, a planer and a drill press. I was going back and forth on the jointer, and then one day I was looking at Woodcraft's site and saw the 6" Jet was 10% off, and they were throwing in a free set of replacement knives, so I jumped on that. One down.

As for the other two, I'd been thinking about Ryobi versions of both, since I could get their planer and 12" drill press for under $400 total, which seemed like a pretty good deal. Then I was on this forum and read a lot of good things about the Ridgid 4330, so I started looking at that as well.

Finally I decided to get them, and searched in vain online for something like a 10% coupon, to no avail. Ultimately I decided paying full price wouldn't kill me, so I headed down to the store.

I would have shelled out the money if it weren't for a helpful clerk, who told me about a couple deals. First, that I could save 10% off my order by opening a HD credit card. I'd actually done this last summer to get a utility trailer and figured I couldn't do it again, but apparently that was a contractor card, and this was a consumer credit card, and it was ok to have both.

Then he pulled out a coupon for the Home Depot Ultimate Power Tool Deal (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=TH_PM_Tools_Offers&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&cm_sp-creative-_-homepage-_-F2-_-Ultimate_Power_Deal_0804_17-_-Shop_Now). The price of the Ridgid planer and Ryobi drill press brought the purchase over $500, so that netted me another $100 off, after getting 10% off to begin with.

The icing on the cake was when I was wandering down the aisles and found myself next to the ladders. I'd read about this fantastic deal a couple of months ago on clearance ladders that were being replaced by a new line, and I'd actually already checked this store, but had only looked at 28 footers, not 32'. To my joy, there was one of the old 32' hidden behind a stack of newer models.

$339 32' fiberglass extension ladder: $32

What a way to round out the day. I ended up walking out of the store with my new ladder, the planer, the drill press and some replacement planer knives all for less that $450.

So if you've been eyeing up any tools at Home Depot, get them before this deal is over, and check to see if you can get the credit card, too.

[Ben Cadotte]

Wow, 90% off on the ladder.:eek: I think you need to lay low from the law for a while. :D

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Welcome to SMC, Gabriel, and congrats on the buys. Sounds like I need to send you shopping for me.

[Dave Burris]

Hello Gabriel and welcome aboard!

I also have the Ryobi 12" DP. At the time that was all I could afford and really needed something to help with euro hinges. Anyway, the first one I bought went south really quick. I can't remember the model number but the one I have is a vailable speed that does not require the belt to be moved on the pulleys. After about 2 hours of work the spindle started to slip. I took it back and exchanged it for a new one and have not had a problem since. The one thing I remember about the faulty one is the speed adjustment bar was somewhat stiff from the beginning. The speed adjuster on the replacement DP was much smoother out of the box. You might want to check and make sure yours has a smooth action.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
I'll have to check out the ladder. I need a 20, 24 or 28 foot. Any one of the three will do at prices like 90% off!

[Gabriel Billings]

The speed adjuster on the replacement DP was much smoother out of the box. You might want to check and make sure yours has a smooth action.

That's good to know. It sounds like this is the same model, with a speed adjuster handle and a digital readout. I feel pretty safe having bought it from Home Depot, since they're pretty lenient about taking things back.


Hello,
I'll have to check out the ladder. I need a 20, 24 or 28 foot. Any one of the three will do at prices like 90% off!

They're pretty easy to spot, though the chances of finding one are pretty slim. Can't hurt to check, though. They're made by the Louisville Ladder Co., and the stickers on the side will be something like L-3022-32. The newer ones have a PT (Pro Top) on the end, L-3022-32PT. It looks different, too. The Pro-Top is black plastic, too, similar to what you'd see on a small folding ladder. (This is a Pro-Top ladder (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100597381&N=10000003+90054+4139+501584).) The older version doesn't have that, and looking for it will save you the trouble of trying to shift ladders around. If there is one, chances are it'll be in the back behind several others.

[Darl Bundren]

Gabriel, welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you got some good tools at a great price!

Of course, I doubt your entire story as you claim to have found a helpful clerk at Home Depot...





:D

[J. Z. Guest]

Gabriel - Congratulations on the deal!

I have the Ryobi planer and 12" variable speed drill press. I like them both. The planer snipes a lot, so be prepared for that. The best way I've found around this is to joint one face and one edge, plane to final thickness + 1/16". Then, joint the planed face to final thickness. (and of course rip to final width) It is an extra step, the penalty for an otherwise great planer for $200.

The drill press is fantastic. As a matter of fact, I think they dropped the price by at least $10 since I bought mine, and I may be able to get that money back. (90 day price guarantee) I built a roll-around cabinet for it with slide-out shelves sized just right for my Kreg jig and jigsaw while in their cases. I use the drill press a lot more than I thought I would. I use it as much for drum sanding as I do for drilling. The variable speed makes it ultra convenient for this purpose.

[Dave Burris]

I did something similar but used something rather different. I'm in the ATM industry and happen to have a dead ATM. I stripped off the top and used the vault as the base with a mobile base attached to the bottom. Inside I pulled out the dispenser and made a drawer to mount to the roller guides that housed the disperser housing. This left a lot of room at the bottom for tool storage. The neat thing about it is the vault door still has the electronic vault lock. I just lock the vault when I leave the shop and the contents are safe.

[Robert Strebler]

Excellent. Thanks so much for the heads up!

I just picked up a Ridgid 4330 planer for $309. I was on the fence whether to get the Ridgid or a Steel City, but this sale price swung it for me. I hope that it will work well.

I'll have to think about picking up a sliding miter saw while this is going on.

Cheers!
Rob

[Don Bullock]

Great score!!! BUT, where are the pictures?:D

[Fred Voorhees]

Wow, that ladder deal sounds to good to be true. I just might have to check into that myself. Right now, I make do with a twenty two foot wooden extension ladder and the darned thing is a monster to lug around.

[Mash Jones]

Just got back from my HD. They say with a scan of the recieft I can have the one ladder that is left for the price. Gabe, can you come through for me.........thank..

[Craig D Peltier]

If possible I would like a receipt also. My HD has some but the guy had no idea what I was talking about.
The pro tops had the same codes L3022-32 And they had some L3022-28s.
Thanks

[Craig D Peltier]

Also If you can remember where you read about it.

[Steve Flavin001]

even if you had to live with a Ryobi :(

[Craig D Peltier]

Maybe this is why the ladder was so cheap http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08197.html
The Borg guy told me he cut up a bunch last week or so because of a recall. I see the ladder the poster bought is on that recall.

[Louis Brandt]

I went to my Home Depot, and those ladders are in fact, being recalled. There is a sign on them that says that they can't be sold, because they are being recalled. My question is, why (and how) did Home Depot sell one, since they must have known that they were being recalled? They certainly wouldn't have put them on clearance for any other reason.
Louis

[Gabriel Billings]

Ok, here's what I know. The ladders aren't being clearanced because they're being recalled, they're being clearanced because there's a newer model out.

The ladder I got (older version), is an L-3022-32, manufactured in 7/06.

http://www.woodenbadger.com/ebay/ladder.jpg

The newer version is the L-3022-32PT (Pro-Top). If you look again at the recall notice (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08197.html), you'll see that in fact it's the newer models manufactured from 9/07-10/07 that are being recalled. Even if you had a newer model, the company will send you instructions on how to inspect it, and send a repair kit, if necessary. (And if that didn't work, I assume they'd somehow get you a new ladder.)

So as best I can tell, there's nothing wrong with my ladder. For those interested in the original site where I found the deal, I opted not to post a link since I though that was against this forum's policy. (The link would be to another forum.) I can tell you that if you were to Google 28' fiberglass extension ladder $29 you should be able to find it pretty readily.

For anyone who actually managed to track down one of the older clearance models, here are the receipts:

http://www.woodenbadger.com/ebay/ladderReceipt.pdf

On a different note, I managed to injure myself within 2 minutes of opening the box to my new jointer. The bed assembly was wrapped in one of those slightly stretchy plastic sheets; the kind you can poke a finger through and then rip a larger hole. I was too lazy to go and get a knife, so I jammed a finger through the taut plastic. It broke through with great force, directly into the razor sharp jointer blade on the other side.

http://www.woodenbadger.com/ebay/ouch.jpg

It oozed for about half an hour before my wife the ER doc told me I should go get stitches. The doc I saw tried superglue, but the blood kept oozing through he gave up and put in sutures. Luckily the whole experience was pretty easy, since I got to sneak in the back, get stitched up and leave without having to sit in the waiting room or fill out paperwork. I did have to put up with a lot of eye rolling from my wife, though.