The Denali 136-Piece Titanium Contractor's Drill and Drive Bit Accessory Set was on sale as a Gold Box Special recently. For the price, I figured that even if the drill bits and the accessories weren't of the best quality (I didn't expect them to be), that I should still be able to get more than my moneys worth out of most of the set. I was wrong.
The set arrived and the case was in good condition. Upon opening the set, I discovered a few bits loose in the case from being shipped. That wasn't a problem since that seems to happen on most sets packaged this way. The finish on the tool and drill bits (especially the titanium drill bits and sockets) looked good. At that point, I was pleased with my purchase and I had a couple of small projects to do so I would be using the set soon.
I needed to put a new registration sticker my vehicle's rear license plate, so I grabbed this kit and my Makita driver to do this small job. I needed to remove the two bolts from the license plate frame (7/16" bolt heads) in order to remove the rear license plate and remove the old registration sticker before applying the new one. I grabbed the 7/16" socket from the Denali set, connected it to my cordless driver and was ready to get this job done. To my disbelief, the 7/16" socket would not fit on the bolt head! I don't know if the size was cut wrong or if the socket got over-plated with chrome, but there was no way it would fit. I tried the sockets on either side of the 7/16" socket and, of course, one was too loose and the other too tight. I just shook my head and went back upstairs to get a Craftsman 7/16" socket and then proceeded to finish this small task. I wasn't happy that the socket was so out of spec that it was unusable since a already had a full mechanic's socket set so no big deal, I still figured I could use the rest of the bits so I wasn't too disappointed.
I was looking forward to using the titanium drill bits (the main reason I purchased this set), so I grabbed the set to do another small project. I had received a product that had the holes in the wood drilled too far apart for another piece to fit, so I filled the holes with industrial strength hot glue and let it sit for a week before re-drilling the holes. I grabbed the 1/4" titanium drill bit and chucked it up in my cordless Makita drill. I had already remarked where I was going to drill the two new holes and used a center punch to mark the spots. I didn't have the wood piece in a vice since the wood wasn't hard and it would be q quick job just to drill the two holes.
When I started drilling the first hole, I was disappointed that the titanium bit didn't just auger right into the would. I had to apply a little more force and it took a little longer to drill the hole to the proper depth. By now, I'm starting to get unimpressed with this set. I went on to drill the second hole and it drilled much like the first one. When I went to assemble the metal piece that I had to re-drill the two holes for, I was shocked to find that the holes were too large for the metal piece! I am meticulous about measurements and even used digital calipers to determine the proper hole size - and even used a drill bit that was just a hair undersized so the metal piece would be a very snug fit.
I went to unchuck the Denali 1/4" titanium drill bit and as I was doing that, I noticed that the tip of the drill bit looked like it wobbled a little. Once I had removed the drill bit I rolled it across a flat surface and the 1/4" titanium drill bit wobbled as it was rolling. The drill bit was out of round! That was inexcusable - no matter what the cost of the set was. I removed the rest of the Titanium drill bits and rolled each of them across a flat surface. I discovered three other bits that also were out of round - one wobbled so badly that it wouldn't even roll across the flat surface.
I was going to have to refill the holes I had drilled in the wood and re-drill proper sized holes at a later date. I purchased the Denali set primarily for the titanium drill bits and I could always use some extra driver bits, however, twice I tried using this set and twice I was let down. The quality of the set I received was so poor; it was worthless to me. Drill bits that weren't straight and a socket that was too small to fit over a bolt of the same size just confirmed to me that my set was a piece of junk! Based on what I had discovered, the only items that MIGHT be useable would be the driver bits. Even with the Gold Box price, it wasn't worth paying that much just for the driver bits - which may or may not have been straight or hardened correctly.
Even though it was a pain to do, I packed the set up and returned it to Amazon for a refund. Since I didn't have the outer cardboard sleeve the set came with, I'm only entitled to receive half of my purchase price as a refund. As far as I'm concerned, I'll take the half and never again buy a Denali brand anything! It's possible that I just got a bad set, however, there was no excuse for the socket not being the right size. That indicated to me that the quality control at Denali was virtually nonexistent. This wasn't a complicated product with a motor or moving parts - and still they got it wrong. As far as I'm concerned, the Denali brand tools are worthless (at least to me). Your mileage may vary. Denali Titanium 136-Piece Contractor's Drill and Drive Bit Accessory Set
I ordered this drill bit kit and it was lost in shipment, so Amazon sent out another. I received the first kit afterwards, and decided to keep both and paid for both since these were useful kits. The drill bits and bits are nice quality, but the same cannot be said for the carrying case, especially the small bit carriers.
In both cases, the smaller bits arrived loose out of their respective slots. In both cases, the little carrier cases had broken tabs, so they cannot be closed securely (i had to use Scotch tape to tape one of them shut). Not a big deal since I won't be using the small bit carrier cases much.
Overall, if you want nice set of drill bits, this kit will do for the price. Just don't expect the secondary part of the kit (the carrier cases) to be up to quality. - Home Repair - Bits - Power Tool Accessories - Drill Bit Set'
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