$40 for a Motorola hole saw fair deal?

RadioSouth · Post by **RadioSouth** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 11:30 am

I'm in need of a 3/4" hole saw for NMO install. A seller has one on EBay
at $40. new. Marked Cabletec and seller states it's the saw sold by Motorola. Don't have a Motorola part # for reference. OK deal ?

ricciticcitembo · Post by **ricciticcitembo** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 11:39 am

is $120 a good deal for one DEK Cable ?

maybe. It all depends on who you are, and if it has to be 100% Factory Issue or not.

I paid less than 20 Bucks for a really good 3/4 inch holesaw. It is red in color and made in the USA.

And I've drilled Quite a few holes with it and it is still good.

YMMV

kc7gr · Post by **kc7gr** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 12:30 pm

RadioSouth wrote:I'm in need of a 3/4" hole saw for NMO install. A seller has one on EBay
at $40. new. Marked Cabletec and seller states it's the saw sold by Motorola. Don't have a Motorola part # for reference. OK deal ?

Not to my eyes. Motorola doesn't make their own hole saws. They buy them wholesale from other vendors.

You can do just as well, for a cheaper price, by getting a good bimetal hole saw (make sure it's bimetal if you plan to be drilling through anything but wood) from Grainger or your local hardware store. I've had good results with the 'Blue Mol' brand.

Happy hunting.

jackhackett · Post by **jackhackett** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 1:37 pm

Note that there are special hole saws for antenna mount holes, they limit the depth of the cut to about 1/8 inch to avoid damaging the headliner.
You can get these from TESSCO, I think they're about $30, with replacement blades a couple of bucks a piece.

Post by **Code3Response** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 2:22 pm

Ya I sell the Antnenex Models for pretty cheap - let me know if interested.

giantcake · Post by **giantcake** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 5:35 pm

$40 is a good price if the guy ships it to you quick. Ebay is always so-so on price but if it's paypal and they ship quick it's usually less hassle.

If your doing professional work it's sometimes a good selling point to explain and show the customer some of your "specialized" tools. Especially on that expensive SUV your about to drill for a new customer!

Also, it takes (should I say this) a little less skill using an antenna hole saw.
Or I mean to say, when your stretched out on the roof, drilling, every little bit of help from the tool is always appreciated.

-Steve

jackhackett · Post by **jackhackett** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:15 pm

--
Also, it takes (should I say this) a little less skill using an antenna hole saw.
Or I mean to say, when your stretched out on the roof, drilling, every little bit of help from the tool is always appreciated.
--

or worse.. I've seen someone use a 3/4" hole saw to drill a hole inside a trunk so he could see how much clearance there was between the back deck of the trunk and the gas tank.. there was no clearance.. oops.. ;)

RadioSouth · Post by **RadioSouth** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 8:31 pm

Thanks guys, does anyone have Motorola's part # for this hole saw?
(I looked up a couple of other things this EBay seller had and they were
over retail list) !

KG6EAQ · Post by **KG6EAQ** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 8:34 pm

RadioSouth wrote:(I looked up a couple of other things this EBay seller had and they were over retail list) !

As are a lot of new items on eBay.. there are a whole bunch of people that think just because it's on eBay that it's a deal, without ever checking the store down the street.

RadioSouth · Post by **RadioSouth** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 8:50 pm

Disreguard the part # request, found it. And yup the guy is gouging.
23.59 'M's retail list, he's asking nearly double retail !

kcbooboo · Post by **kcbooboo** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 6:30 am

It just goes to show you - you need to do your homework before buying anything, especially on eBay. Sometimes the prices and merchandise are an excellent deal, other times you can end up paying more, when you add shipping and handling, than it would cost if bought brand new from the original manufacturer.

I have always had good luck with a 3/4 inch Greenlee hole punch. It's probably a bit more work: drill a 1/8 inch hole (that's the only one that hurts), then expand it to 1/4, then to 3/8, then use the hole punch to go the rest of the way. You just have to make sure the punch you end up with is really 3/4 inch in diameter. Also, you need full access to both sides of the panel that the antenna is being mounted to. This tends to eliminate drilling into gas tanks and through head liners. I will admit that the punch is only useful for sheet metal, but aren't most NMO mounts sized for that?

I bought mine at an electrical supply house, and when I said "3/4 inch hole punch", they brought one out that was to be used with 3/4 inch conduit and other similar sized equipment. The punched hole was quite a bit larger than 3/4 inch. I had to explain to the counter person that I wanted to end up with a hole that was 3/4 inch in diameter, and that I was NOT using it for fitting conduit. Eventually he brought one out that was clearly marked 3/4 inch, we took it apart and measured it, and we were all happy.

Bob M.

scoggin · Post by **scoggin** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 7:09 am

I, too, am a big fan of the Antenex hole saw ($13.50 on my company's hook) and a Dewalt cordless right-angle drill! Great when you're stretched out across the roof!

john

Post by **xmo** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 7:42 am

"...you need to do your homework before buying anything, especially on eBay..."
___________________________________________________________

That's for sure!

Here is a test equipment company selling a Motorola scope probe, as-is, no warranty, for only $125.00:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=50971

Thing is - you can buy it brand new from Motorola for $50.25!

dog pecker gnat · Post by **dog pecker gnat** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 12:16 pm

This is a quote from the seller's description of the auction

Benefits of Buying Telogy's Refurbished Units
Availability
Lower Prices
Fast Delivery
Warranty
No Risk of Product Failure

then, in the actual item it says as is, no warranty right next to it

what an idiot

natedog224 · Post by **natedog224** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 6:17 pm

Seeing how the headliner is dangling down so you can run coax anyways I opted for the cheaper normal hole saw at about $15 a pop.

ASTROMODAT · Post by **ASTROMODAT** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 7:00 pm

IMHO, the Motorola hole saw is far better than generic stuff from Home Depot, etc. The Motorola hole saw does the following 4 "things:"

1. Has an integrated pilot drill
2. Automatically limits the hole cut to the perfect depth for the NMO
3. Has a special integrated outer ring circumference saw that removes the surrouinding paint, and then polishes it to a nice bright finish all the way down to bare metal, in order to assure a great ground for the NMO mount
4. Includes a larger hole cutter (attaches in place of the standard size cutter) so as to also support the standard larger holes, such as needed by the 9 and 12 foot whip Micom HF antennas, 30 to 50 MHz low band antennas, etc.

I don't believe you will find all 4 of these NMO sized cutter functions integrated into some sort of a generic tool. Sure, you can find hole saws with a pilot drill, but I don't think you'll get all 4 functions (with the perfect size/depth specifically tailered to the NMO mount) integrated into one generic cutter, unless you get it from Motorola.

Motorola certainly does not manufacture their antenna hole saw, but they have approprioately spec'ed it out to support their NMO mounts with a third party vendor.

Good luck trying to find it direct---I doubt you will.

Larry

P.S. Don't forget that this Motorola antenna hole saw generally works perfectly, but that also assumes that the operator has the proper training and experience to know how to correctly use this tool (as is the case with virtualy all tools!). I've seen people make a mess, even with Motorola's fine tool, because it was horribly dull, and/or they knew nothing about what they were doing, and they blamed it on the tool!

Post by **Code3Response** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 9:40 pm

The Antenex Hole Saw has these functions as well. Just FYI.

USPSS · Post by **USPSS** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 8:09 am

Sorry Matt, the Antenex does not make the larger hole for the CHP style Low Band Whips, the only one I have ever seen is the Motorola, (Cablematic makes it)

Post by **Code3Response** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 2:43 pm

That is correct - I did not say all of these fuctions - jsut that it had them. It has the first 3 listed. Thanks for clearing up any confusion.

Will · Post by **Will** » Sun Jan 25, 2004 5:43 pm

We have had the worst results with the Antennex so called "hole saws".
Just one re-paint on a customers car/truck will eat any extra spent on a profesional tool(s).

Even seen some marginal blades on the others, but a reputable supplier will correct that.

You do not save anything.....

Will
Four star General
BatTeam West

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Sun Jan 25, 2004 6:05 pm

I'm a big fan of the titanium nitride coated unit-bit. We had several posts on this in the past and by far the holes left by the uni-bit were perfectly round and smooth.

I also like the greenlee punches, they are fantastic.

$40 for a Motorola hole saw fair deal?

$40 for a Motorola hole saw fair deal?

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Re: $40 for a Motorola hole saw fair deal?

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