Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It's a grand idea (child safe, four tools in one: lathe, jig saw, sander and drill-press) - but the execution is poor. When I first saw this in a child's toy catalog, I was skeptical but I thought if it gave a few hours of enjoyment to my very special grandson who is a tool-lover then it's kool, very few toys do much better. I paid $74.99 plus $25 for additional wood and supply of supplemental parts. When the box arrived, I opened it, read the very limited instructions, watched the silent movie on how to put it together and ran out to get 2 storage containers, one about the size of a shoe box because the interchangeable parts are so very tiny (think half the size of the last digit of your little finger) the other box large enough to hold the smaller box and the tool, pattern book, and 4 dowels and 4 2"x4" pieces of wood included, plus projects-in-process. According to the instructions, I also needed safety glasses, not included and a mounting board, not included. I bought these too, then proceeded to set up the lathe. Instructions showed placing a circular "wedge" in the center of the 1" thick dowel before attaching to the lathe. Being very careful, and with light taps, I drove the wedge into the end of the dowel. It didn't stay, so I tried again, and again, ultimately cracking the dowel :( Soon my husband arrived to examine my work, noting that one end of the dowel already had a drilled hole, he suggested that the wedge was used to create a small hole for a smaller point on the motor, then the wedge could be moved to the drilled hole for use on the lathe. He was right it worked. I wonder why the instructions didn't say that? Undaunted, I attached the tool to a board, covered the bottom of the board with glued-on felt, as recommended but not included, and set up the lathe with the wooden dowel as it shows on the box lid picture, organized all the remaining parts in the 2 boxes and wrapped it excitedly for under the Christmas tree. When my grandson opened it, he knew instantly what it was, having used a peddle-lathe at our local children's museum many times. He was so excited it wanted to stop opening presents and run to the garage to set it up! Grandma was very pleased with her purchase!! Later when things had quieted down we did just that! I grabbed an extension cord, as the motor cord is very very short and turned it on. Using the phone-stylist-sized lathe "chisel" (ie; very small pencil) we turned on the motor, applied the chisel to the wood and it worked. It cut tiny circular rings into the dowel and my grandson (age 5) was pleased, playing fully supervised for about 15 minutes. At one point, we removed the dowel and used the sander. It worked nicely too. Next, Luca wanted to try the table-jig saw. So we removed the lathe motor, put on the saw table and blade, and put the motor back on. A little tedious in the change process, but we were still excited about the tool at this point. Once the table saw was put together, we marked a 2.5" straight line across the supplied balsam wood and began to cut. FIVE MINUTES LATER LUCA HAD CUT LESS THAN 1/4 OF AN INCH. Shocked at the slow progress, I tried it myself. GRRRR, no go. No way any child would sit long enough to cut out the patterns supplied with the kit, let alone the 2.5" straight line first suggest by the candlestick pattern. Total bust for the most important tool in the kit. Completely disappointed, we moved on to the drill. Again removing the saw and motor, we unscrewed half of the platform and attached it vertically and reattached the motor, per instructions and added the drill bit (a tiny thing about 1.5" long with a plastic sleeve on one end to attach it to the motor.) Wow, it worked beautifully too, so Luca proceeded to drill 10 tiny holes in the balsam wood.... until the plastic sleeve melted and the drill bit fell out, useless. Oh my, fortunately I had purchased one replacement bit which we could use, BUT NO WHERE HAD THE INSTRUCTIONS CAUTIONED AGAINST "OVER USE" OR "OVER-HEATING. IMAGINE LUCA'S DISAPPOINTMENT IF I HADN'T PURCHASED A SET OF EXTRA PARTS." Totally frustrated, we moved to the pattern book, using carbon paper, again not supplied, to trace an airplane pattern onto the extra balsam wood I purchased. It was a new idea for Luca and he was impressed. Next, I got out my hand-held power jig saw to cut the pieces out. Luca disappeared, the saw was to loud, and still took many minutes to cut out. When the cutting was done, a disappointed and lonely Grandma cleaned up the mess and packed everything away. I considered taking it back but I feared the tears that would follow. In summary, I wish I had checked out a local hobby store perhaps a better 4-in-1 tool exists. Again, the concept is grand but the execution is poor: 1. Only 2 of 4 tools work with any reasonable reliability. 2. The saw is useless. 3. The kit should come with safety glasses, mounting board/felt and at least one set of replacement parts because of their tiny size and fragility AND one piece of wood 8"x10" large enough to do something with. Surely this would not increase the price more than $10 but would insure a happy child...and Grand parent. 4. Beware: The parts are so small they easily slip through your fingers and you'll find yourself down on your knees looking for them on the floor. I can't help but wonder how long they will be around. 5. Don't expect the lathe to truly shape the dowels. I can't imagine how long that would take, but who cares, as long as it looks like it's making a difference a child will love it. I fully considered returning the tool but it would have ca