The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Harbor Freight........What worked?.... What didnt?

Hey John, you got a broken flange on your bell housing, wow,
that must have really hurt.
Yet, had a buddy's 235 on that cheap tripod stand that he had
me pick up for him and dang near turned it over every time
we had to move it. Thinkin' Laugh In were ya?
We ended up taking it back and getting the one with the four
wheels, which was a tiny bit better, still could have had
more tread width at the front.

And I got sucked into one of those bench top sandblast
cabinets, which finally ended up out for the garbage man after
fighting with it every time I tried to use it, a real piece
of carp it was.
Bought their stud welder and used it a couple of times, seems
to do the job but I haven't really put it thru the paces.
Also bought their spot welder, 220v version, haven't put a
plug on the end of the cord, big move got in the way, which
I still ain't over yet. Small angle grinders, I've got a
couple of, they work just fine, as are the die grinders. I'd
agree with ya on the cheap gravity spray guns, bought several
full size and touch up and use them more than I do my
DeVilbiss guns, they spray great, I suppose it cuz they
have no moving parts.
I'd have to call ya on the wheel dollies, the four that I have
under my complete '54, 3600 have to be steered with a ballpeen
hammer on each caster every time I want to change directions,
thumbs down on them.
Got a half dozen nailer/staplers and every one of them works
for about a half dozen shots then you have to take them apart
to get them working again, super simple, still can't figure
out why they all lock up the way they do. Maybe they're just
to simple and that's the problem. Thumbs down on them also.
Picked up one of the welding helmets and it's ok as a second,
which I use when I have a second helping me.
Had some real problems with the air ratchets also, and brought
home two of the pneumatic grease guns neither one ever worked
right out of the boxes, gave up on them got my money back.
Got a big and a small super-sonic cleaner from them, they seem
to do nothing more that I could do if I held onto them when I
had the shakes. Thumbs down on them.
Bought a pancake compressor on sale last year for the
basement, takes FOREVER to pump up the tiny tank, not much
good for anything more than blowing off a small part.
Did by a couple of the pneumatic scrapers (needle scaler) with
a blade on it. That came in handy cleaning the grass off the
bottom of the 72" mower deck.
Bought a Chicago Electric 1/2" cordless drill and a couple of
extra battery packs, drills fine, batteries won't hold a 10th
of their original charge now after a couple of years. Bought
the same CE sawsall and 5 1/2" circle saw. Neither one has any
power and will barley make it through a thin sheet of plywood.
I think I could go on but,,,what's the use!!!

dg

Furniture moving dolly with 4 swivel castors on it.

Yes, I use these in the shop and in the house (to move kegerators/refrigerators around).

Thumbs up items from the past few months: 5, 7, & 9 mil disposable nitrile gloves; cotter pin assortment pack; 6" PSA sandpaper on rolls; wood-handled wire brushes; tie wire (bailing wire/safety wire/whatever people call it); 4" 40 & 60 grit flap discs work fine; and I like the 2000 lb engine stand after I extended the legs on it.

Thumbs down: 6" wire wheel for bench grinders ; angle grinder wire cup brushes (both of these are dangerous- flechettes fly off everywhere even with light use); the 24" & 36" ratcheting bar clamps are also no good.
Brad

these help

I looked for a similar mat elsewhere but couldn't match the price

not really a tool but help if you have heel problems like I do

Those make great tool box liners. I trace the tools with a magic marker, then heat up a knife with a propane torch, and cut out the dense foam like butter.
Saves me a huge amount of time looking through a drawer full of randomly chucked tools.
Carl

These might be the best thing they sell. They have different grits and different shapes but they work great.

http://t.harborfreight.com/pack-of-10-medium-grade-aluminum-oxide-sanding-sponges-46752.html

That is definitely a tool!

Mats look great for tool box or floor, but I really don't want my tools or shop to smell like the inside of their store

Does the store in your area smell of Chinese food too?
Carl

I don't know what restaurant you've been going to, but I think it smells like rubber.

WTF does Chinese food have to do with it. Smart [censored] all the time. Grow up.

Back on topic, fellas.

The "Chinese" reference was aimed at the country of origin of nearly all of the tools sold at HF (some good, some bad).
On topic in my humble opinion.
Carl

Ok, white flags are flyin.

The country of origin does seem to be a problem for Harbor Freight. The sad side of it is that they keep getting people to spend hard earned pennies on it so they bring more to sell.
I would like to think all of us here could walk into the Snap On truck and buy stuff but the economics of it just don't make it a reality.
On the flip side, I do buy the throw away gloves and the on sale grinder discs and other supplies and for what I pay am satisfied with what I am getting.

Apology accepted.

I picked up a 36" brake with stand from Princess Auto that is identical to the HF unit. Tried to buy a decent finger brake locally here second hand but they are like hen's teeth.

After lots of fiddling and adjusting - meh. Works ok on 22 but struggles with 12" wide 20. Bends are not well defined. Can't image it on any metal under 20 except for very narrow pieces.

I will probably take it back.

Snap ring pliers ($3.99) are "Jay-you-in-Kay".... JUNK.

Brad

Another item in What Not to Buy category is their Pin Punch set. They are made of mild steel and fold in half the minute you hit them. Never seen anything like it. Not good when you are out in the salvage yard on a 100 degree day trying to get the door hinges off a 1930's vehicle that has been sitting there for 70 years. You look down at your punch, from the brand new set, get the next size, and before you know it, ALL of them are toast and you walk away with a trashed pin punch set and no hinges!

I recently had very good luck with a tubing roller. Took it out of the box,clamped it to the table and rolled four circles out of 1" tubing for my bar area out back. I plan on making a stand for it and beefing it up just the same.

I've gotten a couple of the small 90 degree grinders on sale.. I used three disks before the first one quite ($5.00 well spent). and the other is still on the first disk.

I also have the band saw. It works well, other than the blade coming off occasionally.

I've had a set of large jack stands for a long time.

I stay away from their expendables, most are not worth carrying out of the store... but they are better than the crap they sell at Dollar General!

Oddly enough, the tiny $99 MIG welder I bought from them finally laid down a decent bead! Took quite a bit of tinkering and some good flux cored wire (not from HF), but finally got the wire speed dialed in and figured out that I had the tension set improperly on the wire feeder this whole time. Not surprisingly on my part, but I did get it to lay a bead on some 12 gauge steel (kinda like what's used on the bed of my 52) and will be using it to fill in where the PO decided to half cut the bed side. Still not sure what was going on there, but whatever.

For those interested, here was my welder setup mistake:

The tensioner that feeds the wire through needed to be tightened up to where I could barely get it to flip back over in locked position. The issue was discovered when I was trying to dial in the wire speed for the low voltage setting. I started at the max setting and was working back down. It would feed sporadically at best, so there was a very slight hesitation when the wire would feed through. So slight that the auto darkening helmet I was using (also from HF) wouldn't have time to lighten up. But it was noticeable in both feel and how the bead looked.

I bought A HF 4-1/4" angle grinder with paddle switch. Has been working well so far except that the tapped hole for the side handle stripped out the first day I used it. After heli-coiling all 3 of them, it works OK. The problem is now I have twice as much in it after buying the heli-coil kit.

I looked at HF's wire feed welders briefly, but had a flux-core welder that was basically equivalent. So I upgraded that to a Lincoln Handy-MIG (#K2158-1)from Lowes. Been having good performance out of that, but when I tried to weld some heavier stuff for a friend at high power, it kept tripping the breaker. Not the tools fault.

Also have some HF locking pliers for welding that are Vice-Grip knock offs that work OK.

The blue Bigfoot hand truck is good to go. I've had mine for 4 years and have used it a lot. It was about $40 out the door, and I have no idea what combination of coupon or sale was going on when I bought it.

I gets loaned out frequently to some neighbors & that's what made me think to post it. Edit- here's a link. (As for that 700 lb rating... I'd divide by two)

Brad

Looks like HF has introduced a new pro line

Two items I’ve been impressed with are the sawzall and grinder. I’ve had both for 15-18 years and no issues. Also in the same timeframe I’ve had a Milwaukee sawzall and dewalt grinder both go bad while the HF tools just kept working.

We used to use HF air tools for final assembly of projects before painting. They were NEVER oiled and had short life spans but this was the planned procedure to keep any oil or other contaminants out of the painting area. Now use all battery powered tools. The HF pneumatic paint can shaker must be at least five years old and still plugging away. Some HF do the job and some are trash can fodder but don't have a list of each. Caveat Emptor.

Looks like HF is stepping up












HARBOR FREIGHT
Dear Harbor Freight Community,

As we’ve been following the news over the last few days, we’ve heard about the severe shortage of protective gear for hospitals, healthcare workers and first responders as the impact of COVID-19 is being felt across the country. America depends on these heroes every day and in the days ahead we will depend on them even more. At Harbor Freight, we want them to know that they can depend on us too.

So we’ve decided to donate our entire supply of the personal protective equipment items listed below to front line hospitals with 24 hour emergency rooms in the communities served by our stores.

• N95 Masks
• Face Shields
• 5 and 7 mil Nitrile Gloves
If you work at a hospital with a 24 hour emergency room in need of these items, please ask the office in charge of procurement at your hospital to click here so they can provide us with the information we’ll need to determine if we can make a donation. If you’re not with a hospital, but would like to give us the name of a hospital with a 24 hour emergency room in your community that might need our help, please email us at hospitalhelp@harborfreight.com, identify the hospital’s city and state in the subject line, and our team will follow-up.

PLEASE DO NOT MAKE REQUESTS AT YOUR LOCAL STORE OR OUR CALL CENTER AND PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT HOSPITALS–THEY’RE BUSY HELPING THEIR PATIENTS.

For hospitals we’re able to help, we’ll email them a voucher when the supplies are available for pick up at their local Harbor Freight Tools store.

Although we certainly won’t have enough of these supplies to fill everyone’s needs, we’re going to donate everything we’ve got. We also recognize that there are so many other critically important people responding to this crisis and that there is need everywhere. We’ve chosen to focus our efforts on hospitals with a 24 hour emergency room with the hope that we can help as many people as possible right now.

Thank you and God Bless,

Eric Smidt
Owner and Founder
Harbor Freight Tools

👍🏻

Son in law just texted me the HF thing. I didn't even know they sold N95 masks.
Good on them.
Huh... I just browsed around on HF and you can't even order any type of mask or face shield. Some gloves available, but they must be reserving most of that type of supply for their donation.