OK: How About a POSITIVE HARBOR FREIGHT Thread???

"The question is , why hasn't the rest of the world caught up with the way China organizes itself ? Why aren't the US subsidizing labor to kickstart manufacturing ? Dont hate China because it has its shit together . Look closer to home for that ".


The reason why Chinese stuff is cheap is because they pay their employees slave labor wages...no Western Country can compete with Communism in that regard.

That being said...I buy the cheap stuff at harbor freight and it serves its purpose. I dont expect to buy anything of long lasting quality there...though some of their stuff lasts longer than it should for the money...

 

If that's for me, I'm guessing you mean the MSRA banquet? No, I can't make it this year. Thanks a lot for the offer though!

If you were aiming that post at someone else with a similar handle and I stepped in, well..... oops, nevermind!

Catch ya later.

-Terry

 

That, and no EPA, Clean Air, Clean Water, OSHA laws...they can just push the dissidents into the mix, and then dump the slag in the river...

 

I've got a good collection of HF tools, my favorite being the large tool box top and bottom sections and the 3 ton floor jack. The jack is awesome.

I also have a box I keep in the corner to throw broken crap in, most of it goes on the 1st use. Oh well, there's not much investment in that box.

 

Forgot...I made that pimp ass purple cart with it too!

 

Recently I've bought a couple store returns from an evilbay seller who must have an agreement with them to dispose of those items. They check out what they can and report if it seems to work or not, damaged or missing anything. I got one of the plasma cutters for $300 and a couple of the copper stud welder guns for under $25 ea. and everything works well. Its hit or miss but for the amount I will use them, they will last a couple years and the prices are good.

 

BE VERY APPREHENSIVE OF THESE CUTOFF WHEELS!!
Besides turning to dust within 12" of cutting anything substantial, I've had them explode on me also. I always make sure to get name brand cutoff wheels from now on. I don't need my face getting any uglier, it won't help.

I did buy one of their mig carts for $35 a couple weeks ago with a coupon. And their $20 mini air needle scaler was irreplaceable for pounding rust scale and undercoating off my firewall and frame rails though.

 

Sure, their step drills when on sale for like a set of 3 for 8 bucks, will buy 3 sets, the throat-less shear is great for 16-18 guage material and cut-off wheels don't last long but super cheap

 

just bought a 1000 pound engine stand to hang the 430 MEL off of, on sale $59.00. Carefully lowered the engine on it but held up fine

 

Thumbs up on the free standing blast cabinet, 20 ton press and 1 ton arbor press.

 

A++ for having butt welding clamps there. Seemed to be the only place selling them. Any word on the welders???

 

HEY KIRK-- is Goodguys thinkin about havin them as a major advertiser for give-away goodies. Just kiddin.

 

Weld. Blankets $5

 

7"X 10" mini hobby lathe. Bought it 3 years ago on sale for $369. and some change... I haven't plugged it in yet... DOH! I'll have a go at it maybe this weekend... Also bought a couple of digital 1." travel indicators to set up for "X" and "Z" travel...

 

I like how in the first page or so somebody put that they use HF's trailer balls!!!
I'll keep using Tractor Supply ones, thanks...

I have also had their discs explode on me...

but like everything else,,, you get what you pay for..I have one of the 4.5 grinders that was like 10 bucks YEARS AGO...it still works fine...but it vibrates so bad you need to wear welding gloves when you use it or you feel like you been on a Harley all day..lol...oh! plus you'll need the protection from the gloves for when the disc comes apart....
I have thought about trying one of the sheet metal brakes and the planishing hammer, too...but was skeptical

 

I have a 4" grinder I bought there for $9 several years ago, still works fine.
A set of 3/8 SAE impact sockets that got used nearly every day, never broke one. (Bought a metric impact set and broke one right away)
Butt welding clamps.
Welding magnets.
Mechanic gloves $4.99
Cutoff wheels.
3 pc. step drill set.
Portable sandblaster.
Electric winch-used it several times to load dead cars onto the trailer.
Electrical terminals-can get a big box assortment for the same price you pay for 8 terminals at the parts store.

 

I got one too!!
I put a pancake fan blowing across the transformer, and it seem to help it out alot.

 

I would say that you get what you pay for but I paid 19.00 for an angle grinder from them in '97. I used it right up until last fall when it finally gave up the ghost. So that's 13 years of hard use from a 19 dollar angle grinder.

I have also bought grinding stones and flap discs from them that help up real well and they were cheap also.

Is that positive enough for ya?

 

A good thing, the best Pho in town is two doors down. Went there for lunch yesterday. Mmmmm....

 

anything that when it breaks it wont hurt you or someone else..................cause it will break.......i bought a tire machine, manual type breaks the beads and has worked for at least 25 tires so far ....the large tire iron it came with bent the first time i used it i just recently bought the little plug into the cig lighter htr for my 34 it keeps the windows defogged ............so far

 

What about those little scratch start tigs? We use one at work for doing in-field repairs like welding stainless in commercial kitchens etc. It will dial down as low as 10 amps for doing thin stuff. No pedal, but it works pretty well all in all. I've laid down some pretty nice stuff with the one at work.

I've actually been thinking about getting one for garage use. They're SUPER cheap and beat mig welding everything. Not the best welder out there, but I can't think of a cheaper way to tig weld at home.

http://www.harborfreight.com/240-volt-inverter-arc-tig-welder-66787.html

-r

 

They used to sell a "certified mil-spec" socket set in a plastic case. I bought one about 1995 or so...and threw the ratchets away. I'm still using those sockets almost every day (on my Snap-On ratchets), and I've only broken one (after ridiculously abusing it). Great set.

I've used their combo brake/shear/roller for a number of projects, and it also works great if you tune it up and don't abuse it.

My favorite has to be their long frame floor jack. Only jack I've ever found that can go up 30". You don't realize how handy that is until you have one...

 

No, but we don't really ever get anything from our sponsors as employees anyway. If we did, I'd be hitting up Snap-On all the time.

 

I use the heck out the the ratcheting chain binders.......

 

I bought a small mig welder from Harbor Freight in Cincy in 1988. I've done a lot of welding with it and am still using it. I had to do some maintenance on it but was always able to get the parts I needed from Harbor Freight.fficeffice" /><O></O>
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I made a spring spreader out of one.

 

Harbor freight has all sorts of good stuff. it's just more fun to talk about the crap.

as for exploding cut off wheels... here's a tip. if all you can see is the edge of the wheel, where do you thing the shrapnel will go if it does let go? I try to stay away from the line of fire when using anything that spins like that. thought it was common sense but I guess not.

oh yeah... never had a cut off wheel grenade on me. I've used hundreds of those HF cheapies

 

I've been in the hospital over dumber crap, but I'm not interested in having one come apart to save a dollar. I've never had one explode either, they just turn to dust immediately. Help yourself, I won't be buying any again.

 

I have never had a real issue with HF disks. Matt and I did a test last year to see how long a HF disk lasted vs. a brand name one. We figured out that the HF one lasts about 2/3rds as long but is about 1/4 the price.

Matt still prefers the pricier ones because he can leave them in the grinder longer. Since I don't use them for business, I go for the cheapies.

 

I was cuttting up sheetmetal like a M-Fer for a couple years doing rust repair on several cars. used nothing but those HF ones. while they don't last as long, on both my Milwakee and DeWalt grinders they can be replaced in about 20 seconds... don't even need a tool. that's how I did it anyways. I'm a cheap bastard.

the only spinning object I ever had explode on me was a 6" grinding wheel on my stationary grinder. some idiot (me) took off the gaurd so he could use it as a polisher. I hit the switch WHILE STANDING OFF TO THE SIDE and that sucker went flying across the shop and BAM.. hit the other wall.

could have been seriously killed.

that's my safety tip for the day. don't remove gaurds, and stand to the side of spinning objects when possible.