I've had one, the same one for years. But buy the studs from a body shop/ paint store. the studs H/F sell are crap. Buy the good studs, pay a few extra bucks for em and you'll be happy. As far as the puller, you can buy the end of it, the peice that grabs the stud at the paint/body shop supply place also when it doesn't work anymore. That peice just screws on to the slide puller. Thats a good upgrade for not much money. They do wear out if it's used alot. Mike
Got one to try out on the little bit of bodywork I do. had a 20% off cupon and it was on sale, so what the hell.. (even got the 2 year extended warranty) Didnt stick the studs well enough to pull anything. Took it back to the store, they just returned it instead of exchanging me out. Refunded the cost of the gun, and the warranty, and forgot to deduct the cupon. So I made 30 bucks off the deal. Best HF tool I've ever bought that didnt work.
I have got one and would say they are worth the money. You have to make sure everything is spotless for the stuf to stick, or it will come off the first pull. I think I spent just shy of $100 for mine and it has helped me with some real bastard dents. But....you get what you pay for. I don't expect this thing to last too long. You will not find a lower priced gun. DC
Used one plenty, it was a buddies. For the slide hammer, we just welded on Vice Grips, and it held the studs just fine.... No problem getting them to stick either.
reviving a sleepy thread.. I just bought one today.. I know it says Chicago Electric on it--which really must mean there is a Chicago, China.. But, for $100, using it with my hobby purposes--it worked pretty damned good. I've never used a stud gun before, but it beats the hell out of drilling holes, pulling dents, then welding up holes... I'm pretty happy with it.. AND the puller---so far.
I have one works good. Limited control with how well the trigger and burn in works. I have had exposure and worked with name brand tools. It's a night and day difference between HF and name brand stuff. At a hobby stand point it works good. Get what you pay for that is all. Pig fest continue on.
Well I'll have to say, I don't have a HF stud gun,but I do have a large selection of HF tools. Some of the tools are great , some are good,some are so so and some are just plane crap. I've had HF 4.5" grinders catch fire and litterly explode in my hand, not good. On the other hand I've got a few air tools that have given many years of service with no problems. I think one needs to be able to judge the quality and how the tool will be used. ................Jack
I bought one two years ago. Works great. Much better than my name brand one that tends to overheat the nail. My guys prefer the HF unit. Hate the original puller. Replaced the end, now it's ok. Best part was that I bought the stud welder as a returned unit, missing three nails. Plus they gave me 20 percent off. So I have less than $50.00 in the item.
It works for it's intended purpose. I have used it a couple times. First time I used the puller it wouldn't grip on to the stud, so replaced the end with a 1/2 inch drill chuck and now it works wonders!
I've got one, welds the studs ok once you learn how long to keep the trigger down. Still some of them come off prepaturely. The puller is junk, had to modify the grip for my large hands, and to be able to get a good grip on it. Thanks for the info on studs and the head, going by the paint store tomorrow so I'll get studs and another cam mechanism for the puller and see how that works.
I was just thinking about buying one of these. Glad I saw this thread. May have to look into a better option, or at least better puller. I live near TP Tools so may check theirs.
I've got one to. Works fairly well for the money. The puller kinda works when it wants to. I own a powder coat shop and we do a lot of cycle gas tanks and fenders. The customer usually wants us to pop out the dings and dents and prep the metal before coating them. I know a guy who has a $400 stud gun and I think it works just as good, I've used both. Besides comparing the pullers. If your going to use it in a body shop or something like that where your going to use it a lot you would want to consider a better quality one! If your popping out a few dings and dents here and there it works good!
The biggest problem with HF tools is that most people will talk trash as soon as they see the HF name, even if they haven't used the particular tool mentioned. HF does have a poor reputation (deserved) but there are many HF tools I've bought for a one time use that I still have years later and work great. I've even loaned some of these tools out and told people to toss it if it quit, and they came back telling me it worked great! So don't just across the board trash everything with the HF/Chicago name, unless you've really purchased that tool and know yourself it's junk. PS-Don't ever buy their holesaws! They'll get dull even getting them close to metal! They may even get dull on hardwood!
Good point indeed. I buy from our local HF store and can say this with all certainty: first off, the help is outstanding. They are so much nicer and more helpful than anyone at the Sears store where I also tool shop. I'm also careful of what I buy there. Hammers are safe enough, as are big end wrenches, wheel covers for my trailer, casters for shop use and lots of other hand tools. I bought one of their pressure pot sandblasters years ago and love it. Same with my $19 sawzall, jeez how much can you expect for under $20 and I've had it for 10 years! I recently bought a borescope there that is incredibly useful and durable and also have a slew of their $4 battery chargers for all my crap I don't use often. But I have learned not to bother with cutting tools like drills, tap and die sets or anything else of the sort. Be reasonable with your expectations and you'll be fine.
my HF stud gun works great but as others have said the slide hammer is total junk! get the HF gun- throw the slide hammer away, and get one from Eastwood.
I'll second this.. Stud gun works, slide hammer is trash. I had to use a pair of vise grips on the gripper wheel from the get go.
I bought mine about two years ago, have used it a few times. As others have replied my gun and studs work fine, slide hammer was junk from day one. I had an old drill chuck and an old slide hammer laying around. I put the chuck on the old slide hammer. Takes a few more seconds to tighten with the chuck key but works great.
As stated before buy the extended warranty. My first one lasted 4mo. The replacement is now 2 years old and going strong. Also agree on the puller. Junk! I clamp it down with vise grips to get it to hold. Glad for the info on new ends for the slide hammer.
I got a HF unit and used the crap out of it on the totalled out 55 I built and it worked flawlessly. Puller was crap. my grab wheels wore out and the wheel would over center on the stud and it was a real pain in the rear to work off. Got the Eastwood puller that has like a drill chuck on the end and works so good it dissapeared. Ordered another and hid it. Go for it and you might want the warranty but I love mine. yruhot
A friend of mine bought one a while back, and has been happy with the way it works. He has been using it with very good result's on a project car for his wife.
Looks like most of the votes say it works good, assuming you don't get one the sweatshop kids wired the wrong way.
1st one I had failed at about 9 months is my shop. Torn it down, a crimped wire connection failed. Recrimped and went on, got another 9 months out of it. Bought a second one, seems to do a better job than the first. Puller is trash. Buy the HF pins that have a rounded head. The ones with a pointed head dont seem to work as well.
The Jalopy Journal
