Harbor Freight Nice

[GlocknSpiehl]

I have not been able to vet this yet...

 

 

 

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[Eric]

Ironically, it was all made in China. 

 

seriously though, it was damned good of them to do it. 

[Huaco Kid]

I was in a store a couple weeks ago, and noticed the empty section with a sign like.

[Historian]

1 hour ago, Eric said:

Ironically, it was all made in China. 

 

seriously though, it was damned good of them to do it. 

This is America. We always find a way to stand together.

[pipedreams]

4 hours ago, GlocknSpiehl said:

I have not been able to vet this yet...

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Appears to be accurate.

‘They can depend on us:’ Harbor Freight donating masks, shields, gloves to hospitals

"If you work at a hospital with a 24-hour ER in need of these items, officials asked that you ask the office in charge of procurement at your hospital to CLICK HERE so they can provide the information needed to determine whether a donation could be made by Harbor Freight. If you’re not with a hospital, but would like to offer the name of a hospital with a 24-hour ER in your community that may need help, you’re asked to email hospitalhelp@harborfreight.com, identify the hospital’s city and state in the subject line, and the team will follow up. Hospitals will receive a voucher for pickup at their local store."

https://fox6now.com/2020/03/22/they-can-depend-on-us-harbor-freight-donating-masks-shields-gloves-to-hospitals-in-need/

https://www.wavy.com/news/national/harbor-freight-donates-entire-inventory-of-masks-and-gloves-to-help-shortage-due-to-covid-19/

Edited April 14, 2020 by pipedreams

[Historian]

I've bought a few things in there.    They generally have fairly decent stuff.

 

[jmohme]

I have bought quite a bit from them in the past. Mostly when I need something now and do not want to run to Austin to get it.

I have also bought some of the Apache cases. They are Pelican case knock offs at a really great price, and have been very good cases, but I just checked and they are made in China, so back to the higher priced Pelican cases moving forward.

I have been taking a closer look at my other purchases lately and while I applaud Harbor Freights efforts with their donations of PPE, I think I am done buying from them unless the items I need are not made in China. I am not sure if anything in their stores qualify.

[Fog]

Well good for Hazard Fraught tools.

If I were a healthcare worker I'd go without before I wore that stuff.

[Historian]

Went to an in person meeting at our emergency operations center today.  

On the way home i heard Lee Greenwood singing God Bless the USA.

I felt a chill.   What a song.   It always has meaning at times like this.

A buddy of mine was in a barber shop group at Epcot when the First Gulf War started.  Only they didn't know it...and they broke out in that song.

The crowd went wild and tears flowed.

I've been to 28 different countries.  Some you can't go to. Some of them amazing.

The USA is like NO other place.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Historian

[Huaco Kid]

2 hours ago, Fog said:

If I were a healthcare worker I'd go without before I wore that stuff.

Possibly Protective Equipment.

[janice6]

11 hours ago, GlocknSpiehl said:

 

I have not been able to vet this yet...

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I bought a few of their face masks for my Grand daughter since she loves working in the shop.  They are OK.

[Historian]

15 minutes ago, janice6 said:

I bought a few of their face masks for my Grand daughter since she loves working in the shop.  They are OK.

I find their stuff generally ok.  Not sure i'd buy a lathe there...but i sure have bought she inexpensive screw drivers (turned out good), bungee cords, rope, all kind of stuff.  Drop clothes for painting.  Traps.

I even have one of their free meters and it seems to be working ok.  Volt meter is what i was thinking.

Starting to feel like Buba from Gump.  Screw driver, screw driver with flat head, screw driver with Phillips head, screw driver size large, screw driver size small, screw driver not so small or big, screw driver with hex head, screw driver with star head, screw driver with orange juice (oh never mind).

Edited April 14, 2020 by Historian

[janice6]

1 minute ago, Historian said:

I find their stuff generally ok.  Not sure i'd buy a lathe there...but i sure have bought she inexpensive screw drivers (turned out good), bungee cords, rope, all kind of stuff.  Drop clothes for painting.  Traps.

I even have one of their free meters and it seems to be working ok.  Volt meter is what i was thinking.

The only fault (If it is a fault) that I have found in hand tools there, is that they are really hardened to the point where they can break where the preferred hardness is drawn back some.  You don't want brittle tools. 

However, I still buy from them when quality isn't as important as price.  Often you can buy a quantity of an adequate tool, and still pay less than for a quality tool. 

Case in point, I have a 1/2" ratchet wrench from "Finger Hut" (another cheap tool) that has lasted me 20+ years working on cars, a lot!  I use their air ratchet Wrench sockets they have never failed me in 40 years of service.  The wall thickness is greater than quality sockets but the durability is there.

 

[Mrs.Cicero]

They are handy for some stuff.  But I will be looking for made in the USA from this point forward... I hope they find some good US suppliers...

[Historian]

26 minutes ago, janice6 said:

The only fault (If it is a fault) that I have found in hand tools there, is that they are really hardened to the point where they can break where the preferred hardness is drawn back some.  You don't want brittle tools. 

 

That's pretty much how i see HF.    I purchased a wrench for a plumbing job from there about 8 years ago.  It's still in great shape.  But the drill bits i purchased from HF years ago...if one breaks i'll buy more. 

Now that being said:  I have some older Craftsman tools that are very nice in comparison. 

[Eric]

I bought the MIG welder I used to weld my Maxima back together from Harbor Freight. It was a low-end welder, but it did the job. It is difficult to weld 20/22-gauge sheet metal, but this welder did the trick. I just had to be careful about dwelling in one place too long. 

[janice6]

1 hour ago, Historian said:

That's pretty much how i see HF.    I purchased a wrench for a plumbing job from there about 8 years ago.  It's still in great shape.  But the drill bits i purchased from HF years ago...if one breaks i'll buy more. 

Now that being said:  I have some older Craftsman tools that are very nice in comparison. 

Yeah.  The difference between being hardened, and being case hardened, and forged, makes a world of difference in a tool, but it's what you have to pay for.  

I used to buy the highest quality bits I could, but many times the job was pretty hard on them and they got expensive.  So I bought a diamond wheel bit sharpener and found that the quality of the bit didn't matter anymore, when I could sharpen them easily, quickly, and more symmetrically than as they came.  So now I buy bits   from HF and sharpen them before I use them.  They do very well and I can afford to buy many of the same size to cover when I break one.  I hate to stop work to run and buy a tool.

In the Model Shop at work I learned the value of sharpening a bit of any quality.  I guess I spent quite a bit on the sharpener, but when you are doing a tough job and have to abuse them, it's worth it.

[Historian]

54 minutes ago, janice6 said:

Yeah.  The difference between being hardened, and being case hardened, and forged, makes a world of difference in a tool, but it's what you have to pay for.  

I used to buy the highest quality bits I could, but many times the job was pretty hard on them and they got expensive.  So I bought a diamond wheel bit sharpener and found that the quality of the bit didn't matter anymore, when I could sharpen them easily, quickly, and more symmetrically than as they came.  So now I buy bits   from HF and sharpen them before I use them.  They do very well and I can afford to buy many of the same size to cover when I break one.  I hate to stop work to run and buy a tool.

In the Model Shop at work I learned the value of sharpening a bit of any quality.  I guess I spent quite a bit on the sharpener, but when you are doing a tough job and have to abuse them, it's worth it.

Totally agree.  I have reshaped and sharpened lots of bits the same way.   Some Hitachi bits i've had were amazingly sharp.  Wonderful...product.  But i'm at the point where if possible i sharpen everything before or just after i use it.

In not too distant past i toyed with making some knives and learned about quality in and quality out.  It's one of the amazing things in life.  Once you try to do it you realize how hard to do it well is.

Case folders...for normal things are a quality knife.    Rather amazing they can make them so quickly and such numbers but still make a decent affordable knife. 

Randall on the other hand...makes a beast of a knife.  There's a reason the Museum of Modern Art in DC has a number one fighting model on display.  The Air and Space has an Astro.

I dream of having skills like that.

[Huaco Kid]

I've spent my whole life buying tools that'll last a lifetime.  I have a fine collection.

But, these days,  Harbor Freight pretty much covers it.

[Fog]

7 hours ago, Eric said:

I bought the MIG welder I used to weld my Maxima back together from Harbor Freight. It was a low-end welder, but it did the job. It is difficult to weld 20/22-gauge sheet metal, but this welder did the trick. I just had to be careful about dwelling in one place too long. 

That is one thing the HF 120v welder will do decently, but actually making the weld on thin metal is a testament to the skill of the operator, not the machine.

They have a new line of welders that is green. One of our guys bought one for a job out of town welding 14ga galvanized sheet metal brackets. It cost the same as renting a welder. When the job was done I gave him the welder since we didn't need it anymore. He says it was decent, did a few projects with it, than sold it and bought a used Esab I was selling that is much higher duty cycle.

[railfancwb]

Some day all the hammers I’ve bought and misplaced over the years will show up. I will need a dedicated tool cabinet for them. 

[railfancwb]

The carbide tipped masonry drill bits can work on some steel also. Especially surface hardened steel. I needed a small hole in the side of a utility grade gun safe, so I could put a low wattage heater in there to keep humidity low. Regular bit wouldn’t touch the metal, but the carbide bit did the job. A 3/8” or 1/2” bit so I could put a rubber grommet in the hole before feeding the wire through. 

[Silentpoet]

10 hours ago, Eric said:

I bought the MIG welder I used to weld my Maxima back together from Harbor Freight. It was a low-end welder, but it did the job. It is difficult to weld 20/22-gauge sheet metal, but this welder did the trick. I just had to be careful about dwelling in one place too long. 

Flux core will burn the heck out of holes if you ain't careful. I am of course not speaking from experience. I am competent if it is not sheet metal.  Well lets just say I can weld stuff solid.

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Silentpoet

[Eric]

39 minutes ago, Silentpoet said:

Flux core will burn the heck out of holes if you ain't careful. I am of course not speaking from experience. I am competent if it is not sheet metal.  Well lets just say I can weld stuff solid.

 

The welder I bought will do flux core, or solid core w/shielding gas. It came with the regulator and everything else necessary to do MIG. The major drawback for me with MIG welding was the cost of the tank and gas. That cost me more than the welder, although most of the expense is getting the canister. It only costs about $60 to fill it. 
 

I probably could have muddled through Wire welding with flux core wire. All you have to do to the welder is load the flux core wire, change the shield around the tip and reverse the polarity of the power and ground that feeds the torch. Wire welding with flux core on bodywork is a PITA though for a couple of reasons: One, you have to clean the flux slag off the welds. When I was seam welding especially, this was time consuming and screwed up my rhythm. Also, any slag left behind would cause problems with primers. Secondly, welding flux core was much more likely to warp the thin panels. The shielding gas used in MIG welding helps to cool the metal a bit. 
 

I hated spending so much money to get shielding gas set up on a welder I only needed for the one job, but it made for cleaner welds and easier welding. 

[janice6]

On 4/14/2020 at 10:16 PM, Fog said:

That is one thing the HF 120v welder will do decently, but actually making the weld on thin metal is a testament to the skill of the operator, not the machine.

They have a new line of welders that is green. One of our guys bought one for a job out of town welding 14ga galvanized sheet metal brackets. It cost the same as renting a welder. When the job was done I gave him the welder since we didn't need it anymore. He says it was decent, did a few projects with it, than sold it and bought a used Esab I was selling that is much higher duty cycle.

My MIG does pulsing.  It makes it so much easier to do thin material or outside corners.  Set it so the material is on the edge of being too hot and it shuts off then starts again so you can maintain a nice bead.  The pulsing is slow compared to a Pulse TIG.