Harbor Freight tools thread.

All valid points for the makers of what I'll call the "Ryobi style" battery packs; however Milwaukee's V18 and M18 batteries are flat-tops. But when the M18 form was introduced the V18 was officially placed in "out-of-production" status and became as rare as hen's teeth. Milwaukee told me that--in a pretty much "gee that's too bad" tone--five years ago when I found my (at the time) 4-year-old $500 V18 Li-Ion hammer/drill, impact driver, and sawzall kit had been rendered a useless pile of junk.

They have since, in response to gripes like mine, begun selling V18 batteries again--however I had muddled through charging the V18 batteries in anticipation of needing them, and then purchased a "20V Max" (more about that here) Dewalt kit. Which BTW I am very pleased with, the tools are much lighter and more compact, and the 1/4" impact wrench is amazingly powerful. I see that Dewalt also has an adapter so that the new batteries can be used in older tools--if Milwaukee had offered such a device way back when (they may by now IDK) I might have stayed with them.

I gave the Milwaukee kit to my son so it can collect dust in his garage rather than mine--I think he did buy one battery from Amazon.

 

My brother has an '03 ranger and told me he used that kit with great success to pull out some dings...

 

Mine is not lifted. It said that it goes to 23''

 

Seriously? As a matter of fact they advertised this one by putting it side by side with the Snap-on one and claiming that it is better with every aspect with almost half the price lol

 

My compressor for the house from harbor freight works great and my motorcycle rack works great too. Other than that the screwdrivers from them just get used as punches half the time at home. At the shop I have snap on and Matco. Along with a set of gear wrenches. God bless the man that invented gear wrenches. He's right up there with the guy that invented yoga pants.

 

Agree on the yoga pants.

 

Some of the HF cheap ass items that helped me put my project together.

 

Sorry about bringing this back to life but I saw it in the recent list

How are the portable drills. I am always hesitant about HF but curious how the reviews are

 

Their little pocket knives are somewhat decent for $7, but not something I would rely on for daily use. After the first few days of camping with it, the thumb catch on the blade itself had come off. I managed to find it and hammer it back on, but not sure how long that's going to last.

 

I'll assume you mean cordless drills(?).

Their cheap ni-cad powered stuff is; well, cheap ni-cad powered stuff--I would not waste money on a ni-cad powered anything.

Their newer li-ion battery tools are too new to have any real history, though they all appear to be clones of DeWalt and other established brands--and could very well be made in the same factories...

 

I had forgot to mention earlier--FWIW Milwaukee, Ryobi, Homelite, AEG, and many Ridgid and Craftsman power tools are all made by Techtronic Industries (TTi)--to differing grades and price points to be sure; but using the same engineering and manufacturing expertise...

 

I bought one a few weeks ago. My job would often be easier with a pocket knife, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to carry one. I have been happy with it for the few weeks I have had it. I mostly use it for boxes.

 

Anybody ever use a harbor freight welder? Do those things even work?

 

I've used them, but I admit I'm very biased, since I use high end Miller welders daily.

FWIW, I used my brother in laws HF MIG welder to satisfy my curiosity.

They are good enough for around the house repairs on metal thinner than 1/4".

I wasn't able to make welds as pretty as my 240volt machines, but I think if I spent time learning the machine, the welds would be acceptable. Be aware that this was a flux core wire welder. You will never have welds as good looking as a solid wire machine with gas. FWIW, I hate welding with flux core wire.

My opinion: these HF machines would be a good machine to find out if you want to learn to weld. Oonce you figured out if you were going to continue welding for the rest of your life, sell the unit and invest in something a bit more quality.

If you already know how to mig weld, you will not consider the HG welder and skip right to Hobart or Miller brands.

 

I bought the $90 flux core welder back in May. I had never welded before. I used it to make myself a nice sleeping platform for my truck. I have been very happy for the $.

 

i bought there wire strippers when i needed to upgrade my head unit. they worked just as good as any high dollar strippers in my opinion.
they double as a crimping tool for small crimps too so that s a plus. perfect for what i needed and cheap. also used their combo assortment set of wire connections. their small tool box fits pretty well behind the seat. i keep emergency tools like screwdrivers, the wire strippers, sockets, wrenches, pliers....all which come from HF and bought on the black friday "blowout" sale lol also bought the jumper cables. they work....but the only reason i got them was because a buddy needed a jump and we worked in the same parking lot as HF so i bought a set. used them 4 times so far and no issue other than the coating on the clamps chips off after 2 uses. no biggie in my book. their ratchet straps worked well too, cant complain about those

 

I'm about to pick up a floor jack and Jack stands from HF.

Any significance difference between Aluminum and Steel for the floor jack? Any strength difference, or is the Aluminum just lighter for ease of use/transportation?

I saw a thread in here from a guy who had troubles with the Jack Stands. Any particular model number to stay away from? I figured I would go with 6ton, bigger the better right?

TIA

Chase

 

For proper crimping of small gauge connectors get their . Full compression crimping is generally regarded as at least as good, and in some ways even better than soldering; as if done properly with a properly sized connector and proper tool they are gas tight, much more vibration resistant, and with stranded wire do not create a stress concentration point at the limit of the solder's wicking up the wire.

"Properly" is the key word in the above. Cheap "squashing" type crimpers like that shown below (and sold by most every hardware and happy homeowner DIY store) are probably the major cause for crimped connectors getting such a bad "rap":




"Staking" type crimpers are better, even OK, however they are rather rare in this day:


The pliers shown above were purchased 50+ years ago when I was in my teens--from the W.T. Grant company. An old "five and dime" retailer most have probably never heard of. Oddly they sold some high quality tools, I have an 18" aluminum I-beam level purchased at about the same time that is higher quality than anything you can buy today.

"Full compresion" type crimpers are the finest kind:


The set shown from HF is actually quite nice; it is adjustable to compensate for wear and produces a double full crimp of a bit over 8 mm width:



If you want to make 'em as good as they can be fill the connector sockets with this stuff before you insert the wire:

 

The steel floor jack is heavy as fuck, but does the job well. For stands, get 6 ton and 3 ton. I've found that they each serve a purpose. For example, I was installing an AAL yesterday and needed the axle low, and the body high. 3 tons under the axle and 6 tons under the hitch accomplished exactly what I needed!

 

I've used the 6 ton stands with about 35 wooden blocks under them stacked up like jenga pieces. Did fine.