Harbor Freight tools thread.

One of the Petersen rags did a tech article some years ago testing various torque wrenches from big name brands to tool truck brands. The Pittsburgh was by far the most accurate across its entire range compared to the box brands (craftsman, husky, Kobalt) and even held its own against matco and snap on. Definitely worth it for the $9 they were at the time with a coupon. It was remarkably surprising as even at the start they expected the Pittsburgh wrenches to fail miserably.

 

If you remove the big nut on the bottom of the handle, the adjuster is in there.

See here starting at 5:30: https://youtu.be/QpLm33L0ghI?t=330

 

7 times the price! Do they last 7 times longer?

 

$8 for cutting wood
$55 for cutting steel, yes probably would last 7x longer in wood

 

I’m a machinist that uses the carbide burrs frequently , they work excellent on metal and have a very long tool life, not the greatest for wood. The steel rasp kit is way better for wood.

 

Any one have the atlas chainsaw , blower , weed eater ?

 

Long shot but, anyone here have an old HF bandsaw that doesn't work/run?

Would love a few parts before I try making/modding my own.

 

HF has a new Titanium 65 amp plasma! I saw this mentioned as a future product in an email months ago and never heard anything else about it until I did a specific search for it today.

 

Been out for a little while now.

For the price, and only a 90 day warranty, huge pass.

 

If you need 60+ amps what're you gonna do.. pay more than double for a lincoln or hypertherm?


HF offers a 2 year replacement warranty for the Titanium 45a for something like $160. I imagine this 65 amp will have a similar plan. For whatever reason buying via the website doesn't present the 2 year coverage plan and requires visiting a store to get it.

I almost always pass on these sorts of up-sale coverage plans BUT in the case of HF tools that cost more than $500 and have computer components (like their MIG, TIG and Plasma) I do buy the 2 year no questions replacement plan.

 

PrimeWeld

60 amp plasma cutter

220/110v

3 year no questions asked warranty

$3-400 cheaper

I use it very often cutting all sorts of metals in varying thickness



Several people have received help *after* warranty period and even for non PW products

 

Fair enough. That is a helluva price point.

 

It slices so well, no slag at all if you move at the right speed. Look at the right edge on the far right gusset



I run their welder too



But it's fair to say HF does have its place for sure; I'm here now buying their swivel vise that's on sale

 

Swivel vise you say?

 

$77.99 down to $59.99, not to mention a free bucket with any purchase over $25

 

Shoooooot, that might be coming home with me this weekend, good find

 

What are you looking for? You can order some replacement parts

 

Ditto, need one for holding my chainsaw to sharpen it.

 

Hmm, let's sum it up.

About 3 weeks ago I got this HF bandsaw free. Being that it's about 17 years old, and of the Harbor Freight variety, I want any and all investment as minimal as possible.

Here's when I got it -









I spent maybe half an hour cleaning it up with a wire wheel on an angle grinder and a rag in other places.

After my first test run, a few things were revealed. The blade was moving much slower than I needed it to so I moved the belt over the pulley for the fastest speed.

I was able to cut 1/8" stock I had laying around, but I felt like it was having trouble.

Pulled the bearings off and found several seized so I bought new ones -





The blade was really old and had lots of teeth missing so really I'm surprised it cut at all -



A few other things to address are the 'legs' which are basically folded up bits of sheet metal. Bolts are missing so this thing is ready to collapse in on itself. I'm contemplating using some of my 1/4" thick steel I have to make a table for it and get rid of the folding legs -



The wheel for the vise is missing the handle at the end, but I'll figure something out for that later -



The starting capacitor that needs replacing -



However, the worst part about this whole setup is the lack of adjustment for the blade. You'll see the square tube clamped above, as well as the piece on the floor. After testing the new blade (which cut way better), I noticed the blade cutting at an angle so I needed to modify the guide on it -



Behind the guide are these 'raised edges' so I'll use that to my advantage. Just need to mark where they are on the guide plate itself -



With the plate marked, I hit it with a punch in preparation for drilling -



Bought these set screws just for this little project -



Once drilled, I tapped them for the set screws. Here they are going in place -



They had stainless steel and black oxide; went black for a more low profile look -



Nice thing is, the area behind the plate has plenty of material for the set screws to sit in place -



After some messing around, it's as square as I can get it -



All in so far I'm just shy of $47 for a new blade, bearings, set screws, and starting capacitor.

I'm $3 away from being all in for the budget I set out for this thing. I figured if I'm going to spend any more than that, I could get rid of it for what I'm in it and just buy a new one.

So in asking if anyone had a dead HF bandsaw, I was hoping to maybe get a part or two to use on my own bandsaw.

 

This post reminded me to buy them.