Harbor Freight tools thread.

Not a mechanic's tool, but HF nonetheless: on Saturday I bought a the three that hadn't broken went back yesterday.

Absolute junk not worth anything. The first lasted through cutting (actually burning through) two small 1-1/2" or so sapplings and was then so dull that a butter knife would have been a better tool--the teeth have little to no set, producing no significant kerf, so the blade binds and overheats. With the second blade I used a spray can of "pam" cooking oil to lube the blade and it cut a bit better but broke off at the tang after 4 cuts--theIr "high carbon steel" seems to leave a bit to be desired as well.

This was all using a cheap Ryobi P510 18 V reciprocating saw I picked up at a yard sale for $5 three years ago, one of the old blue ones. I have used this saw many times with Diablo and Porter-Cable pruning blades and ha no problems; in fact I finished up Saturday's work using the old Diablo blade I set out to replace.

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BTW, Ryobi's new lithium batteries will work in any Ryobi 18 V tool, and contrary to what many on the web and HD say the tool does not have to have the "One+" designation. However the lithium batteries cannot be charged in the old NiCd charger...

 

I don't believe it's even aluminum, most likely it's "pot-metal", an alloy of zinc, lead, copper, tin, etc.--mostly whatever was swept up off the foundry floor the last night...

 

Ive had decent luck on tools that dont have any moving parts, even professionally. Their impact sockets are great. Yeah, theyre not centered but for the cost they held up to 3 years of daily mechanic-ing. Their power tools, ratchets, air tools etc etc avoid like the plague. Most recently, their plastic welding kit (soldering iron with special tip) has let me down.

But as mentioned, theyre great for larger sockets and wrenches, and pullers that are not often used.

 

I picked up the Heavy Duty Miter Saw Stand yesterday. Havent gotten to use it thanks to ran but got it set up with my miter saw. Its a nice stand overall. Function wise for actual cutting its pretty solid. My only complaint is if you want to leave your miter saw attached and fold it up and store it, it doesnt have much support. It holds my 10" sliding ryobi miter saw but i had to pull out the height adjustor and even so its not stable enough. Luckily its super easy to remove the brackets that attach the stand to the saw. The wheels worked just fine rolling it over my yard.

Overall for the price I would consider it a great buy. I looked at the ryobi/kobalt, and a few other options in the price range (100-150) and the HF had the best options (ie wheels) and it pretty solidly built.

 

Picked up a set of 6 Ton Jack Stands with a 25% off Fun ticket, and that purchase aloud me to get the multimeter Free. The meter advertised was out of stock so they gave me the next model up.

 

Tossed together another trailer kit. I'm impressed for the most part. Not so much on the fact that no coupler was included with the kit. They did make it right by giving me one off the shelf. Only out a couple gallons of gas and an hour of my time to run after the thing.

 

Just sold one of those last week. I set it up a couple years ago--for a canoe my wife bought 4 or 5 years ago, but then found out "...that having is [sometimes] not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting.".

Had it and the canoe in on Craigslist for $800, took an offer of $750 for just 4 days later--made maybe $50 net, but pretty much broke even...

 

Awesome ^

 

Free electronic fly swatter in this week's coupons! I'm definitely going in just to get one of those things.
Endless fun with drunken idiots. Just leave it out at a party and watch the "hold mah, beer... watch this!" moments.

 

OK, bought , and will buy another in metric tomorrow. I need neither, in the classic definition of "need", then why? Thing is the sockets, ratchet, extensions and all are of top quality--even the blow-molded case is pretty good.

So how, using this weekend's 20% off coupon (which can be reproduced at will), can this socket set at $12.80 not be a deal. I will have one wherever I might need it...

 

Totally. Definitely adding to the onboard truck tools with the metric set.

 

Sorry if it's already been covered in the thread, but has anyone has any experience with their hi-lift jacks?

 

Yep. I use the shit out of my hi-lift Jack.

3 years and no issues.

 

I have it and it works good. It's just a bitch to lift if you have to move it. Around 100#'s.

 

Ah are you sure you're talking about the same jack? I had their hi lift farm jack and it only weighs about 35lbs. Feels like a 100lbs sometimes though.

 

I was gonna ask the same. They are cumbersome, though.

 

Maybe I miss understood him. I have the high lifting floor jack.

 

I can see that confusion happening. No biggie.

I just figured if he was asking about floor jacks, he would have said "floor jack".

Those floor jacks are heavy, too.

 

Things I've purchased at Harbor freight:

-Miter saw (I think a 16 inch)
-2 ton low profile jack (for the GTO)
-6 ton jack stands (2 sets)
-Pittsburgh angle grinder
-Saw horses
-Torque wrenches

Items I've had issues with:

-None

I love harbor freight. For the casual mechanic/DIY'er they hold up well. They're also great for projects where you know you will need a tool once and probably never again. I need to go pick up some socket sets soon actually, as I've lost a ton of mine over the years lol

 

Oh yea. I got similiar to that too. It is one heavy SOB.