Rate the Harbor Freight Tools Thread- Pass or Fail?

[wolframore]

The ratching tap wrench! PASS big time. Makes quick work of hand tapping. Ratching feature helps to keep tap straight. Much less effort! At $16.99 I thought it was a bit pricey for HF but it's worth every penny!

 

[OakRidgeGuy]

I started to buy some of those, I guess you have twisted my arm! I will have to look them over again the next time I go that way.

Doc

 

[jgedde]

Here's a HF FAIL. The Pittsburgh 6" Long Reach Digital Caliper.



I was in HF tonight to buy some wire brushes. I was looking at the 12" Digital caliper and was far from impressed with the quality. The grinding was rough, etc. Nonetheless, given the success I had with the digital micrometer (http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-micrometer-68305.html), I figured I give the 6" Long Reach calipers a try (http://www.harborfreight.com/6-long-reach-digital-calipers-60248.html)

First things first. Powered it on. The display immediately started flashing which indicates a low battery. OK. No problem. They include a spare. Installed the spare and within minutes the display started flashing again. Multimeter confirms it: two dead batteries. I have spare LR44 batteries in my toolbox (Energizer brand). After installing one of those the flashing stopped.

Next step, check it out against some gauge blocks...

With the long reach these things have, gib adjustment will be critical or else they'll be very sensitive to closing pressure. I noticed the measurement head had a bit of play with respect to the beam. Oddly enough, only one of the two gib screws is accessible externally. So, apart it came. While pretty outside, the ground surfaces exposed by removing the cover looked like someone did it with an angle grinder - and I'm not exaggerating. There was tons of swarf inside too.

After cleaning it all out, I put it back together. I found that I could not get the gibs adjusted properly without causing it to bind at about an inch from fully closed. OK. Not the first import measurement tool that needed some judicious lapping.

Just to get a rough idea how much (and where) I needed to lap, I took a few measurments of the beam. 0.6235 at the left end and 0.6170 at the right side. Yep 6.5 thou of taper. No wonder it was binding.

Also noted was the overheated steel on the tapered measurement tip. It was blue-brown.

This thing is going back to HF tomorrow... My new battery has been replaces into the toolbox and HF will get their two dead ones back.

By the way, both the box and the website says it "Reads in SAE and metric". Does SAE have their own version of the INCH???

John

 

[Rockytime]

Photobuckt Help

Can someone tel me how to post photos from Photobucket? I am new to Photobucket and while it is very intuitive posting to this form from it is still a mystery.

 

[Rockytime]

Photobucket Help

OOPS! Posted in wrong area. Sorry.

 

[Jack]

I've got an 18 volt drill/driver, had it for years. It served it's purpose assembling cabinets for a few paychecks and hanging tv's, pictures, etc. Then it died with no replacement battery availble. For $16.99 I got my moneys worth. Be carefull about discontinued items. I guess I'll try to crack open the battery, and replace the cells. What do you expect from temporary tools. You get what you pay for!

 

[110octane]

I've got an 18 volt drill/driver, had it for years. It served it's purpose assembling cabinets for a few paychecks and hanging tv's, pictures, etc. Then it died with no replacement battery availble. For $16.99 I got my moneys worth. Be carefull about discontinued items. I guess I'll try to crack open the battery, and replace the cells. What do you expect from temporary tools. You get what you pay for!

I went to "Batteries Plus" and they rebuilt the battery pack for my 18v drill for $25. That was about 5 years ago. Works great. The bearings behind the chuck are starting to get noisy but it still works. For $29.95 and 10 years I can't complain. The technician at Batteries Plus said the drill is a Panasonic. I'm just saying what he told me but I have no idea.
HF's parts ordering system has degenerated to the point where it is not worth attempting to deal with them. Sad considering just a few short years ago, they were decent. I will use Grizzly for parts in the future, provided I can cross over the models.
Has anyone tried ENCO for parts?
Geoff Morgan

 

[GaryK]

I bought one of these for $99 just last week.


Tool Cart, Four Drawer, 580 lbs. Capacity
US General - item#95659

Top Tray 200 lb.
Small Drawers 30 lb. (each)
Medium Drawer 50 lb.
Bottom Drawer 70 lb.
Bottom Tray 200 lb.

It turned out to be a gauge thicker that I thought it would be and very sturdy. Surprisingly good quality.
I usually frown on HF stuff but this one is a keeper! Large wheels to roll over almost anything.
Makes a great tool cart to have things near to what ever machine I'm working on.


Also bought one of these shop cranes:
2 Ton Foldable Shop Crane
Central Hydraulics - item#69051


You can get it for $219 with a 20% off code 55390515. The most interesting thing is that if you order it online shipping is only $6.99.
They have the weight at 2.12 pounds rather than 212 pounds. I bought one and they excepted it. Arrived in two boxes.

I used it to lift my 1200 pound lathe with no problems. Works great and again nice quality.

Gary

 

[jpfabricator]

I bought a mag base and 2" dial indicator from them a few months ago. The dial indicator is smooth, and seems to be of decent quality. The mag base had a slight rocking motion to it, but a quick touch on the belt sander took the slop out. some things I will buy, but some things I shy away. On a final note my 9x20 was bought second hand, but its a H/F Central Machinery!

 

[jpfabricator]

I also have a 2&1/2 ton chain fall winch that has been overloaded a few times. I havent killed it yet (8yrs)!