HF 40939 - 6x26 - Discontinued

[chrisk]

I've been toying with the idea of getting one of the Harbor Freight 6x26 knee mills (40939), and it suddenly disappeared off their website today. Called them and verified - no longer available. Looks like that matches with Grizzly's 6x26 "get them before they're gone" tag, so I'm wondering if whatever factory in China that makes them just moved on to other things.

 

[C-Bag]

They do like all business, they stock what sells. A lot of their machine tools and metal working tools are gone compared to what they used to sell. They always appear somewhere else under a different name and 30-50% increase in price. And it’s still the same quality. My best deals have been buying discontinued HF machines used.

 

[epanzella]

HF discontinued their 33686 round column mill and they were selling like crazy. Grizzly still sells the identical machine at twice the price. Maybe they dump the stuff with smaller profit margins.

 

[markba633csi]

HF used to carry a larger lathe (12"x 36"?) and they no longer do. I wonder why since it probably sold well

 

[matthewsx]

Support

 

[C-Bag]

Support

???

I think John might know how many of these machines were sold. My brother bought and still has a HF 12x36. I think they were closing them out when he bought his must have been almost 10yrs ago.

 

[matthewsx]

???

I think John might know how many of these machines were sold. My brother bought and still has a HF 12x36. I think they were closing them out when he bought his must have been almost 10yrs ago.

No idea how many machines were sold but HF tends to try and stand behind what they sell. I'd guess when production switched from Tiawan to China the quality went down and the headaches went up.

I'm happy with my HF RF30 clone but I imagine many of their cheap lathes got returned. The big mill has been special order for a long time and it's probably just not worth the hassle.

Should have put question marks after my post....

Support?

John

 

[C-Bag]

Thanks John. As a consumer we have no way of actually knowing how many of any particular machine is actually sold. I asked a sales person at HF Why they were closing out the lathes, mills, bead rollers etc and he just said they just don’t sell as much as the less expensive stuff. Sounds right to me. I think it’s telling when those machines are all the sudden rebadged and sold by Eastwood, Baleigh, Vevor, KaKa etc they are the same machine with maybe different paint and 2-3 times more $$. For all we know the suppliers demanded more for the machines and HF knew their customers would not stand such an increase and dropped them. None of us can really see behind that curtain.

 

[chrisk]

Got an unexpected reply to an email I'd sent HF before I called them. Simply stated the 40939 was back. Looking at the past week, the disappearance overlapped a sale. Just coincidence I'm sure...

Can't quite justify $2700 for one of these, though. Maybe if I find a used one for a lot less. Who knows.

 

[KenBeckett39]

I've been toying with the idea of getting one of the Harbor Freight 6x26 knee mills (40939), and it suddenly disappeared off their website today. Called them and verified - no longer available. Looks like that matches with Grizzly's 6x26 "get them before they're gone" tag, so I'm wondering if whatever factory in China that makes them just moved on to other things.

I've been toying with the idea of getting one of the Harbor Freight 6x26 knee mills (40939), and it suddenly disappeared off their website today. Called them and verified - no longer available. Looks like that matches with Grizzly's 6x26 "get them before they're gone" tag, so I'm wondering if whatever factory in China that makes them just moved on to other things.

Took about 6 month to get mine (ordered it at the previous price)
I am pretty much impressed with it,
definitely has some kinks, but mine is way more accurate then I expected.