Rate the Harbor Freight Tools Thread- Pass or Fail?

Ball joint service kit for 2wd and 4wd vehicles - FAIL. C-clamp started to bend when I applied pressure on the ball joint. Stopped using cause I did not feel like watching it break apart. However the 12-ton shop press - PASS. Ended up using the sleeves from the ball joint kit with the press and those 34 year old rusty ball joints came right out.
 
3 1/2 cubic foot cement mixer, for me it was a partial fail. For mixing cobb for my pizza oven it was ok but it can barely handle a 60lb bag of concrete. The motor would slow down and stop. I guess I need to find a bigger motor, any ideas?

Lanham
 
Ball joint service kit for 2wd and 4wd vehicles - FAIL. C-clamp started to bend when I applied pressure on the ball joint. Stopped using cause I did not feel like watching it break apart. However the 12-ton shop press - PASS. Ended up using the sleeves from the ball joint kit with the press and those 34 year old rusty ball joints came right out.
I have this kit as well and have had no problems with it at all! Must be low grade quality control.
 
3 1/2 cubic foot cement mixer, for me it was a partial fail. For mixing cobb for my pizza oven it was ok but it can barely handle a 60lb bag of concrete. The motor would slow down and stop. I guess I need to find a bigger motor, any ideas?

Lanham

It has very good reviews, so maybe you just got a bad one. Either invoke the warranty if it still has one, replace the motor if it actually is bad and it's not just suffering from the belt slipping, or change the size of the motor pulley to allow the motor to spin more freely, although this will reduce the speed of the drum rotation.

M
 
3 1/2 cubic foot cement mixer, for me it was a partial fail. For mixing cobb for my pizza oven it was ok but it can barely handle a 60lb bag of concrete. The motor would slow down and stop. I guess I need to find a bigger motor, any ideas?

Lanham

It has very good reviews, so maybe you just got a bad one. Either invoke the warranty if it still has one, replace the motor if it actually is bad and it's not just suffering from the belt slipping, or change the size of the motor pulley to allow the motor to spin more freely, although this will reduce the speed of the drum rotation.

M
 
No more warranty, got it a while ago and put it in the shed, didn't realize it was under a leak on the roof. Mixer was pretty much covered in rust when I put it together, motor probably got a lot of water in it to. I will probably take the motor apart to have a look.

lanham
 
Blue Flame auto darkening welding helmet #91214:

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Definite PASS!

It's more comfortable and more sensitive in the adjustments for both reaction time and shade when compared to the cheaper #46092:

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M

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I bought the double cut saw on sale, was like $60 I think. Definite pass! That thing is a beast! My latest project is building a new mower deck from 1/8" sheet steel, and I think I've cut a good couple hundred inches with this saw. It does heat up, so you have to be patient, or take the blow gun to it every few minutes, but it's pretty tough work and I'm impressed

4x6 bandsaw: I won't beat a dead horse. Good buy with some mods

Planetary ring roller: does 1/8" inch no sweat, it's rated up to 3/16 flat, just had to replace the grease zerks right out of the box, I've never seen zerks that had no radius to them.

Wet/dry orbital palm sander: great little tool! Doesn't really "orbit" just vibrates, but it sucks water out of a pail and blows it thru the sanding pad, works great on car bodies, polishing metal etc

Adjustable hand reamer set: it's ok. First time I used one, one of the blades broke, but that may have been because I had it on my cordless impact. Sssh don't tell anyone. They've done the job for the most part

Pittsburgh extending ratchets: awesome! I've done some not tool friendly things with these, and they are tough!

HSS blanks for mini lathe: another great buy, I clean HF out every time I go there. Pretty tough grade HSS for real cheap

There's plenty of good buys at HF, just plan on taking whatever it is apart first to put some lube in, or spending time adjusting or whatever. Def worth the time to save the money


Why buy something when you can build it for twice the price!
 
had 16 inch limb splinter and not fall to the ground. I have a 35cc gas saw but got to thinking that a pole saw would work better because I would not have to run as far if it started to fall. got to looking at saws and decided to give the hf 68862 electric saw a try. 90 day warranty and a 20% coupon . it passed and I think I will not buy another gas saw. maybe one of those 16 or 18 inch electric saws in my future.

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Does any body have one of these? 1 in. x 30 in. Belt Sander Central-Machinery - item#2485.

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On one of the gun smithing site I go to one of the guys has one on his bench. He said there good for small work and he also uses it to touch up his HHS. I ordered one and it will be here Monday so I'll let you know if there any good or not.

Paul

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