Rate the Harbor Freight Tools Thread- Pass or Fail?

[pstemari]

... Recently I bought one of the single drawer carts and it is more than adequte as a stand of my Gerstner to sit on.
HF tool storage I'd have to give a Pass, Good value for the money.

The irony there is killing me. That's like taking a Lamborghini to a Pep Boys for a brake job.

Maybe you should name the Gerstner Felix and the HF Oscar?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[SonofHarold - Metal Carver]

Never though of that, gave me a chuckle this morning. I like naming stuff too so may just use that... (We have a Kirby upright vacuum that I call Durwood, not everyone will get that one, and an old Filter Queen vac in the basement that I call R2..) The Gerstner was Harold's and I just built a platform in the tray so the Gerstner sits up level with the top and I can move it to near whichever machine I am working at, works great. I am retired, could not afford a gerstner roll around/ cart.

 

[paoldschool]

I guess I have way too many tools from HF. The blue 4 1/2 inch angle grinders for $20 on sale are great. I use them almost daily, and got tired of shelling out $90 for Dewalt grinders only to have them die in a year, so I started buying the "heavy duty" ones on sale at HF. I have not killed one yet in three years. As far as grinding wheels and consumables, I don't buy at HF. I can buy brand name flap discs and wheels in bulk for half of what the HF stuff costs, and it lasts at least 2x as long. I have thoroughly abused a 2 ton engine hoist for at least 10 years, never had a problem. I think I paid less than $100 for it when I got it. I use it in the shop almost everyday to save my poor back. I also have an old HF Mill/Drill that I picked up at an estate sale. It is bullet proof. Other than the fact it has a round column it works great, plenty of power and is very useful. I have no idea how old it really is, I would have to say 1980's sometime...
The fact of the matter is this, you can go out a spend a small fortune on tools and not take care of them, and they will fall apart and fail. You can also buy cheap tools and take care of them and be careful and they will last the average Joe a lifetime. I own a small Machining and Fab shop, and I use a lot of stuff from HF. I know what the limits are, and I am careful. I make money with their tools every day. For most people the tools from HF are good enough. Some of my customers ask me why I buy that "junk" from HF? I tell them that I would rather buy it there and pay $10 for it than to buy it from Snap-on for $100. That is $90 I get to keep in my pocket, and use for something else.

 

[middle.road]

Somewhere back in these pages is my post on when I first bought the HF Chicago-Electric portable bandsaw a few years.
It is still going strong and I've had no issues with it - except that the cord is really thin and 'cheesy' and twists up.
Anyway, Honey saw me lusting after the newer Bauer back around my birthday/Memorial Day. She intercepted the flyer that had a $99 coupon for it, and also somehow managed to get the extra 20% applied to it also and gifted me for Father's Day.
So for ~$90 I'd have to say it is a very decent deal.
So far I'm happy with, aluminum and steel - no sweat. I did install a Lenox blade in it straight off. The quality and heftiness of it are very good.
The ergonomics of it are much better than the CE.
I believe that I might take the old CE and mount it to a 'Swagbox'. (Now that a know what a Swagbox is after reading a thread here...)

 

[MrWhoopee]

I got one of these truck bed hoists for lifting large firewood rounds.
https://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-capacity-pickup-truck-crane-60732.html
More recently I used it to unload a 700 lb. Kalamazoo horizontal bandsaw. Two thumbs up.
I did have to reinforce the bed.


Oh, my HF 4x6 has cut true and square since I took it out of the box.

 

[GL]

Bremen from Taiwan weld clamps, good as Irwins, half price. HF seems to be recognize that they can have cheap crap or cheaper better that really works - and people will pay the difference. Tool boxes are good value. Vulcan "high end ($140) weld hoods are great. Nitrile gloves are excellent. I have mixed emotions about having a new store close to home - hate to go in there , keep buying stuff.

 

[jwmay]

The Five drawer tool cart gets my best rating. I moved out of my big tool box at work and have not looked back since. It can be had on sale for $169. Better quality than the name brands on that item. Item number 95272.
Chris.

View attachment 30941

Just want to second this. I’ve owned one of these for 2-3 years. I push it at least two miles every night, 6 days per week, fully loaded, over both good and bad concrete. I’ve ran an open drawer into a beam more than once. I’ve ran it into railings. I’ve pushed safety gates open with it. I bought the extra lift up tray for it, and did replace that item a couple months ago, after the sheet metal cracked at the hinge. A friend of mine took the broken tray and fixed it for use on his own cart. And after all this, the only thing that “failed” were a couple spot welds on the lid. Two coworkers have had to build angle iron frames with new wheels, after they ran into very deep floor seams. And one had the same spot weld failures at the lid. But overall, I’d rate this item as an absolute win. We have people who spend 1000 dollars and up for Bluepoint, Snapon, and Cornwell boxes, and I’ve not seen anything better than this box from them. I hate to make it sound like a commercial, but they sell it in 6 different colors now too. About ten of my coworkers own this box, and I’d say we all agree, this is a great tool cart.

 

[rock_breaker]

Just returned from Twin Falls ID (actually Jerome) visited the Harbor Freight store in Twin Falls. bought a 4 ton Hyd jack that hasn't been used yet $20, a led 2 way flash light $4 and a roll of gurilla tape $9.( How do you spell big ape?) In their powder tool display was a 7" X 10" mini lathe. The 4 way tool holder seemed small but looked sturdy enough. The lathe had charts on it but I didn't notice a quick change gear box. Also it had a 4" 3 jaw chuck $669. It seemed small enough that it would fit in my 5th wheel camper but am not sure it could be securely mounted.
The store had a lot of tools and attentive sales associates. A good experience.
A note about gurrilla tape; the pick-up drivers side mirror securing assembly must be worn as it moved back against the window in a gusty wind situation and would not stay in fully extended position afterwards. While visiting the son-in-law we put a wrap around the round verticle mount then stuck it to the plastic mirror mount on the door side. The mirror is still in position after about a 900 miles.
Have a good day!
Ray

 

[Jidis]

She intercepted the flyer that had a $99 coupon for it, and also somehow managed to get the extra 20% applied to it also and gifted me for Father's Day.

Good job. I specifically remember trying to do that when I made that exact same purchase a few months back and they refused. Really enjoying that saw though. I was hand-powered before with a regular hacksaw and dreaded having to cut anything. Only downside is getting it out of the case and that it takes up some of my rapidly diminishing floor space.

Take Care

 

[bearbon]

Good job. I specifically remember trying to do that when I made that exact same purchase a few months back and they refused. Really enjoying that saw though. I was hand-powered before with a regular hacksaw and dreaded having to cut anything. Only downside is getting it out of the case and that it takes up some of my rapidly diminishing floor space.

Take Care

I love my cutoff saw too. Cuts true and easy. As for taking up valuable shop floor space I just put four wheels on the base and roll it into a little alley next to my parts cabinet when not in use. I hated that lift and drag setup with the two cheap plastic wheels on the back so I just drilled out the screw holes on the sides where the "feet" were attached, slipped through a 5/8" axle rod and put on four 5" ball bearing wheels held on with shaft rings. Now I can pull it out with two fingers.