Rate the Harbor Freight Tools Thread- Pass or Fail?

[autonoz]

Three recent purchases,
1000Lb hydraulic lift table PASS Using it to lift 12" rotary table and 8" Super indexer onto mill table. Construction looks good and operates just fine out of the box.
Blue flame self darkening welding helmet, PASS Have only used it a couple times and have no experience with more expensive helmets, but this darkens instantly and is comfortable.
Welding table, PASS Sturdy enough for light to medium work and is fairly well constructed. Will work just fine for what I do.
Not sure of the longevity of these items as they are only a couple weeks old, but hopefully they will not give me any trouble.

 

[pebbleworm]

I knew it wouldn't work well, but I picked up the 40 piece metric tap and die set on sale a while ago:
http://www.harborfreight.com/40-piece-metric-carbon-steel-tap-and-die-set-39384.html
I finally had a chance to use it to tap some holes to 5X.8. Had a nice vertical and correctly sized pilot hole, loaded the tap into a tapping fixture and it just gummed away, never really biting in. Double checked my tap drill size and took a look at the tap- it is just not properly ground. I'll have to do a detailed post mortem so I can learn something. I just used an ancient Greenfield 10X32 tap I found in an abandoned building and had three nicely tapped holes in minutes. It's nice to know you have a tap on hand, but not nice to know it does not work. I should have expected this for the price, and others in the set seem to work fine for chasing out rust and goo from previously threaded bits. I'm not throwing it out, but I'm not going to delude myself I know I have a metric tap on hand.

 

[uncle harry]

Three recent purchases,
1000Lb hydraulic lift table PASS Using it to lift 12" rotary table and 8" Super indexer onto mill table. Construction looks good and operates just fine out of the box.
Blue flame self darkening welding helmet, PASS Have only used it a couple times and have no experience with more expensive helmets, but this darkens instantly and is comfortable.
Welding table, PASS Sturdy enough for light to medium work and is fairly well constructed. Will work just fine for what I do.
Not sure of the longevity of these items as they are only a couple weeks old, but hopefully they will not give me any trouble.

I also bought the self darkening helmet & have had it about 3 years. It continues to function as good as new.

 

[kingmt01]

I have the old gray helmet. I've been using it for over 10 years. It wasn't until getting a helmet that actually works that I find my old one is crap. I thought all this time my eyes were just bad to see my welding.

Pebbleworm
I agree those taps are great for cleaning threads & even reforming buggered threads but they are almost imposable to cut threads with. I cut a taper at the end to get them started & they still suck.

 

[FOMOGO]

It's always been my understanding that you shouldn't use a standard tap for chasing threads as it will end up causing a loose fit. Not saying I haven't done it on non-critical stuff, but for engine work I use a thread chaser. I think the HF stuff is kind of a crap shoot. I have a set of theirs here on the island I bought 6-7 years ago and so far so good. Mike

 

[wildo]

Read/skimmed this whole thread. One addition I can add that I didn't see mentioned was the composite ratchets. Major PASS! Super comfortable and I love the 72 teeth low rotation angle. They are smooth and work well- all three sizes. They definitely make my Craftsman ratchets feel like utter trash.
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-2-half-inch-heavy-duty-composite-ratchet-66314.html



The 12 outlet power strip is also a PASS. I haven't tried putting large amounts of current through it, but general shop tools and reduction of extension cords/clutter... total PASS. Definitely cheaper than most anywhere else as well. http://www.harborfreight.com/12-outlet-super-power-strip.html


Another winner is the long reach, polished combination wrenches. These are really comfortable to use, and indeed they are long. I reach for them regularly... PASS
http://www.harborfreight.com/11-pie...long-handle-combination-wrench-set-47067.html

 

[wildo]

I've also had very good success with these bar clamps, though this thread would imply that there's debate on that. I call them a pass in 12" and 24" lengths.
http://www.harborfreight.com/12-inch-bar-clamp-96214.html

 

[JimDawson]

A few weeks ago I purchased a 115 pc set of HF cobalt drills, I have now had a chance to use them for awhile in SS, plastic, mild steel, 1045 steel, and aluminum. So far so good. I say PASS!

 

[autonoz]

A few weeks ago I purchased a 115 pc set of HF cobalt drills, I have now had a chance to use them for awhile in SS, plastic, mild steel, 1045 steel, and aluminum. So far so good. I say PASS!

I have had this set for over two years and they have drilled everything I have needed them to. My only complaint is the smaller numbered bits are not sized properly.

 

[MikeWi]

I'll admit that I can't see any deformation, so it may have been built like this in the first place and it took me this long to notice, but I'll post a pic later. Way out of line. There's no flexing going on here, and the bushing removal required a total gap of less than 4" inside the press, so no long distance involved. It's just messed up is all. We used that rap trick all the time at the garage I worked in, and yes it works like a charm and makes peoples jaw drop when they see it for the first time. Doesn't help much here though.. These track bar bushings are notorious for being hard to remove. The rubber comes out of the liner before the liner releases.

Here's the photo finally. World on my jeep forum is that this is common with the HF presses and that they really are bending. Hard to imagine. This was after a removing a balljoint from hell, so either it was hell because of this, or it became this way because of it.