Rate the Harbor Freight Tools Thread- Pass or Fail?

My experience with tools/machines/equipment is you get what you pay for. Typically anything I use more than once every 6 months comes from the name brand manufacturere. Particularly Bosch, Milwaukee, Miller, Lincoln, even older craftsman tools.

I have always been disappointed if I bought a 'corded' item from HF. Sometimes I have been downright mad.

If I want a one time 'powered' tool, that I may have to rework/fix halfway through that use, I'll buy it from HF if it's cheap.

I do buy cheap consumables from them but even then I get burnt sometimes. Wires breaking off a wire cup come to mind in a painful way.

I have their 2 ton engine hoist. Works good, casters suck though.
Their vibratory rock tumblers dont last
Their 4x6 $220 horizon/vert bandsaw is a royal POS. probably have to triple the cost to get a decent one though. Be prepared to totally rework it and make a sturdy stand.
Their big 3/4" socket set is ok for that once every 5 years I need it. I'd hate it if I had to use it once a month.
Their air quick couplers suck. Always leaking or popping off at the slightest whim.
Their bigger jack stands are ok. How could you screw them up?
Their two wheel hand carts would be ok if the wheels didn't wobble so bad.
I like their cheap pliers because I don't feel bad heating them with a torch and bending them for weird situations.

I'd never buy their air nailers or nails. But I do have a half dozen to their various cheap air grinders. They keep running and running.

Their tarps are good for occasional use and they are cheap enough to have a few on hand.
Their cheap dial indicators are ok for the work I do. Same for their digital calipers.

As far as tool boxes go. Once you have had the pleasure of having Mac, Matco, and Snap-On (the best) there is no going back to anyone else's top of the line tool boxes much less something from a place like HF. I have been fortunate to get 4 of them at 30 cents on the dollar slightly used.

Having said all that, I'll say HF doesn't have a corner on the market for selling marginal stuff. Particularly some of the online machinist tool places we all (including me) spend our hard earned money at.
 
I like most everything I have bought from them for the price. The only thing with no redeeming value whatsoever was a 5/16 carbide cutting tool set for lathe. That was like an artist rendered what a machine tool should look like and they made them. Win on the morse portaband blades. the digital indicators for 16$ buy a couple most of our work is comparison but they are pretty accurate if "squeezed". Win on the diamond dremel cutoff wheels. If you go to the one in Va beach Chris's hotdogs are a real win!

Steve
 
Agree mail orders, that my father i guess was a HF gloat had to be in the 70s one inch black impact
sockets still working, impact guns 3/8 to one inch still working. The most abuse he bought a 14""
orange color chop saw still working. Now I guess they are all over one 15min away. 9$ carbide
lathe set 3$ laser well that works good with my cat. I got home checked out my lathe kit?? Maybe
Nelson will know what are they used for?? they look like, they wont turn a chucked apple. Although
a 5Hp gaser for a buck forty nine is sounding good for my splitter. What I want they dont have, but
right across the street another tooler yes I need a new 1/2 MT2 drill chuck for SB $20 bucks.
Unfortunatly on my street was WT Tools (thats gone) they had gitz oilers drip glass oilers all kinds
lathe HSS blanks in bins that you weighed mills Jets stuff I bought AXA 6 piece for a 150. Now they
are in MI. I know I went off the subject a little but this local HF is more like Home Depot. BUT WT.
did rule, afforable, I know made accross the pond. Then close by is Graingers. AXA's there is close to
$900. So My thoughts are if I buy an HF tool kit and gets me out of trouble once, its paid for.
 
Here's one you might like - their digital mike, item 68305 --- less than $40. I got interested when someone on another forum said he had bought one, taken it to the calibration lab at his job, and found that it was accurate at every tested measurement. Well, the ole eyes are making it hard to read my Mitutoyo conventional mike on the lathe, so I picked one up. Nice big numbers. Reads spot on with every gauge block (workshop grade, I concede) that I tried. Comes with battery, and a ball-attachment (which is sort of lame, to tell the truth, but it's there) and a pretty good case. It works, I'm real happy with it. Someone said it's only in the retail stores, not on-line, so maybe it's in short supply.

EDIT: it's on the discontinued list online. Also: it has an absolute/incremental function that is neat, but not documented in the leaflet that comes with it. Come to think of it, the leaflet relates to a different mike altogether, although the photos are of this mike. But not rocket science to figure out....

Will my grandchildren inherit it? I dunno, and don't care, if it does what I need. Accurate, nicely made, and a bargain. PASS!
 
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good year air hose... pass works great and was cheap
orange deadblow hammer... pass
impact sockets... pass
nitrile gloves... pass use em all the time
1" chip brushes... pass use em to spread polyester resins and epoxies, no problems
3/8" air ratchet... pass, loud as a mad woman though
"welding vice grips" pass, i actually like them better than my vice grip brand... spin the adj screw and make sure it threads easily before you buy.
 
Just bought the HVLP gravity feed spray gun they have on sale right now for $12.00

The gun sprays beautifully ......... BUT ..... Do not leave it in lacquer thinner, the purple paint will peel and the plastic knob that adjusts the spray pattern will melt. It is almost cheap enough to just throw it away without cleaning it if your spraying a bigger job. I also have the 2 gun kit but don't try spraying hi build with it. The tiny gun that comes in the kit is almost as fine as an airbrush, I'm able to spray right up to another panel that's a different color without taping it off
 
I just bought a set of 3 tap handles for 7$. They seem to be pretty good since the collar fully supports the jaws, so even cheap metal should hold up. Strange thing though the collar/barrel has three raised rings on it that makes it look nice but they knurled the low spots between so you can only try to grip the smooth metal. All in all I say a hit for 7$ just to keep me from welding gooduns onto something.

Steve
 
I bought their "14-gauge Swivel Head Shear", item# 68199, to cut some 16 gauge metal and it worked perfectly. Relatively straight cuts, as close as I could get to straight :) , and while being slightly heavy it's a lot better than cutting long lengths of metal by hand. Wish I bought one of these years ago instead of using my hh grinder with cutoff blade. So I recommend this shear, especially with a 20% coupon. :)
 
I picked this Digital Micrometer #68305 Took it to work and had calibration check it out and it is just as accurate as the mic's we use. For $34.95 -20% can't beat it
 
I love HF. I have a number or their tools. The thing I like the best about HF is: my doctor insists on my getting more exorcize so I get it walking the isles. I usually buy something and it is cheaper than Gym fees.
Les
 
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