Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[KubotainNH]

I got an HF press as a gift from my wife within the last 2 years. Some of the parts made it out of the really heavy box during shipping. I called, (actually twice because I missed a part) gave them the numbers and I had the parts in a couple days. I was quite surprised it went so smoothly, I figured I'd have to bring the whole deal to the store. I had it almost all put together so that would have annoyed me.

 

[sixdogs]

Excellent point. If I'm going to buy pliers or side cutters from HF, I'll spend a while making sure I get a pair that lines up. Most don't.

I haven't seen US General branded pliers/cutters at HF in a while but if you ever do, they were very good.

"US General" is a Harbor Freight brand.

"General" is a General Tool Co brand.

Bruce

Thank you bcp. Yes, it is "General Tools" I was speaking of. Great tools and used to be in HF all the time. Making a comeback in many stores today, however.

US General@ HF does make those great red toolboxes but that's the extent of what I know about them.

 

[Reg]

Back to the wet tile saw.
There is a flyer coupon for another $70 off until the end of April, bringing it to $209.99 - so I GOT IT last Friday.
I thought I would rig up a table or stand of some sort, but while in the store decided to "invest" in the folding stand with wheels for ~$60.

Got it home, assembled it and - - Ooops, had forgotten to buy a blade.
I'll have to read up on those, diamond edge for sure, but there is the question of segmented vs solid edge ?

Home Despot has them starting at about $37 or so and they seem to run up to a couple of hundred.
This will be for a small bathroom project, then I'll sell it.
Well, maybe a kitchen floor as well,,,,, just maybe

Either way, this is for a light project or two - SURE a $1500 saw would be "better" and last longer, but I think this will get me through.

 

[dragoneggs]

At HF today... used my Easter 25% coupon also got a free small blue tarp among other consumable things. Wasn't completely selfish... talked the wife into coming in and she picked up 2 pair of work gloves! Usually she stays in the car or walks next door and rummages through the Goodwill store. She can't stand the HF smell.

My major purchase was the 2 pack titanium nitride step drills. Need to drill a few 5/8in holes in 1/8in and 3/16in mild steel. Anyone have good things to say about the step drills? For $13.99 I figured they were worth a shot.

 

[dragoneggs]

Back to the wet tile saw.
There is a flyer coupon for another $70 off until the end of April, bringing it to $209.99 - so I GOT IT last Friday.
I thought I would rig up a table or stand of some sort, but while in the store decided to "invest" in the folding stand with wheels for ~$60.

Got it home, assembled it and - - Ooops, had forgotten to buy a blade.
I'll have to read up on those, diamond edge for sure, but there is the question of segmented vs solid edge ?

Home Despot has them starting at about $37 or so and they seem to run up to a couple of hundred.
This will be for a small bathroom project, then I'll sell it.
Well, maybe a kitchen floor as well,,,,, just maybe

Either way, this is for a light project or two - SURE a $1500 saw would be "better" and last longer, but I think this will get me through.

Which saw do you have? I have the 10in saw and it has been great for my DIY projects. You are better off with a non HF blade form what I have read. IIRC I bought at Lowe's a Kobalt brand diamond abrasive blade (non segmented). I have cut 12in porcelain tile and 3in thick cement block (retaining wall caps) with great success... hundreds of cuts so far. I am a fan of this saw for home use. After abusing an old Black & Decker workmate bench, I finally bought the mating stand for the saw. Nice to have wheels and it takes less space. I figured the water pump would crap out first use but it is still doing fine.

 

[aczlan]

My major purchase was the 2 pack titanium nitride step drills. Need to drill a few 5/8in holes in 1/8in and 3/16in mild steel. Anyone have good things to say about the step drills? For $13.99 I figured they were worth a shot.

My wife has a similar reaction to the smell of Harbor Freight.
If the step drills are the ones that have the large shank (not the 1/4" shank), I have a set and have been very happy with them.

Aaron Z

 

[Big Barn]

At HF today... used my Easter 25% coupon also got a free small blue tarp among other consumable things. Wasn't completely selfish... talked the wife into coming in and she picked up 2 pair of work gloves! Usually she stays in the car or walks next door and rummages through the Goodwill store. She can't stand the HF smell.

My major purchase was the 2 pack titanium nitride step drills. Need to drill a few 5/8in holes in 1/8in and 3/16in mild steel. Anyone have good things to say about the step drills? For $13.99 I figured they were worth a shot.

Hopefully you'll have better luck than me, Mark. I tried the (CDN) equivalent Princess Auto steel drills and hated them.

I've since gone back to the original Unibits.

Terry

 

[Reg]

Which saw do you have? I have the 10in saw and it has been great for my DIY projects. You are better off with a non HF blade form what I have read. IIRC I bought at Lowe's a Kobalt brand diamond abrasive blade (non segmented). I have cut 12in porcelain tile and 3in thick cement block (retaining wall caps) with great success... hundreds of cuts so far. I am a fan of this saw for home use. After abusing an old Black & Decker workmate bench, I finally bought the mating stand for the saw. Nice to have wheels and it takes less space. I figured the water pump would crap out first use but it is still doing fine.

I bought the 10 inch 2 1/2 HP (claimed) one.
I looked at that pump and thought the same thing - probably from a fish tank.
Someone commented earlier that recycling the water through it might wear it prematurely, so pump from a clean bucket and drain the tray when full.
That seemed to make sense, but now I have seen the dams in the tray I'm thinking that MOST of the debris probably doesn't make it back to the pump.
For convenience I'll probably use it as designed and shop for a new pump at the aquarium store if this one burns up.

I just read up a bit on blades, roughly stated segmented will give faster cutting speed at the (slight) expense of smoothness of cut.
Also grit size of the diamond dust affects both cutting speed and smoothness.
For some thick marble that I plan to use as baseboard I will probably be putting a bevel on the top edge, so a smooth cut will matter there.

Home Despot is closer to me than HF, Lowes is even closer, so I'll probably start there.

 

[Paul Thornton]

Dragoneggs, just barely managed to get two holes in my bucket to mount the piranha tooth bar on before the shank separated from the cutters.

 

[Mendonsy]

Hopefully you'll have better luck than me, Mark. I tried the (CDN) equivalent Princess Auto steel drills and hated them.

I've since gone back to the original Unibits. View attachment 506213

Terry

Yeah, it depends a LOT on what you are using them for. The H-F bits work fine for soft stuff like plastic or wood but they just don't last long doing sheet metal.

 

[lostcreekranch]

At HF today... used my Easter 25% coupon also got a free small blue tarp among other consumable things. Wasn't completely selfish... talked the wife into coming in and she picked up 2 pair of work gloves! Usually she stays in the car or walks next door and rummages through the Goodwill store. She can't stand the HF smell.

My major purchase was the 2 pack titanium nitride step drills. Need to drill a few 5/8in holes in 1/8in and 3/16in mild steel. Anyone have good things to say about the step drills? For $13.99 I figured they were worth a shot.

I bought the step drill bits to drill holes in my loader bucket to mount a Piranha Tooth Blade. They worked very well.

 

[John_Mc]

I bought the step drill bits to drill holes in my loader bucket to mount a Piranha Tooth Blade. They worked very well.

I just used a bimetal hole saw to cut mine. I couldn't see grinding up the whole circle of metal into chips when I could just do the circumference. Plus, my bucket was thick enough that I didn't really need the step drill's action, as I do when cutting thinner stock.

 

[lostcreekranch]

I just used a bimetal hole saw to cut mine. I couldn't see grinding up the whole circle of metal into chips when I could just do the circumference. Plus, my bucket was thick enough that I didn't really need the step drill's action, as I do when cutting thinner stock.

It's only a clearance hole for 5/8" bolts?

 

[stuckmotor]

I bought the step drill bits to drill holes in my loader bucket to mount a Piranha Tooth Blade. They worked very well.

I like my HF step drills better than a name brand one that I have.

 

[stuckmotor]

My wife has a similar reaction to the smell of Harbor Freight.Aaron Z

I was once at a traveling tool sale and wondered why the crew that went into the trailer to fetch the tools didn't pass out.

 

[KubotainNH]

Every time I go in the store I wonder if the workers will get cancer from the smell. As for the larger step drills, I burned the big one up trying to make a hole in my stainless kitchen sink to add a soap dispenser. It was fine until I got into the step that went from 7/8" to an inch. I needed to get to an inch. I used a cutoff wheel to sharpen it up and did eventually get through the thin gauge metal but that bit seems soft on the big numbers. For years I beat up the smaller 3 drill set I have from HF and it still cuts well. This was the first use on the larger of the 2 bit set.

 

[dragoneggs]

Every time I go in the store I wonder if the workers will get cancer from the smell. As for the larger step drills, I burned the big one up trying to make a hole in my stainless kitchen sink to add a soap dispenser. It was fine until I got into the step that went from 7/8" to an inch. I needed to get to an inch. I used a cutoff wheel to sharpen it up and did eventually get through the thin gauge metal but that bit seems soft on the big numbers. For years I beat up the smaller 3 drill set I have from HF and it still cuts well. This was the first use on the larger of the 2 bit set.

What thickness mild steel do you limit it to?

 

[John_Mc]

It's only a clearance hole for 5/8" bolts?

Actually, my toothbar took 3/4" bolts. Even for 5/8", why chip up all that metal when you don't have to?

 

[aczlan]

What thickness mild steel do you limit it to?

I had no problems using them on 3/8" and 1/2" mild steel when I adapted the front mount snowblower to our L3830.

Aaron Z

 

[KubotainNH]

What thickness mild steel do you limit it to?

On the original set of 3 I went up to maybe 3/8" mild steel. I broke the hex end off the largest one drilling something thick, it got jammed. I welded a bolt to where the hex broke off and still use it. It cuts fine just a bit wobbly. I was expecting a bit more from the larger set but maybe it just doesn't like thin stainless or it wasn't hardened properly.