Harbor Freight tools that DO suck

[Diggin It]

This thread seems like a good place to warn others - Not HF but Ebay:

80mm Mini Plastic Student Sliding Vernier Caliper Gauge


Oh the 'vernier calipers'? I didn't expect much but these are just kids toys.

Maybe you got what was listed after all?

 

[Diggin It]

In the 'it's worth what you paid for it' department, we've talked about the digital meters, but what about the 25' tape measures? They're OK when new, but they don't last very long. They flop around beyond 5' extended, the hold/lock tab breaks off internally and the rewind springs give up.

 

[California]

California, if it's worth it to you, I'd bump this up to Ebay customer service. As I recall, you can do it with a couple of clicks. I bet you'll get a reply within an hour that they've issued you a refund. More importantly, they can take further action if it's a known issue with this seller. If folks don't escalate to them, they won't know.

My guess is that this is a real outlier. I've ordered small items from various sellers that only shipped "Economy Shipping", and the estimated time has always been met or beaten.

I would if it had cost me very much. Total cost was $3.44 for four miniature calipers so not worth the trouble. I don't need a refund.

The real lesson here is never order from someone with less than 99% positive feedback.

Two more gripes: The Ebay listing shows a '1' at the first inch on the scale. What I received lacks that mark so all the equal-size marks at every quarter inch look the same. Frustrating junk.

I found my tracking number in some of several tracking services, not in others. USPS shows only 'label prepared' and a couple of trackers repeat that. Other tracking services show an identical chain of events ending at 'arrived US' a month before I got the package. Looking at reviews of those third-party trackers, several customers said the chain of events listed there isn't real, the 'tracking service' is a scam, and their purchases were likely never sent.

Its still a mystery why I was immediately issued a tracking # that seems to show Philippines Post as the transport method. Then my parcel arrived with an initial 'Philippines Post' mailing label with my address, then another nonspecific label was stuck over that label. I think the merchant does this only to create a bogus 'ready to ship' message, intended to appear in USPS and other tracking services.

Conclusion: If the vendor is in China (or anywhere overseas) I won't use 'economy shipping' for anything over $5. And I'll pay a couple percent more to buy from a vendor with over 99% positive feedback. Caveat Emptor!

I might contact Ebay when I have time to maneuver through their maze. This post was intended mostly as a 'heads up' to everyone.

Rant over.

 

[Threepoint]

[snip]

I might contact Ebay when I have time to maneuver through their their maze.
[snip]

No maze. Just report it to their Resolution Center. Probably take 5 minutes.

FWIW, I just ordered a set of five 5/32" diamond rotary burrs from China to sharpen chainsaw chains. $3.28, free shipping. Estimated delivery July 11 - Aug 22. We'll see. I'm in no hurry. :laughing: I'll use them on the HF Lynxx chainsaw chains. (The 14" Oregon chains are only $24 in a two-pack, though. I ordered a pair of those as well, through Amazon Prime yesterday with one-day delivery!).

Surprising, though, how well the originals that come with the saws hold up.

BTW, if the Ebay seller for the burrs surprises me by beating the time frame, I may remember to report back.

 

[mike69440]

Picture = 1000 Words

Explanation
I had a similar size Import pipe wrench on the wrench handle and I was twisting to straighten a clamp, not using wrench as intended. Still, good steel should have survived.

$17.50 was what i remember paying.

 

[caver]

Picture = 1000 Words

Yeah but it's Drop Forged !!!!

 

[Diggin It]

Not real fond of the Warrior hex shank Phillips bits. I've shattered most of whatever is in the plastic pack, maybe 10? But then again, I'm using them in a 1/4" impact driver, so maybe they're not intended to handle that.

 

[Diggin It]

Not real fond of the Warrior hex shank Phillips bits. I've shattered most of whatever is in the plastic pack, maybe 10? But then again, I'm using them in a 1/4" impact driver, so maybe they're not intended to handle that.

Found these at a bigbox store. They claim to be impact ready and 'flex' somehow:

At $12 for a 30 pack, I'll try them out.

 

[aczlan]

Found these at a bigbox store. They claim to be impact ready and 'flex' somehow:

At $12 for a 30 pack, I'll try them out.

Tried those, I like the Phillips bits that go to the full size of the shank better, they seem to spin out and chew up the head of the screw less. I usually get the single ended version of these:


Aaron Z

 

[Diggin It]

Seems to me like the thin section would be a weak point and break under stress, but hey, I'll try (almost) anything once.


The HF Warrior ones I have are a round shank like this:

 

[4570Man]

Seems to me like the thin section would be a weak point and break under stress, but hey, I'll try (almost) anything once.


The HF Warrior ones I have are a round shank like this:

I hate those short bits and will only buy the longer ones but I’ve never broken one of the dewalt or other thin shank bits.

 

[Gary Fowler]

First off, I hate phillips head screws. It is almost impossible to drive a 2.5-3" screw in hard pine without stripping out the head if you dont predrill the hole. I have never had a phillips head driver with enough bite to break the shank. I prefer the torx head screws or the second choice is the square head (dont recall the official name of those). With torx head you can pop the head of the screw off before it will slip. Either those will hold the screw on the tip (torx head is best) so you dont need 2 hands to get the screw started, very handy when you have to hold something in place and start the screw.

 

[DMax82]

First off, I hate phillips head screws. It is almost impossible to drive a 2.5-3" screw in hard pine without stripping out the head if you dont predrill the hole. I have never had a phillips head driver with enough bite to break the shank. I prefer the torx head screws or the second choice is the square head (dont recall the official name of those). With torx head you can pop the head of the screw off before it will slip. Either those will hold the screw on the tip (torx head is best) so you dont need 2 hands to get the screw started, very handy when you have to hold something in place and start the screw.

I'm with you. I'll never buy deck screws with anything but torx heads again. I actually just ordered 100 pounds of them for an upcoming project.

 

[John_Mc]

Not real fond of the Warrior hex shank Phillips bits. I've shattered most of whatever is in the plastic pack, maybe 10? But then again, I'm using them in a 1/4" impact driver, so maybe they're not intended to handle that.

I have no experience with Warrior bits. However, in general, good quality bits not intended for impact use are heat treated for very high hardness. This helps avoid wear and deforming of the working edges of the bit. The down side is that the higher the hardness of steel the less ductility and the more brittle they are. That brittleness makes them more susceptible to shattering when used in an impact driver. Impact bits are heat treated differently so they are less brittle.

 

[dragoneggs]

The chisel/punch set sucks! I have lots of HF stuff and a fan of most of it, but stay away from these. Obviously not hardened steel.

 

[California]

The chisel/punch set sucks! I have lots of HF stuff and a fan of most of it, but stay away from these. Obviously not hardened steel.

Reminds me of a cheap HF drill bit from 25?? years ago.

It unwound into a flat ribbon!

 

[Oaktree]

First off, I hate phillips head screws. It is almost impossible to drive a 2.5-3" screw in hard pine without stripping out the head if you dont predrill the hole.

Never understood the hate on phillips screws. 40-odd years ago I had a friend who'd rant about how much he hated them for the reasons you mentioned. Dunno...I've never had many problems with them. Most of times I've stripped the heads have been sloppiness on my part with not having the bit square in the slot...can't blame the screw for operator error!
Yeah, torx are better, but either one is OK with me (and phillips are way easier to find). Don't have much experience with square.

Now slot-head screws, ugh.

 

[5030]

This thread seems like a good place to warn others - Not HF but Ebay:

I've ordered a lot of small purchases from China, mostly with good results, inexpensive stuff that was fairly priced.

Not this time.

80mm Mini Plastic Student Sliding Vernier Caliper Gauge

FREE Economy Int'l Shipping
Item location: Shanghai, China
Seller ships within 1 day after receiving cleared payment


Then an email

Ok, fine. Shanghai is civilized country, this shouldn't take any longer than other stuff I've receive from China.

Wrong. 2 months after the order, it finally arrives. Address label is on Philippines Post label, to me. Over that is pasted a near identical address label to me that indicates a China Customs declaration. Maybe a drop-ship, or the Shanghai guy orders from Phillippines after he has accumulated enough orders for a bulk purchase? WTF? 2 months from Shanghai means he didn't have in stock the items he listed.

That tracking number is meaningless. USPS shows such a # but only that 'label prepared'. # unknown at any other tracking site I can find. It is too long for China Post. I think this Ebay seller uses that USPS gimic to give the appearance an order is moving when it isn't.

The last straw was the items arrived after the 2-month (?) window to give feedback. So none of his visible feedback reflects his slow shipping.

One general lesson learned, aside from 'avoid this seller': Economy Shipping isn't the same thing as China Post, which is a government owned service intended to promote China's export capability, and relatively efficient. Shipping Carrier: FLYT. I can't find them but saw a couple of bad reviews that they are the slowest shipper that exits. Lesson: Avoid any Economy Shipping. In contrast, Express Shipping from China is fine.

Oh the 'vernier calipers'? I didn't expect much but these are just kids toys. The long marks every quarter inch are identical size so at a glance you can't recognize the unlabelled first inch mark. I thought these would be a short version of the usual 6 inch vernier caliper but instead they are miniatures of it. The metric markings are decent so these may be useful as intended, to leave with my socket and wrench sets to quickly judge a bolt head. For inch-designated wrenches, probably no better than just 'grab a few wrenches and try them all'.

Bah.

I got burned on Amazon the same way with a filter set for my Quad. Should have read the fine print and bought elsewhere. Pure Chinesium only mine never arrived. At least Amazon refunded my money. Lesson learned, sometimes cheaper isn't better.

My motto now is, if the price is too good to be true it probably isn't true.

 

[5030]

Never understood the hate on phillips screws. 40-odd years ago I had a friend who'd rant about how much he hated them for the reasons you mentioned. Dunno...I've never had many problems with them. Most of times I've stripped the heads have been sloppiness on my part with not having the bit square in the slot...can't blame the screw for operator error!
Yeah, torx are better, but either one is OK with me (and phillips are way easier to find). Don't have much experience with square.

Now slot-head screws, ugh.

Slotted heads are fine if you use the correct width screwdriver. I work on firearms a lot and most action screws are slotted. I have a set of slotted bits I use but I make sure the bit is the correct width (and length) for the screw. I prefer Torx over everything else but alas, action screws aren't.

 

[Alan W.]

Never understood the hate on phillips screws. 40-odd years ago I had a friend who'd rant about how much he hated them for the reasons you mentioned. Dunno...I've never had many problems with them. Most of times I've stripped the heads have been sloppiness on my part with not having the bit square in the slot...can't blame the screw for operator error!
Yeah, torx are better, but either one is OK with me (and phillips are way easier to find). Don't have much experience with square.

Now slot-head screws, ugh.

I agree with Gary. The phillips head design was and still is a scourge on mankind.
John P Thompson was the start of this madness.
Long live torx