Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,681  
Yep, the gray one. I just wish they were about 12" taller. As I previously posted, I plan to build up a base, to raise the press, with some 6-8" casters to make it more mobile.

My plates are steel.
I put mine on 3in casters... agreed could even be a little higher. I'm 6'2". I've been paranoid about my plates that came with it hearing horror stories. So far no failures but I haven't pushed it. SWAG has some apparently great plates but hard to justify the expense. Arbor plates $162.95... 20T press $159. Go figure. I did modify the press swapping out for a HF pneumatic jack and that is a dream compared to the hand jacking method.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,682  
HF has a fantastic profit margin anyway. All Chinese sweatshop products with an over-the-top markup. I get a charge out of the rice paper cardboard boxes their stuff comes in.....
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,683  
I put mine on 3in casters... agreed could even be a little higher. I'm 6'2". I've been paranoid about my plates that came with it hearing horror stories. So far no failures but I haven't pushed it. SWAG has some apparently great plates but hard to justify the expense. Arbor plates $162.95... 20T press $159. Go figure. I did modify the press swapping out for a HF pneumatic jack and that is a dream compared to the hand jacking method.

DE, I wonder if HF would sell some of the new steel plates?

Here's some for $60 on eBay.

2 Ton Steel Shop Press Bed Plates H Frame Arbor 4 Notch 5"x 5" Set | eBay
 
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/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,684  
DE, I wonder if HF would sell some of the new steel plates? Here's some for $60 on eBay.
I don't know how good the eBay version would be. Swag sells high strength steel plates for the HF 20 ton press but they cost over $150 a pair.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,685  
I don't know how good the eBay version would be. Swag sells high strength steel plates for the HF 20 ton press but they cost over $150 a pair.

I just sent a message to eBay seller to see what steel he uses. At least they're made in USA?

The HF steel arbor plates still come from China so, how do we know what they are?

SWAG has good products but, not sure they are from $60 to $160 better?
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,686  
I just sent a message to eBay seller to see what steel he uses. At least they're made in USA?

The HF steel arbor plates still come from China so, how do we know what they are?

SWAG has good products but, not sure they are from $60 to $160 better?

If you look at the dimensions of the $60-100 eBay plates you will see that they are considerably smaller in both size and thickness than the ?8x10x1.5 SWAG version. They are also probably mild steel compared to high strength steel from SWAG. I'm not sure that everyone really needs the full blown SWAG version but I do think they are bigger, beefier etc. SWAG makes only good stuff and prices it accordingly.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,689  
hate to act dense but what is SWAG?
Swagoffroad.com manufactures "upgrades" for several HF metal working tools. Allows crappy HF tools to produce precision bends Etc.

I think they got started selling Jeep customizing items but a lot of their business now is tooling. They also make the bandsaw benches we've been discussing.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,690  
If you look at the dimensions of the $60-100 eBay plates you will see that they are considerably smaller in both size and thickness than the ?8x10x1.5 SWAG version. They are also probably mild steel compared to high strength steel from SWAG. I'm not sure that everyone really needs the full blown SWAG version but I do think they are bigger, beefier etc. SWAG makes only good stuff and prices it accordingly.

I looked at the plates, I referenced on eBay, as a suitable replacement for the cast iron arbor plates that came with the older 20 ton presses.

The ones, from SWAG, are indeed larger and for higher than 20 ton capacity presses so, not really germane to the conversation about the cast HF plates.

Kinda like putting load range E tires on a 1000 lb. HF trailer?
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,691  
I looked at the plates, I referenced on eBay, as a suitable replacement for the cast iron arbor plates that came with the older 20 ton presses. The ones, from SWAG, are indeed larger and for higher than 20 ton capacity presses so, not really germane to the conversation about the cast HF plates. Kinda like putting load range E tires on a 1000 lb. HF trailer?
Actually, SWAG sells these specifically for the HF 20t press. Again, I'm not sure it's necessary but that is what they built them for. I only use my HF 20t press to bend 10-12 gauge sheet so I'm not so worried about the cast plates exploding. If I were trying to press big bearings I might be more interested.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,692  
Actually, SWAG sells these specifically for the HF 20t press. Again, I'm not sure it's necessary but that is what they built them for. I only use my HF 20t press to bend 10-12 gauge sheet so I'm not so worried about the cast plates exploding. If I were trying to press big bearings I might be more interested.

1.5" x 50 ksi steel is overkill for a 20 ton press?
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,694  
I'll give a 4/5 star review for the HF pipe/tube notcher, model 42324. Tubing Notcher & Pipe Notcher. About $32 with coupon.

It's a copy of a US made notcher that sells for about 4x the price. Main body is 0.223" steel and sturdy enough. Base needs to be bolted to a workbench or drill press. Adjustment range from perpendicular is 0-60 degrees left. The pipe clamp hold up to 2.25" pipe. The spindle is 3/4" with 1/2"-20 threads and a 5/8" adapter is included. Worked fine with my HF Warrior bimetal hole saw set although you need a skinny 7/8" wrench to dismount the adapter once the hole saw is tightened. There isn't enough space to fit a standard thickness wrench between the mounted hole saw and the washer. I ended up using pliers.

The spindle support is machined aluminum. The machining seems true but there is more play than desirable.

I used a HF 1/2" low speed drill and it had way more power than needed to notch 16g tube. Virtually any drill press would have even more power.

I used it to notch the ends of 1 3/8" 16g fencing tube. The notches were consistently slightly off center and after examining the tool I can see that the clamp requires shimming (such a surprise with a fine quality HF device!!). Needs about a half to one millimeter shim which will be easy to insert. Otherwise the tool functioned fine. No plastic bits to break and nothing much to wear out except the aluminum block which seems beefy enough though a bit sloppy. I'd imagine the tool will last quite a number of cuts.

Overall a useful device for non critical notching though in typical HF fashion it isn't true right out of the box.

I've had one for over 10 years now and what I do is use a 1/2 drill (not a drill press). The adapter's threads stopped too short so when the hole saw was screwed on all the way it would actually go past the end of the threads and slip. By adding a washer between the saw and the arbor it fixed the problem. I removed the base on the bottom plate and I clamp the notcher in a vice. Over the years the bushings have worn so it now has plenty of slop and the arbor has damage from the metal bits from cutting the pipe getting caught between the arbor and the bushing. But I've made dozens of roll cages with it and it still gets the job done.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,695  
I got some flat steel bar from one a local steel supplier. It's 1 1/8"x 4". I got a piece that was 40" which made five 8" long pieces. It has nice well defined edges so I'm thinking it's cold rolled. I paid something like $50 for it. My 20 ton press doesn't flex them pieces at all. I've thought about cutting notches like the SWAG ones but I haven't needed them plus my press came with two arbor plates. I got them for the finger press brake I got from SWAG. 5 of them fit perfectly on my press (from Greg Smith). I think the ones Swag sells are overkill for a 20 ton press.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,696  
I've had one for over 10 years now and what I do is use a 1/2 drill (not a drill press). The adapter's threads stopped too short so when the hole saw was screwed on all the way it would actually go past the end of the threads and slip. By adding a washer between the saw and the arbor it fixed the problem. I removed the base on the bottom plate and I clamp the notcher in a vice. Over the years the bushings have worn so it now has plenty of slop and the arbor has damage from the metal bits from cutting the pipe getting caught between the arbor and the bushing. But I've made dozens of roll cages with it and it still gets the job done.

There is one washer between the saw and arbor now but you are right that the problem of getting the saw off can be prevented by adding a second (or third) washer so that a wrench can be inserted. I'll do that.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,697  
The biggest problem is that you want to put some sort of lubricant on the bushings inside the aluminum block to keep it from wearing out. But when you do it attracts all the tiny little bits from the saw.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,699  
It used to stand for: Scientific Wild *ss Guess ;)
SWAG can be an acronym but even that possibility is confusing (Secretly We Are Gay!!?).

I suspect it entered slang use from and archaic English word that referred to draperies or the fabric that hangs from a curtain rod. Fluff. Decorations. SWAGOffRoad started as a company producing attachments for Jeeps to allow mounting of ice coolers and things like that. Look at their website. They expanded and now have a weird collection of metal working tool enhancements (?swag for tools) but they still produce their early products which can generally be characterized as swag for jeeps.

Swag can also be seen as a contraction of swagger and in that sense means "cool" or "cool stuff".

In Australia it means bundle of personal belongings as in luggage.

Check out Oxford English Dictionary for even more definitions.

Whatever they were thinking, naming your metalworking equipment company swagoffroad is pretty odd.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #5,700  
From the SWAG website:

About Swag

Swag Off Road?..What is Swag?

It's an abbreviation for Scientific Wild *** Guess, however the products sold at Swag are anything but a wild *** guess.

I graduated from College at OIT with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I have always had a life long obsession for making sparks in the garage, designing, creating and coming up with a bigger and better mouse trap. Having worked for a couple of industry leading off road companies I realized they all share a common goal, building great products with even better customer service.

We continually strive to be on the front lines of ground breaking modifications for the Jeep and off-road industry while focusing on the unique and innovative fabrication tools that make your shop and off road vehicle run smoother.

We specialize in off road products as well as unique and innovative fabrication tools, where our motto is DOING ORDINARY EXTRAORDINARY.

Sincerely, Troy Rutherford
 

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