Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[newbury]

What was the fault?

On mine there was a weld NOT holding the seat. I JB welded it.

 

[California]

Something I use all the time and haven't seen mentioned here: HF's MIG welding pliers.

I see they are presently Berger and cost about the same as Lincoln from Home Depot or Irwin from Lowes.

8 in. MIG Welding Pliers

Amazing deals on this 8In Mig Welding Pliers at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[jyoutz]

Yesterday I was looking around HF and picked up a 12” zipper tool bag and a short bungee with 2 caribiner clips. It clips to the pin on my roll bar and sits nicely on the bar behind the seat. $12 total. Now I have a “glove box” for small items, an extra water bottle and miscellaneous items that I don’t want falling off and getting lost.

 

[dragoneggs]

Something I use all the time and haven't seen mentioned here: HF's MIG welding pliers.

I see they are presently Berger and cost about the same as Lincoln from Home Depot or Irwin from Lowes.

8 in. MIG Welding Pliers

Amazing deals on this 8In Mig Welding Pliers at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Yes, just do a 'light' check by holding up the pliers and looking to see if you can see daylight between the cutters. I do this with any similar tool before I buy. You might be surprised as to how much variation from tool to tool.

 

[caver]

So far their Braun LED flip light seems ok but I suspect the angle only going to 90* will cause breakage. For chinesium it's a bit pricey.

 

[Ashland268]

Don’t know yet….but I bought a Great big chinesium wrench that is 1 1/8” on one side and 1 1/2” on the other. Box ends. Exactly what I need for a couple of implements. $7.95

Separate wrenches at TS were $22.95 each!

I might go buy another one…..and I haven’t used the first!

 

[Travelover]

Free flashlights are back! HF LINK

 

[California]

Thanks for the free flashlight link.

Here's a HF product I'm getting good use of: Their now-discontinued MIG-180 welder. I bought this used ($25!!) from someone who seemed to be a mad-scientist experimenter who had moved on to more expensive gear. He had made every upgrade he could think of - a longer torch cable, longer heavier ground wire, and power cord, a big capacitor to even out the welding current. Then he lost interest and cleaned out his shop of his previous-generation toys. I doubt this welder ever ran more than a couple of spools of wire.

I'm real pleased with this welder in its modified form. Expected long term reliability is still HF grade - hope and pray. But I think it welds as nice as a far more expensive (and likely, reliable) commercial quality welder. Here's a photo I posted today over in the welding sub-forum. And here's a recent project I completed with this welder.

 

[Tinhack]

I just bought the VULCAN OmniPro 220 after wasting money and time trying to upgrade my old Craftsman 220 buzz box. I tried to convert it to AC/DC and with caps but all it did was buzz and pop the breaker. I bought new longer/heaver leads and 35-50 plugs for the Crapsman that happens to also fits the Titanium so it wasn't a total loss. I haven't even used it on any work yet but did try some flux core I had for my old Century 140. It finally bit the big one too--After about 20+ years so I got my money's worth out that one. I need to build a new tank rack for my truck. The old one didn't fit the holes in my GMC. I have empty Argon/Co2 and Oxygen tanks as well as two new 100lb. Propane tanks to fill and no way to haul them.

I also have the cheap HF Plasma cutter. I've had it for a few years now. It works great as long as I run the air through a drier. I've zipped through 3/8" flat stock like butter with it.

So, I give the VULCAN OmniPro 220 and their Plasma Cutter a thumbs up.

 

[5030]

I have a refrigerated drier but I still have a cannister dryer on the back of my Hyper Therm. I use the one with the throw away element that looks like a roll of toilet paper. Reason why I do that is because post dryer, the feed hose will still condense a tad bit of moisture when in use. Moisture and plasma cutters no matter what make they are spells trouble. Same with a paint spray gun. If I'm using mine, I always have a desiccant cartridge on the inlet.

When my bottles are empty, I'll take them to the Airgas compressor plant laying down and pick them up and bring them back laying down as well. Just with dissolved acetylene, I'll stand the bottle up and let it sit for a couple days unused to allow it to reabsorb. No biggie. I own all my shielding gas bottles, the rest are exchange.

The bottles I own outright I never exchange, They are all labeled with the company name and are pristine. Usually exchange bottles lead a rough life. I have mine filled and pick them up a few days later.

No HF welders or plasma here but I'd not be at all hesitant to buy them if I needed a replacement.

A while ago I purchased the 'Doyle' Rivnut set. It's a quality nut setter but it comes with a very limited selection of rivnuts. I bought a large set of them on Amazon because HF for some reason don't sell them separately. I use a lot of Rivnuts. I find them to be much easier to deal with versus welding for lighter gauge sheet metal. BTW, Rivnuts and nutserts are the same thing.

My empty bottles (and refilled ones) usually wind up in the back of my wife's van for transport.