Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[rScotty]

True statement.

Any opinions on this... 60 Gallon Air Compressor - 2 Stage, 5 HP, 165 PSI

I've never even used or priced one of their compressors, so I can't be much help. The only comment I can make is with their advertising use of the phrase: "No mag starter required". That's sort of like bragging about not having 4wd on your tractor. Maybe it works fine that way and maybe not, but having a mag starter on any large or loaded electric motor is a good feature, not a drawback.

My own shop has two small compressors: Beauty and The Beast. Beauty must be half a century old, has a large pulley that is itself a thing of art and beauty, plus a vintage single iron cylinder feeding a 20 gallon tank. Not being a complete fool, the tank is a new ASME certified tank from Grainger. That compressor makes a pleasant "plonk, plonk, plonk" sound when running. You can almost talk over it. The motor is about 3/4 horse and has a mag starter. But when the air pressure falls far enough you might as well put down your tools and go get a cup of coffee because it is the opposite of fast.

The other compressor is a contractor's type Cooper from Home Depot with multiple outlets and what look like twin 5 gallon tanks. It's a professional looking tool that doesn't mess around about making pressure. This mini-monster fires up with a sudden roar guaranteed to make a bystander jump no matter how often they've heard it happen. When running, it sounds like a maddened banshee tearing sheet metal bare handed. It's a mixed blessing that nobody can yell loud enough to be heard over the racket.
But it's fine for building a house as long as you have enough hose and cord to get away from the noise. This high revving oil-less compressor is about 5 years old and has now held up to building one medium house. So far it has required one pressure switch and wiring around the high temperature cut-out. Looks nice; works OK. Durability seems medium.
rScotty
Who has now completely changed over from Duct Tape to Gorilla Tape

 

[California]

Watch out for HF's CFM vs SCFM ratings on their compressors. Their claimed CFM must be like 'peak audio watts', while I assume SCFM is some industry standard related to continuous output.

I have the (red) previous version of HF's 2.5 hp / 10 gallon compressor. It won't keep up with their small die grinder which is specified to need 2/3 of that compressor's claimed output. First time I ran the die grinder I soon had 20 psi, and saw lots of smoke from the compressor when I looked around to see if I had a kinked hose. This didn't seem to hurt the compressor - or trip its heat cut-out. Maybe HF isn't the place to buy a compressor. That one seems to be ok for airing up tires, but its hopeless for air tools.

 

[sixdogs]

Originally Posted by rScotty

... It always seems to be time to upgrade the compressor.

rScotty

Havng a good air compressor is just something you have to do. It opens all the doors of tool usage.
One day about 10 years ago I just freaked out and went out and bought a two stage IR compressor. Luckily I got a price deal because Home Depot was dumping some at the time but the bottom line is the price didn't really matter. I should have upgraded decades earlier. When we finally check out of this life, who among us will be glad they postponed an air compressor upgrade?

 

[crazyal]

I've never even used or priced one of their compressors, so I can't be much help. The only comment I can make is with their advertising use of the phrase: "No mag starter required". That's sort of like bragging about not having 4wd on your tractor. Maybe it works fine that way and maybe not, but having a mag starter on any large or loaded electric motor is a good feature, not a drawback.

I think the point HF is trying to make is that you don't need to spend the extra money on a mag starter. Most people who shop HF are looking budget minded. Most people installing a mag starter also add a heater to prevent burning up the motor would be a good idea. It's possible that the motor has a thermal overload built into the motor and HF is just trying to say you don't need to spend extra money on a heater. A god setup (mag starter and heater) would cost you about as much as the compressor. All the motors I work on at work have adjustable heaters on them, I'm not sure if having an adjustment would be a wise idea for the weekend warrior.

 

[crazyal]

I've never even used or priced one of their compressors, so I can't be much help. The only comment I can make is with their advertising use of the phrase: "No mag starter required". That's sort of like bragging about not having 4wd on your tractor. Maybe it works fine that way and maybe not, but having a mag starter on any large or loaded electric motor is a good feature, not a drawback.

I think the point HF is trying to make is that you don't need to spend the extra money on a mag starter. Most people who shop HF are looking budget minded. Most people installing a mag starter also add a heater to prevent burning up the motor would be a good idea. It's possible that the motor has a thermal overload built into the motor and HF is just trying to say you don't need to spend extra money on a heater. A god setup (mag starter and heater) would cost you about as much as the compressor. All the motors I work on at work have adjustable heaters on them, I'm not sure if having an adjustment would be a wise idea for the weekend warrior.

 

[PILOON]

For air tools it is the CFM's that counts and PSI's don't mean all that much in as they all peak at 100PSI's or better.
Any air tool that rotates; i.e. drills, grinders etc are all air hogs. Even reciprocal tools such as air saws are also based on an air motor, sheers, scissors, nibblers as well.
To operate 90% of the air tools out there a 10CFM would be about right.
For those CFM's forget about 110VAC compressors, you are in the 220 VAC catagory now.
Also watch out for tricky specs. Many will boldly state 6 (maybe 8) but at a lower PSI.
What U want is the rating at 100PSI!

 

[PILOON]

sorry, double posted, how I don't know.

 

[Deerherd]

Look at the latest Harbor Fraught Ad I got in email today, I laughed so hard.....

 

[NHmitch]

I ordered this 900watt 2 stroke generator and it is a work horse! I changed the spark plug to an American one before I ever started it, and it runs smoothly, is pretty quite, and powers my saws, and drill, and it is about the size of a small cooler. I couldn't be happier, and I only paid $88 with free shipping. I would highly recommend it!

, http://www.harborfreight.com/63cc-9...generator-certified-for-california-69381.html

 

[Turbys_1700]

For air tools it is the CFM's that counts and PSI's don't mean all that much in as they all peak at 100PSI's or better.
Any air tool that rotates; i.e. drills, grinders etc are all air hogs. Even reciprocal tools such as air saws are also based on an air motor, sheers, scissors, nibblers as well.
To operate 90% of the air tools out there a 10CFM would be about right.
For those CFM's forget about 110VAC compressors, you are in the 220 VAC catagory now.
Also watch out for tricky specs. Many will boldly state 6 (maybe 8) but at a lower PSI.
What U want is the rating at 100PSI!

I concur...
I own a 60 gal 6 HP compressor that is rated in the 10 CFM range...
It runs anything that I need...
I doubt that it would pull a sandblaster but I mainly use mine with my impact wrench...
It is rated @ 5.5 CFM with 450 ft. lb. of torque...
It has not let me down yet...