Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Midniteoyl]

If you want a shelter that is well made and has a chance of lasting, skip the Harbor Freight stuff and order a Rhino Shelter. Much heavier duty - but they aren't cheap.

For those prices I'd get the steel 'carports' and wall them in.

 

[TheMan419]

For those prices I'd get the steel 'carports' and wall them in.

We have a bunch of left over steel from barn construction. Wonder if I have enough to put up a small shed for the trailer. Hmmmm

 

[Reb954]

Last weekend I bought one of the Harbor Freight Mini Cut-Off saws with the 2" steel blade for cutting off cartridge cases. Initially I was concerned if it would have enough power but that thing works really well. At this point I have only cut off about 150 cases so I don't know the long term but so far all is good.

With this I went from trimming .075 off the case mouth to .010. And it was only $35 plus $10 for 3 spare blades which I probably didn't need.

 

[John_Mc]

For those prices I'd get the steel 'carports' and wall them in.

Yeah, but unless I was just looking for short-term temporary storage, I'd rather buy one Rhino shelter than 10 HF ones - especially if I were in an area where snow loads and/or high winds were an issue.

 

[California]

A winner! HF's version of a Dremel, Heavy Duty Variable Speed Rotary Tool

I bought this a while back and used it for the first time today. It feels a lot more powerful than the Dremel tool I used for years.

Folks, wear a full face shield with these. I did, luckily. I had ordered additional tools for it via ebay, and a cheap rotary wire brush failed spectacularly. I pushed the wire brush too hard and its shaft bent to a right angle. At 35,000 rpm this made vibration so severe I thought it was electric shock, and it took a real struggle lasting a few seconds to get my hand back to the switch to shut it down. If it had flown off it would have hit hard. After a fresh tool was mounted it was clear that this near-disaster hadn't hurt the 'dremel'.

Summary - I think this equals the $50 (Amazon) real Dremel and I think it may exceed it. And - don't buy accessories for this from the cheapest Ebay seller!

 

[PJSprog]

A winner! HF's version of a Dremel, Heavy Duty Variable Speed Rotary Tool

Summary - I think this equals the $50 (Amazon) real Dremel and I think it may exceed it. And - don't buy accessories for this from the cheapest Ebay seller!

I've wondered about those. I lost my old Dremel in a basement flood back in 2013. My Wife had one as well, and we still have that one. She recently bought one of the little battery powered ones to trim the dogs' nails.

I always bought accessories from a guy who has been displaying at local gun shows for as long as I can remember. He sells inexpensive stainless steel tools and rotary tool accessories that you can't find in stores (like wood cutting blades). They are very good quality. At 35K rpm, you don't want things falling apart. Definitely buy quality stuff.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

1 ft. x 17 ft. Portable Garage

Any one have any thoughts on this? Currently we store the wife's horse trailer in the barn. We need the space for hay storage. I live in northern Indiana so there is snow for sure and almost always a period of high wind during the winter. Is this thing going to hold up?

How is it attached to the ground?

Bought one. The provided anchoring system is useless. Also the bottom rail, which maintains tension in the sides, tends to slide up. This causes the side-wall to loosen and act like a sail. First thunderstorm with wind blew it over. Put it back up and beefed up the anchoring. Another storm blew it over into some trees and it was too bent up to re-use. Lasted about 3 months total. If I want another shelter-type structure I will go with Carolina Carports.

 

[shooterdon]

Bought one. The provided anchoring system is useless. Also the bottom rail, which maintains tension in the sides, tends to slide up. This causes the side-wall to loosen and act like a sail. First thunderstorm with wind blew it over. Put it back up and beefed up the anchoring. Another storm blew it over into some trees and it was too bent up to re-use. Lasted about 3 months total. If I want another shelter-type structure I will go with Carolina Carports.

Smart girl,

Car ports are not that expensive and you have an instant covered storage area in a day. Been thinking about using one for firewood storage and to keep the rain and snow off the tractor attachments.

 

[Midniteoyl]

10yrs ago, my brother in law put up a large 24x24 carport then walled it in with treated grooved plywood siding and added 2 garage doors. Instant storage garage on the cheap.

 

[California]

10yrs ago, my brother in law put up a large 24x24 carport then walled it in with treated grooved plywood siding and added 2 garage doors. Instant storage garage on the cheap.

I think that's the best suggestion I've seen.