Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Jim Nelson]

So I'm thinking about a little sand blaster, I have a big vice I want cleaned up and a guy around here wants $80-$100 to do it!

I can get this little blaster for under 30 bucks.. anybody have one?? Reviews look good!

Portable Abrasive Blaster Kit

I bought one that worked fine new but wouldn't expect any kind of life from the Chinese hose. They just can't seem to get rubber type products right.

 

[3Ts]

So I'm thinking about a little sand blaster, I have a big vice I want cleaned up and a guy around here wants $80-$100 to do it!

I can get this little blaster for under 30 bucks.. anybody have one?? Reviews look good!

Portable Abrasive Blaster Kit

If that's all you'll ever use the blaster on, it'd be ok. I don't have that particular one, but one similar I bought from Sears many many years ago. I'm very very frustrated with those types of blasters, but they do work mostly. First and foremost you have to have dry air. You will need an air dryer and to remove moisture, the air has to cool before it gets to the air dryer. A long hose will be needed to give the air a chance to cool. I have about 50' of copper pipe between my compressor and any point of use. (My shop is plumbed for air and you typically shouldn't need that much, but it's humid here). This is the unit I ended up with and with a different nozzle, it works well.

4 lb. Pressurized Abrasive Blaster

I did change out the nozzle to this one which makes it easier to use.

Abrasive Blasting Deadman Valve with 4 Ceramic Nozzles

This is the kind of air dryer you'll want:

https://www.amazon.com/Motor-Guard-M-30-Submicronic-Compressed/dp/B000GI0H2M/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=compressed+air+dryer&qid=1576953223&sr=8-5

This is a bit expensive, but it's the only one I've found that will work. It is also used on plasma torches to be sure the air is dry which is how I found out about this.

 

[dragoneggs]

So I'm thinking about a little sand blaster, I have a big vice I want cleaned up and a guy around here wants $80-$100 to do it!

I can get this little blaster for under 30 bucks.. anybody have one?? Reviews look good!

Portable Abrasive Blaster Kit

I have both the HF portable 20lb blaster (bigger than the one you are looking at) and the HF cabinet version that I heavily modified to make it work great. I restored two vises using the cabinet.



I can't imagine how much sand you will go through using a portable one with no way to recover the grit and it's not cheap. It takes a lot of blasting to fully clean up all the pieces of a large vise.

Regardless, you also need to make sure your air supply is very dry or it will clog up on you after a while and it becomes quite frustrating.

2 lb. Pressurized Abrasive Blaster

4 Lb. Capacity Floor Blast Cabinet

 

[hunt4570]

I have both the HF portable 20lb blaster (bigger than the one you are looking at) and the HF cabinet version that I heavily modified to make it work great. I restored two vises using the cabinet.

View attachment 633561

I can't imagine how much sand you will go through using a portable one with no way to recover the grit and it's not cheap. It takes a lot of blasting to fully clean up all the pieces of a large vise.

Regardless, you also need to make sure your air supply is very dry or it will clog up on you after a while and it becomes quite frustrating.

2 lb. Pressurized Abrasive Blaster

4 Lb. Capacity Floor Blast Cabinet

Those look great!!!

This is the one I'm looking to restore..

 

[Grumpycat]

I don't think any of them are brushless and I've learned to avoid anything but.

My 20+ year old DeWalt 18V hammerdrill quit, sparked out the brushes, and let smoke come out in the midst of a project. "Darn brush motor!" No time to deal with it then, rushed to the computer to check prices at Home Depot, Lowes, and Amazon. Think it was Lowes that had the best deal, all were the same but Lowes would throw in a 6-1/4" 20V circular saw (tool only).

Finished project.

About a week later the new brushes arrived for my trusty old 18V hammerdrill. Took the darn thing apart and found after 20 years I still had 75% or more of the original brushes. Left the new brushes in their package. I'll probably lose them before ever needing. Cost about $12.

My battery had died. Never ever saw smoke when the battery ran out. Can't explain it. Put it back together, charged the battery, and now I have more perfectly good cordless (brushed) tools than ever.

 

[dragoneggs]

Those look great!!!

This is the one I'm looking to restore..

View attachment 633617View attachment 633618

Cool! You do really need to completely disassemble the vise and clean all of the pieces. That vise is not in too bad of shape. Soaking in pure vinegar and a wire brush might just serve you right.

 

[PhysAssist]

The Wirecutter review link did not work. It appears the closing bracket around the link was inadvertently included in the link you posted. Deleting that bracket got it working. Here's a working version of the link: The Best Tire Inflators for 2019: Reviews by Wirecutter

I agree with you about the desirability of electric leads which clamp on to the battery.

However, for my wife's vehicle, the convenience of plugging in to a cigarette lighter was the major consideration. Unfortunately, as it seem you discovered, some vehicles (particularly smaller ones) have the lighter plug on a 10 amp fuse. Many of these compressors draw 15 amps. My wife's is the one vehicle we have with a 10 Amp circuit. I almost bought the Wirecutter's recommended Viair 78P compressor for my wife's vehicle (by coincidence - I had not seen their review). However, it can draw up to 15 amps. The Viair 75P I ended up getting her draws less than 10 Amps, but still has a speedy fill time (they get this by setting the compressor up for higher volume, but limiting the max pressure to 50 PSI).

Tip on avoiding popping fuses when using a cigarette-lighter powered compressor:
I noticed that what often popped fuses for me in some vehicles when using a cigarette-lighter socket for power was starting or stopping the compressor under load. I found if I left the compressor disconnected, started it up, then connected it to the tire, and when done filling kept the compressor running, disconnected the hose from the tire, then shut off the compressor, I did not blow fuses. You can get a surge when starting or stopping an inductive load like an electric motor. If you reduce the load on it by not having it connected to a (even partially) pressurized tire, you reduce the surge, and may get by without blowing the fuse. This was the only way I could get our "Slime" brand compressor to work in our Toyota Minivan without popping fuses (interestingly, it was the "off" cycle which most often blew the fuse).

First, I apologize to whomever was injured by my posts- to anyone else, get over it.

Just kidding- they don't look overlarge or otherwise offensive on my Chromebook- and as to the color- I used to post in a shade of blue, but one of our members [who shall not be named] asked me to change to a brownish or reddish hue because of his colorblindness.

Second, I apologize for the mis-copied link- thanks for posting the correction, and thanks for the helpful information re: not trashing our fuses with the "tire inflator"/air compressor...

 

[tookielee]

I used to love HF, but rarely go anymore; they have excluded so much stuff that the coupons are basically worthless

 

[5030]

I used to love HF, but rarely go anymore; they have excluded so much stuff that the coupons are basically worthless

Don't bother me at all. I look at the coupons as 'icing on the cake' and nothing more. Their non sale pricing is excellent for value received without any coupons. For example, tell me where you can buy a 1/2" drive micrometer adjusting torque wrench that torques both clockwise and counter clockwise that is proven accurate to within 4% clockwise and 6% counterclockwise over it's entire range for 100 bucks, I dare you....

Just one example. I look at the coupons as only an incentive, not a must do.

 

[hunt4570]

Well I bought this little sand blaster today with the 25% off coupon.. hope it does ok... and that's all I'm expecting is ok..

Portable Abrasive Blaster Kit

I'm wanting to clean up this vice..