Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[dragoneggs]

Drain the compressor tank first. So few ever do. Water accumulates then boils back into the air when tank is vented to blow sand or fill a tire. Even then that might not be enough to spray paint.

Yes, amazing to see how much water I can drain from my compressor tank when I get around to it.

 

[Alan W.]

Drain the compressor tank first. So few ever do. Water accumulates then boils back into the air when tank is vented to blow sand or fill a tire. Even then that might not be enough to spray paint.

Have never got much from the tank drain. Even have it set at an angle to the drain. Dont know why but my electric compressor is worse about water than the gas one. They are comparable size and output.

 

[Handloader109]

my wife got me the 40v chainsaw (was the one large item on my list] the other day. had a coupon for $154.99 mo other coupons honored on that item, but had a coupon sheet with their 29 piece drill bit set for $5 with $50 purchase. So I had he add that. and she asked the checkout guy if she couple get the grinder with that set of coupons also. and he let her. Grinder sounds good, for $5 I'm happy with one job. Bits look ok, they'll work as well as any cheap bit. again $5 is good price.

I took the chainsaw out after charging battery for about 20 min (had partial charge) cut 14 - 8 inch slices of walnut off of a fall I had cut down a couple if years ago. cut straight and fast. and QUIET wow. so quiet. after 14 cuts. it still showed 2 bars out of 5. so probably 20 cuts.

sounds good to me. it is a limb and once in a while use saw. way better than any gas powered saw. grab and cut. safety glasses yes, and chain oil, but. no hearing protection needed.

 

[Diggin It]

Aside from the issues of wheels and legs collapsing, do the magnet sweepers WORK? Are the magnets strong enough to pick nails out of grass? I've lost quite a few old nails from my shed project while demoing the old tin roof and I'd really like to find them with something other than mower or tractor tires.

 

[stuckmotor]

My biggest problem might be the "dry air"... pretty humid here in South Carolina..

In a recent thread someone was looking for a nice place to live. SC met met most of his criteria until it came to humidity.

 

[Fallon]

Aside from the issues of wheels and legs collapsing, do the magnet sweepers WORK? Are the magnets strong enough to pick nails out of grass? I've lost quite a few old nails from my shed project while demoing the old tin roof and I'd really like to find them with something other than mower or tractor tires.

I got a wide one & it does good in the shop. I should have gotten a smaller more maneuverable one though. An extra pass in the shop doesnt take long at all, but it's a pain to manuver in tight areas.

The strength of the magnet is directly related to the size of the ferrous object. I havent used it in grass much. I'd imagine that smaller bits would get knocked off, but nails & screws shouldn't. I'm not sure if it has a range beyond an inch or 2 to pick things up though out of the grass.

 

[rangerfredbob]

my wife got me the 40v chainsaw (was the one large item on my list] the other day. had a coupon for $154.99 mo other coupons honored on that item, but had a coupon sheet with their 29 piece drill bit set for $5 with $50 purchase. So I had he add that. and she asked the checkout guy if she couple get the grinder with that set of coupons also. and he let her. Grinder sounds good, for $5 I'm happy with one job. Bits look ok, they'll work as well as any cheap bit. again $5 is good price.

I took the chainsaw out after charging battery for about 20 min (had partial charge) cut 14 - 8 inch slices of walnut off of a fall I had cut down a couple if years ago. cut straight and fast. and QUIET wow. so quiet. after 14 cuts. it still showed 2 bars out of 5. so probably 20 cuts.

sounds good to me. it is a limb and once in a while use saw. way better than any gas powered saw. grab and cut. safety glasses yes, and chain oil, but. no hearing protection needed.

From experience the saw pulls too many amps to use the whole battery, the low voltage cutoff kicks in within the second light from bottom... Just so you know, other than that I'm happy with mine, it's no cord wood saw but for trimming around the house and stuff it's great.

 

[California]

Aside from the issues of wheels and legs collapsing, do the magnet sweepers WORK? Are the magnets strong enough to pick nails out of grass? I've lost quite a few old nails from my shed project while demoing the old tin roof and I'd really like to find them with something other than mower or tractor tires.

Roofers left here with old nails dribbling out under the poorly-fitting tailgate of their tearoff truck. I found a huge amount of nails when I ran the small wheeled magnet in the long driveway, as I recall 35 ~ 50 nails. And I've never gotten a flat there. I think the wheeled magnet followed by a metal detector would get 100% of the nails from any place that is mowed.

 

[dragoneggs]

my wife got me the 40v chainsaw (was the one large item on my list] the other day. had a coupon for $154.99 mo other coupons honored on that item, but had a coupon sheet with their 29 piece drill bit set for $5 with $50 purchase. So I had he add that. and she asked the checkout guy if she couple get the grinder with that set of coupons also. and he let her. Grinder sounds good, for $5 I'm happy with one job. Bits look ok, they'll work as well as any cheap bit. again $5 is good price.

I took the chainsaw out after charging battery for about 20 min (had partial charge) cut 14 - 8 inch slices of walnut off of a fall I had cut down a couple if years ago. cut straight and fast. and QUIET wow. so quiet. after 14 cuts. it still showed 2 bars out of 5. so probably 20 cuts.

sounds good to me. it is a limb and once in a while use saw. way better than any gas powered saw. grab and cut. safety glasses yes, and chain oil, but. no hearing protection needed.

Good to hear. It is something different and pleasurable to 'click' on your battery op chainsaw and it can handle some semi serious cutting! Maybe the second best feature is the noise or lack there of with my battery chainsaw. It basically boils down only to chain maintenance if you aren't using your gasser.

 

[shooterdon]

The problem with a generator is when you need one you most likely really need it. If it breaks you can't wait weeks for a part to show up. I have an old Generac with a Honda that's a little too small for my needs. I have looked at the HF options but just can't pull the trigger.

One reason I would not buy a HF model. I have an old 5000W Generac and added a dual fuel 7500W Champion this year. It is imperative I have power so a second unit is worth the investment. I also have one of the HF 900W units and it is actually not bad for less than $100. It is a pain to need oil/gas mix for it but it runs well and does the job.

For me, the money saved by not buying a good quality unit is not worth it. But even my "cheap" Generac has lasted 20 years. Saving a bit of money on something that may last 20 years is foolish. But I do not run them much...maybe 10-20 hours per year as I do not run them continuously during an outage and I do not get many outages.

If I needed to run 100+ hours a year, I would have likely bought a Honda. Choosing comes down to your expected usage and how critical your power needs are. A "cheap" unit can be all you need, and having a spare is not a bad idea.