Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[TMGT]

I haven't had good luck with HF air hoses. 1) the bright color ones were too stiff and curly to use without fighting them every minute, then 2) I strung together several black hoses less than 5 years old for an extensive painting project outdoors and had to make continual repairs - only 90 psi line pressure, but several burst hoses near the couplers - throughout the project.

I finally bought the 10 ft Goodyear remnant and attached that permanently to the compressor (so one less coupler). They still sell something similar. Recommended. I also bought the red Goodyear working hose, its still in nice condition, but I don't think HF still sells those.

This combination of a short pigtail at the compressor then a hose that is removed and hung on the wall works well for me, it's less clutter than a long hose wrapped around the compressor.

And the cheap polyethylene curled hose in the air Starter Kit is lightweight, it's handy to use with a hand-carried air tank.

Their new brands? Maybe. Who has experience with those?

I bought one of the higher end lightweight Diablo hoses, its not bad but I dont really like it, kinks kinda easy.
HF doesn't carry the Goodyear hoses anymore but Northern Tool usually has good prices on them and will put them on decent sale prices sometimes.

 

[3Ts]

I've found that the polyurethane hoses are very stiff and don't work well for that reason. The red rubber hoses are flexible but are heavy. The green PVC/rubber hybrid hoses are almost as flexible as the rubber hoses and are almost as light as the polyurethane hoses and are the best ones to use. I have several that I've used for several years and show no signs of wear.

 

[Ford850]

Tool drawer liner might have been mentioned but I'll add it again. Item #65565 Solid Nonslip Drawer Liner
It seems identical to the other store's better quality liner, but priced much lower. Use the occasional 30% off coupon to buy this at $4.89 a roll. It's heavier than most, and doesn't slide or bunch up when opening and closing drawers on my cabinets.

 

[mpsmith60]

Like alot of others have commented here, I find Harbor Freight is a mixed bag of pretty good stuff and poor quality stuff, so you have to do your research online. The good stuff I have includes their pedestal fan, 20 ton shop press, Daytona floor jack, creeper, welding cart/cabinet, quick-release bar clamps, and the Titanium Flux125 Welder, which so far seems to be a good value for a beginner's welder. For anyone considering getting into welding inexpensively, I have a video on the Titanium Flux125:

I also have a Bauer SDS-Max rotary hammer drill which has held up surprisingly well after heavy use, and recently got a chop saw, but too soon to pass judgement on it.

One disappointing item is the 10 pack of #2 Phillips insert bits. They wear down quickly. Also, I don't buy their blades, based on YouTube review and performance tests.

 

[crazyal]

Thanks for the info on hoses. I guess I'll pass on HF for those. Something else to pass on is the pipe expander. Not only did one of the bars break but the threads on the nut are so weak they stripped out on the first try. It says thin walled pipe, I assumed 18 gauge was thin enough but maybe it would be ok on tin foil.

Medium Tail Pipe Expander

A neighbor bought one years ago. We replaced the bolt and nut with grade 8 hardware. We greased the heck out of the expanding parts (aluminum or pot metal) and it still never worked on exhaust pipes. The best we could achieve was to get the pipe to expand but it wasn't round. Where the expanders weren't the pipe was flat. Then the expanders started bending in the middle. It was clearly one of those failures that looked good on paper. Maybe the Chinese saw one made out of high quality steel and said "Let's use cheap soft metal, bet the Americans never thought of that". Reminded me of an episode of Top Gear when they were looking at cheap Russian cars that had aluminum brake drums.

 

[5030]

Like alot of others have commented here, I find Harbor Freight is a mixed bag of pretty good stuff and poor quality stuff, so you have to do your research online. The good stuff I have includes their pedestal fan, 20 ton shop press, Daytona floor jack, creeper, welding cart/cabinet, quick-release bar clamps, and the Titanium Flux125 Welder, which so far seems to be a good value for a beginner's welder. For anyone considering getting into welding inexpensively, I have a video on the Titanium Flux125:

I also have a Bauer SDS-Max rotary hammer drill which has held up surprisingly well after heavy use, and recently got a chop saw, but too soon to pass judgement on it.

One disappointing item is the 10 pack of #2 Phillips insert bits. They wear down quickly. Also, I don't buy their blades, based on YouTube review and performance tests.

I'd watch your video but I'm scared it has the usual funky music so I'll pass and I don't want to subscribe or give you a thumb's up either.

Discretionary purchasing is the hallmark of any HF purchase.

 

[sodamo]

I did a search but didn't come up with anything.

Does anyone have any experience with the Harbor Freight needle scaler?

I have one, works great.

 

[California]

For nonslip tool drawer liner, I use rug nonslip foam mesh. A scrap from a carpet installer doesn't cost much. Something like this, less than 1/8" thick:

 

[5030]

For nonslip tool drawer liner, I use rug nonslip foam mesh. A scrap from a carpet installer doesn't cost much. Something like this, less than 1/8" thick:

Shazam, so do I. I snitch it from my wife.

 

[caver]

I致e never used a needle scraper, is it better than abrasive blasting?

US Navy used to love them. I was in the Seabees so I was not aboard a ship but it seems like the shop always had one. I think they work
pretty good on heavy scaly rust.

As far as the hose reel. I bought one maybe 5 years ago. The most used end of the rubber hose has thousands of cracks in it. I expect it to fail every time I use it.
The reel works fine.

I think they've built too many stores and jacked up the prices to compensate. An example I can think of is about the time they put a store in this small town you could get
the 30" 5-drawer tool cart for maybe 149??? Only in 3 colors and I was fine with that. Now it's up to $230 without a coupon or sale. I bought mine last year and got it for 170 on sale (I think)