Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,261  
Has any one tried the CenTech Timing light. I need to check the timing on my 861. Was going to static time it but since I've never done this, I was wondering if the light could just confirm I hadn't screwed something up☹️
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,262  
Simple answer, buy a second unit.....:D

For years I farmed with one unit and used it for everything but I finally convinced my partner (wife) that a second unit would make life easier... and it did. With 2, I don't have to constantly change implements out (and some of mine are heavy and have multiple hydraulic and electronic hookups) and I can leave one unit free for around the farm chores if necessary plus I don't accrue so many hours per unit with 2.

What I did was buy an identical unit to the one I already have so services and filters and grease points are identical and they both are on the same service schedule too. Makes life much simpler for me and I can go from one to the other and know exactly how both will perform because they are identical.

It's only money and you cannot take it with you so spend it...

So I can spend $500 to $1500 for a nice stand alone generator (mine was about $600) or another measly $28,000 for another matching tractor... now there's a no brainer..
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,263  
The spare tractor doesn't need to be a clone to what a person has now.
As long as it starts and runs decently that is all thats needed for an occasional use spare tractor.
It can even be a smoking oil burning 2wd on bald tires as long as it has a good governor thats all that needed.

For that matter pto power generator doesn't even need to be mounted to the tractor,
it can be skid or trailer mounted with the pto shaft being the only thing required to be connected.
So the tractor can quite easily be disconnected to plow or tow something and reconnected easily with minor short interruptions of power.
Heck I can disconnect from my generator in less then 2 minutes if desired and reconnection is just as easy.
The worst thing is all the danged blinking clocks.

As far as the price compare the prices for the same KW and then contemplate the life spans,
my 25 KW generator is over 25 years old.
Then compare the power quality provided, mine is a 4 pole 1800 rpm copper wound generator head,
the power quality is clean and a pure clean sine wave with voltage and frequency stability much better then 3600 rpm screamer is going to have.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,264  
So I can spend $500 to $1500 for a nice stand alone generator (mine was about $600) or another measly $28,000 for another matching tractor... now there's a no brainer..

Don't much care one way or another in reality. I have a standby diesel genset with a turbocharged JD diesel and automatic transfer. Works just fine for me.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,265  
The spare tractor doesn't need to be a clone to what a person has now.
As long as it starts and runs decently that is all thats needed for an occasional use spare tractor.
It can even be a smoking oil burning 2wd on bald tires as long as it has a good governor thats all that needed.

For that matter pto power generator doesn't even need to be mounted to the tractor,
it can be skid or trailer mounted with the pto shaft being the only thing required to be connected.
So the tractor can quite easily be disconnected to plow or tow something and reconnected easily with minor short interruptions of power.
Heck I can disconnect from my generator in less then 2 minutes if desired and reconnection is just as easy.
The worst thing is all the danged blinking clocks.

As far as the price compare the prices for the same KW and then contemplate the life spans,
my 25 KW generator is over 25 years old.
Then compare the power quality provided, mine is a 4 pole 1800 rpm copper wound generator head,
the power quality is clean and a pure clean sine wave with voltage and frequency stability much better then 3600 rpm screamer is going to have.

My suggestion for same units was from a maintenance standpoint only. I like standardization of motive power myself but whatever blows your dress up. I only need to keep identical filters and lubricants on the shelf for maintenance, not a bunch of different items because I own various units but that is my personal choice and may not be yours. I don't dress you and you don't dress me...
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,266  
Additionally, I'm all about 4 pole skewed rotor gen sets and 1800 rpm is always better from a longevity standpoint concerning not only the generator head but the power source as well. Most all copper or alloy wound heads will produce PSW power, it's the frequency that becomes an issue because the power unit has to input a stable RPM to deliver constant 60 hz and that is nearly impossible with any mechanically governed power source. As the load (amp draw) increases or decreases, the input rpm fluctuates and so does the CPS. Fact of operation.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,267  
Don't much care one way or another in reality. I have a standby diesel genset with a turbocharged JD diesel and automatic transfer. Works just fine for me.

Well you are the one that brought it up..
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,269  
I've read (almost) every post on this thread.... & not sure if I missed it but the Bauer 5 in. Random Orbital Pal Sander has surpassed my expectations ten fold... I purchased it for a home project (for under $24 with coupons) & not expecting much as we have units 4 & 5 times the cost for work.... (our Bosch units were being used on a project)
All I can say is, I will never spend the kind of money Bosch, Dewalt, or anyone else ($120++) on a random orbital sander. I now have over 100hrs on this sander & it runs perfect.... yes it has a little more vibration than the ones that cost 5x as much, but the finish results have been great....

I just finished building a new staircase & I would guess I have over 50hrs of sanding on this project alone by the time of assembly & I had 3 coats of finish on it... (was rough lumber milled locally that I started with). This sander has performed just as good as our $$$$ units we use...

2020-04-14 14.36.49.jpg

& it raised....

2020-04-18 13.56.48.jpg
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,270  
I've read (almost) every post on this thread.... & not sure if I missed it but the Bauer 5 in. Random Orbital Pal Sander has surpassed my expectations ten fold... I purchased it for a home project (for under $24 with coupons) & not expecting much as we have units 4 & 5 times the cost for work.... (our Bosch units were being used on a project)
All I can say is, I will never spend the kind of money Bosch, Dewalt, or anyone else ($120++) on a random orbital sander. I now have over 100hrs on this sander & it runs perfect.... yes it has a little more vibration than the ones that cost 5x as much, but the finish results have been great....

I just finished building a new staircase & I would guess I have over 50hrs of sanding on this project alone by the time of assembly & I had 3 coats of finish on it... (was rough lumber milled locally that I started with). This sander has performed just as good as our $$$$ units we use...

View attachment 653456

& it raised....

View attachment 653457
Well that is a testimonial! I guess the Festool sanders are out of the question. :laughing: Nice work. I look forward to pics with the railings installed. :thumbsup:
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,271  
It really comes down to longevity and parts. I have name brand stuff that I have abused for decades and it just keeps working. 10 years ago I was still leery about buying anything with an electric motor from HF. But over the years I've bought some HF stuff (their 10" tile saw for example) that was cheap enough so if it died I would still come out ahead that have shown they can make stuff that lasts. I'm still not sold on their cordless stuff yet but I'm invested in Milwaukee because I wanted a cordless grease gun so by the time I might be ready to switch brands HF could be a contender.

What hurts HF is the number of duds that I've bought from them. For example a 1/2" corded impact gun that the detent ball that holds the socket on fell out making it useless after a few months of light use. Also when you see things on their shelves, like the aluminum speed squares that are so thin they wouldn't actually work as a straight edge for a saw it give the impression that everything is low quality.

I personally would like to see HF take things to the next level. Have each store stock common parts and have a terminal with access to all the parts for the stuff they sell so you can order anything you need. Often you'll find it's cheaper to just buy a new one but not always. For example, a generator. If the carb gums up trying to search the internet to find what engine they copied with that design so you can buy something that might work 9assuming your generator was made in the same factory) screams low quality to me vs just going to the local store and picking up a new carb.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,274  
What hurts HF is the number of duds that I've bought from them. For example a 1/2" corded impact gun that the detent ball that holds the socket on fell out making it useless after a few months of light use.

You're lucky, I don't think mine ever had one. I was using mine today and was getting annoyed that the socket kept falling off...looked at the chuck and there wasn't even a place where a ball would go! Now, to be fair, the Chicago Electric stuff goes back to the day when HF didn't even really try to be anything but a seller of junk tools, maybe their newer stuff is better made, time will tell.

One thing that does make me reluctant to invest much in HF cordless stuff (and this is true of other store/off brands too) is that they tend to have relatively short production runs before they're replaced with a newer model with incompatible batteries. Yeah, the name brands do that too, but you're a lot more likely to find a Milwaukee, Ryobi, etc. battery either aftermarket or NOS than some no-name one.

Upthread, someone mentioned that they'd heard that the Lynx 40V line was being discontinued. I hope not, and didn't see anything that implied that last visit, but they don't seem to be issuing any new 40V tools either. How long has that been around, a couple years at most?
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,275  
One thing that does make me reluctant to invest much in HF cordless stuff (and this is true of other store/off brands too) is that they tend to have relatively short production runs before they're replaced with a newer model with incompatible batteries. ... you're a lot more likely to find a Milwaukee, Ryobi, etc. battery either aftermarket or NOS than some no-name one.
====

I like my Ryobi stuff. Not pro grade but it's what HF's intermediate-cost stuff should be. Ryobi's 18 volt series have used the same battery for 20 ?? years, first nicad and now Li-on, all without ever changing the battery compatibility. Meanwhile HF had gone through endless incompatible battery series.
 
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/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,277  
I like my Ryobi stuff. Not pro grade but it's what HF's intermediate-cost stuff should be. Ryobi's 18 volt series have used the same battery for 20 ?? years, first nicad and now Li-on, all without ever changing the battery compatibility. Meanwhile HF had gone through endless incompatible battery series.

Yes, they have and none interchange. I have one of those nifty DrillMaster cordless power saws, great little saw but batteries are NLA for them. Pizzes me off.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,278  
You're lucky, I don't think mine ever had one. I was using mine today and was getting annoyed that the socket kept falling off...looked at the chuck and there wasn't even a place where a ball would go! Now, to be fair, the Chicago Electric stuff goes back to the day when HF didn't even really try to be anything but a seller of junk tools, maybe their newer stuff is better made, time will tell.

One thing that does make me reluctant to invest much in HF cordless stuff (and this is true of other store/off brands too) is that they tend to have relatively short production runs before they're replaced with a newer model with incompatible batteries. Yeah, the name brands do that too, but you're a lot more likely to find a Milwaukee, Ryobi, etc. battery either aftermarket or NOS than some no-name one.

Upthread, someone mentioned that they'd heard that the Lynx 40V line was being discontinued. I hope not, and didn't see anything that implied that last visit, but they don't seem to be issuing any new 40V tools either. How long has that been around, a couple years at most?

That question came from a post on reddit: Is Lynxx Being Discontinued? Is Atlas Replacing? : harborfreight

I'm hoping that's not the case also, and at the moment, just because there are no Lynxx tools in HF doesn't mean much. After all I haven't found TP in the store for a month and somehow I don't think it's being discontinued.
 
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,279  
/ Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #13,280  
====

I like my Ryobi stuff. Not pro grade but it's what HF's intermediate-cost stuff should be. Ryobi's 18 volt series have used the same battery for 20 ?? years, first nicad and now Li-on, all without ever changing the battery compatibility. Meanwhile HF had gone through endless incompatible battery series.

Yep. That’s why I have stuck with Ryobi. I have tools I bought 15 plus years ago that work with batteries I bought recently. I know Ryobi is not the high end stuff but it works for my uses and they keep using the same batteries.
 

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