cheap tool alert

[Trahere]

Dargo, I like your Philosophical stance on the tool thing! Most of my tools don't care how expensive or well crafted they are. They all seem to get along fine as long as they are at home in the old workshop collecting
dust! They do seem to have certain status in terms of color ( like tractors ). Mill.Red and Bosch Blue seem to get the most exercise sometimes I will through in a little Yellow! O.K. Gray for covert missions!

 

[flusher]

I dropped by harbor freight today and had to pick up a few things. My old 6" chop saw went south a while back while cutting some 1" round stock.. and after finishing the job with a hacksaw I've bene on the lookout for a new chop saw.

Harbor freight has a 14"/2hp chopsaw on sale for a whopping 49.99$ It was too cheap too pass up.. I had to pick it up. Box claims it to have double insulated inards.. etc. The floor display looked good, turned over smooth, shield and grip guards fit well.. etc. if it works half as good as it looks, it should do fine for hobbiest shop type work.

Also noticed they had the auto darkening welding hoods on sale for 39$.. again.. had to pick one up. It will darken by striking a match or turning a flashlight on. Adjusts from 9-13 shade, has a fast / slow setting, and has a rechargeable bat / solar cell. Comes with a face plate and plate retainer replacement in the box... only a 90 day warranty.. but the extended warranty is 5$ if ya want it.. etc.. Has a nice padded easy adjustable head band.. I can't wait to try it out on some burning metal.

I also notice that it claims to block 100% ir and uv, even when not shaded.. I take that as a good thing.. etc..

I do have a question though, about shade levels.

My 'regular' helmet is a 11 shade.. so. uh.. what shade levels are recomended for what applications..e tc. ( I have an ac stick welder.. etc.. )

Soundguy

I have that arc welding CD from Wall Mountain. Excellent info. Highly recommended. Great video of the puddle. You can learn a lot quickly with this CD.

The fellow on the video says he uses a #9 helmet filter lens for his general purpose stick welding with 1/16" and 3/32" rods and current less than 150 amps. For thicker rods and higher amperage, he recommends going up to a #10 or higher.

 

[TBDonnelly]

Harbor Freight 15% off coupon link .....good thru Sept. 27

HFT-USA

Don

 

[masscity]

I went to HF a couple weeks ago, second time there, but the first time I bought anything. At about 3pm on Monday I purchased some impact sockets(with credit card).

I will use them with my Snap-on batt impact wrench only after reading what you guys said about them exploding.

Here's the kicker, at 4pm on Tuesday my mail arrives with a HF credit card application.

How they do that so quick?

 

[Soundguy]

I've not had any HF sockets die.. impact or otherwisde. i've had 1/2 drive stuff on my air gun.. and i have a 3/4 set that I have used a 4' cheater bar on.. never split a socket, or twisted off a drive..

soundguy

 

[Dargo]

I've not had any HF sockets die.. impact or otherwisde.

Now, on this issue, I have a 100% failure with the Pittsburgh impact sockets when using them with my IR impact wrench. Some have just split open, most have pretty well exploded. I figure there is no sense in taking them back for other grenades. If you pay the shipping, I'll send you the remaining ones free.

 

[Soundguy]

Wow... I'm surprised... The only sockets I've ever had fail were a cheap non-impact ( tiawan ) in the early 90's...3/8 set in which a 3/4 or 7/8 split down a side after a cheater bar was applied.

After that I picke dup a craftsman 3/8 set. I now have a HF 1/2 set, including braker bar and ratchet, and a 3/4 set, +BB/Ratchet. i also have a set of deepwell impact sae sockets.

I only had the 1/2 set for a good part of my tractor repairing time.. I've had the breaker bar bent over like it was gonna brake.. but never did get it to pop.. 3/4 set is just too massive to even think about breaking with anything my arms can put on it.

I also have a set of 1" sockets that i picked up on sale at HF.. just sockets.. we needed a 2.5" or some similar big socket at work.. so i paid the 29$ for the set.. we use dit on a big 1" air guin.. probably IR.. and now they set on my workshelp.. more or less useless as i don't own a 1" gun.. nor do i need sockets in the 2"+ range.

In al.. I've actually only had a couple of HF tools fail. 6" pipe wrench, a pair of needle nose I consider a premature failure.. as they died within a year.

I just had an angle grinder die.. but it was about 9ys old.. I did shear a key in a 6" chop saw that is about 5 ys old.. thus the reason I got the new cheap chop saw... that's it... a sum total of 4 tool failures, the 6" chop say was being abused.. I was cutting large diameter hardened pin and rod stock with it... piece after piece... I probably was cutting for 3 hours... then it died when the vise god loose and the pin went sideways... shearing the keyway. I can probably fix it.. however.. since the new 14" chop saw cost a whopping 49$.. I'm not even going to invest the time to open the old 6" chop saw.

It may be that I've had a good run of luck on picking tools.. can't say either way... The only thing I know is that being able to use cheap tools in areas where i need them once, sure has meant alot. vs buying name brand ones.. Otherwise.. I'd have alot of broke tractors out in my barn, vs running ones.

Soundguy

 

[Dargo]

Oh well, I guess I should refer you to the post where I admitted that I seem to be able to break an anvil with a rubber mallet.

My IR impact does have 850 ft. lbs. or torque. If I used my, uh, I think it's a "Buffalo" or something brand, I doubt I'd shatter the impact sockets. However, when that was the only impact I had, I used an old fashioned knuckle buster to loosen lug nuts before taking them off with my impact. I found that rather counter productive.

 

[Soundguy]

I remember when I only had a 3/8 drive air ratchet... that darn thing was more or less just useless!! I'm way glad I have a 1/2" gun now...

Rubber mallet.. good one.. you must be related to my wife...

soundguy

 

[California]

Harbor Freight 15% off coupon link .....good thru Sept. 27

HFT-USA

Don

Just a note to verify that is a good coupon, whether you are a 'Prefered Customer' or not.

I did a page-print of that (on a color printer) and it was accepted for 15% off the $70 Quick Hitch today - the most expensive thing I ever bought at Harbor Freight.