Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[patrick_g]

Question, if I bought a vacuum from HF that didn't suck, which thread would I post it on?

OK, I admit it, the humor went right over my head when I first read your post. On rereading it, I got it. Like if Helen Keller fell down in the forest, would she make a sound?

So do you work the salt ponds in south bay? I have driven by there many times when I lived (and worked) on Point Loma.

Pat

 

[patrick_g]

Question, if I bought a vacuum from HF that didn't suck, which thread would I post it on?

OK, I admit it, the humor went right over my head when I first read your post. On rereading it, I got it. Like if Helen Keller fell down in the forest, would she make a sound?

So, do you work the salt ponds in south bay? I have driven by there many times when I lived (and worked) on Point Loma.

Do you spell your handle with geer instead of gear to avoid a Disney lawsuit? (for the cartoon impaired...Gyro Gearloose is a Disney character, a wacky inventor.

Pat

 

[ArTrvlr]

Doesn't roll over loose gravel (well of course not)

I took the hook off the end of mine, ripped a 2x4 to size and shoved it down the square tube and strapped another 2x4 under the tube, bridging, with significant overlap, between the square tube and the 2x4 sticking out of the end of it. I then attached a rectangular 2x4 (picture frame looking thingy) to the end of the protruding 2x4. I put a pair of cross braces on the 2x4 "picture frame" separated by the thickness of the protruding 2x4. I put a bolt through the two braces to pin it to the protruding 2x4 and allow the picture frame to pivot. The pivot point is off center so it tends to rotate back toward the operator at the rear of the machine. I attached some scrap sheet metal fingers to the far side of the picture frame (picture frame is about 3x7 feet.)

The manual only cylinder that came with the crane has a nice large knurled spring loaded handle to control the lowering of the crane. The nice air operated cylinder has the traditional relief valve turned with the slots in the end of the pump handle and it is slightly less handy. I will be taking a look to see if the nice valve can be substituted for the traditional one.

Pat

On the gravel deal. That can be overcome with a couple sheets of plywood. Roll it from one sheet onto the next, then move the first sheet to the other side of the second, roll on to that sheet and keep going on your portable floor. Select a thickness of plywood to suit the load. I moved a 500# air compressor on 3/8" plywood that way. I rolled it out of my shop and around to the back side of the building to a little add-on room I built just for it to get the noise out of the shop. You can even turn corners with a small scrap of plywood to catch the wheels on the inside of the corner.

Pat, I have tried to get my head around that description, but I just can't get a visual. It's probably not your description, it is my dense head. Could you possibly provide a drawing or pic? Thanks.

I have a Torin Big Red Jack brand (that is painted black, go figure!) that looks exactly like the HF crane in the link. It came with the air operated jack. It too had the little lowering valve designed to use with the jack handle. I unscrewed the valve, removed the o-ring, welded on a 5/16" nut that fit the shaft of a plastic knob from my junk drawer. I used a jam nut to keep it from screwing out when lowering. Oh, put the o-ring back on before reinstalling. It was off just for the welding phase.
jp

 

[gyrogeerloose]

So, do you work the salt ponds in south bay? I have driven by there many times when I lived (and worked) on Point Loma.

Yes, that's the place. Used to be Western Salt, now called South Bay Salt Works. It's been there since the 1870s.

Do you spell your handle with geer instead of gear to avoid a Disney lawsuit?

While the last thing I need is trouble from The Mouse, the real reason I spell it that was is that the first time I tried to use the normal spelling to register on a site, I found it was already taken. I've used the alternative spelling all over the Internet ever since.

 

[patrick_g]

Gyro, I sympathize, I was not first to grab all the obvious combinations of my name and of course different ones are used in different places so it is a pain.

Just curious, how long does it typically take after flooding a basin before the salt is removed?

Pat

 

[patrick_g]

On the gravel deal. That can be overcome with a couple sheets of plywood.

Ah, yup. Years ago I laminated two layers of 3/4 plywood together with glue and screws. I drilled pairs of holes at one end and added rope handles. I made 4 each of them 2x4 ft and used them to drive across fine sand and such where my 4x4 pickup couldn't otherwise make it down in Baja where getting stuck was way beyond inconvenience toward life threatening. They needn't have been so HD but I used them also on a motorhome.

Pat, I have tried to get my head around that description, but I just can't get a visual. It's probably not your description, it is my dense head. Could you possibly provide a drawing or pic? Thanks.

I reread it and have no clue what could possibly be more useless as a description.

Thanks for the idea on the valve mod for the cylinder.

Hopefully the attached sketch will help.

In the sketch you see a rectangular frame with a pair of center braces. There is a hole for a bolt through those braces. The spacing between the dual braces is a friction fit for a 2x4 (about 1 1/2 inches.) The end of extension board sticking out of the crane's square tube has a hole in it where it is pinned by the bolt mentioned above.

The 60/40 balance is a guess. I wanted the material to not tilt the platform forward and fall off. It worked very well and when lifted until it contacted the ceiling joists I installed it pivoted to match the slope of the ceiling (about 2-3 in 12.) It would have worked just fine for dry wall but I used fiber cement for fire resistance as the space is a metal working shop with grinding and welding and some day maybe a small forge.

I'm not an artist (surprise surprise) so don't be bashful ask anything about the Rube Goldberg monstrosity and I will try to explain it.

Pat

 

[IslandTractor]

Anyone used the HF knockoff of the Fein Multimaster tool yet? I think it just came out as the Fein just came off patent protection. $59 vs over $300 makes it inticing but then again I keep reminding myself it's HF.

 

[shvl73]

Anyone used the HF knockoff of the Fein Multimaster tool yet? I think it just came out as the Fein just came off patent protection. $59 vs over $300 makes it inticing but then again I keep reminding myself it's HF.

I've been to two different stores and still haven't seen it yet. It oscillates at a slower speed than the Fein tool though. I'd also like to get someones feedback on it.
IT, have you been to the store in Attleboro?

 

[Ductape]

There's a HF in Attleboro??

 

[shvl73]

Attleboro is a fairly new store. There is one in W. Springfield also.