Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[5030]

Wow, you must be a gas at parties! LOL

Gas yes, parties no. Don't do crowds, too good a chance of getting Corona virus...

 

[PILOON]

Note that if you switch to Porter Cable, their 20v lithium ion batteries will interchange with Black & Decker 20 volt lithium ion batteries, as long as you do a little bit of plastic surgery on the nub on the top of the battery. I suspect that you could do the same with DeWalt batteries, but I haven't had one that I could experiment with.

Aaron Z

No wonder, they are the same company,
Between DeWalt and Stanley they own most of the brands now.

 

[Gregster613]

OK, here we go again... HF tools that don't suck!

So I have a couple smaller buildings I need to put shingles on and I see HF has a couple Coil roofing nailers anyone have any experience with them?

15deg Coil Roofing Nailer

11 Gauge Industrial Roofing Nailer

They have another one but its $199, if I'm going that deep in my pocket I'll get a real one

Been watching craigslist too but haven't seen any..

I don't know about the ones you listed but I bought a central pneumatic one from a pawn shop for $20.00, have used it on a small shed roof I built to house my wood chipper and it worked just fine for me. I also have the central pneumatic framing gun, have used that "a lot" and it's also been fine. YMMV but mine has been okay. Greg

 

[Alan W.]

Back the HF tools that dont suck.

I have been using my new HF 5 speed drill press a lot and it works fine but will slip the belt if I force it too hard while it is penetrating the steel. I guess this is OK since it doesn't break the bit. I would rather the belt slip than twist off my bit (been there/done that with hand held 1/2" drill motors). The only other electrical tools I have from HF are grinders, 4.5" and 9" and they are all still working fine after 10 years. Havent released the smoke from any of the 6 that I have. I did take the final drive gears off and grease them when I got them since the "wax" that China used for grease was hardened and doing nothing for lubrication.
I have impact sockets and wrench sets, whole 3/4" drive tool sets in SAE and Metric that are still working. Only problem I had was with a ratchet that the ball retainer for the socket popped out and they gave me a new ratchet for that no questions asked.

My only issue with HF is now that they aren't much if any cheaper than what I can get from Lowes for their Kobalt brand of tools. Walmart's new HART brand is also similarly priced to HF tools at my local HF store.

My Chicago Electric 9 inch grinder is well over 10 years old and its still grinding away. The trigger lock fell off and I did replace the grease in it. The CE tools back then were a bit hit or miss. I mustve lucked out.

 

[California]

View attachment 640418

My Chicago Electric 9 inch grinder is well over 10 years old and its still grinding away. The trigger lock fell off and I did replace the grease in it. The CE tools back then were a bit hit or miss. I mustve lucked out.

My HF 9 inch grinder was a different model, also reliable. But sometimes I didn't feel safe using it. It had too much torque and weight to know I had full control over it when working in an awkward position. When I sold a Century 130 welder, I included the grinder instead of reducing my price on the welder to what I was offered. I like the 7 inch HF grinder better.

Here are some photos where I hogged out cast iron wheel weights with the 9" grinder to adapt them for a different tractor. That grinder was a brute. No problem gouging out a few cubic inches of iron.

 

[Alan W.]

My HF 9 inch grinder was a different model, also reliable. But sometimes I didn't feel safe using it. It had too much torque and weight to know I had full control over it when working in an awkward position. When I sold a Century 130 welder, I included the grinder instead of reducing my price on the welder to what I was offered. I like the 7 inch HF grinder better.

Here are some photos where I hogged out cast iron wheel weights with the 9" grinder to adapt them for a different tractor. That grinder was a brute. No problem gouging out a few cubic inches of iron.

Yes it has lots of torque.

Liked the wheel weight install. Looked factory.

 

[John_Mc]

HF has a 20% off all Icon products through the end of the month:

 

[5030]

HF has a 20% off all Icon products through the end of the month:

View attachment 640544

Thanks. I'll use it for the 3/8" icon torque wrench tomorrow.

 

[California]

Liked the wheel weight install. Looked factory.

Thanks Alan.

 

[KubotainNH]

Over a year ago I cracked my Craftsman 15mm deep well socket and my 3/8" ratchet is toast. There were no more Sears local so I chatted with someone at Lowe's. At that point they only had Kobalt single sockets and whole Craftsman sets but said they would be switching in the future. I went in just after Christmas and they had all the singles in drawers. I asked the tool guy and he didn't seem to know the scoop on replacing the tools, said talk to the service desk. I didn't have them with me so didn't bother. I happened to be on the Lowe's site a week or 2 ago and the guy I chatted with said just bring in the broken tools and they will repair/replace. I'll get over there in the next few days I hope. As for USA made, the last time I bought wrenches I went with American made NOS from E-bay. The Asian ones look like crap compared to the USA ones but supposedly Stanley is going to have them made in the US.

Off topic a bit but I finally got to Lowe's and the swap wasn't too bad. They had to do some paperwork that took some time. Sadly I gave them a US made ratchet and got back one made in China. The other item was a 15mm deep socket but my luck would have it that the bin for this size was empty. The rest were full. My guess is that is also China. No more Craftsman tools getting purchased by me I guess. May as well buy hand tools from HF.