Help choosing a welder

[gemini5362]

bota 7800

I understand about working with what you have. I know that my mitre saw was several hundred dollars so I kind of shudder when I think about using it to cut steel. I am sure that it would work but I hope to have it for my lifetime and probably kids and grandkids lifetimes for what it cost.


2. The only problems i have heard of with the Hf bandsaw was the motor. One guy said that his got caught hung up in a piece of metal while he was outdoing something else. When he got back the room was full of smoke and the motor did not work. He admitted that he should have watched it a bit closer. He got a new motor and has not had any problem since. The other problem I have heard of is along the same lines it got caught in a piece of metal and when the guy came back the room was full of smoke. He turned off the saw and let it cool down then turned it back on it worked for a couple of years and then he had to replace the motor. I am not sure what got the blade bound up in these two instances. I have used the one at work several times and never had it get caught but they might have had something sitting in a way that when the metal got cut far enough the metal closed around the cut and stopped the blade. Either way both of these problems was from letting the saw cut unatended and the fix was fairly reasonable and easy.

 

[patrick_g]

I have used both the Milwaukee hand held band saw (electric hacksaw) and the HF. I have the HF. It is a fraction of the cost of the Milwaukee and works about the same fraction as fast. It came with a totally worthless blade that would have gotten dull cutting butter before breakfast was over. With REAL blades it is better than a manual hacksaw and I use it. If I had lots of cuts to make and time were money, I'd get the Milwaukee. I don't use it that much and when I do it beats my other options so overall I am pleased and just "dream" about the SUPERIOR performance of the Milwaukee.

Pat

 

[bota7800]

. It came with a totally worthless blade that would have gotten dull cutting butter before breakfast was over.

Pat

Nice analogy (or is it a metaphor)- I bet you got better grades in English than I did

Over the years I have given up on cheap tools but I may give that one a try.

 

[patrick_g]

Nice analogy (or is it a metaphor)- I bet you got better grades in English than I did

Over the years I have given up on cheap tools but I may give that one a try.

Thanks for kind words. Maybe it was only a metathree?

The unit is way lighter than the Milwaukee and has a lot of plastic. It seems to be relatively cheaply made B U T...

It works for me and beats a hand held hacksaw in many instances, especially if you can be just a bit tolerant and patient at the cutting speed (not a problem if you haven't used a Milwaukee with a good blade as that sets the bar of your expectations rather high.)

Everything at HF eventually goes on sale. That is when I buy things that are nice to have but are not needed right now for some immediate crisis.

I don't know for sure about the corporate store policy but I was told at the Norman, Oklahoma store that if there is a lower price on the HF web site to print out the page and bring it to the store and if they have it in stock they will honor the price. Sounds good to me but I don't know if that is a universal HF policy or local policy.

So it would pay to check the web site for closeouts and sales and then pick it up at the store if the drive is cheaper than shipping charges.

Pat

 

[California]

Out here I've seen a customer bring the mailorder catalog into the store (2 different stores) and they refused to sell at the mailorder price. They were polite, but just said that's never allowed.

You are fortunate to have such a cooperative manager where you live.

 

[gemini5362]

california in arkansas they will match the printed out price. Maybe that is just a california thing

 

[patrick_g]

california in arkansas they will match the printed out price. Maybe that is just a california thing

Hey Gemini, lets not harass the Calafornia dude, they have enough problems on their own (Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, a plurality of ever more activist Hispanics, crashing real estate market, overpriced fuel, anti private ownership of arms, prohibited concealed carry for honest citizens, and on and on and on.)

Anyway, I didn't ask about price matching at the HF store in Norman, Oklahoma, an employee went into detail about it for me so I would be sure to "get it." I was looking for one of the big heavy (lots of cast iron) scroll saws (AKA Jig saw, not a saber saw) and the stores don't stock those anymore. (They have a smaller much lighter one but I wanted larger/heavier. The employee and I thought maybe they would be on-line. That is when he thought to inform me of the price matching, even though not applicable in this instance.

From the preceding posts, I guess I can surmise that at least a couple California stores don't price match and at least one Oklahoma and an undisclosed number of Artkansas stores do also. If I ever go to the OKC store again (farther from me than the new store in Norman) I will ask about price matching.

The store employee told me he and his friends always check the on-line closeouts and bargains and such and has found items for under $1 that sell in the store for a few $ and the store honors the price plus they save shipping and waiting.

Patrick

 

[gemini5362]

i would never harass someone from california. I actually feel sorry for them. About ten times a day HGTV or TLC shows programs where people in california buy 1200 sq feet fixer uppers that needs thousands in repairs and weeks worth of labor to make habitable for 547,000 + dollars

actually me experience matches yours to some extent. I went to buy someone in the HF store and they told me there was an internet price which was about half of what they could sell it for. The only drawback was you had to print off a coupon from the internet to get it. I told them to hold onto that unit and they I went to the local library and for 50 cents printed off the coupon and got the discount. The store employees were the ones that told me about the coupon.

 

[California]

Maybe we're talking apples and oranges here.

If you sign up in their store, they email you a weekly coupon offer. Here are the current ones:
Coupons, expire 3/1/08
Coupons, expire 3/5/08
The coupons are to use in the store. That same screen, on the upper left, also has a link to show the store catalog that they mail to your house every two weeks, or include in newspapers.

All this stuff related to the retail stores is shown on
harborfreightusa . com

which is different from
harborfreight . com . This latter one sells mailorder-only and will send you a catalog on request, with prices and specials different from the retail-store branch of the company. Buying mailorder from harborfreight.com makes sense if you don't live near a store or need delivery.

If you can go to a retail store and use the store coupons from harborfreightusa.com, the prices are usually better.

What I should have made clear was that I saw the mailorder-only catalog prices refused in two stores here. All the coupons and catalogs sent from harborfreightusa . com are intended for the stores, and are accepted.

 

[California]

anti private ownership of arms

Huh? It's a big diverse state. There are all kinds of people with different opinions. it's not a monoculture.

Yahoo news: Museum returns tank to Schwartznegger

SACRAMENTO, California - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he asked an Ohio museum to return his Austrian army tank because he was concerned about the upkeep and wants to offer rides to schoolchildren.