HF tools that suck

3RRL · Mar 10, 2009

What about their bench grinders?
Are they any good? Is the motor strong enough not to bog down when grinding on it?
I'm in the market to get a new 6" or 8" bench or pedestal grinder.

Iplayfarmer · Mar 10, 2009

3RRL said:
What about their bench grinders?
Are they any good? Is the motor strong enough not to bog down when grinding on it?
I'm in the market to get a new 6" or 8" bench or pedestal grinder.

I've had a HF bench grinder for about 4 years. The motor isn't particularly strong, and it does bog down. But, I've ground a lot of metal with it. YMMV

MtnViewRanch · Mar 10, 2009

3RRL said:
What about their bench grinders?
Are they any good? Is the motor strong enough not to bog down when grinding on it?
I'm in the market to get a new 6" or 8" bench or pedestal grinder.

I have an 8" grinder, item #46738. It has been a very good grinder-wire wheel for me.

patrick_g · Mar 10, 2009

OKnewguy said:
Hey Patrick, have you found that the Norman store is better stocked/organized then the okc store? The okc store is always a mess. Anyway, they need a store up north.
dave

I have sorta found the Norman store to be neat and well stocked of what they stock but... the OKC store has a wider selection.

Neither stocks a 10 inch bench grinder so it will be an internet purchase.

The Norman store manager is a decent sort and exchanges of failed goods for new is easy and simple with store personnel helping you find the right stuff.

Pat

waterppk · Aug 15, 2009

I found this site to create reviews that are much easier to sort through than just having this massive post on here:

Harbor Freight Reviews - Home

tallyho8 · Sep 12, 2009

After using my Yanmar for many years I found lots of times that the horn came in handy and was disappointed when my new Kubota had no horn.

So I went to Harbor Freight looking at their horns and decided an ooga horn would be cool to have on it.

Well, the sound this horn makes must be chinese for ooga because the noise it makes is horrible. I decided to put it on my golf cart instead and look for a better horn for my Kubota.

patrick_g · Sep 12, 2009

tallyho8 said:
After using my Yanmar for many years I found lots of times that the horn came in handy and was disappointed when my new Kubota had no horn.

So I went to Harbor Freight looking at their horns and decided an ooga horn would be cool to have on it.

Well, the sound this horn makes must be chinese for ooga because the noise it makes is horrible. I decided to put it on my golf cart instead and look for a better horn for my Kubota.

Glad you reported on the horn as I was sort of interested in getting one and now I'm not so enthusiastic. I wonder if you just got a lemon. Some of their goods have a fair amount of variability in performance.

I too want to put a horn of some kind on my cab model Kubota as it would be really handy. When working with someone on the ground it is inconvenient to have to open the door and shout over the engine to get someone's attention when a couple brief beeps would do the job better, faster, easier.

I have some cheap plastic air horns that work directly off a small 12 volt compressor with no air tank that I got from HF and will probably put a set of those on the tractor.

Patrick

Charlesaf3 · Sep 12, 2009

The small wet grinder is ok for sharpening. Don't put much pressure on though, or the PLASTIC worm gear melts.

That said, for knives etc and even mower blades I feel I've got my moneys worth.

Generally at HF, if it seems impossible to screw up, I buy it. Otherwise, I figure they'll screw it up. I do feel like I've gotten my money's worth even with some of the junk - my feeling on the chainsaw sharpener is the same as Prokops above - slop, but it gets the job done.

patrick_g · Sep 12, 2009

3RRL said:
What about their bench grinders?
Are they any good? Is the motor strong enough not to bog down when grinding on it?
I'm in the market to get a new 6" or 8" bench or pedestal grinder.

I ordered a 10 inch HF grinder from their web site as they don't stock larger than 8 inch. It was BO for a while but I eventually got it. It is a lot of grinder for the $. You can overload any bench grinder and this one is no exception but it is not particularly underpowered compared to other grinders of my experience. I mounted it to a piece of scrap steel welded atop a pipe set in concrete that I poured inside a used rim from an 18 wheeler. it is pretty stable but can be tipped on edge and rolled to wherever you want it.

The grinding wheels seem to be pretty good material, not as soft or easy to grove as my smaller (not HF) grinder.

Pat

Dargo · Mar 15, 2010

I just picked this one for an example, but I tried 3 of them this weekend - Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices What a waste!! Wanna talk about the cheapest, most worthless and dangerous piece of junk sold anywhere... This has to take the cake!

Problems:

Made of thin poor quality steel
Pins that hold press plate in place fall out
Bottle jack falls off
Undersized grade 2 bolts holding unit together shear off
Stand holding unit bends when you just use enough pressure to pump jack
No lock washers or washers of any sort with undersized grade 2 bolts

I could go on, but what's the use? These "shop presses" are a complete joke! A while back I ranted about how cheap and dangerous the coil spring compressors were and how I nearly was seriously injured when one failed. Guess what. The store manager said HF had been sued and no longer sell that particular style. No kidding?! Put these cheapo "shop presses" under that same category. It's unfortunate, but someone will probably have to die before they stop selling this trash or change Chinese vendors. Junk. Junk. Junk.

Any questions?

Travelover · Mar 15, 2010

Dargo said:
.............Any questions?

Just one. After the spring compressor experience, why did ya buy it?

Dargo · Mar 15, 2010

Travelover said:
Just one. After the spring compressor experience, why did ya buy it?

Crash test dummy...professional.

I didn't buy another spring compressor there. Just a bunch of junk recycled steel painted orange with a cheap bottle jack. I should have known I was in trouble when the last line in the assembly instructions said "Have someone else hold your beer and get someone you don't like try using device first time. Be sure to run before they give it a try".

Travelover · Mar 15, 2010

Dargo said:
Crash test dummy...professional.

I didn't buy another spring compressor there. Just a bunch of junk recycled steel painted orange with a cheap bottle jack. I should have known I was in trouble when the last line in the assembly instructions said "Have someone else hold your beer and get someone you don't like try using device first time. Be sure to run before they give it a try".

:laughing::laughing::laughing:

some zilch · Mar 17, 2010

gee, my HF 20ton press has been holding up great, and gets pretty good reviews on other sites. it really seems to be one of their better products.

Dargo · Mar 17, 2010

some zilch said:
gee, my HF 20ton press has been holding up great, and gets pretty good reviews on other sites. it really seems to be one of their better products.

And why couldn't you have told me this before I bought the completely worthless, and dangerous, 12 ton piece of garbage?

I'm honestly glad to hear your 20 ton works for you. Like we all know, it's hit and miss there. I am aware that there are some bargains there. Unfortunately, the 12 ton shop press is most certainly a loser and one destined to get them sued. Heck, I have almost as much in proper sized and strength hardware to assemble the piece of garbage as what it cost! I think I have some scrap 2"X3" angle in my scrap pile that I can use to make a new base out of for the 12 ton killer. The freaking "angle" they use is made of stamped steel (recycled a few times no doubt).

Or, would it be better to just take my hardware off the 12 ton piece of garbage and return it in favor of the 20 ton unit? I say that because the 12 ton press will be extremely marginal for a 12 unit at best with major modifications.

Farwell · Mar 17, 2010

Almost every forum I visit have love hate relationships with HF. I purchase some expendables from them on occasion and if I had one locally I would probably visit them once in a while. I have found from reading a lot of threads about HF there are some items that should be avoided at all cost.
Most of the type of work I do requires heavy duty equipment so I have to buy brand name tools built to commercial specifications.

Brad_Blazer · Mar 19, 2010

I have a very similar 12 ton press I got from Homier several years ago. It's nothing special but nothing on it has broken and it has served me well. Here is a project where I used it to bend some 1" square stock. I think I was pretty much using the full 12 tons, especially when the valve on the jack stuck and I substituted a 20 ton jack. I was still having to pump pretty hard.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/82371-bent-teeth-tooth-bar.html

PeterK · Mar 19, 2010

I have the HF 12 ton press and it has also served me well for several years now. I mostly press bearings and do some repair work with it. The stand seems a little shakey but it works fine. I wish I had bought the 20 ton version but only because it's larger. 50 ton stuff I sent out.

Dargo · Mar 20, 2010

PeterK said:
I have the HF 12 ton press and it has also served me well for several years now. I mostly press bearings and do some repair work with it. The stand seems a little shakey but it works fine. I wish I had bought the 20 ton version but only because it's larger. 50 ton stuff I sent out.

Even on sale and using my 20% discount (dang, I must shop there too often!

), I still would never spend the $90 something bucks for the shop press again. It cost me another $20 in appropriate nuts and bolts etc., and it's still a piece of junk. The ONLY thing that may be good about it is to take the design and build my own using scrap I have. Otherwise, I give the Horrible Freight 12 ton shop press a resounding PASS!