HF tools that suck

[Iplayfarmer]

I dunno......

some chinese women are hot!!!

There's Lucy Liu.

 

[Danno1]

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I don't know the stock number but the metal cutting Sawsall blades from HF definitely $uck. Can't even get 1/16 inch into rebar before the teeth are worn totally smooth.

And I was using cutting oil too!


.

 

[BugStalk]

My only real complaint is a spur of the moment buy just before fathers day. I saw a remote control airplain that I figured my dad might enjoy. It was garbage.

Eddie

I must have bought the same airplane.
My son will never forgive me....

 

[BugStalk]

Never, ever, ever, EVER buy their C clamps, drill bits or saw blades.... or their socket wrenches. (Their impact sockets are ok so far).
On the flip side, I've had good luck with their portable bandsaw. I've cut everything from copper to stainless, used it for 5 years now and no complaints. Mind you I don't use it daily - but every 3 or 4 months I go through about 2 days of heavy work with it. My sawzall I bought from them didn't last 6 months. My palm sander had a bad solder joint in it (yes, I did open it up and fix it). It has worked for 4 years since without a problem. I have never had a problem with one of their pneumatic tools or impact sockets - but I buy the best ones they have their, which are about equal in quality to the worst ones ever made by snap-on or mac.

 

[droptop]

The only product that I purchased that I didn't think I got my moneys worth was a package of black rubber bungees. I put one on the front rack of my 4 wheeler and in a week it had cracked and broke. I just tossed the rest of the package. I should have kept the "S" hooks.
Everything else I've got there was good for the money, it may not have been a high quality, but it was worth what I paid for it.

 

[Travelover]

Never, ever, ever, EVER buy their C clamps, drill bits or saw blades.... .......

Re drill bits, they frequently have a full index set (1/16" to 1/2") on sale for ten bucks. I've been happy with the set I have, though I'm a casual user.

 

[john_bud]

I bought a machinist vice to stick on my drill press (non-HF drill press). Bolted it down and found it to be way way way way out of level.

There are jaw pieces that ride in the grooves of the slides that are screwed in. Well, the holes in the cast pieces are visibly off. Measured at a difference of 0.072" hole edge to piece edge on one. Others similar. I had to grind out the holes so that I could get the pieces to the same points so it is sort of level.

Then the slides that the pieces ride on are off by as much as 0.050" in thickness from end to end. So the parts will be guaranteed to move that much as you crank the slide. What total crud. The actual part wouldn't have been bad had there been a non-blind, drunk, person running the machining operations on it.

Below is the "tool" and I use the word with grave reservations...

 

[California]

Take it back for a refund while there's still time. They've seen this sort of random variation in quality before, and won't argue with you.

Everything in the store comes from the lowest-bid vendor they can find. Some items are reasonable value; some like this 'precision' vise simply aren't decent copies of the real thing.

 

[Sodo]

It stands to reason that many many people, especially those who would shop at HF; don't know how to use tool anyway and are likely to break good tools too. A lot of people have no business assessing tool quality anyway, all they know is brand names they don't really know whats wrong with the tool.

I heard a guy there complaining that the wire cutters he had were no good because the cutters chunked when he tried to cut a drywall screw. Well no s*** sherlock you can't cut hardened steel with wire cutters!

I saw a 20 ton hydraulic press there on sale for $129, and brought it home. It was welded together crooked, it did not press straight down. I cut a couple welds with the sawzall, and straightened it up, & re-welded. Took about 10 minutes and now its fine, has real good power and doesn't leak. That was basically a "junk tool" but I was able to deal with the problem now it's a good tool.

I bought an $89 portable 12v 3,000 lb winch. No way will that thing pull 3,000 lbs. I was going to return it for refund then it fell 2 feet onto dirt and cracked the plastic case and now I doubt if they will take it back. I am embarrassed about that purchase.

I've bought some wrench sets, like 16 box-end wrenches for $8 that are fine. I don't mind so much if they're stolen or lost.

A 3" air grinder I bought for $12 has been fine, I polished a long hydraulic ram with it, saved me a few hundred bucks. I thought maybe I'd have to go get another one halfway thru but finished the whole job and still seems fine.

Some of the brass air chuck fittings leak, you have to be ready to take them back.

I've bought trailer hitch parts that I'm very happy with. I guess some people might cringe but I can tell if a heavy weldment is OK. An ATV cargo shelf that goes in a 2"receiver hitch has been great, was only $42.

 

[droptop]

HF sells cheap Chinese stuff for a cheap price. If you are buying at HF, you need to realize that you are paying the same for a whole set of wrenches that you would pay for a single 7/16" Snap On wrench. Expectations need to be adjusted to the price point. I've purchased a lot of stuff there and have only purchased one item ( rubber bungee straps ) that I didn't think I got my moneys worth. It may have been crap, but I still believe I got my moneys worth.

What I really hate is when you see the same cheap stuff being pawned off as quality products by the national hardware and big box stores that try and charge premium prices for made in china. If I'm going to pay a premium, it will say made in USA!

 

[Egbert]

I've bought just a few tools from HF, and they served their purpose. I needed a "giant" pipe-wrench for a 5 minute project. No way was I going to drop $75 or more for a name. Building privacy fence, I set about 50 steel posts that needed to be topped with a portable band-saw. HF had one for $69 at the time, or I could spend over $200 on a Dewalt. I figured I'd had to throw the HF saw away by the time I finished but it held up and still runs fine.

For tools you are going to use over and over - spend the money. For tools intended for single or short-term use - cheap can be a good alternative.

 

[sd455dan]

Re drill bits, they frequently have a full index set (1/16" to 1/2") on sale for ten bucks. I've been happy with the set I have, though I'm a casual user.

Even better if you have and know how to use a drill doctor- they cut like new ( not HF electric drill sharpener - it IS JUNK)

 

[Travelover]

Even better if you have and know how to use a drill doctor- they cut like new ( not HF electric drill sharpener - it IS JUNK)

Yep, I've got a genuine drill Dr. Works great.

 

[chopped]

quote from previous poster....I bought an $89 portable 12v 3,000 lb winch. No way will that thing pull 3,000 lbs. I was going to return it for refund then it fell 2 feet onto dirt and cracked the plastic case and now I doubt if they will take it back. I am embarrassed about that purchase.

Unless they have changed the policy I think they would take it back It used to be Satisfacton Guaranteed.I know i had a few returns and I simple laid out the problem with them in an email or letter and they were very good about it.Just be honest and straight forward with it

 

[CharlieKtractor]

if and when i decide to go to HF i will have to look up their address

 

[California]

$89 portable 12v 3,000 lb winch. No way will that thing pull 3,000 lbs.

I wonder if the guy who writes their advertising meant it could drag a 3000 lb vehicle - not lift that much dead weight.

I have the little remote control winch they sold a few years ago. I think it would be ok to rescue a 400 lb ATV but not anything larger.

I'm getting good use out of it as the lifter for my tilt trailer. It should also work to drag something onto the trailer.

 

[Midniteoyl]

I wonder if the guy who writes their advertising meant it could drag a 3000 lb vehicle - not lift that much dead weight.

I have the little remote control winch they sold a few years ago. I think it would be ok to rescue a 400 lb ATV but not anything larger.

I'm getting good use out of it as the lifter for my tilt trailer. It should also work to drag something onto the trailer.

I seem to remember reading in the manual years ago that they were rated for 'rolling loads', so ya.

There were also stipulations on some of them as to whether it was single line pull or doubled up.

 

[Travelover]

............. It should also work to drag something onto the trailer...........

That is what I use mine for - to drag stuff on to the HF tilt bed trailer that I have. The wireless remote is really handy as I can steer whatever I'm dragging with one hand and work the control with the other. For the $50 I paid, it is a winner.

 

[xtn]

I seem to remember reading in the manual years ago that they were rated for 'rolling loads', so ya.

There were also stipulations on some of them as to whether it was single line pull or doubled up.

Rolling against what resistance? I can pull a million pounds with my pinky finger if it's distributed over enough hardened needle bearings rolling on a flat, level, hard surface.

If it isn't rated for a dead lift against Earth's gravity at the surface, or doesn't give the conditions used, then it's a completely arbitrary and useless marketing number.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Rolling against what resistance? I can pull a million pounds with my pinky finger if it's distributed over enough hardened needle bearings rolling on a flat, level, hard surface.

If it isn't rated for a dead lift against Earth's gravity at the surface, or doesn't give the conditions used, then it's a completely arbitrary and useless marketing number.

Rolling loads as in a car or tractor.. And it did say, as I said. But I dont know if that still true or not.. Easy enough to find out though.

I had a guy here once dragging a 60's Brisbane outta the woods - no tires, and buried some - who used the HF 6000lb hitch mount (plastic case) version, and it did it.