/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>1275172
some of its ok. some of its disposable garbage

If you need a thing to just do a thing almost as good as a quality thing, their things are acceptable. If you need a thing to do a quality thing, not so much.

>>1275172
It's "Happy Homeowner" tools, good if you don't need to use them too much, definitely not the best but they'll do if you need them and don't want to buy professional tools.

good? no, not necessarily, but why pay more for a brand name that comes from the exact same place...

I have plenty of HF stuff and it works fine for what it's supposed to do

Plenty of professionals use HF stuff to make money, but you need to research in your specialty.

>HF tools that don't suck

is a common subject. Search that.

For example I know painters who buy HF guns to shoot primer or do a few jobs, then throw them away because they cost less than a rebuild kit for a Binks.

Their six point (always better unless working with 12pt fasteners, 12pt sockets are popular with socket makers because easier to broach with less too wear) impact sockets are decent.

>>1275183
samefag here
Just wanted to mention that my dad and I make jokes of harbor freight tools by sarcastically saying we love them and loving their quality.

>>1275172
Hazard Fraught stuff, for the most part, is fine for the basic hobbyist.

I even keep their handtools at work as "loser-loaners" in that I won't cry if they never come back.

all those power tools have bad bearings

The 301 piece mechanics set is an absolute steal. Thier jacks and jackstands work good. Thier high end air tools work great. And most of the automotive specialty tools work fine.

I am pretty happy with most everything i have ever bought there.

>>1275210
>Trusting a harbor freight jackstand with your life
Rip op

>>1275177
Even the disposable garbage is usable at least once.

>>1275172
Their clamps are really good for the price

>>1275229
Hell yes. C-clamps galore

>>1275229
What about their bar clamps?

>>1275177

>>1275243

good for one off or rarely used specialty tools. for anything used often stick with Snap-On

>>1275210
> jacks and jackstands work good
yeah not a fucking chance in hell i'm going to put my life into the hands of the cheapest chink shit on the market. you DO NOT cheap out on shit like that

>>1275247

If you can't tell the difference between a good quality tool and a poor quality tool by looking at and handling it, cheap tools should be fine for you.

>>1275172
Some of the low end stuffs are complete garbage.

If you want a good source of 12 gauge copper wire and don't care about the color (it's like red, yellow, white, brown, green) get their trailer wiring harness kit for like 7 bucks. 25ft in length.

Just posting this here in case anyone doesn't know about it. They will scan the coupons right off your phone. If it won't scan they'll just enter the code beneath the bar code. Great for the free shit they always give out.

www.hfqpdb.com

Most of their stuff is fine, but don't trust anything from there that your life depends on (*ahem* jack stands). Except maybe the rubber gloves and face masks, they're fine.

>>1275247
I have the HF 2 1/2 low pro jack.
Have had it for nearly 10 years, and it works flawlessly. It's spent probably 2 full years outside, and I just have to lube up the pistons once in a while.
10/10 would risk my life on 80 dollar jack again

>>1275450
>10/10 would risk my life on 80 dollar jack again

nobody should trust any jack that doesn't have some sort of locking device. Use jack stands or equivalent with any jack.

>>1275172
It's pretty hard to fuck up a clamp. So long as it's not pic related kind of clamp. They'll slip and have shitty clamping power.
If it's the screw type, there should be no problems. I have several screw clamps from them, and they work fine.

>>1275172
if you dont own any clamps, they're great. you probably have no need for clamps so they're even better because they're cheap. nobody told me when i got into joinery about clamps. they're just not mentioned on any diy instructables or books. mostly because they're piece of shit entertainment clickbait.

decide if you just need to nigger rig something back together or you actually need glue joints.

>>1275172
Harbor freight has some good stuff and a lot of crap. The clamps will do the job and perform fine. Not that lowes has the best clamps but you'll notice they are a little heavier gauge and not as flexible as the harbor freight ones. If you're on a budget and not using them every day then go ahead and get them you'll probably be satisfied with your purchase.
A couple recommendations I can give are for their wood lathe tools ( bought after seeing a review on here), step drill bits, mini sledgehammers. Another thing good about the place is they have a good return policy.

harbor freight is the epitome of you get what you pay for.
spend $10 on an air tool? it will have been assembled without any vanes and disentigrate when you plug it into the air line. $300 on a free standing drill press? basically old iron except made in China. $1000 on an air compressor? it'll work better than the 3x more expensive name brand and live to see the heat death of the universe.
of course there are exceptions, the $100 predator 212s are god engines, you can abuse the shit out of them and it will still chug along and it's so easy to take them from 6.5 to 8 hp. on the inverse, the $500 mini lathe is ok, but not $500 ok maybe $250 ok because it has shitty construction and excessive run-out, it takes an extra couple hundred to make it have some form of accuracy.

>>1275483
>If it's the screw type, there should be no problems. I have several screw clamps from them, and they work fine.

check them in store, sometimes the fixed jaw isn't perpendicular or there are serious imperfections in the casting (crank it down a bit)

>>1275172
I mean, they're the same shit as other house brands but for way less

>>1275172
There's a couple of things worth it, the breaker bars are great for the price. If you're not using them a lot the pry bars aren't bad. Basically the extremely simple hand tools are ok, but beyond that not a lot.

>>1275177
>>1275243
>>1275244

moar...MOAR

>>1275207
I agree about the tools with bearings. They suck. HF is like the dollat store compare to walmart. HF is a rip off

>>1275172
My dad and I have been lucky with their hand tools. If and when they break we just bring them back to the store and they replace them.

>>1275172
I've got a few hand clamps and bar clamps that work fine. I think hand tools there do well enough but stay away from power tools unless its a one time deal

Stick with simple stuff.

Their clamps are good and have free replacement if they break. The sandpaper is good can't screw that up.

Anything over $10 I would be really Apprehensive toward

This handcart from them lasted 5 years then the wheel broke. So you can get 3 or 4 house moves out of it. Or just don't lug 30 trips of 200 lb wet wood rounds like I did over bumpy ground.

>>1275234
Trash, but cheap as hell. Good for one or two uses, but unless you are going to need them over and over, they're fine.

>>1275172
garbage that makes foreigners richer and fills our landfills/cost taxes

>>1276212
Meanwhile, my grandfather purchased a Sears handcart very similar to that one back in the 1960s. He used it to haul the garbage cans out to the curb and back every week. We've also moved about 9 times since then. My grandfather has been dead for many years and now our garbage cans have wheels but we still have the handcart. It is still used regularly.

Don't buy shit tools every 5 years, guys. Buy good tools once.

>>1275233
I bought some a while ago and while most work fine I snapped one clean in half the other day. They are made from the cheapest chinesium known to man. My rule of thumb with their junk is if I don't need to use it for precision and my life/wellbeing ain't depending on it (i.e jack stands) its probably good enough

What about their 20ton presses? I've never heard anything terrible about them for being harbor shit. Who else would carry non chinesium manual presses?

>>1276443
Do you guys think ave browses this board?

Things that are great from them at a good price and identical to HD and Lowes brand products at a lower price
>Air compressors and hoses (not air tools)
>Hand trucks
>Chisel and punch sets
>Breaker bars
>Socket sets
>Majority of their hand tools
>Moving blankets
>Latex gloves

Things you should never buy and will most likely not last more than 10 uses at most and are borderline dangerous

>Angle grinders
>multimeters
>Jacks/stands
>Any of their plumbing tools
>All of their power tools

>>1276622
I've had a jack from there for about 6 years now my man

If you don't use your tools professionally they're not that bad, but they're definitely not that great. If you're looking for some "starter tools" go for it. Every time you break one replace it with a quality tool. Eventually you'll be left with a decent tool set for what you actually need.

Bought a floor nailer.
25% off coupon it ended up, with tax, being $79.
Did 300sqft of flooring.
No problems, ever.
Watched a few videos, one guy recommend oiling once an hour while in use.
Kept it clean, oiled every hour.
I was installing Hickory solid wood T&G flooring.

Neighbor decided to redo his floors and bought the nailer from me for $75.
Finished the job for him and he sold it to someone else.

Still use my palm nailer I got for the flooring job and a 3 in 1 framing nailer.

3 years and they still work great.

The palm nailer was $12, with a coupon and the framing nailer was $65 with a 25% off coupon.

Keep them clean, don't abuse and oil them routinely and they should last.

Bought a floor nailer.
25% off coupon, it ended up, with tax, being $79.
Did 3000sqft of flooring.
No problems, ever.
Watched a few videos, one guy recommend oiling once an hour while in use.
Kept it clean, oiled every hour.
I was installing Hickory solid wood T&G flooring.

Neighbor decided to redo his floors and bought the nailer from me for $75.
Finished the job for him and he sold it to someone else.

Still use my palm nailer I got for the flooring job and a 3 in 1 framing nailer.

3 years and they still work great.

The palm nailer was $12, with a coupon and the framing nailer was $65 with a 25% off coupon.

Keep them clean, don't abuse and oil them routinely and they should last.

>>1276622
>jacks
bruh

>all of their power tools
their earthquake impact is some good shit. Bauer is the chinkiest of chinkshit there is though

I use harbor stuff at home and work. Worst experience ive had was with adjustable wrench, they were just to loose. But the tire machine, motorcycle lift, and other items were tits

What's wrong with Harbor Freight jack stands? I own a set and they work fine.

>>1276773

All the trolling shills. HF doesn't cheap out on life or death products. I paid 21$ (on sale) for a pair of jack stands last night and they're all sturdy welded steel. Shit won't break under an average vehicle ever

>>1276790
When’s the funeral, anon?

>>1276773
They are the same as any other cheap jack stands whether you throw a different name on the box or not.

>>1276790
You really want to trust your life to $21 jack stands made in China with the cheapest materials possible and the worst quality control on the planet? Exactly how much is your life worth to you? Sure they MIGHT never fail or they will fail and kill you. When your life is on the line being cheap is never a good idea

>>1276790
>All the trolling shills.
This. HF has been in business since 1977 in one of the most litigious countries in the world.
If people were dying or getting seriously injured from use of defective products they'd have been owned and out of business long ago.

>>1275526
>the $100 predator 212s
I heard those work nice because they're a clone of an older japanese engine. It's a common trend of chinese garbage to just copy old out-of-patent designs from the 60s-80s.

>>1275172

Hand tools are serviceable for light or infrequent work. Power tools are total shit for anything other than once in blue moon use for light stuff.

I was helping a buddy building deck one weekend and is HF battery drill shit the bed halfway in.

>>1276896
you think the "Merican made" ones are actually 'merican made? besides can't really trust the uneducated 'merican factory worker to do a good job any more then anyone else.

>>1277159
yeah, wouldn't trust battery powered tools from HF. I have bought some corded power tools all have been adequate for light duty "weekend warrior" type projects. NOT for full time production work. got a $5 grinder. worked fine but for EXTENDED running times it did get a lil "warm" - needed to let it cool down between grinding sessions. most of the hand tools are fine; hammers, screwdrivers, sockets, wrenches, chisels etc.

>>1276431
>back in the 1960s
and there in lies the rub. american made back in the 60s or earlier is great stuff. but that same stuff today is not as good.

>>1275210
>Their jacks and jackstands are good
Yeah, nah. I have a hf floor jack and that shit drops an inch every 20 minutes and won't lower gently

>>1277188
I've seen a few people say over and over on this board that the stuff in Harbor Freight is basically the same as the stuff in Lowes and Home Depot but cheaper. Maybe they are right, seeing as all three companies source their shit FROM CHINA.

A full sized HF hand cart costs like $60. An American made one is going to cost you about $150. Beleive me, the quality is about the same. Now, finding someone willing to pay that much for a handcart when they can pop down to Lowes and get one for $90 or HF and get one for $60, well, you get what I was saying above. Some people love wasting money just to save a couple of bucks.

>>1277214
there's a big difference between China and Taiwan. Taiwan makes some good shit, China makes the worst shit on the planet

>>1277188
Well, some American made stuff is built well enough to last a lifetime. The problem is its from companies like snap-on or some relatively unknown company that doesn't have a well known quality record. Oh and its 3-4 times as much as the cheap china shit that with average use could last a lifetime anyway.

As much as I hate promoting him, AvE does tool tear-downs of the expensive stuff, average home depot tools, and HF power tools. Lately he's been pleasantly suprised by HF's build quality, and utterly disappointed in average home depot stuff.

>>1276029
What the fuck? Is that walking path twice the size of the roads? Or is it some sort of bike + pedestrian path

>>1277214
>Beleive me, the quality is about the same.
Correction. That should read "the quality is not the same". Fucked that one up bad.

>>1275183
Why the pic, do they cause cancer or something?

>>1277251
If lead paint showed up on some Horrible Freight I wouldn't raise an eyebrow.

>>1277351
>If lead paint showed up on some Horrible Freight I wouldn't raise an eyebrow.

lead paint on a tool would not be a health hazard the way interior paint is. the issue is kids eating paint chips more than anything else, except for workers sanding and creating dust.

so as long as you don't eat paint chips that fall off of your HF tool, or start sanding the paint off, the lead is not going to enter your system.