/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>1564034
>based HF
the only Hardware Co. for whom shilling can be acceptable. All others are expensive and non-disposable imitation. Wheres the fucking free meters tho?

>>1564118
They take web coupons... I’m training a group of green new guys on appliance repair here in the near future so I’ve been popping in and getting a meter every time I’m close by.. up to about 5 right now.. don’t have to worry about trainees frying one while learning basic troubleshooting.... also debating shorting a microwave oven transformer high side with one to see if I can make it smoke... should make an impression... for the record the cheapest thing you can get at harbor freight is a 24 cent disposable carpet knife... they keep them on the counter

>>1564034
Just left after trying to kill a few minutes waiting for the girl to get off work. Harbor Freight is gonna go to hell. They are releasing better stuff but it costs just as much as the Husky or Kobalt except you get almost no warranty on anything besides hand tools and they keep phasing out one brand and bringing in another more expensive tool so how the hell will you warranty a hand tool a couple years down the line?

Pic related. That Pitt Pro breaker bar is confirmed as the best buy you can get <$50 and is always on sale for $15 with a coupon. Now they have this Icon for $50 and I can’t find any difference besides a number stamped above the handle to look even more like a Snap On tool.

They just released 1/4” hex to socket square adapters for the Bauer and Hercules brands. The cheap Warrior adapters are maybe $3-$4, but go on sale for $1-$2. The Bauer and Hercules ones seem to be identical to eachother, and they look like the cheap ones with black paint and a little plastic sleeve on the shank with the logo. The Bauers are $7-$8, and Hercules ones are around $10.

Also those 20% off coupons are never good for anything worthwhile. Daytona is a HF brand. And they gave you the $30 off because there’s probably half a dozen different coupons for those jacks floating around right now.

>>1564125
I bought a $4 funnel today and was about to get the free meter but felt bad doing it without spending at least $5.

>>1564034
Harbor Freight used to sell Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Ryobi, Porter Cable and all the others alongside their house brands.

I bought a Bugle

>>1564160
This is why Northern Tool is best.

I’m still so fucking confused. HF is selling new $100 torque wrenches as well. Their business model is fucking with my head, what are they doing?

They now have 5 different lines of real power tools that will compete with the name brands, but none of them have a complete line and they all have a shitty 90 day warranty. Hercules 20V line has 3 or 4 tools I think, Hercules 12V is 2 or 3 tools, Earthquake 20V is 2 tools, and I believe Earthquake 12V has a ratchet and a buffer (not sure how long a buffer will run on a 2.0Ah 12V battery). Bauer is the best selection but HF does not sell a cordless sawzall within their 9 brands of cordless tools.

>>1564180
Wait! HF’s website claims there is a Chicago Electric cordless sawzall for $30. Only available in store. 18V NiCd battery not included, and you can’t buy the battery anywhere so good luck.

Thank the lord that they carry quality Hercules and Dia...Mil...Bauer blades even though you can’t buy a Hercules sawzall.

>>1564183
Welp at least we know the $9 set will hold up to dock building.

Good to see inflation hasnt hit Harbor Freight too hard.
Their 115 piece titanium drill bits are cheaper today than they were 22 years ago!

>>1564186
BOOTS

>>1564034

I bought a carpet kicker there 2 days ago.

Used it for the first time today.

It broke within 45 minutes of use.
The pole of it snapped right through the aluminum kicker plate and partially through into the pad cushion material.
Had it gone any further I'd be in the hospital with a destroyed knee.

>>1564222
>I bought a carpet kicker

Why does this tool exist? It looks like a fantastic way to develop musculoskeletal disorders. I mean why not a rubber mallet instead of your knee?

>>1564143
You realize the most valuable part of that meter is probably the 9v battery right?

>>1564237
Meh

>>1564227
>why not a rubber mallet instead of your knee?
I doubt a mallet can generate the same needed force in the process of stretching the carpet.

There is a tool called a Carpet Power Stretcher, that uses the force of leverage to stretch carpet into place, but they are big and expensive.

>>1564227
>It looks like a fantastic way to develop musculoskeletal disorders

True.
Old floor installer guys have no knees left by their 60's

>>1564227
You need one hand to balance on and hold the kicker where you want it/apply pressure so it doesn't slip and put a hole in the wall and the other hand to push the carpet onto the tacks with a carpet spreader, even if you had 3 hands you would need a 20lb sledge to hit it hard enough to be effective
>>1564241
We had a power stretcher back when I was installing carpet, but they don't fit in closets or narrow hallways, the two old guys on my crew had blown out knees so as the dull apprentice I got to kick all the closets in. Fuck that.

>>1564237
Been using one of those meters for quick dirty stuff for the last 5 years the fucker still works fine, broken case and all

>>1564240
>super heavy duty battery

>>1564435
Better believe it.

And it’s funny as you watch some of the common HF products over time and how they switch suppliers and go cheaper and cheaper while stll selling them at the same cost (or free). Pic related. There’s like a dozn cutbacks on these lights compared to the prior batch.

>>1564222
Who the fuck uses a knee kicker anymore? They don't even work for a damn. Get a power stretcher.

>>1564610
I don't even think they switch suppliers, I think they just use a bunch to keep up with them. I have so many of those damn blue lights. I live near a HF so I use them for consumables like gloves. I've probably "purchased" over 100 of those lights. I don't think I've ever had one break, not that there is much to them. I almost feel bad because I just throw them away when the battery dies. Someone recently pointed out that I could just use the free batteries to replace them.

Actually you can use these and northern to coupons at both harbor freight and home depot. Sometimes it takes a little convincing. Tell them they have to run it through manually. Works 100% of the time especially with African American cashiers.

I meant you can use harbor freight and northern tool coupons at Lowe's and home Depot.

>>1564140
They will warranty any hand tool down the line, If they don't sell that anymore they will match a "comparable" item.

>I work there

>>1564183
Hercules sazaw is in the works. It keeps getting pushed back. We were supposed to have them a year ago.

>>1564240
Bruh that thing literally exploded on me last week. I had a cadet heater that kept shutting off, so I was trying to monitor the voltage of the wires to see if it was an electrical issue. I used wirenuts to attach the prongs to the wires, and I was holding the tester when suddenly it popped and exploded in my hands. I assume it was my fault because you're probably not supposed to wirenut the prongs to something, but honestly I'm not sure. It seems the same as just holding them there.

>>1565464
Sounds like you had the probe plugged into the amp port.

>>1565350
So if I break my $20 Pitt Pro breaker bar, are they going to give me the $50 Icon which is the same thing, or the $11 shitty ass one?

>>1565353
Those lines still suck. And walking around their stores, I don’t understand where they will even display the stuff if they actually come out with a real lineup for each brand.

>just realized I've been missing out on free items every time I use a super coupon
FUCK me, I always thought the free item coupon could ONLY be used if you bought a full priced item. The fine print says "Cannot be used with other discounts".

PS What's the best kind of wrench set? My socket sets only get me so far. Is the ratcheting kind worth a shit if it's my only set or should I go old fashioned?

>>1565522
Still gonna carry the Pittsburgh pro series but say they do discontinue it I wouldn’t see why not. Depending on where you are located most managers are pretty customer focused when it comes to that. We get in trouble if the customer complains. There is going to be 600 new items added this year. A lot of the older shitty items are being discontinued/ facings will be cut down. Wait until you see the $6000 icon toolboxes coming out this summer. Gotta make room somehow

>>1565850
Ratcheting set isn’t bad. I have the v groove set and it’s done me pretty well over the years.

>>1565850
99% of the staff do not care and will just run both coupons.

>>1565522
I’ll do a little picture dump from the meeting this year. They do have a solid model setup though. I understand not everyone is going to like all the new tools but for the homeowner who needs to use a socket set to change his oil it’s fine. Checkout the new Zurich pro reader. If ever store sells one a month for this year it will be a 60 million dollar increase to the bottom line. They have a plan and I’m kind of interested to see what direction they head towards. That’s the new icon toolbox

>>1565907
That’s how they are going to fit everything in power tools

>>1565902

hf weirds me out. the checkout people sometimes ask "do this and you get that", and I'm like, "thanks, but I just want to pay and leave".

so the last time, and this was months ago and I've forgotten the specifics, but I bought a bunch of shit along with pic-related. There was some sort of screw up with the gun that she straightened out, and I paid and left. In the parking log I was thinking "damn that was low", so I look at the receipt and the gun wasn't on it. So do I go back in and say, "I'm sorry, but I don't think you charged me for this", possibly making her look bad.

So I drove off.

>>1565908
Synthetic winch’s

>>1565910
Yukon storage

>>1565911
Sockets will be changing in June I believe

>>1565913
Lastly new racks

>>1565909
The checkout people are required to get a certain number of metrics per day/ week. They also get paid to sell both the ITC and the extended warranties. At my old store I had a full time cashier making and extra 15k a year in spifs. It also doesn’t help that we hire from the bottom of the barrel.

>>1565909
I wouldn’t worry about it. Cost on that bad boy is only 40 bucks or so

>>1565910
>>1565911
>>1565913
>>1565914

your trip is missing

>>1565913
They have the Quinn sockets out already. Those ratchets look like the Duralast ratchets from VatoZone, which is a Snappy ripoff. If they’re priced like the Icon breaker bars, I wouldn’t go near them. I regret getting those Pitt Pro flex heads with the plastic selector after seeing the Gearwrench 4pc set for <$90 on Amazon.

>>1565922
looking at the reviews, it seems like the gearwrench might suck. seemed like guys had problems with em. I was looking at picking up that same set to replace my chinkshit craftsman.

>>1565918
My bad.

>>1565922
Yeah they are going to be priced out pretty close to the icons we currently have. In my store we have been killing them though. Sold through 1-2 cases of all of the Icons.

>>1565924
Check out the amazon warehouse deals over at garagejournal. I came across a decent set of protos a year or two ago for roughly the same price as the gearwrench. Or check offerup around you. I have got some sweet deals on single sockets/ wrench’s.

>>1565924
People seem to love em. I have an 84T and a 120T both regular 3/8” drive and they are straight so far. They get a lot more tooth engagement than the Pitt Pro style. And the 84T is the same design used across tons of different brands that people don’t have many issues with. Pitt Pro and other 72T HF ratchets are the same design as the Kobalt and Tekton ratchets, all Taiwanese.

You can see that Duralast in this pic. Same design as the Williams which is basically a Snappy, and real close to the old school Craftsman design. Those new ratchets in the pic look exactly like the Duralasts which are really affordable, the 1/4” flex head was $20-$25. The head is about as thick as the current Pitt ratchets (thicker than GW) but the width of the face is quite a bit smaller.

Anyway after reading reviews on these things, people rarely seem to destroy ratchets without being complete fucking animals. If they have a quick release, the square always shears before any internals go.

>>1565930
thanks, I'll look into that.
>>1565933
fuck the new craftsman at far right, on mine the selector switch is super hard and really mushy. not positive at all. I'll look for williams and duralast if I don't end up with the GW.

>>1565928
They’re fucking up everything that was good about HF. It’s like they want to try and be an alternative to the tool truck. If they want $60 for one of those Icon ratchets, I’ll go to VatoZone and get the same thing for half the price.

There are a lot of dumb brown people tho . I’m guessing you have never sold a Hercules tool to a professional white tradie who wasn’t drunk. And a lot of auto techs are lacking a GED and these people might not have a credit or debit card to order from Amazon.

>>1565935
It’s the same design as the GW ratchets, except the 75T uses a plastic selector switch. That’s what pissed me off about the HF ratchets too, it would be easy to shear that thing off. The Craftsman 84T has a metal switch like the GWs.

Open the thing up and make sure there isn’t any crap in there.

>>1565938
>Open the thing up and make sure there isn’t any crap in there.
yeah, I'll have to try it again. last time I came a little too close to losing an eye.

>>1565936
Hercules mostly goes to the white country boy working on his house/farm. They are trying to complete with some of these tool truck brands. A lot of the lube techs/ entry mechanics usually come in and get the 30 inch 5 drawer in whatever color and fill it with the Pittsburg pro impact sockets, orange deadblows, prybars and the earthquake impact guns in both air/ battery.

>>1565939
Get split ring pliers, those GW style ratchets are so basic.

>>1565940
Is your store in some bumblefuck area with no Home Depot?

>>1566087
Right outside a major city. Just has countryside. There are only 4 Harbor freights around the area. Home Depot is two shopping centers over. You would be surprised at the number of loyal customers we have. A lot of folks won’t shop anywhere but here.

>>1564717
Don't, they actually come with better batteries than the free ones. The free ones have literally 1/10th the capacity.

>get hf 3/8" drive hex set so I can torque important things on my bike
>35 ft-lbs
>6mm

What brand do I buy to replace? How do I know the max torque of the new set?

>>1566132
Oi that sucks.

I know people hate Craftsman because muh Asia, but these kits are solid considering they go on sale for like $30-$40. And there’s another set with long ball head hex sockets and some extensions and u-joints on sale for $25-$30 all the time.

Otherwise take a look at Gearwrench if you don’t want to go full tool truck money. Northern Tool sells nice sets like that as well, their sockets are made by Apex (aka Gearwrench) and their hex and torx sockets look the same and they come on the same nice little rails as GW but the prices are very reasonable for what you get.

>>1566132
>>1566140
Pic related is the aforementioned set always on sale for $25-$30. Despite what you think about Craftsman, it’s a great little set for that cost. That thing got me out of a mess working under the dash in my car and saved me from having to remove the steering wheel and all sorts of shit.

>gotten to the point where he samefags himself with his alt trips on

oof

>>1565522
The Pitt Pro is still available in the picture you posted you dumb faggot. Also IT'S 20 FUCKING DOLLARS, YOU SHOULDNT EXPECT A LIFETIME TOOL FOR 20 DOLLARS

>>1566250
4u

>>1566345
Yeah but I wouldn’t buy half the hand tools without knowing that I could go get another one for free when I break it after a dozen uses.

I don’t even really buy shit from there anymore. I bought a handful of things that are slightly better Taiwanesium versions and then I realized that I could just get Gearwrench for about the same money. The last dozen times I went to HF, it was for orbital sanding discs and a $9 hear gun and nut + bolt assortments and cheap ass epoxy that was 20% off with a free multimeter. I refuse to buy anything with moving parts or electronics that costs >$40 because I don’t trust the 90-day warranty and the extended warranty for any of those things results in it costing more than the same item at Home Depot with a 1yr+ warranty.

Here’s some new shit we are putting up tonight. Gonna have a lot of this new stuff over the next couple months.

>>1566633
Got these in for the change week after next.

The 4x6 horizontal/vertical bandsaw is a pretty great value from HF, and the %20 coupons usually apply to it. The base is absolute garbage, but will more than hold till you can rig up something more sturdy. Or, not, it'll work fine with the base either way.
It is an invaluable tool for a metal working hobbiest. Won't do everything as nicely as a dedicated horizontal or vertical metal working bandsaw will, but is 1/5th the price of either. It's advisable to torture test the machine to make sure there's no glaring defects before the initial 90 return period is up. After that, replacement parts can be ordered from Grizzly, as the machines are identical outside of QC and maybe a better motor.
It might take the slightest bit of romancing to get it to cut perfectly square, but it's all pretty straight forward and intuitive if you have the slightest bit of mechanical understanding. I feel it's one of the best deals from HF, and the only thing I ever bought from them that I didn't at least slightly regret.