/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>2683263

it all comes down to the quality. those zip ties might be made in bulgaria at HF and made in china at lowes/HD

>>2683270
i reckon they all come from the same fuckin factory.

>>2683275

youd be suprised where some of this shit comes from.

>>2683263
yeah for shit like zip ties harbor freight is pretty good. i feel like they are basically loss leaders though because you go in there for zip ties and other basic shit then you walk out with a welder and a new set of car jacks because it was all on sale

>>2683263

because as soon as the stuff that was made in america at a certain sale price got moved to china to save money but still sold at the same fucking price, it was a race to the bottom.

Even zip ties, which is plastic and something america still does real well, gets sourced from overseas.

>>2683283
How many welders do you own now?

>>2683270
No zip ties in Bulgaria

>>2683270
A lot of times it's just a matter of better quality control over the same exact item from the same factory...you pay extra because the process of culling the defective pieces out of a batch of tie wraps or whatever is done for you and the cost passed on, while the HF package still has them in it, or was graded to a lower standard.

Same thing happens with stuff like hand tools, the ones that don't pass QC because of a blemish or void in a casting or sloppy tolerances and can't go on to be labeled/packaged as some "better" name brand get sold off cheap and end up in places like HF, Dollar Tree, the $1.99 tool bin at the auto parts store, etc.

Then there's the fact that the whole point of building a brand is to gain some marketing advantage through percieved value, "better" stores and brands market themselves as such so they can charge more for the same product as a less prestigious store/ brand.
Bargain/discount stores use *that* perceived value to sell at a lower price but can make up the difference in volume, and also by pricing lower quality products based on what the market will bear rather than a fixed % above cost.
IOW if a decent hammer costs $5 wholesale and sells for $25 at every "good" store, you don't sell a $2 version of that hammer for $10 retail, you sell it for $15- 20 and people think it's a bargain even though that's 7.5-10 X cost as opposed to 5X for the more expensive hammer.

>>2683307
>A lot of times it's just a matter of better quality control over the same exact item from the same factory...you pay extra because the process of culling the defective pieces out of a batch

that was likely only true for the first generation of manufacturing once it had migrated overseas.

after that, they themselves would also skimp on quality control, or quality in general chasing that margin.

>Then there's the fact that the whole point of building a brand is to gain some marketing advantage through percieved value

which ultimately becomes meaningless in a culture that only pretends that intellectual property exists.

I used to ssy chinesium. Picked it up from AVE. But they are just copying the same race to the bottom like any other mass manufactured garbage. When the bespoke aspect is removed, so is the craftsmanship.

With unlimited energy, there is no need to have mass manufactured garbage. If there is something to be made, it can be infused with soul, spirit, as an essential part of it's operation.

That's what this disclosure thing is about, Energy. And the fight by some psychopathic kiddie-traffickers (eaters) over people who want it stopped. They want control at a level a normie can't conceive of. They murdered Stanley, and many other discoverers of how energetic the environment we live in, actually is. But on the flipside, all those scientists were greedy. They would not give away the IP. Moral defect. Man's not ready for Fire, or The Wheel. They can't see...

Because this HF discussion is really about tools you need to survive. And how quality, like Metabo, Rigid, Red/Yellow is expensive. It's expensive because of energy,

You'll see

>>2683335
i was talking to a friend a couple months ago, having some beers, and i mentioned to him that practically every problem is solved with enough energy.
food? you can run lights with electricity. make fertilizer out of the air with electricity.

water? distill seawater with electricity.

sand to glass with electricity. ore to metal with electricity. split water into hydrogen and burn it for stored power. burn carbon in a furnace, make syngas and longer chain hydrocarbons. make gasoline out of energy and carbon.

everything is solved with enough energy, and we are hamstrung by the scarcity of it.

>>2683289

I was being sarcastic dummy

>>2683263
Home Depot fucks you on consumables. And Harbor Freight buys shipping containers of chinesium from the lowest bidder. Check out their stores, a lot of them are twice as big as they actual retail floor so they can buy shipping containers and shipping containers and warehouse stuff. Also look at the product #s, HF’s will change every couple months or years as they pick up another batch from the lowest bidder at whatever factory.

Protip: get lots of those consumables at Walmart if you can. They’re better than HF quality for nearly the same price.

>>2683263
>same shit
Lol no.

>>2683288
about tree fitty

>>2683441
I had this experience with some of the HFT assorted sets. Those are lifesavers to have around the house, but it’s cheap ass bottom dollar hardware. The single little bags of Home Depot stuff is better for sure, but expensive to build an assorted kit.

I remember the HFT wire terminal kit being super shitty, just trying to crimp them without having the plastic crack and fall off.

Picrel is all assorted stuff that helped but it’s worse than most of the Amazon chinesium you could get for a similar price with free same day shipping.

>>2683263
Once you own market share, you can pick and choose where you push up margins for extra profit.
Lowe's are everywhere, if I need zip ties I'm not putting a ton of brainpower into where I'm getting them. And if I have a project, I most likely need more than just zipties, so I'll grab them while at Lowe's.
Store hopping and buying only sales doesn't save that much money as it wastes gas and time.

>>2683263

>>2683263
Some people have never set foot in there. They don't know nothin about no harbor so they shy away.

>zoomer learns how retail works
Stores have three broad categories of products. Doesnt really matter what they sell be it food or home renovation or electronics. There are high margin profit makers, there's coasting products that turn very mild profit, and there's loss leaders. Loss leaders are sold at a loss to draw you into the store. The store is arranged in a manner that in order to get to those loss leaders you have to walk past their high margin items. Very often the loss leader will be complemented by a product of theirs that is a high margin.

Say a widget costs the kikes $50, then they sell it for $39.99 on special. But the widget requires tape and glue and zip ties. Those products cost the store $1 which they then sell for $7.99 each. Get it?

>>2683263
you can smell the cancer causing chemicals the moment you walk in the door.

>>2684244
burgers are loss leaders for the soft drinks.

>>2684259
McD’s charges like $3.50 for a large fry now, which is like one potato. There’s where the profit comes from.

>>2683283
>>2683263
I don't really go there anymore since they got rid of the coupons desu. I got like 100 of those free lights. I would go in and get a new one instead of changing the battery.

>>2683263
Loss leader

>>2683283
>car jacks
They literally just had a lawsuit because they made faulty car jacks that were collapsing. I like HF, but only for hand tools and other tools that won't kill me if they break.

>>2683340
>everything is solved with enough energy, and we are hamstrung by the scarcity of it.
The sun provides more than enough energy; we just haven't harnessed it efficiently yet.

>>2683263
HF zip ties are no UV resistant and highly prone to breaking as their plastic outgasses.

>>2684345
Lawsuit was the stands which is worth noting. One should never be in position to be injured by a jack.

I gave my (good) stands away years ago because wooden cribbing shits all over stands as do rims in single, nested and "one horizontal with one vertical nested inside the bottom" as used on tens of thousands of vehicles in salvage yards all of which are far safer than any common form-factor stand.

>>2683275
Uline or other UV-rated ties are far better than mystery meat ties and bags are not expensive. Smart play is of course order online.

I don't want the non-UV trash even if they were free.

>>2683357
No sarcasm in Bulgaria

>>2684360
Solar panels are at like 99.9% efficiency. What do you mean we can't harness it efficiently?

>>2683270
>it all comes down to the quality.
The quality is higher than Lowe's/Home Depot though, lmao

>>2684433
Huh? Most common photovoltaic panels are around 20% efficiency. They can get as high as 47% in lab settings, but those are exotic multi-junction cells that can't be manufactured in scale. There have been some recent advances in Perov cells that have promise at up to 27%, but those involve significant amounts of lead in the substrate and will face an uphill battle for adoption.

>>2684496
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't most photovoltaic cells have a stupidly good efficiency when first made, and then it very rapidly degrades after even a small amount of use to your 20% figure? I just recall there being something like that.

>>2684498
No. Older tech cells used to degrade more rapidly, but they didn't start significantly higher. IIRC the current typical standard is that they'll produce 80% of rated for at least 10 years, with some manufacturers offering warranties for said up to 25 years.

>>2684411
>no UV resistant
But doesn't this only matter outside?

>>2684435
Harbor Freight's quality is fine, they're about the same level as Lowe's/HD store brand for hand tools -- of course Lowe's and HD have the Gucci brands like DeWalt and Milwaukee, who def make some higher end products than what HF will ever stock -- but that's perhaps a different argument.

I would avoid power tools from HF, that's one area that's they really aren't just as good. And quite honestly, HF might have decent metal on their tools, but the finish on anything painted is ass, and the grips leave something to desire 99% of the time., Pic related is the rare exception -- plenty strong, grips feel great and like $9. The Kobalt one from Lowe's is like $5 more, but I was at HF that morning.

god I fucking love when tripfags write out long posts and attach a pic and get completely ignored lmao, FUCK tripfags

>>2684556
>Gucci brands
>DeWalt and Milwaukee

>>2683263
Wait until you find out about ebay! You can get the same shit but unbranded from a warehouse in california for even less. It all comes from the same chinese factory anyways.

>>2683263
you are paying too much for zip ties if you don't buy them by weight

>>2684682
relative to HDX and Kobalt? Yes, they are. What was the point of this post, anon?

I knew a guy once who worked at a company where they used a pneumatic compressor from HF. Damned things broke at least once a week, but they were able to exchange them every time due to the harbor freight warranty. They eventually got tired of that and splurged on a good one. But dat warranty.

>>2684674
Thx for the reply ;^)

I love harbor freight so much it's unreal.

>>2684829
>I love harbor freight so much it's unreal.

I wish they would open one up in my area. Closest one is an hour away...

>>2684829
>come buy our punches for more than Mayhew!
The new Icon pry bars are rebranded Mayhew, so I bet these punches are too. On Amazon right now you can get a 24pc Mayhew set for like $130, or a 14pc Mayhew for $72.

Fuck Harbor Freight.

>>2684832
There’s so few things really worth buying there anymore. Even the stuff that used to be a good value got more expensive and you can go get a Husky or Kobalt or some name brand at Walmart for about the same money, tool carts and compressors and jacks.

>>2684899
$99.99 Icon up top, $72.70 Mayhew on the bottom

>>2684899
Thing is the nearest home depot or lowes is an hour away as well... We have a wal-mart, big r, and a couple local hardware stores... Would be really nice to have a harbor freight here for quick restocking runs. As of right now i gotta put together a list and then remember that list the few times a year i make it up there or put together enough stuff for an online order.

I have really slowed down on my harbor freight orders the past few years though. Pretty much stocked up on all the cheap chinese shit i will mostly ever need other than consumables.

I got in on that class action lawsuit and they sent me like $4500 worth of gift cards. After I blew through those i really havent needed much from there.

>>2683263
>how the fuck do they have the same shit as lowes/home depot but cheaper?
How do they sell Tupperware for 20$ a bin? When items are packaged in virtually the same bin for free?

>>2683263
Look at the difference in price between harbor freight no name dremel accessories and dremel name brand ones from home depot. A huge difference in price.

>>2685173
There’s a huge difference in quality on a lot of that stuff too. You may think drill bits are just drill bits until you try to sink the $11 Warrior HF bit set into some mild steel, it sucks compared to the good stuff, and it’s even shitty compared to mid range stuff like DeWalt that you can find on sale for only a couple bucks more

>>2683463
If only there was a Costco for hardware stores. Buying in bulk and having everything on hand would be better than always running to Lowe's.

>>2684411
>One should never be in position to be injured by a jack.
What a retarded thing to say. Might as well say you should never use a jack, but it's still retarded.

>>2684213
it's easier to go 7/16, 8/16 then 9/16 than remembering all the fractions

>>2684244
no store sells things below cost..
They might be selling at zero mark up but never below cost

>>2685576
It's true, dumbfuck future organ donor, you can and should always operate a jack without putting yourself in danger if it fails. What a fucking moronic bit of "logic".

>>2684682
stop replying to tripfags dumbass

>>2684908
stop replying to tripfags dumbass

>>2685576
Holy fuck you're mongtarded. Tell us how you use a jack where it's even remotely a threat if it fails. This gonna be gud.

Meanwhile millions of mechanics like me use stands, cribbing, rims etc slid beneath vehicles and equipment BEFORE we get beneath them. I always plan for jack collapse so I never have a safety issue. The stand/rim/cribbing should bear vehicle weight and be incapable of crushing or failing, not fucking hard.

>>2684504
They're also such shit they outgas and embrittle indoors and of course in engine bays, much to my fucking annoyance. I won't have them around the house lest they mix with anything good.

>>2685588
Costco rotisserie chicken would like cluck wit u

>>2683263
Lowes is a kike store.

>>2685588
>loss leaders

Probably not factory cost, but losing money on a couple things once you factor in labor and overhead

>>2685721
Hey bby ;^)

>>2685721
I'll reply if I feel like it. Zero fucks given.

Bros I just got the 30% off a single item coupon...help

The girl working at my local harbor freight has a nice ass.

>>2686249
>The girl working at my local harbor freight has a nice ass.
>>2686241
>30% off a single item coupon...help

>Hey bby. How about I get 30% off that sweet piece of ass? ;)

>>2686228
shut the fuck up faggot. now reply to me.

>>2686252
Tread carefully anon, last time I fucked the Harbor Freight girl she had nuts and bolts in her pussy and put packing grease on my cock.

Sift through the sands before you go jumpin into the dunes.

>>2686249

oops

>>2684904
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V811652?psc=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=lastbesttool-20&linkId=bb1379a308e5d619fed78299e220a159&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmHINbjg-lQ&ab_channel=LastBestTool

Pretty shit set but not bad to be honest. I bought them right when doc dropped his video but the amazon prices seem to go u shorty after he posts an affiliate link. I also don't use punches very often so a dirt cheap set will do for me.

>>2684556
>>2684682
>>2684707

Festool and snap-on are gucci brands

DeWalt and Milwaukee are more like the carhartt of tool brands

HDX and Kobalt are like your gap or costco shit

Not saying costco clothing is bad but sometimes i treat myself to a pair of carhartt pants and once in a blue moon I'll buy a gucci butt plug.

>>2686241
Read the fine print, it’s 30% off an item under $20.

>>2686426
>Read the fine print, it’s 30% off an item under $20.

Maybe you could just get the cute HF cashier's pants 30% off. That would be far enough to get the job done anyhow!

>>2684556
I agreem harbor freight is trying to sell the hercules cordless line, for big brand prices which is hilarious. Harbor freight corded power tools are good for one offs. I needed to cut a few barrels in half and bought and angle grinder for $15 that it's one use of the one time a year I use it is fine for.

>>2684683
any product suggestions I can look in to?

DAILY REMINDER
if you unironically call it hazard fraught you have basically outed yourself as a moron
everyone immediately knows how deep in the hole you are on whatever boutique brand of hardware you're now stocked up on

>>2686566
+1

>>2686551
What are you looking for? Harbor Freight doesn’t own factories, they contract shit out to Chinese factories that give them the lowest quote. There’s a cheap socket set on Amazon that includes a rebranded Icon ratchet for about the price of the ratchet alone at HF. The McGraw 8gal compressor I have is sold at Home Depot with a better warranty and a Husky label on it for about the same price. The jacks and stands are the same shit as tons of other store brands, even the Snap On knockoff Daytona Pro is sold at Northern Tool with a “Yellowjacket” sticker on it IIRC. Just saw a new Icon serpentine belt tool, it looks like it’s coming from the factory that makes the same thing for Lisle.

>>2685573
there is a costco for hardware stores. its called home depot/lowes you fucking retard

I still have a few rooms to paint and saw this. Think it's worth it?

>>2686754
home depot/lowes aren't membership only stores, you fucking retard

>>2684213
Not using the blessed 13mm wrench
>ngmi

>>2683270
lots of products come from the same factory, there are autists who hunt the items down. almost like same idea as bootleg designer clothes and shoes, cant tell the difference anymore because a lot of them are from the same factory. chinks want to make as much money as they cant and there are no rules there.

>>2683286
>which is plastic and something america still does real well
Based knower. We make so much plastic in the USA that it's crazy.

t. railroad dude

>>2684498
>>2684499
Mine are rated 90% at 20 years. Recent panels have seen a huge jump in warranty length thanks to consumer preference. Batteries on the other hand...

>>2686760
pneumatic stuff at harbor freight is a little sketchy. You might get away with it.