HF Tools That Suck

[PapaLion]

"Bought a low to the ground roll around padded seat with small tool shelf below the seat. Got it home and found all the plastic for the tool shelf was broken. Cheaper to rivet it all back together than drive back to return but ticks me off that the box was opened so they must have known the condition."

[PapaLion]

re: " digital caliper"
"Keep your eyes open. There's one rated only 1/10" precision (or maybe 1/16", .0625??) that I decided I couldn't use for anything. I took it back."

[PapaLion]

re: 1/2: impact sockets
"I have to list HF impact sockets as flat out dangerous. Sorry, but HF impact sockets are yet another item from there that nearly got me injured. If they are dangerous they're not worth "free" to me."

[California]

"I bought HF's 90 amp flux-wire welder (#94056) and couldn't make it do anything useful. I took it back. Then I noticed Ebay had dozens of them being unloaded by some liquidator representing HF. Apparently most of them were returned!"

You should cite my name when you quote me verbatim. Otherwise people might think you just make stuff up.

You missed the part where I bought the same model a year later, about 2008, and that one came with good quality wire. As I commented then, HF took a bath on all those 2007 welders and all because of accepting bad flux-core wire from their supplier.

I used this second 94056 welder last week. I was getting minor spitting trying to repair a shovel that had cracked horizontally halfway down the blade. (A real True Temper Made in USA shovel, by the way). The HF-supplied wire is about half used up so I installed the new Hobart wire I bought recently to see if that would spit less on this dirty metal. It continued the same minor spitting, identical. This is the first application where I couldn't clean & grind properly before welding, and I attribute the spitting to dirt in the shovel's cracked gap.

Summary - HF sold one batch of 94056 that didn't meet spec due to bad wire and soon they all came back. Before and since, this model works as expected.

HF isn't Lincoln, I wouldn't try to earn my living with this. Patching that shovel got me through the day. (and it hasn't broken again). I bought a replacement shovel today. This is just the sort of incidental farm repair that I bought the cheap welder for.

Did you see the photo of the office chair underside that I repaired with it? I'm sitting in that chair right now a year later. There's the cost of a chair saved. This welder has paid for itself.

Here's the photo again. I don't pretend to be a pro, this is simply repair work to get me 'back in the saddle'. Very useful on a farm.

http://www.weldingweb.com/attachment...8&d=1255805278

[California]

"their much simpler 'cutoff saw adapter' to mount an angle grinder in was total junk."

That would be me, too.

Ok that adapter is still junk.

[PapaLion]

I agree, and I will cite the author when I can. Since I don't purchase items at HF I simply googled
~ Dangerous HF tools~ and the posts were right at 50 pages long. I tried to find ones which were germane to this site if possible.

[steve45]

PapaLion, you're saying that you don't have actual experience with the items you mentioned, you're spreading crap that you've read elsewhere on the internet. Sounds to me like you have a personal problem with Harbor Freight. I supposed you could take out your frustrations on BP, GM, GE, Sony, Volvo, Panasonic, or any large company for that matter.

If you speak from personal experience, fine. If you come here to spread rumors, you're deranged. After reading some of your other posts, I think that's the case.

[milwiron]

' Harbor Freight claw hammer, made from real recycled steel!"

What are the other choices PapaLion, Real Virgin Steel?

[Sandy]

HF orange 4 &1/2 inch grinders. Cooked the 1st one. Using it for a 4 inch wire brush. Toasted the brushes, springs and all. Even melted the little metal end right into the plastic itself. By the time I got that dug out of the plastic it was pretty clear that the replacements weren't going to do any good.

Chucked it in the can and my wife went and bought me two more when they were on sale again. I smiled and said "gee thanks". One of those let all the magic smoke out just inside at the back end about where the connections come together. Did that after a few months. It went in the can and I asked the lil woman to refrain from buying any more of 'em. She understands. She's a good gal.

The other is still hangin in there after maybe a whole year. Now it's acting up. Slide the thumb switch, push on the cord reinforcement at the back and it comes on with a couple of jerk starts. When (not if) it dies it'll go in the can too.

That's three that were either garbage or semi garbage.

[Sandy]

Some years back I was into wood work big time. I bought one of their itty bitty finishing hammers for some detailed work. I was using the 17 awg to 19 awg finishing nails and sometimes those super hard paneling type nails. The kind that snap instead of bend. Wasn't long before the end of the hammer was flaring out!!! It was down right funny. I just chuckled at what they classified as tool steel and rounded it back off with the bench grinder. Not too long before it was flaring out again. I rounded it off again and haven't used it much since then. We're talking a few hundred nails total here, not after years of hard use.

I won't throw it away because I might need it to tap away on some steel shaft that I don't want dinged up. ..

[DougAustinTX]

Sandy, I have to disagree on the 4.5" orange grinders that HF sells. Those things are AMAZING for the price. I bought a whole bunch of them when they went on sale for about $15 each. They have more power than my Makita of the same size. I don't like changing the attachments, so I keep them in their boxes labeled for what they are set up for. Grinder, cut-off, flapper disk, wire brush etc. I have used them for years and never had one go out yet. I used one to cut through the masonry tile in the kitchen, and also had to cut through the concrete backer board. You can imagine the dust that created. The little orange grinder finished the job but was running kind of rough. All I did was blow some air through the commutator end and it was up and running. Of course the dust had kind of ground up the brushes, but hey, it comes with a spare set anyway. I know opinions vary from person to person, but those orange grinders have sure more than met my expectations for the money.
Doug

[jworman]

Sandy, I have to disagree on the 4.5" orange grinders that HF sells. Those things are AMAZING for the price. I bought a whole bunch of them when they went on sale for about $15 each. They have more power than my Makita of the same size. I know opinions vary from person to person, but those orange grinders have sure more than met my expectations for the money.
Doug

I'm with you! I have a friend who had one go bad, but all mine (6) just keep going. I have many sets of brushes in a box because I haven't had to replace any.

All my angle grinders are HF or Makitas from garage sales.

[Sandy]

I've got 5 rigged up right now with the last and final HF being only one of the five so it's not like I pick on one over the other. In fact I've yet to relegate any of the serious work to the HF cheapies. All the grinding or duties where I have to lean on it hard or run for extended periods gets dealt out to one of the others (milwaukee, bosch, makitas). Milwaukees are kinda hard to get around here with any body style choices. Maybe I'll start looking for another Bosch. My old one is about a 1986'er.

[Sandy]

Those box/open end wrenches. I've snapped the jaws right off the open end of quite a few of 'em. Gradually replacing them with decent ones, one at a time. They do work as a sacrifice type wrench where you want to leave one hang in place on a piece of equipment. If you plan on carrying them for emergency break downs, buy good ones. Nothing worse than having your emergency tools fail when you need them the most. If you're gonna grind it, bend it or modify it to fit then the HF price is right.

[Sandy]

The knock off of the spring loaded set punch is pretty much a joke. I don't think I got ten good whammies out of it before it started whimpin out. Take it apart - put it back together and I'd get a couple more strokes out of it maybe. About three times of that and into the HF trash bin that went too.

[woi2ld]

i second u on that one Sandy..........i bought that one too ( the gold and silver one )thinking xtra laying around .....it's absolute garbage , wont punch for shiit , trash........my USA adjustable " starret " center punch with screw on tip is like 10 years old and still strong

[jakeru]

I am finding out that HF's 3" air powered cutoff wheel (the one that runs on sale with coupon for $7, otherwise always in store sale for $10) sucks. It consumes tons of air, draining the compressor tank in nothing flat. And it's a real "gutless wonder" that I find can barely make any sparks trying to cut even thin sheet steel. I've tried rebuilding/blueprinting it twice... small help, but the thing just sucks inside.

However I love my HF 1/4" die grinder. It was the one that they sell in a $10 on sale kit that came with grinding stone accessories. Big surprise... you would think if one cheap HF pneumatic tool is junk, the others would be too. Its not the case at all. I've used the die grinder so much the stickers have fallen off from being saturated in pneumatic oil. I've taken it apart to clean it and reassembled it. But the thing has great power and "reasonable" air consumption.

And, what do you know, I tried buying an adapter to run a 3" cutoff wheel on a die grinder, and and I find with this setup, I have plenty of power for cutting metal, can making lots of sparks and eating away the metal like a cutoff wheel is supposed to!

However the $2 die grinder cutoff wheel adapter itself sucks, because its poorly designed to it doesn't hold everything centered. It is a very poor quality adapter and vibrates like crazy. I'm going to get a better one from somewhere else.

I like my HF air compressor too, which I bought years ago. I did have to fix a bad headgasket (made out of a material that was softened by contact with oil!) which I cut out of generic, black oil resistant gasket material I found in sheet roll at the auto parts store. And, I added some cooling shrouds to direct all the air right next to the head's cooling fins, and an electric fan for some extra cooling overkill, which allows me to be able to run it "flat out" @ 100% duty cycle.

[milwiron]

HF orange 4 &1/2 inch grinders. Cooked the 1st one. Using it for a 4 inch wire brush. Toasted the brushes, springs and all. Even melted the little metal end right into the plastic itself. By the time I got that dug out of the plastic it was pretty clear that the replacements weren't going to do any good.

Chucked it in the can and my wife went and bought me two more when they were on sale again. I smiled and said "gee thanks". One of those let all the magic smoke out just inside at the back end about where the connections come together. Did that after a few months. It went in the can and I asked the lil woman to refrain from buying any more of 'em. She understands. She's a good gal.

The other is still hangin in there after maybe a whole year. Now it's acting up. Slide the thumb switch, push on the cord reinforcement at the back and it comes on with a couple of jerk starts. When (not if) it dies it'll go in the can too.

That's three that were either garbage or semi garbage.

Do what you've always done and you'll get what you've always got.
Geez, if they're less than a year old and you saved the receipts, get your money back!
Or, keep buying more and tossing 'em, HF won't care.

[Sandy]

Do what you've always done and you'll get what you've always got.
Geez, if they're less than a year old and you saved the receipts, get your money back!
Or, keep buying more and tossing 'em, HF won't care.

Correct, keep buying at HF and there will always be food for the hungry trash bin. Ask for cheap and you'll receive cheap.

I quit buying. Just watching the last few items die is all.

And yes I realize HF doesn't care.

[Sandy]

Did I mention I QUIT buying their air fittings a LONG time ago. Bought quite a number of them till I realized they would not reliably inter-mix with more precision made fittings from industrial suppliers. Some would, many wouldn't. That and the fact that their cheapo springs rust out during humid periods and/or the low grade plating disappeared in patches. That's always neat, go to hook up a fitting and see a big gray splotch where shiny plating was last time you used it. Took awhile to get all those weeded out.

[Sandy]

Years ago one of my kids bought me a HF wire cup for fathers day. Man did that thing ever fling the daggers. Pure torture. Picked stickers out of my gut and legs every time i fired up the grinder. Finally I just couldn't take it any more and threw that one in the can too.

[woi2ld]

Did I mention I QUIT buying their air fittings a LONG time ago. Bought quite a number of them till I realized they would not reliably inter-mix with more precision made fittings from industrial suppliers. Some would, many wouldn't. That and the fact that their cheapo springs rust out during humid periods and/or the low grade plating disappeared in patches. That's always neat, go to hook up a fitting and see a big gray splotch where shiny plating was last time you used it. Took awhile to get all those weeded out.

okay , these R heavy use industrial items for me to comment on : HF regular Quik Disconnects = Garbage for me , leak after a few days / HF " INDUSTRIAL BRAND " Quick Disconnect = a little better , last 2 weeks befor leaking air (so DONT buy'm ) Sandy , its the little plug at the end of the spring that craps out............Amflo and DeVilbiss last a year , usually, but r expensive..........rite now im at about 3-4 months with a Quik Disconnect i piked up at Wal Mart , it's a Cambell Housefeld = quite shocked , i QD 5 dozen timez a day , i wear theze things out i know. was only like , 4 bucks i think, im suprized , doesnt leak a drop of air , industrial at a home stor

[Sandy]

okay , these R heavy use industrial items for me to comment on : HF regular Quik Disconnects = Garbage for me , leak after a few days / HF " INDUSTRIAL BRAND " Quick Disconnect = a little better , last 2 weeks befor leaking air (so DONT buy'm ) Sandy , its the little plug at the end of the spring that craps out............Amflo and DeVilbiss last a year , usually, but r expensive..........rite now im at about 3-4 months with a Quik Disconnect i piked up at Wal Mart , it's a Cambell Housefeld = quite shocked , i QD 5 dozen timez a day , i wear theze things out i know. was only like , 4 bucks i think, im suprized , doesnt leak a drop of air , industrial at a home stor

I wonder what I'm getting at ACE Hardware ? The females seem to hold up pretty good. Got one now that's giving out a bit. The male brass ones do good till I ding the end. But those all seem to mate up good with the ones from NAPA and other places.

I'll start watching the names better and look for the Amflo and DeVilbiss too.

[DougAustinTX]

The absolute MOST ANNOYING things that I have purchased at HF are the automatic tank bleeder/drains for the bottom of the air compressor. Made of solid brass so you think they will work, but the guts of the things start leaking within a couple of weeks. The floor around my compressor is littered with the rejects... which just goes to show what a dumb_*ss I am because I kept buying the same thing over and over thinking I would eventually get a good one. After FIVE attempts, I just gave up and plumbed a curved copper tube to the bottom of the tank with a quarter turn plumbing shutoff and I try to remember to drain the tank every month or so. I can't believe they keep selling those auto drains....

[mla2ofus]

Well, I've bought quite a few HF goodies over the years. I will not buy any electric power tool from them. A few days ago I bought the drill powered water pump for $2.99. Didn't expect much but still got a lot less than I expected. Tried to pump rain water out of my fishing boat which, due to design has no drain plug. The pump wouldn't pick water out of the boat. So I tried taking the 2' hose attached to it off and checked to see if it would pick up water directly from a full coffee can, no dice. Put the garden hose running slow to the suction on the pump and tried that. It pumped some out the outlet but just as much was coming out around the shaft seal. Duh, I guess that's why it wouldn't pick up by itself.
Returned it and traded for a wheel dresser for the same price. Didn't have great expectations for it either and I guess I just had an uncontrollable urge to waste $3.24 that day . Put it to my bench grinder and that's the first wheel dresser I've ever seen that will make sparks off the stone!! So I don't expect a very long life from it either. I've been using wheel dressers for 50 yrs and that's something new on me.
Papalion, on the other hand I bought the HF $44.95 set of 1/4,3/8 and 1/2" sockets 25 yrs ago. I've gone thru all three rachets and split one 1/2" dr socket.I didn't bother returning them, just replaced them w/ good ol' USA made ratchets. Outside of that they don't owe me a dime. I suppose their handtools have probably gone downhill in 25 yrs. I just always tell myself when I walk out of HF: "Remember what ya paid for this so don't get all pissy when it breaks!!".
Mike