Harbor Freight Tools rant....

[berettafan]

Were i employed by an 'aerospace machine shop' i would be happy to purchase and use the best. Of course i'd be using those tools every day and not once every 6 months or so like i do at home. This was, of course, the difference noted in the comments i found in my research. Accurate is accurate, but endurance may be another issue. Fine and dandy with me.

And there are no chinese wrenches in my tool box. Craftsman and SK are all that you will find.

By the way, i haven't seen you this excited since the great K&N debate of ought six!


PS Charles- If the Chinese gun mfrs. were advertising in Guns & Ammo you'd have been reading a glowing review of their products (which of course would be a slightly altered press release).

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by bpoteat
And, really, what's the worst that could happen if something as unimportant as the floor jack or stands happen to fail?

Please show me one instance of a HF jack stand failing? I have used them for years and they are as good or better than most others.

Oh yea, the last floor jack I had that failed was a Sears.

Give it a break guys. You pays your money and takes your chances in most cases. Unless its a Snap On tool, (and we know what they cost) quality is often a crap shoot these days.

[RickM]

Show me a readily available/locally accessible jack that isn't made in China.


(That's not to say all Chinese jacks are created equally)

[Tim Hancock]

Originally posted by charleskieffner


i have always held chinese box/open wrenches near and dear to my heart when the jaws spread or the box end breaks causing my hand or knuckles to collide with nice sharp rusty objects!

*****!

I have a couple large roll around tool boxes filled with Snap-On, Mac, Craftsman, SK (Snap On micro turn box ends, slim line open ends, stubby box/opens etc etc).

I also have a chinese HF bead roller ($100 vs $500), large cheap box end wrenches (many of which I have ground on and cut to fit a particular one time use odd job), chinese HF 12v winch on my 4-wheeler to operate my occasional use snowplow ($49 vs $300 for a Warn), chinese hole punch set for occasional sheet metal hole punching, chinese electronic calipers (along with name brand dial type and various name brand micrometers).

No one would likely laugh at my shop or tool collection, but if you want to spend $100 + on a Snap on large wrench to loosen one 36mm nut instead of spending $20 bucks for a 1 7/16" chinese wrench to do the one time job..... well then more power to ya!

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

So how do you know so much about it until you buy it and try it? When I see people suggesting the purchase of jackstands and dial gauges from Drop-It-in-the-Harbor Freight, I think maybe there is a need for "someone telling us about it."

[RallyJon]

I had a Chinese grease gun tip once. First time I used it it exploded and grease got on my American flag and an apple pie my wife had just pulled out of the oven. F'in Chinese! Buy 'merican!!!

[Joeaksa]

Thats the reason for forums like this. We have bought and used tools and such from various sources in our career and are now passing along our experiences.

In this thread you have two very experienced aircraft mechanics (and inspectors too boot) who use selected HF products and stand by them. Sorry kids but the HF jack stand is one of the best I have ever seen and I have worked with jack stands for around 40 years now.

After working on airplanes for the last 28 years, and flying them the last 34 years hopefully some knowledge of what a good tool is might have rubbed off on this poor soul.

I buy Snap On tools when I can get a descent price for it, or its something that no other tool will do in this application. I have an HF compression gauge, jack stands, bead blast cabinet, angle grinder, die grinder, various air tools and so on. Their vinyl work gloves are in each one of my cars and airplanes and I used them on a daily basis.

What you are forgetting is that many of the tools sold under various brand names these days here in America are made in China at the same factories that HF uses, then labeled with a different name. Same tool, quality (or lack thereof) and so on, so if you want to call it "Drop in the harbor freight" go for it but you are also painting many tools sold by companies other than HF in this country with the same wide brush.

Now, what is terrible at HF? Consumables like hack saw blades, grinding wheels, some cutters and so on are worthless or have been for me. Bought a sawzall at HF a year ago and an extra pack of blades. Wasted money on the blades, and went down to Home Depot and got some good blades, threw them in the HF tool and went to town.

There is good and bad everywhere. Open your eyes and you will figure it out. Making blanket statements that "HF is no good" helps no one, yourself included.

[M.D. Holloway]

Chris - let me know if you need grease fittings or a lube gun fittings will ya fer Christ sakes!

[charleskieffner]

am i ever gonna mic my pistons or rings w/anything chinese? on anything i own? when hell freezes over!

i'd love to see how long my barrels/pistons/rings on my husqvarnas would last on a nice 115-120 degree day @ 50-1 golden spectro mix!!!!


cant wait to hear 6 months a year from now all the sniveling about "how i blew my motor". and the "blaming" on crappy parts. not the real fact that tolerances were not held to factory specs.

at garrett aviation.........you know that lil old company now known as honeywell............every new mechanic/machinist was given a tooling list. that tooling list could be bought at garrett industrial supply or off campus. not one (1) tool was chinese. nor would any be allowed. PERIOD! if your mics/calipers/dial bore gauges/I.D. mics/ anything were used and/or new they ALL WENT TO CALIBRATION...........PERIOD!

then........at anytime a tolerance was not held by Q.C. dept on a part. (multiple checks and rechecks on every part), the offending mechanic/machinist was summoned to calibration for check of tools. ask me how i know...........i worked in the tool crib ! and i sold tooling for the better part of my life. god help you if you dropped a tool and continued working w/it!!!!!!

you should have heard them SCREAM BLOODY MURDER when mitutoyo started making inroads w/their precision tools. it was damn near a riot. garrett spec'ed starrett("get your starrett from garrett") and employees liked the japanese competition and price. my how times have changed. used to be bridgeports were the porsche turbo of mills. nowadays the japanese have smoked the U.S. in precision tools and machines. why? same reason hardly davidson had to go to the land of the rising sun to figure out precision assembly lines. quality! and repeatability! cost!

but just a little hint...........using non calibrated tools............is GONNA COST YOU ALOT OF BUCKS ON YOUR P-CAR MTR. down the road. gosh i wonder if porsche a.g. uses harbor freight tools in their machine shops and assembly lines???? bet you my paycheck its smothered in KRUPP / KOMET/ and SANDVIK TOOLING!

[Tim Hancock]

F@ck, I just realized I measured the length of a new chain tensioner shaft I made for my chain box on my 911 with a chinese made electronic caliper!

I guess an engine drop is in order this weekend. That shaft may be off by .0005" in length. D@mn.... If only I had read Charle's wise words two years ago when I put those new shafts in!

Hmmm... I used a Mitutoyo micrometer to check the diameter of the portion I sized for the press fit, so I should be OK, but Charles sounds like he is a pro, so I better tear it down.


I better re-make my aluminum fuel tanks for my airplane also as I used a HF bead roller to form the tank strap beads near the ends of the tank.

Charles, no one here is suggesting that you should stock your mechanic or machinists tool boxes full of HF tools, but to claim they ALL are worthless for ALL odd occasional jobs is just silly!

[Joeaksa]

Chuck,

Building jet engines at Honeywell is a long ways from what we are talking about here.

Lets talk apples vs apples...

Joe

PS as a licensed aircraft mechanic I have no choice. When working on an airplane the tool is calibrated.

[berettafan]

Chuckerooni i'm not rebuilding my motor.

I'm setting float levels, checking sway bar diameters, hose diameters, etc.

Not one poster here has stated 'i rebuilt my flat six with chinese measuring tools'.

If my earlier post was taken by anyone to be an endorsement of suitability for motor rebuilding i apologize. I don't think anyone saw it as such though. When the time comes for a motor rebuild i will ask JW, Henry, etc. what tools i should buy.

[RickM]

Just out of curiosity could someone here do a side by side with a US vs Chinese caliper just to see the difference? Surely some must have both at their disposal.

[Joeaksa]

Rick,

Only calipers I have are Brown and Sharpe. When it really counts, I use good tools, but then I bought this caliper back in 1974 for $15, so its been well worth the money.

On the other hand I bet that a caliper from China is not that far off. For misc work I would not have a problem using one.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally posted by charleskieffner


you should have heard them SCREAM BLOODY MURDER when mitutoyo started making inroads w/their precision tools. it was damn near a riot.

Hmmm..... the same "bloody murder" screamed when someone mentions a HF tool that worked well for them for an one time use odd job!

[VINMAN]

I agree with Joe on this one. Ive used tons of HF tools Like he said there are good and bad. As far as machinist tools, I have top-o-the line and HF. I build 800 hp Offshore race motors, Ive used both on them. Never once had a failure due to a mis-measured clearance. The mics, verniers and dial indicators are all dead on with my good stuff.
My blast cabs, stands and once in a while use tools are of the harbor frieght genre. I buy almost all my consumable from HF

[cbeers]

Wow, I am not alone

Chris - let me know if you need grease fittings or a lube gun fittings will ya fer Christ sakes!

Lube!!! Hook me up man!

I have the Elephant Racing stuff throughout my car and want some fancy tips etc. just in case.

Can you shoot me an email or something with available products?

You can PM too if that's better?

cbeers at donandsons dot com

-Chris

[bpoteat]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Please show me one instance of a HF jack stand failing? I have used them for years and they are as good or better than most others.

Oh yea, the last floor jack I had that failed was a Sears.

Give it a break guys. You pays your money and takes your chances in most cases. Unless its a Snap On tool, (and we know what they cost) quality is often a crap shoot these days.

Sorry, man, I was just joking about the wording of cashflyer's post. Kind of like a "how hard could it be" phrase. I honestly have no strong opinion in this thread and didn't realize it was going to turn so serious so quickly.

[the]

Obviously, not every single tool that HF sells is total crap and completely unsuitable for any job whatsoever.

But, some of the stuff they sell certainly is laughably bad.

If you're careful on what you're buying, there are lots of HF items that will get your job done and be fine.

Yeah, I got burned on their incredibly bad sander, but my biggest issue is their shipping costs, "backorders" and long shipping time. When I need something, I usually need it reasonably quickly, I don't usually have 2 weeks to wait. And I hate the fact that if you order 10 items, they take the order, but when you get the box 2 weeks later, only 6 items are in there, the others are "not available" or "backordered." They've given no advance warning of that, the first time you find out is when the stuff isn't in the box.

Overall, they are just a poorly run company selling some ok stuff, but a lot of crap. I don't bother with them anymore.

[legion]

Originally posted by LakeCleElum
Their ads with the great deals are just come ons to get you in the store.......

Yep.

I had a similar issue with Dick's Sporting Goods. They had a shotgun I wanted, for $200 off the normal price. I stopped by the local Dick's, just in time to catch the only one they had in stock being sold.

They re-ran the special the next week, I drove up to Chicago and visited two Dick's, both were out of stock. I went to a Gander Mountain with the ad to try to get them to price-match. They called Dick's...they told me that they had a policy that they would only price match items in-stock at the competing store. Seems Dick's has a habit of shipping ONE item to each store then putting it on special at some super-duper price.

This particular special continued to run for another six weeks. I continued to stop in the local Dick's to see if they ever got another one of those shotguns. They never did.