Harbor Freight tools that DON'T suck

[RandyO]

What’s the read on oil versus oil free compressors these days? Always purchased oiled compressors but we’ve also been pretty lackadaisical on maintenance.

I've always been under the impression that oil free compressors make more noise, I have a Rigid oiled compressor, never changed the oil, I do however regularly drain the moisture in the tank

[OneCheekRider]

My impression is that oiled compressors hold up better to frequent use/abuse and in turn last longer. So if your use involves constant cycling to keep pressure, say for air tools, then oiled is the way to go. General household stuff like filling tires and whatnot, oil-free would be just fine with less maintenance.

[FriskyDingo]

if ya don't have one, pick one up on your next trip, don't wait till ya need it, get it for $7 with a coupon
https://www.harborfreight.com/6-bit-...ct+screwdriver
Misplaced my old one, had to go grab this for some pain in the ass rotor set screws. One note, the packaging is a bit confusing, I thought it was a 3/8" socket but it's 1/2". Which was a bitch, cause the set screws were torx, my torx bits were 3/8"...

[petro]

^^ I picked up the Quinn version of this to have “just in case” a year or so ago. I haven’t used it yet but for the price of the Pittsburgh one I convinced myself the bits had no chance of not shearing lol.

With the icon coupon I think I might upgrade my 1/2” torque wrench and pick this guy up this weekend. https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-...iABEgJE2fD_BwE

[daviid]

What’s the read on oil versus oil free compressors these days? Always purchased oiled compressors but we’ve also been pretty lackadaisical on maintenance.

They are trash. We won’t even touch them if a customer brings them in. We tell them it’s cheaper to buy a new one than to fix them.

If you’re going for a new recip compressor, try to get one with a low motor speed. They will be way quieter.

[daviid]

I just bought these for some recent projects
https://www.harborfreight.com/10-amp...ble-64683.html

https://www.harborfreight.com/gas-po...ger-57341.html

The tile saw worked great, I would recommend getting a rubber mat glued to the table surface.

The auger I used to drill some 8” holes for a fence line. Worked really good

[RandyO]

I just bought these for some recent projects
https://www.harborfreight.com/10-amp...ble-64683.html

https://www.harborfreight.com/gas-po...ger-57341.html

The tile saw worked great, I would recommend getting a rubber mat glued to the table surface.

The auger I used to drill some 8” holes for a fence line. Worked really good

what kind of soil ? I have rented similar for sand, but never boney soils, glacial tills or marine clays

[boosten lebaron]

I have that auger with the 8inch bit. I use it on my shit yard that's all rock and ledge. It does well but I really need two people after about a foot to stop it from kicking. In soft stuff its much easier

[daviid]

Some areas are sandy, the other is harder with a lot of roots. The rooty area sucked and I did need help pulling it out sometimes. If the harder packed area didn’t have roots, I think I could have done it easily by myself

[xrocket21]

Picked up a 3900, 5000 peak Predator Ultra quiet generator for the race this weekend! Its so quiet!

[jhawley]

https://www.harborfreight.com/power-...tch-58089.html

Picked up this beauty the other day.
Order new grill grates and they were too big. needed to cut then down a bit.
for $10 i cant complaint at all. Although ive never used one of these. it was sufficnetly sketchy.

[OreoGaborio]

https://www.harborfreight.com/power-...tch-58089.html

Picked up this beauty the other day.
Order new grill grates and they were too big. needed to cut then down a bit.
for $10 i cant complaint at all. Although ive never used one of these. it was sufficnetly sketchy.

Wow... that's DIRT cheap! Might go pick one up.

[xrocket21]

Wow... that's DIRT cheap! Might go pick one up.

I saw one of these at a yard sale once for $10 and thought it was a good deal so I bought it....

[LuvDog]

My old sketchy HF angle grinder is still going strong and I've had it for many years.

[butcher bergs]

I just bought these for some recent projects
https://www.harborfreight.com/10-amp...ble-64683.html

https://www.harborfreight.com/gas-po...ger-57341.html

The tile saw worked great, I would recommend getting a rubber mat glued to the table surface.

The auger I used to drill some 8” holes for a fence line. Worked really good

I have the 15a version of that wet saw and it's been excellent for the countless cuts I've made with it.

The table has a rubber pad installed and other than some small tweaks to get that final bit of alignment squared away, I've pushed a few thousand cuts through it without issue. Everything ranging from 3" caps to bathroom tile.

The most recent job involved some large pieces of slate that required two sets of hands to manage due to size and some of the stone was approaching 80lbs. Weight-wise, I thought for sure there'd be issues with the cuts considering the stone overhung the table by 30" but only saw a variance of 3/16".....which is totally acceptable IMO, all things considered.

Currently on blade #3 and the water pump is just starting to get noisy but definitely happy with this saw


Hope all is well with you, David!!

[xrocket21]

My old sketchy HF angle grinder is still going strong and I've had it for many years.

I have a HF angle grinder as I said, works fine.

I ALSO have an old I think Black and Decker angle grinder from my dad.... that thing is the angel of death. When you hit the trigger the whole thing torques hard to one side. It weighs 5x the HF and has like triple the power.

[boosten lebaron]

My old porter cable from the 80s is like that too. It's way to dangerous to use free hand so it's got a side grip bar on it. Thing eats metal and never bogs down. Dim the lights in my house yes, But never bogs

[xrocket21]

My old porter cable from the 80s is like that too. It's way to dangerous to use free hand so it's got a side grip bar on it. Thing eats metal and never bogs down. Dim the lights in my house yes, But never bogs

YUP, exactly

Its so fucking dangerous. I almost split my face in half with it when I was cutting my STI bumper beam for JDM fog lights.

[loudbeard]

I had to go pickup a dining room set last weekend, went by HF and picked up 10 or so moving blankets. $7-10 /each was a pretty good deal I think! They DIDN’T suck!

[xrocket21]

I had to go pickup a dining room set last weekend, went by HF and picked up 10 or so moving blankets. $7-10 /each was a pretty good deal I think! They DIDN’T suck!

how nice is that table? I was in love with the style

[RandyO]

YUP, exactly

Its so fucking dangerous. I almost split my face in half with it when I was cutting my STI bumper beam for JDM fog lights.

friend of mine nearly lost an eye with an air angle grinder, took his safety glasses out like they weren't there

[loudbeard]

how nice is that table? I was in love with the style

It’s excellent, top quality build….wouldn’t find anything like this at Jordan’s. We’re looking at late summer/early fall for the new house to be finished, so I’ll likely have the top refinished and will get the chair seats recovered. Neither are in bad shape by any means, but want to have it fresh for the new digs.

Also, I’m probably going to sell the hutch from the set. We aren’t china cabinet people, or figurine people, so I don’t really have a use for it. It’s a really nice piece, just not functional for us.

[JettaJayGLS]

I've been using this for mixing lots of materials for a bathroom remodel.

https://www.harborfreight.com/dual-s...q=mortar+mixer

Zero complaints.

I considered the tile saw linked earlier, from a recommendation from a friend, but felt it needed too much precision to go with HF.
Went with a similarly priced RIGID and have zero regrets. Reddit was all about the RIGID, including professionals. Felt it was worth the extra $70 and it came with a stand.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-9...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Garandman]

Bought a rolling tool chest today: normally $399 but there was a 15% off one item this weekend.

Brought it home, unpacked, unlocked - and the drawers wouldn’t open.

This item only allows one drawer to unlock at a time. Under the handles there is a plastic piece you have to slide to the left to unlock. Didn’t find this in the owners manual (in the top drawer), only found it due to a random YouTube video on how to remove them! But still a handy unit.

https://www.harborfreight.com/tool-s...red-58721.html

[RandyO]

Bought a rolling tool chest today: normally $399 but there was a 15% off one item this weekend.

Brought it home, unpacked, unlocked - and the drawers wouldn’t open.

This item only allows one drawer to unlock at a time. Under the handles there is a plastic piece you have to slide to the left to unlock. Didn’t find this in the owners manual (in the top drawer), only found it due to a random YouTube video on how to remove them! But still a handy unit.

https://www.harborfreight.com/tool-s...red-58721.html

I have seen this as a safety feature, so that you can't open several loaded drawers at once and topple the chest over