junk items from harbor freight

the other thread pretty much extolls the virtues of some harbor freight items.. and i think harbor freight serves a purpose, but some things are just bad news....

this thread is for items that broke pretty much instantaneously...


6" safety wire pliers : broke on first use.


handheld rivet gun: broke on first use. (i just needed the nosepieces anyways..)



dust collector (get the extended warranty!!!! i've been through 3 of these units in 2 years....they don't grease the motor bearings...they really start squealing in cold weather. then they fail. it's easier to return then to tear it apart and grease the bearings. i've done both...)

I bought one of the orange square base palm sanders. What a total POS!!!

Torque wrench. Broke within a month.

HFT should make good on the warranty...

bought a router speed control last year, only lasted about 2 months before dying...,

Floor jack. Lasted about 1 year - roughly $6 per lift.

B

The $3.99 battery tender.

Their zip-ties are cheap too. They break when you're installing them and try to pull them even halfway tight. They get probably get shipped over here because even the Chinese won't use them.

Great. I bought one of those yesterday. Haven't used it. It was for a friend.

Rubber strap wrench. Snapped the rubber off at the handle while trying to loosen a stubborn oil filter. I was pissed for a minute then remember the damn thing cost like $2 so fuck it.

Some friend you are. . bete.

Hmmmm.... cheap slide hammer broke one of it's attachments real quickly.

I'm sure there have been other fails.

I did try that plastic welder long ago and had no luck with that.

All and all I've done okay with HF though.

Must be that I've gotten lucky, I've used the safety wire pliers and $3.99 battery tender without fail for 4 years now.

Craftsmen's is no better, they just don't work on oil filters what so ever, ok for a stuck hose spigot.

Harbor Freight = disposable tools. If you want something to last a lifetime, buy elsewhere. If you need a tool for a one time deal, then Harbor Freight is mostly worth what you pay.

I bought a Harbor Freight End Mill - just love it
Bought a cutoff band saw and it's not great but I'm happy with it.
Press plates -havent broken or bent
misc lathe tools - just fine

HF's quick grips. After sitting in my garage for 3 years, I finally used them. Plastic grips snapped easily. All three of them. Plastic became brittle from being stored in cold & hot weather.

Liquid hand suction pump. Plastic became brittle. Pump would not work after using it to suck antifreeze.

Automatic wire cutter/stripper. What a cheap piece of shit. Not even worth the sidewalk sale price of $2.99.

Multifunction tool. Works great for the application, but needs to be whacked with a hammer to keep on running.

Multimeter. Gotta keep fiddling with the probe connectors to get a reading.

All their recipro saw blades lasted 10 minutes.

I've had good luck with their pneumatic nailers, air compressors, power saws, drills, and generators.

DOH! Next time use this!

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=36778&xcamp=google&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cpc&zmam=13262200&zmas=12&zmac=112&zmap=36778

4x36 belt disc sander. Burnt up quickly. I don't mean "it got hot and quit in a coupla hrs."

I mean "within 30 seconds of no load run time it burst into freaking flames!"

took it back and got another and it did the same thing. Apparently they don't run well when installed sideways.

Tried one of the chainsaw sharpening machines. It's not that it broke, it was just so woefully inaccurate and sloppy it would ruin a decent chain with uneven grinding very quickly. Total waste. They took it back, so no harm.

A $7 hand-file is more accurate and faster with practice, I learned.

the Rigid copy power pipe threader they sell is junk! gave it away after 2 days of frustration. got the Rigid now, $700. more but it works