HF tool pass/fail

Ah, ok. I'm giving the pass to the press on pulley remover and installer tool 40749

Pass: 1/2" drive digital torque adaptor. People have tested these and they're quite accurate. You can use them to calibrate your click torque wrenches.

http://m.harborfreight.com/12-in-drive-digital-torque-adapter-68283.html?utm_referrer=direct%2Fnot%20provided

The Hardy black 9mil nitrile gloves: pass.

They are way more expensive than the blue ones, but when I'm done working for the night, I leave them on the toolbox inside out to dry the sweat and then I use them the next day. I've gotten an entire week out of a single pair working in the garage for 2-4 hours a night. With reuse, they're way way way cheaper!

Yes, I do sort of squeak when I walk, why does everyone keep asking me that?

The Chicago Electric wire wrap is pretty good, too. It's a little hard to slip the wire bundles into the split, but that just means it's harder for them to fall out later.

Fail: Drill Master 61659 6" cut off saw. First one died with a terrible screaming sound within 20 cuts of 3/8" threaded rod. Exchanged and the second one doesn't sound like it'll last long enough to wear out a single disc, it's already screaming. Hope it doesn't last much longer so I can just return it and buy a better tool. Supposed to cut stock up to one inch but there's so much slop in the pivot hinge the disc ends up binding and grabbing till chunks get torn out of the disc on anything more than 3/8" thick in any direction. It's faster to use a 4 1/2" right angle grinder with a metal cutting disc than to use the 6" cut off.

Maddox 11 piece disk brake pad and caliper service tool kit, i.e. in caliper e-brake kit. Pass. $40 after 20% coupon, as good as the $70-80 rental from advance zone. Way better than the cube tool.

Picked up a couple of their Pittsburgh Pro ratchet handles. 72 tooth, some sort of plastic type grip. I got a 1/2" drive with extending handle, a combo 1/4" and 3/8" drive with extending handle, and a 3/8" drive with a rotating head - they call it an indexable ratchet.

Each one was under $20 and they work really well. The indexable head has been pretty useful in getting in to some hard to reach places. The extension handles are awesome for some extra leverage, but they can be a little too long for work in tight spaces. The combo ratchet is a great idea, but in tight spaces, the extra nub can be a detriment.

All in all, though, they get a solid pass. For most situations, they are comfortable and work great.

The portable bandsaw is a fail. At least the current crop of them. The first one let it's smoke out after ~6 cuts of some trim. The replacement is going to cut itself in half. The blade guides don't seem to work, so the blade rides itself into an angle, and is cutting through the frame with the back of the blade.

The bar clamps are a major pass. At a third the cost of major brand at home depot, just can't go wrong with them.

The $3.50 hand held knife sharpener: Fail. Wouldn't sharpen anything, broke about the 3rd attempt.

The 50' air hose reel: Pass. Really like it.

In reply to Dr. Hess:

Is that air hose the curly yellow one from the ad?

It's the red one from the ad. This one: HF Hose.

Goes on super sale for about $50.

Fail: 4-1/2 in. 5 Amp Heavy Duty Angle Grinder. The less expensive 4.3 amp versions last much longer and no noticeable difference in power.

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-in-conditioningstripping-kit-69777.html

Strip paint and condition surfaces with this versatile conditioning/stripping kit

Aluminum oxide coated abrasive wheels are perfect for detail work, deburring, removing rust, paint and gasket material. Flexible wheels are ideal for contoured surfaces Two rust-removing discs for fast stripping Four conditioning discs - 150 and 240 grit

PASS!

This is a 2" x 3/4" BMI reduced pipe coupling. Threads were ground out and casting seams smoothed w/ carbide burr first, was still pretty berkeleying rough tho.

The coarsest wheel didn't piss around and roughed the ID in short order, 150 and 240 wheel to finish, almost mirror-like. This was only at 3500 rpm w/ electric drill, kit has 30K rpm limit.

I see a lotta metal finishing uses, calling it a win at $7.49

Broke the 4lb deadblow hammer the first time I used it. What do you do with a Harbor Freight hammer after you break it, use it as a micrometer?

Dr. Hess wrote: The $3.50 hand held knife sharpener: Fail. Wouldn't sharpen anything, broke about the 3rd attempt. The 50' air hose reel: Pass. Really like it.

Funny, I got the knife sharpener for $2 at a store grand opening sale, and it did a nice job on one of my wife's favorite knifes. Instead of Harbor Freight, maybe the name should be Vegas Freight: Do you feel lucky?

In reply to car39:

They change suppliers so frequently you really can't get a whole lot from a review that doesn't give the item number.

This is the one I had a sub-optimal experience with:

62452.

I thought it was worth the $2 experiment when I bought it.

I bought a rotary hammer drill (Item# 61882) and it worked out great for the one task I've used it for so far. I used it to remove a tile floor in a bathroom that I decided to remodel this weekend while SWMBO is out of town. Got the old floor out, painted the room (when else would I be able to pick the color myself?), and today am putting in the new floor. She comes home tomorrow afternoon and the plan is to get it all buttoned up before she comes back. It gets something off my honey-do list and I think she will like the surprise.

I, too give the thumbs up to the cheapest hammer drill at HF. 21 bucks. I swear the secret is believing the tool will only get you through that one job in which it pays for itself, then it will last forever.

Grinders, you might as well burn your cash

Pass - the little 3" long LED flashlight you can get for free w/ a coupon. I just pick another one up everytime I'm in HF. Battery it comes with is terrible, but pop a decent one in and it works quite well. And, well, it's free!

I'm a 9 LED (free with coupon) flashlight addict myself. I put them everywhere. Here's the secret to getting them to last:

They are made with a piece of stainless spring wire pushing the electronics assembly forward and making electricatl connection with the aluminum body. Stainless and aluminum do not get along very well. I won't go into details, but let's just say "there's issues." With corrosion. Usually when they stop working, it is because the junction is getting corroded/gunked up. So, what I do with these things is take the battery pack out and put 3 or 4 drops of Break Free CLP down in there at the stainless spring/aluminum body junction. That slows the corrosion way down or stops it all together and the things will last a very long time.

Steam cleaner: On a scale of pass to fail, I rate it a "meh".

It's not the wand of cleaning awesomeness that online reviews had led me to believe. I applied it for a while to a grungy engine and mostly got a wet grungy engine. However, it was also able to clean some stained concrete in my garage, blowing the oil spots away and leaving clean concrete in its modest wake (it's only 1500w afterall), and it appeared to do something useful against the Gunge From Hell all over my latest car.

$5 Pittsburg 40 pc socket set #47902

At $5, pass. The ratchet is what you would expect at that price point, and the biggest metric socket is 15mm. For the price, throw one in every trunk and give one to the 13y.o. who wants to work on his bike so he isn't raiding an adult's tool box.

In reply to Dr. Hess:

I will try that. My last set lasted one camping trip from new to not working.

9 Piece Magnetic Metric Nutsetter Set. $5.99 = $5.25 OTD with tax and a 20% coupon.

Tentative pass. I really only needed the 5.5mm, but buying this kit is (as always) cheaper than buying a single quality-type tool in the one size I need.

It's a nut setter. I'm fairly certain it will set nuts. My purpose is to unscrew bolts with 5.5mm heads. It works for that.

In reply to Knurled: Is this the 1500 Watt Steam Cleaner Kit?