One thing you didn't mention is their plastic storage containers.. I made a cabinet for mine and replaced my old parts bin. This is much easier to find things in.
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I give these storage bins a higher rating than the plano (usa made) units. 2.99 on sale vs 7.99 at home depot.
Dial fractional caliper
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Wish I had bought this before I bought all my digitals... I bought the blind mans unit from Lee Valley, good but digital is hard to work with if you are not a machinist, and the HF is accurate w/fractions. I paid $17 on sale.. it was $19 plus 20% off coupon.
I have some old drill bit index from them, pretty good. I agree about the modern, the grind doesn't look as good. Tape measures... the free one's are worth the coupon. I also have a fostner bit set from them about 12 years old. Very good.
The 4 1/2 grinder is awesome... I regreased mine and glad I did, it will last forever.
I have an older Staple /brad gun, I wanted it for narrow staples.. never had a problem with it. Thanks for the info on the new ones. I have both the cheap hvlp conversion and more expensive hvlp conversion. both are good, the more expensive is a little better, the holes are drilled finer, and more... very well worth it.
My experience with their sandpaper is mixed. I didn't like their sponges bought 10 years ago... I did like the 6x48 coarse belt that I just bought.
I like their old blue flux welder... works great with lincoln tips and lincoln wire.
The welding mask was $34.99 when I got it. The same thing in other places is over $100 , and no different. I love being able to see before I strike.
I bought a beam cutter for my drill press. Great for $10 and I saw a hint online that made sense. Reverse one cutter and cut inside and outside at the same time... Damn if that wasn't the ticket. The carbide cutters are great.
The gloves.... well like you said... I want to grab the 7mil next time since the older light blue were stronger in the past.
I bought the alloy tap set, I wanted metric and for the price I couldn't go wrong, its good, not great, but good and acceptable.
I normally buy the higher end wheels for carts, but a few carts didn't need them so I tried their blue wheels, They work better than the rubber crap wheels of old, and seem to be carrying the load. At $2.99 on sale I could not beat it.
Their F clamps are good for the price, but were even better when I first encountered them, I notice the rubber covers not fitting and some of them are twisted (casting). But I have bought a load of them since one can never have too many clamps... the wood ones are shit.
Their old Aluminum bar clamps were very good, and so were their pipe clamp 3/4 heads.. One day I'm going to make a roubo bench top for my bench so I can raise my work and I'll use those to tighten the vise.
I have a bunch of their free lights.. small and don't cost anything, so you can put them all around, and when you drop something you don't have to look far to find a light.
Locking vise grips (Kreg style) 4.99 a piece, bought a couple and are great. Not as great as Leon's auto sizing clamps (NICE).
LINK BELTS... used to be USA made, now made in Italy They are green, but as good as the red ones. A little wider, so I am replacing my drill press one so I can get the two belts closer when needing that in between speed. But I use these everywhere else. Awesome.
Step drills. The small set was great for $6.99 the larger set for $8.99 I had to return two sets to get a sharp one. Great for cheap sheet metal cutter. You need the better sales.
Automatic brake bleeder, awesome.. Drifts... bought years ago... awesome
Movers dolly, pick the right one, because most are crap... check the wheels.... make sure they swivel with weight.. only 9.99 on sale. Should have gotten another.
Metal hand punch... no longer stocked, worked great, spent $19 looked elsewhere before hand, same setup was close to $100. Has lasted 13 years. Great for sheet metal work and preparing rivet holes.
Ground fault plug in (used to identify backward wiring and whether the ground fault trips). The best for next to nothing, compared to name brands selling at easily 4 times as much.
Glue bottles... $2 easy to squeeze and haven't blown one yet. Take your gallon and divide it up.
Gotta say I had the same luck you had. I have a few, a few hold better, but all of the quick grip type have sucked from them.
I don't trust them for clamping. I use one with a carriage bolt through to hold my hvlp gun near where I am shooting. But other than that I don't use them.
Hey, I forgot one that I'm quite pleased with -- the $30 right angle drill, which I use for sanding on the lathe. Corded, variable speed and works great.
woodchucker wrote in news:d_adnVcuMOTEfYPMnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@ptd.net:
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How have the batteries lasted? For some stupid reason, many models don't turn off when you press the OFF button. The display goes blank, but it keeps using battery.
I got one of those digital calipers from HF when I had a job that needed it. Since I only use it occasionally, I always take the battery out when I put it away. It seemed like the prudent thing to do.
w chisels, couple scrapers, and a couple roughing gouges.
I have actually seen and used those tools. When giving a sharpening class to my old wood turning club, I had a chance to sharpen them up and try them out. They are a heckuva value and were very well made. Nothing wrong with that M2 HSS either, it is the same steel used by Penn State on their branded tools. I have a bag full of those PSI tools and like them.
LOL! Saw one of the sand/bed blasting cabinets in the nearby HF that just opened in the last couple months. Both of the rubberized gloves attached to the cabinet had failed. Appeared to have disintegrated (in part) as opposed to being purposely ripped or torn by some juvenile delinquent.
HF is caveat emptor playland but as we've all noted they do some things well - sometimes
Not to the extent of pay return shipping liberal, is it? That's been the primary kicker most of the time in decisions against risking HF stuff since no local (
On Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:04:16 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote (in article ):
I'm wary of these.
Bought a 16 ga. cord and used it until the socket end started making bad contact. I though what the 'ell and tried to put a new socket on the end. After cutting away the orange jacket, I saw the wire used was 18 ga. zip cord with no grounding conductor what-so-ever......
Something to watch out for, I commonly use a Tilt Box to set angles on my TS, I seldom use it but the battery was almost always dead when I wanted to use it. I have a cheap brand caliper and the batter goes on and on and on....
Both have cases, the TiltBox brand has a soft case, the other, a hard case. I discovered that the soft case does not protect the unit from being turned on by a simple bump inside a drawer or even in my case holding the case improperly when putting the tool back in it's soft case. I found that after putting the unit in the soft case and immediately pulling it back out that the unit was on again as it came out of the case. Paying attention to this detail has extended battery life considerably.
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