harbor frieght tools

[bigdaddy12367]

Quick question of some of you more experienced power tool users....can I trust a Chicago Electric sliding miter saw?

[Toller]

To do what? It will be underpowered. It will break prematurely. It will not give you accurate angles.

So, if you aren't going to use it much and don't need accuracy, it might be a great saw for you.

[John Thomas]

[e-mail] (bigdaddy12367) wrote in news:jvuzf.143315$Zp.106130 @fe08.news.easynews.com:

Do you have an HF nearby? --- if so, go look.

I was in the store in PDX the other day (picking up clamps); I looked at one of the CMS's (wasn't the slider) -- the blade was binding on the guard as you brought the blade down. The return spring for the miter head looks like it's retained very poorly. Very scary tool.

I like HF for some things -- but I wouldn't trust anything with spinny sharp metal.

Now having said that -- one of our favorite restaurants was having some re-model work done. The guy doing the work was using an HF CMS. I had to chuckle at that.

[Teamcasa]

To do what? HF is the cheapest of the cheap. Remember the old adage, the pain of paying for higher quality fades, but the grief of a cheap tool lasts until you rid yourself of it.

Dave

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[Keith Williams]

I bought the 10" version six months ago and am quite happy with it. It's not a Hitachi, but it's 1/5th the price. One cow-orker has issues with his (stiff slide bearings) and another likes his. I figured it would be worth it if all I did on it was to cut framing. It's actually better than I thought it would be and well worth the $100 paid.

[Joe Barta]

I agree that Harbor Freight has a pretty crappy reputation... and some of their power tools don't exactly inspire confidence. But it seems to me that more mainstream stuff is actually from places like China and that the quality of everything coming out of China is improving. Truly some stuff is not so great, but other stuff is just fine. I wouldn't immediately discount HF, but buyer beware and YMMV and all that.

Regarding a sliding miter saw. I'm still hacking away on an old B&D I bought for a song years ago. All in all it works pretty damn good... something got bent however and even a new blade wobbles just a fuzz. A new sliding miter saw is high on my "thinking about getting" list. At this point in time I'm mostly settled on the midrange 10" Hitachi even though the orange HF saw costs half as much (maybe even less). The HF saw seems to have a rough slider and the thing is just a little on the flimsy side. The Hitachi feels like a rock.

While I'm all for the idea of buying a cheap power tool if your needs are occasional and light duty, I can just about guarantee that if you buy tools on the cheap you WILL be disappointed somewhere along the line. Just figure that in and determine if that's worth the money you'll save.

Joe Barta

[upand_at_them]

I agree. I bought a band saw from them a while back and the blade wouldn't stay on the wheels.

Mike

[leonard]

I have one that about 5 years old and still working fine. that being said, I use it for rough work only it does not cut accurately enough for any fine work.Built a deck with it, some framing, ect. still on the first brushes. with harbor freight its a crap shoot, brother in law bought same saw at the same time and has had very different results all bad. if you have the 100 to though away you could win or lose.

Good luck

Len

>

[Toller]

No, that would be Homier. HF is way ahead of them.

[J T]

Wed, Jan 18, 2006, 6:13pm (EST+5) [e-mail] (John=A0Thomas) exclaimeth:

[bigdaddy12367]

Thanks for the advice....prob worth a trip to sears then eh? lol :)

[else24]

All that being said, I now add that I am very happy with that thirty dollar reciprocating saw I got from HF about two years ago. Bought it for one job, figured if it lasted for just that job, it was worth a shot. And it's been a workhorse ever since.

But my own feeling on those guys is, the more precise the item has to be, and the more complicated it is, the worse your odds get. Not saying you'll always get crap, but I think it gets more and more likely the more you'll be asking it to do.

[Brian Henderson]

Personally, I don't trust much of anything that HF sells that has a power cord on it, but some people swear by theirs. There are some things HF sells that work fine, others, you should run from.

My best advice is find a HF store and check the saw out for yourself. Look for fit and finish and see how smoothly the saw moves. Look at the safety features. Remember that you get what you pay for and you're not paying much, so...

[Joe Barta]

I bought a 4" grinder once for a single job. It wasn't from HF but it was a dirt cheap made in China sort of thing. It lasted for one job... almost. The thing was the most poorly made POS power tool I ever bought in my life. The good news is I saved a few bucks. The bad news is that if I ever need one again, I'll have to buy one again.

Joe Barta

[Steve Hopper]

[W Canaday]

I have their 14" model. Once I had made the simple adjustments called for in the directions that came with it, mine worked fine right out of the box.

As did my 12x33 lathe, my 6" jointer, my 12 1/2" planer, my 6" beltsander.

Don't know what, if anything, was actually wrong with your bandsaw, but your experience is not typical. Moreover, when I did have a problem (slow delivery on some accessory parts), their customer service department corrected the problem.

YMMV. Mine certainly did.

Bill

[Mike Berger]

[Vic Baron]

I have to agree here also. I have their 6" jointer and an el cheapo drill press and they've worked flawlessly. Had a belt/disc sander combo that had the bearings go after 18 months, cost me $6 to fix, kept it for another 18 months and sold it at a garage sale for about 75% of what I paid for it. Also bought their mortise machine - no problems so far.

as you said, YMMV.

Vic

[Mike Marlow]

Funny. One of the very few things I've ever bought from Harbor Freight that had moving parts, happened to be a 4 inch grinder. I was restoring a '51 Dodge and I burned out a Snap-On grinder. Replacing it would have been a $130 ordeal. So, I gave Harbor Freight a try. They had a couple different grinders on the shelves, but I bought a $19 model. It has a trip off switch and the cheaper $15 model had a simple slide switch. I'm not real fond of the trip off switch when you compare it to a well designed grinder with a dead man switch, but the price made me give it a try.

For $20 I really didn't care that much if I toasted the thing so I put it to brutal work. It never missed a beat. I'm still using and abusing it today. I can't really take the position that a cheap tool will always break when you need it the most - that's what my top notch Snap-On grinder did. If I toast this the next time I use it, I'll probably go spend another $19 for a replacement. I can go through 4 of them before I hit the price of a DeWalt and 6 before I hit the price of a Snap-On.

That experience hasn't made me comfortable with much else that Harbor Freight sells that moves, but I do have to say that grinder has held up well.

[J T]

Wed, Jan 18, 2006, 7:54pm (EST+5) [e-mail] (Toller) doth sayeth: No, that would be Homier. HF is way ahead of them.

Amazing as it may seem, awhile back I found one that is possibly even lower then Hornier. They have traveling sales, as does Hornier. I've gone to a couple, or three, and the ONLY thing I could bring myself to buy was the Chinee air rifle they sell - more then worth the price. At the Hornier sales, I actually do once-in-awhile buy a few small, and inexpensive, items.

JOAT If you can't say anything nice about someone, you must be talking about Hilary Clinton.