Cheap tools

[Lowell Bernhardt]

I was reading the thread about random orbit sanders and got to thinking. I really love cheap tools, both power and hand tools.

I have bought several tools from Harbor Freight and had great luck out of them.

I have a wet tile saw, 4" angle grinder, 3/8" drill, biscuit joiner. All made by Chicago Electric. They are all great tools and I've had no problems or complaints about them what so ever.

Have yall had any luck with cheap tools? Would you rather pay name brand prices or save a few bucks and cheap out? 9 times out of 10 I woudl say that I would have to cheap out. :D

Thanks, Lowell

[capt jake]

You must be careful when buying cheap tools! I have bought a lot of very nice tools from Harbor, but I have bought a lot of junk!

Be wary and read the thread on band soars!! They all come from the same place, nowadays! smile.gif

My wood lathe is exactly he same as a Jet, only several $$ cheaper (bought from Harbor).

[Matt Middleton]

I guess "cheap" is a relative term; I mentioned my $80 sander on the afore mentioned thread, and by my standards that's a lot of money for a hunk of plastic that jiggles around a piece of paper with dirt glued to it.

But to a guy that swears by a Fein that costs 4 or 5 times that amount, I guess mine is is a cheap tool.

And I'm very happy with it, thanks. :D

[EdenRose]

I have my share of harbor freight tools and very happy with them. A great place to buy clamps
when they are in the clearance bin.
I bought a laminate trimmer (under $20.00)to trim glue lapstrake planks (thomas hill method) and when I broke a part off due to
overtightening, they sent me a new one
immediately, no questions asked.
For occasional tools, or to try a type of tool out,
they work out great. HOWEVER, anything
big, heavy and expensive, and important, I would rather buy known quality

[cs]

I personally prefer the name brands but can't always afford them. I have bought several things at Harbour Freight. Usually it is stuff like gloves, chip brushes, and stuff like that. And yes I have bought many clamps there.

The most receant tool purchase from them was a Central Pneumatic nail gun. It shoots either nails or staples and I've been real pleased with it.

Right now they have a 12 volt cordless drill with a keyless chuck for about $16. I've been thinking about going down and getting one. It wouldn't hurt to have a cordless drill to use when working with epoxy. I would hate to ruin my Porter Cable with epoxy. The Chicago electric could almost be considered a "throw away" tool, that is to say if you mess it up no big loss.

Chad

[EdenRose]

Ditto on the brushes, gloves and shop supplies.
Their prices are good and the products are the same you get elsewhere. The tools I buy from them
are ones I only need once in a while like odd
pneumatics etc. I would not buy any edge tools, the ones I have tried were poor.
I bought a pile of hard wood clamps from them
for 1.99 (clearance area of web) and they were good quality, better than the Sears Craftsman
clamps that came apart. Look for sales on much needed deep throated clamps. I bought 4 12" clamps
to try them out and wish I had a dozen more.

[Sailman58]

Add the portable garage to the list of things not to buy from Harbor Freight. After only a year, I was able to put a finger through the cover on mine. I do buy my Nitrile gloves there though.

Ron

[ 10-07-2002, 12:21 PM: Message edited by: Sailman58 ]