Gunner wrote:

On Thu, 07 Apr 2005 09:33:40 -0700, Grant Erwin
wrote:

I buy some stuff at Harbor Freight too. I have bought 4 of their 110# cast
steel Russian anvils (all for friends) which is a much better deal than you
can get anywhere else on a small anvil. I am as much of a tool snob as anyone
but I think their "Pittsburgh Professional" series wrenches are very well made.
Hard to find, though. You pretty much have to go look in person. I had a buddy
who bought a 4" angle grinder, got about an hour out of it. Gunner told me
recently that you don't want the blue one, you got to get the orange one for
about $5 more, that one lasts for 3-4 years. I bought a little propane tank
cart for my weed burning setup - it's built OK and there's *no* way I could
build it for that price. I also buy their yellow handled ball peen hammers.
They seem fine to me, and at maybe $8 for the whole set I can't lose.

I said the orange ones last at least 3-4 yrs, cause thats how long Ive
been using mine..and they are still running strong G

I recently went out on the banana peel and picked up their 1" SDS hammer drill.
I haven't had it out of the box yet. It was *so* cheap.

I install a lot of machine tools, lots of redheads drilled into the
floor, and a couple years ago, I bought
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90340

It was on sale for $39 or so. Mine is white, rather than orange or
black.

The ad says no bits. Mine came with 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, a drill chuck, a
star drill and a chisel, all in a rather nice case.

Last week, I sank (24) 1/2" redheads into a concrete floor and bolted
down 3 hydrostatic bar feeders. The same sds bits that came with the
drill originally. Been working find and dandy for at least 2 years of
commercial duty. The 3/8 bit is getting dull though. Its done at
least 200 holes. Shrug

Gunner


GWE

Rule #35
"That which does not kill you,
has made a huge tactical error"

Now that I have a HF store within reach so I can see things in person
I'm a lot more comfortable with buying from them.

On a recent trip I picked up two of the 6" digital calipers at $16/ea.
Those things are amazingly nice for the price.

The quality is far better than you would expect. It's nicely finished,
no rough edges and burrs. There is no little gold "Made in China"
sticker, it's now laser etched in the SS on the back. The plastic
housing for the display is well molded. Auto on when you move the slide
and it even holds the zero. Even the case is well made.

I don't have a gauge block set, but checking some drill bits and
comparing reading on larger stuff to my dial calipers it seems plenty
accurate. Perhaps not a Starrett or Mitatoyo, but not far behind and a
minute fraction of the price.

Back when I did CNC service I dealt with a lot of very good Japanese
machines and we also had a line from Taiwan. Those Taiwan machines were
*not* crap at all, they compared quite well to the Japanese ones.

The quality of the Chinese / Taiwanese stuff is definitely improving.

Pete C.