Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work.

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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool

just quick report:
got a HF ball joint separator thinking it would work to separate a drill
chuck from a damaged arbor - drilled a hole through the arbor, put a pin
through it and clamped it down with the chuck body just above the vice jaws-
put the separator (looks like a tapered fork) against the chuck - smacked it
a few times with a hammer, and the tool split in half - so the tool is
worthless. Tried a good quality (name brand) tool and it worked quickly
and easily.

Next step, return tool to HF and get refund.

--
bill
to email me, to to my web page, www.wbnoble.com and find my email
or unscramble the following by removing spaces and correcting the obvious
spelling errors

wil lia m_b_n obl e at msn daught com



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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool



William Noble wrote in article
...
just quick report:
got a HF ball joint separator thinking it would work to separate a drill
chuck from a damaged arbor - drilled a hole through the arbor, put a pin
through it and clamped it down with the chuck body just above the vice

jaws-
put the separator (looks like a tapered fork) against the chuck - smacked

it
a few times with a hammer, and the tool split in half - so the tool is
worthless. Tried a good quality (name brand) tool and it worked quickly


and easily.

Next step, return tool to HF and get refund.



You mis-use a tool by applying it to a task it was never intended to do,
and it breaks.

You then deem the tool to be "junk."


I'm not a big fan of the Horrible Fright stuff, but in this case, I believe
they would be well within their rights to refuse to refund your money.

Of course, I'm not expecting you to have the integrity to admit to them
exactly how you broke the tool.


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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool

In article 01c831cd$17dee740$b390c3d8@race, "*" wrote:


William Noble wrote in article
.. .
just quick report:
got a HF ball joint separator thinking it would work to separate a drill
chuck from a damaged arbor - drilled a hole through the arbor, put a pin
through it and clamped it down with the chuck body just above the vice

jaws-
put the separator (looks like a tapered fork) against the chuck - smacked

it
a few times with a hammer, and the tool split in half - so the tool is
worthless. Tried a good quality (name brand) tool and it worked quickly


and easily.

Next step, return tool to HF and get refund.



You mis-use a tool by applying it to a task it was never intended to do,
and it breaks.

You then deem the tool to be "junk."


I'm not a big fan of the Horrible Fright stuff, but in this case, I believe
they would be well within their rights to refuse to refund your money.

Of course, I'm not expecting you to have the integrity to admit to them
exactly how you broke the tool.


Don't be ridiculous. You apparently haven't a clue what a ball joint separator
is -- if it broke in the use he put it to, it would have broken in its
intended use, too, only faster.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.
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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool

thanks Doug - I was inclined to say something unkind to the poster who
accused me of a lack of integrity, you have taken care of it for me so I
won't waste my energy - too many folks are quick to accuse without any
understanding.






"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article 01c831cd$17dee740$b390c3d8@race, "*"
wrote:


William Noble wrote in article
. ..
just quick report:
got a HF ball joint separator thinking it would work to separate a drill
chuck from a damaged arbor - drilled a hole through the arbor, put a pin
through it and clamped it down with the chuck body just above the vice

jaws-
put the separator (looks like a tapered fork) against the chuck -
smacked

it
a few times with a hammer, and the tool split in half - so the tool is
worthless. Tried a good quality (name brand) tool and it worked
quickly


and easily.

Next step, return tool to HF and get refund.



You mis-use a tool by applying it to a task it was never intended to do,
and it breaks.

You then deem the tool to be "junk."


I'm not a big fan of the Horrible Fright stuff, but in this case, I
believe
they would be well within their rights to refuse to refund your money.

Of course, I'm not expecting you to have the integrity to admit to them
exactly how you broke the tool.


Don't be ridiculous. You apparently haven't a clue what a ball joint
separator
is -- if it broke in the use he put it to, it would have broken in its
intended use, too, only faster.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.




--
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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool

In article , "William Noble" wrote:
thanks Doug - I was inclined to say something unkind to the poster who
accused me of a lack of integrity, you have taken care of it for me so I
won't waste my energy - too many folks are quick to accuse without any
understanding.


Hey, no problem -- I've had quite a bit more experience using ball joint
separators than I'd really care to have had, so I know what kind of punishment
they're supposed to be able to take, and it seemed to me that such an ignorant
comment just *had* to come from somebody who likely had no idea what a ball
joint separator is, and *certainly* had never used one. FWIW, I've used mine
for purposes very similar to what you described in your post, and (as I'm
sure you know) one doesn't apply anywhere near as much force in that
application as when actually removing a ball joint.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.


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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool

I made my own joint separator so I could pull the lower wheel off a band
saw. Is it possible I abused it because I didn't know what make of saw it
was? G


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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool



Doug Miller wrote in article
...
In article 01c831cd$17dee740$b390c3d8@race, "*"

wrote:


William Noble wrote in article
.. .
just quick report:
got a HF ball joint separator thinking it would work to separate a

drill
chuck from a damaged arbor - drilled a hole through the arbor, put a

pin
through it and clamped it down with the chuck body just above the vice

jaws-
put the separator (looks like a tapered fork) against the chuck -

smacked
it
a few times with a hammer, and the tool split in half - so the tool is


worthless. Tried a good quality (name brand) tool and it worked

quickly

and easily.

Next step, return tool to HF and get refund.



You mis-use a tool by applying it to a task it was never intended to do,
and it breaks.

You then deem the tool to be "junk."


I'm not a big fan of the Horrible Fright stuff, but in this case, I

believe
they would be well within their rights to refuse to refund your money.

Of course, I'm not expecting you to have the integrity to admit to them
exactly how you broke the tool.


Don't be ridiculous. You apparently haven't a clue what a ball joint

separator
is -- if it broke in the use he put it to, it would have broken in its
intended use, too, only faster.

--


In 40+ years of automotive service and repair - along with race car and
street rod building, I have acquired several ball joint separators -
including the "tuning fork" style that is quite common.

If you look closely, most drill press chucks are tapered on the top -
perhaps to allow the correct double-wedge separators to be used?.

A ball joint separator is designed to wedge the tapered joint apart.

It is much thicker in the wedge than the sides.

If you place it over a side-to-side taper - such as a drill press chuck -
the taper spreads the tips apart - possibly.........TADA!......breaking the
tool.

He probably would have broken a Snap-On separator mis-using it in such a
fashion.




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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool


"*" wrote: (clip) If you place it over a side-to-side taper - such as a
drill press chuck -
the taper spreads the tips apart - possibly.........TADA!......breaking
the
tool.

He probably would have broken a Snap-On separator mis-using it in such a
fashion.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The OP went out and bought a "name brand" separator and used it without
difficulty. Reread the original post.
The radial taper will apply spreading force to the fork ONLY it it is wider
than the gap. Do you suppose that HF makes a separator with a narrower gap
than the name brand? More likely, true to its reputation, HF imports a
Chinese separator made of inferior material. Probably with lead in the
paint. Don't let the baby gnaw on any HF tools.



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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool

I will add to this that the "name brand" tool was forged. Close inspection
of the HF tool showed it to be welded from two separate pieces of steel of
uncertain pedigree. The fracture was very jagged, not the clean fracture
you get from decent metal properly heat treated. And, as Leo pointed out,
the name brand tool seprated the parts very easily with no damage at all to
the tool.



"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"*" wrote: (clip) If you place it over a side-to-side taper - such as a
drill press chuck -
the taper spreads the tips apart - possibly.........TADA!......breaking
the
tool.

He probably would have broken a Snap-On separator mis-using it in such a
fashion.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The OP went out and bought a "name brand" separator and used it without
difficulty. Reread the original post.
The radial taper will apply spreading force to the fork ONLY it it is
wider than the gap. Do you suppose that HF makes a separator with a
narrower gap than the name brand? More likely, true to its reputation, HF
imports a Chinese separator made of inferior material. Probably with lead
in the paint. Don't let the baby gnaw on any HF tools.






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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool



Leo Lichtman wrote in article
...


The OP went out and bought a "name brand" separator and used it without
difficulty. Reread the original post.
The radial taper will apply spreading force to the fork ONLY it it is

wider
than the gap. Do you suppose that HF makes a separator with a narrower

gap
than the name brand?



The reason I own several different "tuning fork" type separators is that
they DO come in different widths.....for various sized tie rods and ball
joints.

Drive a tie-rod "tuning fork" onto a ball joint, and you, quite possibly.
will have ruined the ball joint by nicking the taper with the too-narrow
fork.

Oftentimes, you need a wider fork for the ball joints than tie
rods.......and, if you use a wider ball joint tool on tie rods, you can
sometimes separate the ball from the socket.......

.......hence the need for several different-sized separators.


More likely, true to its reputation, HF imports a
Chinese separator made of inferior material. Probably with lead in the
paint. Don't let the baby gnaw on any HF tools.



I will never argue the point of Chinese "quality." It really DOES suck!

But, tool mis-use IS tool mis-use.

Perhaps a Snap-On separator would have withstood the aforementioned
miss-use......but, it would have been tool mis-use nonetheless.




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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool

let's see here - to use a ball joint separator, you find one whose fork is
about the right width, put it in place and hit it with a hammer. I took a
ball joint separator, put it in a similar situation, though not a ball joint
and hit it with a hammer - how is that abuse?


"*" wrote in message
news:01c83422$284804c0$a693c3d8@race...





I will never argue the point of Chinese "quality." It really DOES suck!

But, tool mis-use IS tool mis-use.

Perhaps a Snap-On separator would have withstood the aforementioned
miss-use......but, it would have been tool mis-use nonetheless.





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William Noble wrote in article
...
let's see here - to use a ball joint separator, you find one whose fork

is
about the right width, put it in place and hit it with a hammer. I took

a
ball joint separator, put it in a similar situation, though not a ball

joint
and hit it with a hammer - how is that abuse?



So, are you saying that it would not be tool abuse if you tried to remove a
pressed-on axle bearing as long as you simply hit the tool with a hammer?

When you pick your teeth with the tool, you are abusing it.






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Default harbor freight ball joint separating tool


"*" wrote in message
news:01c835aa$595defa0$7790c3d8@race...


William Noble wrote in article
...
let's see here - to use a ball joint separator, you find one whose fork

is
about the right width, put it in place and hit it with a hammer. I took

a
ball joint separator, put it in a similar situation, though not a ball

joint
and hit it with a hammer - how is that abuse?



So, are you saying that it would not be tool abuse if you tried to remove
a
pressed-on axle bearing as long as you simply hit the tool with a hammer?

When you pick your teeth with the tool, you are abusing it.



no, what I am saying is that the tool does not have a microprocessor driven
ball joint detector embedded in it - to use it to separate a ball joint in
the intended manner produces EXACTLY the same forces as using it to separate
anything else in the same manner. This is no different than using a 1/2
inch open end wrench that came in an automotive mechnaics tool kit on a bolt
that is on a swimming pool pump -

Perhaps you don't really understand how a ball joint separator is used.
Others have explained it. I am now no longer going to reply to this, I
quite frankly don't give a damn about your opinion, but it bothers me that
you might be misleading others who read this and have less knowlege.



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