A trip to Harbor freight-What would you buy? (or a fool and his money)

[svyolo]

A longtime friend and lifelong body shop owner/manager swears by a couple of their sub 20 dollar HVLP spray guns. He says one of them has interchangeable parts with the 500+ dollar guns his shop is required to use.

[whee]

I have the HF HVLP 'Purple' gun and it works well for spraying primer or latex but absolutely sucks for spraying a finish coat. After trying it on my BH I bought a Devilbiss Finishline 4 off Amazon and their is no comparison. The Devilbiss is still an economy gun but is far beyond better than the HF Purple.

[sjt]

Starter stuff from HF.
2lb plastic hammer ~$7 (bent all flanges) (watch desert bearhawk youtube videos) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7oI_bmVqlg
2 inch clamps can not have to many
fiber disks fine
pnrumatic hand angle grinder see picture
spring loaded center punch (brass color)
12 inch clamps
cheap sander (when they are on sale they are somewhere in the $40)
I made all of my attach angles with stuff in picture.
Cut strips with olfa knive (amazon) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIk3M7DMZpY

Cut to length with school paper cutter.
Modified with toggle clamp from HF

cheap primer gun (like whee said absolutely useless except from priming)
I did find the disposable cups useful
You need a pressure regulator for purple gun
fine mesh strainers for primer

The better 6 inch HF caliper can be found in the $10 area on sale.
I used air drill modified with bulls eye level from home depot or lowes (n3uw youtube videos)
I did use HF pneumatic scotch brite wheels
Rarely used step drill from home depot.

Must have:
I cut my sheets of aluminum with snips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7oI_bmVqlg&t=4s
Somewhere you need to get old aviation shears.
As big as you can find. The HF pneumatic tools are useless for cutting. The old ways are the best.
Somewhere you need to get a circle cutter. The one at HF is to small.
p.s.
Old guys have all of the good stuff but they will not sell it.


WARNING! The most dangerous tool in the list is the circle cutter. You think you are fast enough to reach in and move debris but you are not.
The second most dangerous tool is that paper cutter. I can not believe they let kids use them in schools.

[Zzz]

Ditto. Unless you're going for triangular holes.

Have repeatedly successfully drilled round holes. Perhaps it's my good looks that makes them more compliant.

[Chewie]

It must be the welding helmet.
I dug this up from an old post.

One thing I found interesting - harbor freight drill bits aren't supposed to be high precision, but I had no idea they were so useless. Thankfully I tested a couple bits first before deciding to use them. The hole was so triangular that I couldn't even slide a rivet in...no joke.

[Zzz]

It must be the welding helmet.

Also Harbor Freight.

I dug this up from an old post.

Have never experienced that. My shitty HF drills produce results that look like the bottom. Unfortunate for that user that they're unable to make a round hole.

[Chewie]

I got a free t-shirt for that photo!

[schu]

We talking about step drills? I've never seen one of those make anything but a nice round hole, which is why I rarely use drill bits.

[way_up_north]

At the Niagara falls harbor freight...there are perks to get the wife into the mood to make the trip...

right next door in the same strip plaza there is a very large liquor store . The wife bought 4 bottles of her favorite wine at half Canadian prices

there is tim horton's in the same plaza

if you'e feeling nostalgic. There is a ponderosa steak house nearby(none in Canada for 20 years)
Locals are sad that the American Swiss chalets closed down so we had lots to talk about there

Seneca casino gave us free buffet and free valet parking. Just for signing up . The buffet was Nice, wife liked it

lots of cheap gas around the area. .70 cents a liter

[fairchild]

I have had very good luck with an 1.2 inch wide fine tooth made in America 14 inch bandsaw blade they carry. Only about 8$ too. Maybe not as perfect at the spotweld as a 25$ blade---
but just fine for normal wood and sheet aluminum cutting.
Tim

[PaulSA]

Harbor Freight, Lowes - I just LOVE visiting the US ...........

[Ray Strickland]

I’ve been looking for an easier/safer option to lugging 5-gallon gas cans to the top of a ladder for pouring into my Hawk. My brother, who plays with race cars, put me onto an air-powered barrel pump that he bought at Harbor Freight and uses to fuel his car. I got one and have just completed the plumbing with an anti-static grounded fuel hose from Northern Tools. Looks like it is going to work just fine.

[Chris In Milwaukee]

You should visit the upper Midwest of the US sometime where we have Menards. All the selection of Lowe’s with the quality of Harbor Freight.