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

[way_up_north]

Hi guys I`m going down to the United States for a 2 day casino vacation in Niagara Falls. There are 2 harbor freights nearby. What would you guys buy if you were scratch building?

I have many of the tools on the kit builder manuals list. But I was curious is you guys have some favorite cheap tools I should consider

I`m buying some deep throat C-clamps, as those are very hard to find here in Canada. and a set of through punches.

Michael In Canada

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Electric metal shear

https://www.harborfreight.com/14-gauge-4-amp-heavy-duty-metal-shears-62213.html

30” bending brake

https://www.harborfreight.com/30-in-bending-brake-61791.html

9 mil nitrile gloves

https://www.harborfreight.com/9-mil-nitrile-powder-free-gloves-50-pc-x-large-68512.html

Those are a few of my faves. If you’re flying, though, the brake will be tough to fit into your luggage.

[Chewie]

Vice grips

https://m.harborfreight.com/11-in-swivel-pad-locking-pliers-60820.html

Drill press clamps

https://m.harborfreight.com/9-inch-drill-press-locking-clamp-36221.html

[way_up_north]

im going to buy the gloves, electric shear, swivel vice grips and drill press clamps for sure

how good are the electric shears for cutting, do you use them for finish cutting or do you cut close and then disk sand it to the line?

[BTAZ]

One of the small air powered belt sanders(as pictured) and belts

[Chris In Milwaukee]

im going to buy the gloves, electric shear, swivel vice grips and drill press clamps for sure

how good are the electric shears for cutting, do you use them for finish cutting or do you cut close and then disk sand it to the line?

It does a nice job. Depending on the plastic coating onyour aluminum, it will occasionally hang up (not cut the plastic cleanly). I get close to the line, use the router method to tackle the remainder.

https://bearhawkforums.com/forum/bea...ng-a-rib-party

They don’t cut curves well at all, but are great when you need to cut a lot of material quickly in a relatively straight path. Note you’ll lose about 1/4” of material with them, so make sure you leave enough space between blanks should you choose to use them. Also, the device is kinda heavy, so you’ll get your Popeye forearm workout after a short period.

[Zzz]

Step drills of varying sizes.
A few number drill sets.
Automatic centerpunch.
Small parts organizer boxes.
Several boxes of nitrile gloves.

I treated myself to a powder coating setup recently, works great.

[bergy]

I love their white (goatskin??) leather cloves. Do not use them much on my Patrol project, but my wife and I use them for most everything else.
My one rule when buying anything at HF. Do your own QC before you put anything in the cart. Check that every screw is in a properly tapped hole, that all the castings are solid and not filled with spongy air-bubbles and slag covered up with a heavy coat of paint. Check that air fittings are properly threaded and/or tapped to the bottom. I have had less than successful experiences connecting quick-connect fittings form HF with other Chinese air-tool fittings. All my HF air-fitting make a good seal with the other HF fittings (the steel ones). I originally had a bunch of local building-center (Menard's) fittings (the pretty brass ones) that do not connect at all well with HF stuff; in fact the brass ones from Menards do not connect well with brass fittings bundled/purchased together in the same shrink-wrapped package.

I would not take home HF drill-bits if they were free, unless I was drilling only wood.

Check that all adjustment screws move through their complete range.

I have so far been satisfied with their paint spray-guns. On sale a new HF HVLP gun is cost-competitive with the quantity of MEK needed to wash/clean a fancy one.

I've had good luck with a HF angle grinder, so I bought one for my son-in-law. It lasted about one day.
Their angle-grinder cut-off wheels and grinding wheels have been OK. Their bench-grinder wheels have be out-of-round and poorly balanced. I've had good luck with one wire wheel, I intend to bring another back to HF because it is way out-of-balance

[Chewie]

I would not take home HF drill-bits if they were free, unless I was drilling only wood.

Ditto. Unless you're going for triangular holes.

[way_up_north]

i bought the 12 inch disk sander $169.99 and 2 extra disks for 5.99. my 6 inch disk sander has such a poor table it hard to keep the wood form steady against the wheel. I bought almost everything else you guys mentioned on here.

transfer punch set
drill press vise clamp
deep throat c-clamps
swivel vise grip clamps
metal shear

Im in the wood working stage of the build, what do you guys use the nitrile gloves for?



Thank you very much for the tips

[whee]

I've used the same set of HF step bits on many projects including a complete overhaul of my aluminum river boat and my BH project. I think they are fantastic.

I bought their $250 metal band saw and it has worked great. The blade that is included sucks but I just buy quality blades at my local power tool store. I'd buy another for sure.

Make sure to look for coupons before you buy. There is always a 20% off available.

[jaredyates]

I also like the step drills. The twist drills, not so much.

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Im in the wood working stage of the build, what do you guys use the nitrile gloves for?

Nothing on the airplane

Actually, if you plan on using poly or epoxy on MDF forms to harden edges, it’ll keep the gunk off your hands. Otherwise, I use them while painting, staining, or other chemically-related activities to keep my hands clean. They’re also durable when working on your car engine (or airplane engine) or other dirty work where you want to try to stay reasonably clean.

[jaredyates]

The quality on their socket extensions and ratchets has really come up in the past few years, to far exceed what I find in my old Craftsman ratchets. I even bought one HF 1/4" ratchet specifically to cut most of the handle off, since it was cheaper than buying a stubby, and I can live with the end not being plated.

[Bdflies]

I'm with Chris. I use the 7 mil gloves, not the 9mil ones, cause the lighter ones are just a hair less intrusive and a good bit cheaper. The gloves offer a bit of protection for your hands and also a bit of protection for the stuff you're working on. When your gloves get dirty or greasy, pop them off and slip on a new pair. I buy 3 or 4 boxes at a time.

Bill

[JJohnston]

I've been happy with the air hose reel and the engine hoist. I haven't hoisted an engine with it yet, but I did use it to put a heavy bandsaw onto its stand.