When Harbor Freight tools are the most expensive

jacks

Member
I bought an HF 7" angle grinder about 4 years ago. Used it to sand off the defective primer and paint on my Dodge truck prior to repainting. Only have put a total of 15 hours of use on it since new. I thought of it as a one time use tool when I bought it. It held up ok for the paint sanding job, but I needed to grind some bolt heads down this week and it released the smoke after about 5 minutes of use. I blame this more on my mistake in purchasing the HF grinder than on the quality of the grinder. Now that I know that I occasionally need an HD angle grinder, I am going to buy a quality grinder (Milwaukee or Metabo) in the near future. The moral of the story is to buy a tool that is more than capable for the way it will be used, and only pay for it one time.
 
mine is probably 10 years old and it keeps going. gears sound like they will self destruct any minute, don't use it every day but do use it monthly.
 
Mine always sounded like it was going to self-destruct even when brand new. It would probably have held up a long time if you don't use it for more than fifteen or twenty seconds at a time and then let it rest a few minutes
 
Also even though it had cooling vents around the motor I could never feel air coming out while it was running. Might have been a good idea to put an effective fan in there with the motor.
 
I bought a Dwalt grinder did't wear out one wheel over 2 years sparks flying junk. so what do you buy to last? I have a Makita 4 inch grinder still good used a lot !!!
 
Tools are also expensive when you borrow one from a friend/neighbor and you break it. Then you have to buy one for the friend/neighbor and one for yourself. Less expensive to go buy one for yourself in the first place.
 
I still have three grinders I got from HF 30 years ago and they've been great. In our shop at the Deere dealership - we had Milwaukee, Metabo, Makita, and Sioux grinders. They all fell apart with use except the old Sioux that was all metal and weighed a ton. The yellow grinders from HF have been great with all I've had. But 30 years ago they were from Japan. Now? I know HF still has the better yellow ones and the cheap blue junkers.
 
Bought a Makita about 25 -26 years ago. It might have 80 - 90 minutes of run time; it works great. It's handy when no other tool will do the job.
 
I have 3 of them. A 7" that I use for grinding, polishing with also a wire wheel and a diamond concrete grinding wheel. I would say it gets moderate use but has always worked fine. I have one of the 4" paddle switch grinders that is my favorite. I've used the snot out of it and its never missed a beat. I also have one of their cheap $9 4" jobs. First thing I noticed was that the cooling "vents" were completely blocked by flashing. Cut that out so there would be air flow but it still gets hot. I never use it for grinding though. I put cut-off wheels on it and use it for cutting exclusively. Still works good, what can I say.
 
Milwaukee has several different 4 1/2" grinders, you can tell by the amp rating, a few years back I bought one that is rated at 13 amps, their best as far as I know, it has been good and feels good. Got it from McMaster I think.
 
I guess I don't understand your problem. You bought a tool for a one time use. It worked for that use. So anything beyond that is free, right? Free isn't expensive.
 
A coworker of mine is a little different, grew up in the islands and is very simple and laid back. Well he was all excited about the deals when harbor freight opened in town. Told him hand tools are sorta ok but stay away from the electric tools. Well one day at work he asked my boss what he thought was wrong with his angle grinder at home, it gets really hot and soft and rubbery, boss asks how much you pay for it, 9 dollars he says! Boss says yeah there's a reason this metabo is 150 bucks, to which he goes wow you got ripped off lol
 
So you used it then it sat around for 4 years? I suppose how you stored it had nothing to do with its failure???
 
I didn't want to sound mean...but think if this was a tractor engine. Gee Whiz I used it then parked it for 4 years and now I am having all kind of issues with it. Stupid (you add the tractor brand)
 
my son cuts tires with the 4 and 7 inch grinders,he bought a Milwaukee,dewalt,blac and decker,bosch.and a harbor freight professional series,all were purchased within a 4 month period,needless to say the harbor freight is still going,the others have all been replaced by a harbor freight professional series,he does blow them out with air every half hour,and once a week I take the cover off and blow them out,which he did that with all the different models.one of his milwaukees from home depot didn't last 10 minutes,i took it back and it was replaced,the second Milwaukee lasted a few months
 
well i have three in the shop and all three are over 5 years old and get used a lot just about every day one has a cut off wheel one with grinder wheel one with wire cone brush. if your was a Drill master brand ya they are junk but for 9.99 what do you expect. mine are the Chicago electric brands and they serve me very well and if one takes a s tomorrow it don't owe me a thing. i would rather spend 20 bucks and get 5 years out of it then spend 75 and get 6 years
 
I have 2 DeWalts and a Milwaukee probably 25 years old each and still running fine. I was a pipe welder/millwright back then. Had stuff packed to move and needed a grinder so I picked up a Bosch 10 years ago. It's still running great, too.

There was a discussion on grinders on this board about 10 or 11 years ago that prompted me to try the Bosch. I don't know if the archives go that far back but if anyone feels up to hunting it there were pages of comments and testimonies on which grinder was the best
 
I doubt they put much grease in them.

My B&D (90's vintage) was getting noisy. I took it apart and the grease was pretty much dried up. I cleaned it out and put in regular old grease and it made a big difference. That was 7 or 8 years ago. It gets used regularly.
 

What???? I but them on sale at $19.95,, 5 at a time. Or at least last time I bought them. I actually bought 10 of them and gave them out as christmas presents one year to the guys...when one wears out in 5 years of use, I pitch it and grab another one. Cheap, and fresh. If they were a bit cheaper, I wouldnt even have to change the grinding wheels.. Do I wear them out after a while,, yes,, but then for 20 bucks,, why worry.


The volt meters on sale,, are cheaper that a new 9 volt battery, again buy 10 and have one in each truck, tool box, and still have spares. I never have to worry about worn out voltmeter leads,,, just pitch em and grab a new one out of the box.
 
Stephen Newell- "I think it was a fluke. I have had four of them for years and they work great."

I also like fluke multimeter. Although, they are kind of pricey.
 
(quoted from post at 21:09:21 03/29/16) I buy dewalt angle grindr. 10 amp. Run the snot out of them. Never had a problem.
Ditto on the DeWalt. I've got one at home that is my "go to" tool for cutting anything metal. How much do I use it? I buy the cutoff wheels by the dozens. We've also got one at work that is used a lot. Can't say anything bad about them. Mitabo makes a great grinder as well. A lot depends upon "how" you use electric tools. A guy I know would run his circular saw hard, not watching its feed speed. stalling it, binding in the cut. Then he complained when it died: "stupid [brand] saw" :roll:
 
I have some HF power tools, you have to remember where they came from when you are using them! I have had good luck with mine, but I only use them occasionally. When I retired I was allowed to keep the tools that were provided for me, so I have a Metabo grinder and a Milwaukee drill motor for the serious work.
 
just bought the heaviest milwaukee sawzall money could buy got whole half hour use out of it last saturday.!!!!!
 
One reason why you don't have trouble is that you got the 10 amp motor. The higher the amperage the better the electric motor.
 
Generally I do buy quality tools 9 out of 10 times when I can. I have a 4 1/2 inch HF grinder I have had for nearly 20 years. It has been used rather hard when I use it but not daily. I have 2 Dewalt grinders that I like more than the HF version but I cannot complain about my 15 dollar HF grinder purchase.

I can complain about the Dewalt hammer drill that burned up with the first couple hours of use at least it was under warranty. I am also disappointed in the Milwaukee hammer drill on my bench that does not work. Its about 15 years old and has had light use since buying cordless tools. I have replace the switch and its still dead. It has turned into one of those get to it someday project.

I did purchase a tap and die set from HF one time. I tried to use it but it promptly ended up in the garbage can.
 
I have a Snap-on [$240] A Mikita [with a splice in the cord 5.00] garages sale and a brand new Riobi [$10 bucks] garage sale. I have power strips on the ceiling and leave all three plugged in by the welders. Each has a different grit installed. If you go to sales you don't need H-F. { Except I was in there buying two slings the other day.]
 
I have several of the "free with purchase" coupon multimeters.

Keep 1 in all my vehicles, they're great for that.

Have used one a couple times on 120v house voltage, but wasn't really comfortable with it. I'll
usually grab one of my Flukes.

Can't beat the price, though

Fred
 
Dont have any HF grinders but thought about getting one and i came across a new black anx decker for $10 so i got it. I used the heck out of a 4.5in dewalt when a dewalt cup brush was bound up and i broke some teeth off a gear trying to get it off. It still works but its days are numbered. I also have a hitachi, its been good so far. The black and decker feels cheap but work good. For Christmas i got a 9in dewalt. Ive been using the heck out of it. It feels smooth and well built and tons of power.
 
Yes bigger motor lasts longer. Also costs more. I once bought a cheap$10 HF grinder. The gear head broke when I removed the grinding wheel.

So I bought two good Dewalts. Have a grinding wheel on one, cut off wheel on other. A wire brush on an antique B&D.
 
I buy the orange Chicago Electric angle grinders 4 at a time because I am going to abuse them. Chinese Freight has the cheaper ones but I do not like their switches. The way I use them I would NEVER buy an expensive one.
 
I have a lot of hand tools in my work pickup. Regular and impact Sockets 1/4" - 1/2" drive, 1/4 to 1 1/2" wrenchs, hammers, probably 90% or more are from HF. I use and abuse them to no end. I can honestly say that I can't remeber the last time I broke a wrench or socket. If I break something I just buy another full set for the price of a single Snap on or the such. I do have better quality rachets and extentions. Only thing I dont care for are the red punch sets. They are soft. Have had good luck with the green sets. Another thing is if I was to lose something out in the field. The Snap on won't grow any better than the HF. If I need to alter a wrench to make it work I'm not out much. I do have some Cobolt brand socket sets from Lowes and I have great luck with them too.
 
I still have my first 4-1/2" orange angle grinder from Harbor Freight and you just can't kill the thing. Reef on it until it's too hot to hold, and it just keeps going.

The 7" orange angle grinder I bought based on my experience with that one didn't last very long. I was using it to slice the end off a loader bucket to narrow it up, and it burned up in my hands. Finished the cut with the 4-1/2" grinder, no problem.

Fortunately I used the 20% off coupon and used the discount to pay for the 2 year replacement warranty. Got a new one but I haven't tried to "abuse" it like the previous one.
 

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