Harbor Freight..... a good experience.....

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I'm not a Harbor Freight fan at all......... I don't enjoy pulling Commie tags off of tools that then break after a use or two....HOWEVER.....Today I went to buy the band saw from them. It gets ok reviews and the price was affordable. I also was planning to get a table top bender, and they happen to have one there.The bender that they had in stock was an open box. I counted the pieces and could tell it was all there, but it was obviously a return. They gave it to me for cost......At check out the total came to $305. I only had 100 dollar bills at that moment, so when I handed him 4 of them the dude said...... I'll take care of it..... and he knocked another $20 off the bandsaw.....I walked out of there saving $120.......That was my first ever good HF experience.......The quality of the tools........ that remains to be seen..........Precision TIG 185 and MP 210Bobcat 225NTCutmaster 42O/A tanks.... 2 Argon tanks...... 2 C25 TanksFacebook...... F2 Metal WorksETSY....... https://www.etsy.com/shop/F2MetalWorksF2MetalWorks.com....... http://www.f2metalworks.com/
Reply:Glad to hear it! My local one pretty much sucks. The general manager is real cool if you shop there often. But otherwise the workers are buttheads."Where's Stick man????????" - 7A749"SHHHHHH!! I sent him over to snag that MIC-4 while tbone wasn't looking!" - duaneb55"I have bought a few of Tbone's things unlike Stick-Man who helps himself" - TozziWelding"Stick-man"
Reply:Originally Posted by Stick-manGlad to hear it! My local one pretty much sucks. The general manager is real cool if you shop there often. But otherwise the workers are buttheads.
Reply:cool beans now join the yahoo group and you can get it cutting perfect and plenty of add on mods aswell probably a good idea to open it up and remove the original oil and all the metal shavings and replace350P 30A spool gun cut master 51  syncro 250 other stuff " take a dog off the street and make him prosper and he will not bite you sad the same cannot be said for man" i didnt use punctuation just to piss you off
Reply:They were handing out 25% off coupons at Harbor Freight to promote the Easter sale event and ended up getting one of their larger bandsaws for $599 out the door last Sunday.
Reply:They were handing out 25% off coupons at Harbor Freight to promote the Easter sale event and ended up getting one of their larger bandsaws for $599 out the door
Reply:I might buzz out there tonight to get the band saw, lol.Hobart EZ-Tig newbie.
Reply:my made in the usa craftsman ratchet broke the other day and for the first time ever i couldnt fix it...i took it back and they gave me a new one....made in china.  its just the way its going these days and the US Chamber of commerce which is run by US business men is leading the charge.. having said that  i do like harbor freight stuff and that band saw looks sweet.bobs77vet/37ford4drEastwood digital TIG200HH190Lincoln Invertec 155sLincoln weldpak 100sears/craftsman (lincoln) 50a 240v buzz boxO/A rig Harris gaugesnexion cut 50 dxchicago electric (HF) 240v spot welder
Reply:Does anyone happen to know how many times a year Harbor Freight releases the 25% coupon besides Easter?
Reply:Not sure on the 25%, but just google 20% coupon and you get them all the time.
Reply:I can't say the same for some of their stuff, but the made in Taiwan CV handtools have been decent to me so far. I had a "buddy" put one of my poor 3/8 drives into a 3ft tube and wail on it(introduced him to the breaker bar after that). Honestly a bit shocked it didn't have any noticeable slop or break outright.Then again, the global market has put quite a bit of money into Taiwan and the majority mech stuff I've gotten from there has been pretty good. China not so much...Suppose with HF you sort of have to research before hand then pick and choose the better from the flat out junk eg, potentially awesome bandsaw vs airtool that explodes on 5th use.HTP Invertig 221-DV -- get's dragged everywhere.Syncro 200 -- "The Boat Anchor" at the lab.Lincoln 125 MIG
Reply:Originally Posted by LMironworksNot sure on the 25%, but just google 20% coupon and you get them all the time.
Reply:It may also be worth signing up for their emails, and their mailed monthly flyers. The coupons for specific items can save you more than the 20% coupons, if you get lucky with what you want. The "blue flames" auto-darkening welding helmet is typically ~$60. It was $45 recently with a coupon, and I think I even saw $40 with a different coupon. A set of titanium-nitrided drill bits that are normally ~$25 were $10 recently with a coupon. And so on. As was mentioned, checking reviews online before buying seems to be a good idea. I like my HF welding helmet, and my electric impact gun. But there are other things I'm glad I didn't buy there (such as my MIG welder). Nice deal on the saw and bender, Fexal! I've heard good things about that bandsaw (and with some tweaks it sounds like you can improve it). I'd love to have something like that around, but I don't have the room, nor can I justify the cost, so I'll keep cutting stuff with my HF angle grinder for now
Reply:Fexal, I bought that saw a couple months ago. Unbelievable but it was good to go out of the box.  Tips - get a better blade. I got one at N Tool up on I 35 and it cuts soooo much faster.  Not even a bimetal. The HF blade lasted about an hour.  Also, don't crank thE tension up too high on the blade. You will read that it needs to be gorilla tight, but mine cuts straighter with more normal tension.  Last, there is a bit of looseness in my hinge pin... enough to allow the cut to pull off a bit as the spring tension increases.  Don't crank up the spring tension too much as it will pull the saw off at an angle due to that play.  I may replace the hinge with a pillow bearing per a website I read about tuning these Chinese saws.  Long and short, you will enjoy it.