Shopsmith Forums

I had to perform "surgery" on my son's video game drum set yesterday. He was messing with taking it apart and some soldered wires on one of the drum pads broke loose. I couldn't find my soldering iron (probably still packed from the last move), and it is something I rarely use, so I went to Harbor Freight and got one for $5. The thing would barely get hot enough to melt the solder. But, I managed to work with it. That $5 fix was cheaper than buying a decent soldering iron that might take me another year to use again. And it was certainly cheaper than replacing the drum set. And it backed up my reputation in the family that I "can fix anything."

Let me jump back into this discussion. I made some definitive remarks about Harbor Freight earlier in this discussion and perhaps I overstated my dislike.

First I'm not a fan of Grizzly or Harbor Freight or anything out of China. That said I think I'm getting to the point a friend told me in needed to be at, the other day. When he said, "Get over it we are becomming a gobal economy and we probably will never see the day again where nearly everything is made in the USA by USA craftsmans and USA quality. Fact of life so get over it."

I can relate to Thainglo's comments that using a harbor freight gun as being cheaper than a DeVilbiss rebuild kit. I can even believe it lasted longer in the application (spraying glue). However if I was going to paint a car I would go for the DeVilbiss gun until my heart locked up over the price. Then I would decide how old the car was and how much it was worth.

If I was building a bird house I would use HF screws if I was buiilding an airplane that I would one day fly in I wouldn't.

There is a lot to be said for cheap. I watch the tradesmen. Take a plumber and look at their cordless drill, it is probably a Ryobi. Why because in their environment they will probably destroy the tool do to water. However the Heating and Air Conditioning guy will probably have name brand line like Ridgid where battery are replaced for free. Where the framing people will have Dewalt or Makita which has service centers in town for quick repairs. Each group has their own reasons for owning what they own.

Harbor Freight is staying alive in today's economy because they meet a need, that need might not be your need but it is genuine need nontheless.

I just wish the people of the free world would wake up to the fact that you don't make your enemy your friend because to buy from him. All you do is make you enemy stronger until the day he decides he doesn't need to play this game of buy and sell and just comes in and takes what he wants.

I can't speak Chinese and I really don't want to learn, however I'm old and will probably will have died before that need arises but to make that happen one day is China's plan. If we had bought as much stuff from Russia as we do China, Russia's economy would have never failed and the USSR would still be a reality today.
Justaned

thainglo wrote:Couple of real-world examples for Harbor Freight tools in a manufacturing environment...
We started purchasing their paint guns to use for glue applications in our upholstery process. Our previous guns were DeVilbiss, I think, costing $300. Rebuild kits for the DV guns were $40 versus a new cheapo gun from HF ($14 for the gun). We justified the trial by thinking if we got close to as much use out of the HF, we could throw it away and buy another versus purchasing the rebuild kit. Turns out we were wrong in our assumption... We got about three times as long of use out of the HF guns as the DV guns. Not only that, the guns are easier to rebuild than the DV items. This is in an application that goes 8 to 10 hours per day in 13 assembly cells.

After that first success, we began trying them out for air tools, mainly grinders. Same story - at least as long a life as name brand tools for substantially less money.

Again, just a couple examples where the Harbor Freight products are standing up to an industrial level of use and abuse. Everyone may not have the same experience, but when I'm challenged to lower our maintenance expenses, HF is one of the first areas I look at for "general" type parts.

I have a friend that restores antique cars. He is a "Snap-On or nothing" kind of guy. (I can relate, I own a Shopsmith) Any time I said he should check out Harbor Freight he would just smile and say "not that junk" One day he was in my shop and showed him the HVLP spray gun I got at HF for $40. He keep going over and picking up that gun to look at. Never said anything but you could tell he was very surprised with the gun. Always wondered if he ever got one.

what are u all debating other equipment for . this isn't lumberjocks if any one doesn't know the guidelines they should look. this is a SHOPSMITH site . we know ss has enough problems with the economy . let alone a forum that talks about other equipment . hagd ___ jim

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[quote="judaspre1982"]Jim, if you read the desciption of the forum category for Woodworking Tool Review it states]

What he said.

Ed in Tampa wrote:I just wish the people of the free world would wake up to the fact that you don't make your enemy your friend because to buy from him. All you do is make you enemy stronger until the day he decides he doesn't need to play this game of buy and sell and just comes in and takes what he wants.

I'm not sure I would say China is our enemy yet, but it sure is starting to look that way. I remember when the fear used to be Japan - for about the same reasons.

Regardless, it is foolish of us to outsource everything. The day will come when we have nothing to offer the global economy except our brainpower, ingenuity, and ideas (we're almost there now). That may sound like a lot, but we're not the only ones out there with brains... and brains can relocate a lot easier than industries.

RiotNrrd

riot_nrrd wrote:I'm not sure I would say China is our enemy yet, but it sure is starting to look that way. I remember when the fear used to be Japan - for about the same reasons...

You misunderstand. Ed was stating a fact. During the Korean war, China declared themselves our enemy. That war is still being fought. It has never ended. China has never rescinded and therefore they are still a declared enemy. I happen to agree with Ed about the China government biding their time to come after us. And they are preparing for it with our money, laughing at us the whole time.

After traveling throughout China as a tourist for two months, I have to agree with Tim and Ed. The people are very ingenious and very HUNGRY. Hungry for anything American (yes, American, not necessarily European), which with their huge (and increasingly middle class) population spells impending domination of our economy and then, our country. I'm usually an optimist, but not on this subject.