I have at least one set of stands that are being recalled. They have had a car sitting in the air on them for the past 3.5 years. I am scared to lower it now.

 

lol - no
I think I gotya beat Lars

 

I have 6 stands that I bought in the time period of the recall that look identical to the recalled part numbers but I've got different part numbers. Weird.

 

Different batches and factories. The issue with the recalled numbers is they were made with worn tooling and the tolerances are far enough off that the locking paul can disengage with a load on it.

 

COVID-19: 34,005 confirmed kills

HARBOR FREIGHT JACK STANDS:

“Hold my beer”

 

I returned 2 pair of stands today. Super easy. Walked in with stands, walked out with a gift card of more than I paid for them!

 

I should gather up however many i have of the bad ones and head down to get some giftcards. The real question is are they going to have replacement ones ready to buy on shelf.

 

They didn't at my store. Fortunately I have enough "good" ones lying around.

 

I have some where between 20-30 jackstands at my house with the vast majority being HF. What I have seen is the that ones with the recall part number seem to have some sparkly flakes in the grey paint. Verse the ones that are not being recalled are far more full grey.

 

They didn't have any at my location. Theyre hopefully doing some testing on remaining stock to make sure people arent going to die. But probably not. Probably just sold out.

 

you left off a zero. it's closer to 346,000.

 

I got the Harbor Freight letter in the mail. I'm 99.9% sure mine are the semen demon stands.

 

Plasma cutters from HG

Any recommendations?

Cutting mostly 1/4” steel and thinner. Or aluminum.

 

Oh wow, i was actually expecting a deal... That's not much of a deal. In my opinion.

Also my 50a plasma isn't cutting through 1/4" aluminum.

Another option. I'm sure more people can offer suggestions. & 5 year warranty. https://www.everlastgenerators.com/p...owerplasma-50s

 

I would never suggest an Everlast product. It may have a 5 year warranty, but don't expect much from service. I had mine break at 3 yrs in, had to ship it back after an extended back and forth. Then it took a couple months to get it back, with the only updates coming from vigorous phone tag. I had mine break again just outside of the 5 years, and the response was, "Yeah they fail like that, parts aren't available anymore". They may be better now, but it kind of brought it into sharp focus that the middle-priced options in welders are mostly middle men, with very few options when the factory changes the design. I would rather deal with HF's extended warranty, at least you can drop it off in-person. I would also rather deal with a different middle man with a better record of service, or a much better price.

As an aside, I tore into the welder when they said they couldn't fix it. It had some of the worst quality electronics I have ever seen in a commercially available product. Just covered in obvious poor quality factory re-work, abysmal soldering, poor wire control, bad board quality, cheap components, etc. Hard to even describe. It was like a dollar store toy board x 1000.

 

Eastwood 60A @ $699... Eastwood Cut 60

40A version is $519...

 

That's a shame. I use mine almost weekly. I have a multiprocess unit. Torches on it suck, but that's to be expected with any cheap machine.
We have a real expensive hypertherm at work and it's always breaking down. Like the millers.

Everlast may be cheap, but it's not kickinghorse cheap. https://kickinghorsewelders.com/prod...-plasma-cutter

 

If you want super cheap for plasma get the Cut 50 or 150 or whatever the number is on ebay. I have never thought the HF plasma cutter provided any sort of good value.

Also with a plasma cutter you want to make sure you have a big beefy air compressor.

 

I've been wanting to build a 2x72 belt grinder for some time. But, like everything else, projects pile up, and eventually something has to give. So, I broke down and bought a HF 1x3 belt sander. $56 shipped to my door, which is cheaper than I could buy it in the store.

After the Fedex guy literally threw it onto the porch (right in front of my wife), I got home to find it was apparently undamaged. Plug it in, and it won't turn on. Take the cover off to spin the belt/pulleys by hand, and now it works, but makes a racket and jumps all over the bench. The spring loaded idler is frozen in place, and I can't get the belt off, or adjust tracking. As with a lot of HF stuff, you aren't buying a finished product, but more like a kit of parts. At this point I disassembled and cleaned the whole thing. I find several screws not properly tightened, one for the motor cross threaded, the tensioner cranked down way too tight, and the main pulley not installed properly. After reassembly, it now works, is much quieter, and doesn't vibrate. The included belt absolutely sucks. The seam is so badly joined, it catches on whatever you're sanding.

New, quality belts from Klingspor solved this. $17 buys a dozen belts in various grits.

 

I use the HF 1x30 belt grinder for making knives. I got it as a temporary stop-gap measure, and I've been using it for five years now - it punches way above its weight. My only recommendation, as you've already discovered, is to get good quality belts and not use HF belts. One of the best tools I've ever bought at HF.