OK

why dial caliper and veriner caliper better?

 

Supposed to be more accurate. Unless you're building rockets, the digital ones work just fine. I wouldn't trade my 8" Mititoyo digitals for the best Starrett verniers.

 

Win. I paid $10 for this and have used it and have gotten hours of use out of it over the past few years.


Win. This does a great job of bending aluminium, particularly the thinner stuff. I have used it for large spans of thicker aluminium as well, and it works, but struggles.


Win, kind of. Some of the fluid leaked out. It still works, but unless I have lots of room to move the lever, it doesn't like to go up. There's probably a way to add hydraulic fluid, and if I get off my *** and figure that out, I could probably fix it.


The jack stands are a win.

The 1/2" drive extendy ratchet is a win.

The zip ties were a massive fail. All of them broke.

C-clamps are hit or miss, I guess. I bent one of them but the other two are doing fine.

 

< $10 win

spring punch. can use this to make the indent on the bolt you are about to drill out per the easy out thread.
you will see this again in the locking track windows thread i will be creating when i finish mine



http://www.harborfreight.com/spring-...punch-621.html

jack pads. i use these on the 6t steel stands. i have this for my bf steel floor jack too, but i didn't see it on web site.



http://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece...and-95952.html

if yer in the parts yard and any hose, wire, battery cable, brake line, or zip tie gets in your way, these take care of it. more discrete than bolt cutters



http://www.harborfreight.com/10-inch...ter-40507.html

if you really want to be prepared, spend the $3.50 and get these too:



http://www.harborfreight.com/ratchet...ter-39749.html

 

Spring punch: I've had 2 fail (broken spring, snapped dohickey inside), but the first was free (promo gift) and they replaced it for free. Second failure was also replaced, and this one seems to be okay. Tip is not that good, and had to be reground to center the point. Worth the buck-fifty you can usually get them for.


Cutters: Unhardened/ poorly hardened edges will dull easily on anything except wire in smaller diameters. Worth about 2 bucks max. My 30 year old linesman's pliers that I found on the side of the road are a million times better. Would not buy them again.

 

true that on the cutters, they get torn up.

ok, lemme try < $10 again. put the c clamp on inboard side of your axle. use the large pry bar against it and the subframe, and pop your axles in.


6" clamp



http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-...amp-37850.html

pry bar set



http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-to...set-69281.html

and this one. this has to be a gimme. they are usually $1.

 

Never bought the pry bars, but I have one of the C-clamps. Lost the foot pad part over the years. Once I made a replacement, but lost that, too. Found the foot, and used RTV to stick it back on. I use it for brake jobs. Has held up pretty well considering I abuse the ---- out of it.

 

Oh, and you can never have enought 6" scales. Use the cheap ones as gasket scrapers.

 

I can fully vouch for this. WIN WIN WIN!

http://www.harborfreight.com/44-13-d...net-68784.html

 

+1 I love mine

 

FAIL
Worked for all of 10 seconds


http://www.harborfreight.com/xenon-t...ight-3343.html

 

Fail. I had one twist in half the first time I used it.



http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece...set-67925.html

 

Fail in every single manufacturer/model form. I bought one from eBay, the brand was "Draper Tools", it was DoA. The eBay seller sent me a new one, that lasted a good 10 times of use. Fail fail fail.

 

WIN = 1/2" composite ratchet & Pittsburg 10-piece metric sockets. These got me through replacing my shocks no problem. And I still use them all the time. Very tough.

http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-to...het-66314.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-to...set-67916.html



FAIL = car ramp set w/built-in safety chock. Don't trust the chock! The chock is a crock. It broke during assembly.

http://www.harborfreight.com/automot...ock-67722.html



WIN = steel ramp set...much better!

http://www.harborfreight.com/automot...set-68365.html



FAIL = 3/8" close quarter drill. I bought this to help out with my roll bar installation, which it got through. However, it smelled like it was starting to burn up by the time I got done. This is because the tolerances on this drill are ridiculously loose. I've already broken two teeth with the supplied chuck key and when it drills you can noticeably see the drill bit wobble some.

http://www.harborfreight.com/power-t...ill-92956.html

Ray

 

Fowler 6" Digital caliper .0005 accuracy
39.99 bucks
Fail - Battery dies even when you don't use it. I suspect it turns on randomly while in its case. There's no off button, it's just an on and turns off after 5 or something minutes.




At my old job we used RCBS Vernier micrometers 0-6" (they come per every inch 2-3 3-4...). We used bunch of others but stuck to Vernier. It was the best mics ever. All other brands either bend, or normally they get stuck (and no its not the adjustment screw). We've used westward, mitutoyo, and fowler (off the top of my head those are the others i can remember) We calibrated them every 4 months. RCBs we within the thousand, the rest always 4-5 thousands off and some more...

Sorry bud Sterretts were also good in the beginning but their tumblers suck as there's no way to adjust them. The only thing i like about them is the lock.

This is precision work i was doing so mics were a must. One thing to remember, NEVER drop them or they are done. Once it bends it becomes impossible to get to the 4th digit accurately.


The digital vs analog one... I don't know why one would debate, I'm guessing because if you ---- up with the analogue one, its your *** for reading it wrong, while if you ---- up on a digital one you can say boss the number said that. Personally for the shade tree mechanic that uses it once a month, i'd get the analogue one as there's no battery in it so it always works when you need it.

As far as the Micrometer vs Caliper goes. It's easier to measure a circle (ACCURATELY) with a micrometer.

 

Not HarborFreight, but very relevant to "cheap tool win" - I have discovered a digital multimeter made by snap-on under the bluepoint name for technical institutes that sells for $20 on eBay. Looks like students primarily dump these at pawn shops when they're done with them and they go for a $150 discount over new- sometimes greater. I have picked up two for myself at under $25 delivered. Fortunately the two model numbers you want to save searches for are obscure so it won't throw out any unrelated results- DMSC683A, MTIND683A. Same meter, automotive oriented, and very capable. btw- it needs to have the A on the end of the model number, or you will get a lesser meter. User manual for the correct model(s) attached that includes a photo. Pic below of the lesser model w/o the "A" in the model number (still a capable quality meter).
http://www.pawnplex.com/tools/dmsc683/DSC00009.JPG
http://www.pawnplex.com/tools/dmsc683/DSC00010.JPG

Of course this post will jack up all the bids on the auctions above.

 

Just purchased a Solder iron from Radio shack. 20-50 Watts adjustable for i think 20 bucks. Would buy again.

Looks like this one but 20-50 instead (and cheaper). I'd say win, so far much better than the gun i was using.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...oldering+irons

 

just placed an order from online! $7 fixed rate shipping!

3/8" x 1/4" Dual Drive Extendable Ratchet 98802 2 $25.98
100 Piece 8" Black Cable Ties 34635 1 $1.50
1/4" x 50 ft. Poly Rope 90760 1 $1.00
6" Magnetic Parts Holder 97825 1 $2.00
Safety Glasses, Clear Lens 99762 1 $1.00
12 Piece Cold Chisel and Punch Set 66440 1 $9.99
50 Piece 15" x 13" All Purpose Shop Towels 46163 1 $12.99
6 Ton Heavy Duty Jack Stands 38847 2 $89.98
4 Piece Fluid Line Clamp Set 65116 1 $9.99
4 Piece Heavy Duty Pry Bar Set 69281 1 $12.9

 

$70
Win
Expensive, however I got more use out it than I would have thought. It's basically a giant c-clamp for pressing anything into our out of anything. I pressed out rusted parts that wouldn't buldge. I swapped my diff bushings. Poly bushings. Wheel studs.

I didn't break it yet and did bushings on 2 cars already.

 

Skimmed the thread again. Didn't see these.
WIN-> 3 piece 3 jaw puller set- had bad reviews online, but picked them up anyway. $18 and so far pulled every bushing out of my car but the diff with it. Diff is tomorrow.
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece...set-32184.html