Harbor Freight is coming to town.....

[BobT-47P15]

.....just like Santa Claus. Supposed to be opened sometime this fall, per an article in the local paper.

I know some of their stuff is better than others, but don't expect I will be buying much from them. Did get my stand for a bench grinder in their Kansas City store a while back.

[Normspeed]

They're handy to have in the area but you really need to watch the quality of what they sell. A lot of my shop stuff is from them.

Our upcoming grand opening in my area is a new Bass Pro Shops. They're hyping it like it was a new theme park.

[BobT-47P15]

The original Bass Pro place is about an hour from here in Springfield, MO.

They are going to build what they claim to be their largest store yet in the Kansas City MO area.....not far from the Cabella's store. My wife's aunt took us to Cabella's weekend before last.....it's quite the place with many stuffed animals on display.

[knuckleharley]

.....just like Santa Claus. Supposed to be opened sometime this fall, per an article in the local paper.

I know some of their stuff is better than others, but don't expect I will be buying much from them. Did get my stand for a bench grinder in their Kansas City store a while back.

The have a pretty decent English Wheel for less than 300 bucks. It only comes with one die,though. You have to buy the other six for $79.95. Still,a hell of a deal. If you use it to save just one 30's fender,it's paid for itself.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I looked real close at that English wheel in person..and I had just got a bonus at work..passed on the item even with a 15% off coupon..I went tow two different stores and both display units were like this.

[knuckleharley]

I looked real close at that English wheel in person..and I had just got a bonus at work..passed on the item even with a 15% off coupon..I went tow two different stores and both display units were like this.

I guess your standards are higher than mine. I was just looking for one I could afford to iron out some wrinkles in some 34 Ford pu front fenders,and maybe a few other things of my own. I don't have a commercial shop,just my own crap to work on. It seems fine for my purposes.

To be honest,the only flaw I saw with it is that the base is made from 1/4 inch steel instead of the heavy cast base on the 2 grand ones. I don't see this as being a major problem for the light duty use I have planned for it.

[Plymouthy Adams]

In rolling a piece of metal back and forth, you will find that the rocking of the roller will be very annoying..of course..like you say it is hobby based and even I would probably have to dust it more than use it...I have a number of harbor freight items and based on the fact that it will not see everyday use has prompted me to buy from them based on dollar spent for return useage. Just thought that 1/8 slop at the roller a bit much.

[Young Ed]

We've bought a few things there but some stuff is a little iffy. I was thinking of some wheel dollys but the display ones were bent up already and I doubt they'd ever had a car wheel on them.

[Guest 50Plymouth]

As we've all heard, read, or said 100 times certain disposable'ish type goods are a good bet at the horrible freight, along with things like hoses, connectors, grinding discs or wheels. I've spent more bucks than I should've there. Haven't been burned really much yet. Recently I got their vaccuum pump for brake bleeding \ manifold measure on sale after the old not-so-MityVac unit broke. It was much better built than the old MityVac's IMHO and I notice it is an exact duplicate to the Sears unit (minus the $ears sticker of course) that was 3+ times the price and of course also comes from oversea.

There's nothing like going in one of such types of retail import dealers and smelling the carcinogenic oils in the air..

[Norm's Coupe]

As others have mentioned. Harbor Freight is ok for the guy who just uses the tools as a hobby. At least that's true for some of the tools. I don't have an English Wheel, but I did buy one of their metal fabricating tools. It came with a set of cutoff wheels, 3 sizes of bead rollers and three sizes of flange wheels. Only paid about $89 for it. Eastwood has the same tool for about $300. I used the metal fabricator only a couple of times to make parts. However, it paid for itself on just one part I needed for my coupe. Made the bracket that holds the headliner over the door with it. That came out perfect, and holds the headliner just like the original one did. (Picture of part below showing old and new piece). Also bought my auto darkening welding helmet there for only about $59 and it works great too. Have a few other misc. tools from there and they work ok too. However, my son bought a cheap set of drill bits there and said the ends chipped off trying to drill through wood. So, evidently the drill bits leave a little to be desired.