Harbor freight

[bryanchurch06]

Gotta love harbor freight, got the tap set for 29.00 and the mag trays for 1.19 apiece. I have several of these and when I'm working with several fasteners I label the trays for ease of remembering what goes where, I also take pics as I disassemble, laugh if you want but I'm not nearly as smart as I was 30 yrs ago, I knew everything when I was younger. So I buy harbor freight tools and I consider them to be consumables to a degree. If I am serious about a tools I will spend more money.

 

[bryanchurch06]

And while we're on the subject, a rivetnut tool and asst rivnuts, not from harbor freight but still somewhat inexpensive from Amazon. I use these when I'm building out my cargo trailers for camping like my 8.5x20 pictured here, works great for hauling my bikes and the wife doesn't like tents. I plan on putting a few rivnuts in the cargo rack to mount my boxes

 

[SgtAlf]

Rivnuts:

 

[bryanchurch06]

Rivnuts: View attachment 4392

That's exactly what I was thinking of, what size nut did you use?

 

[SneakyDingo]

I have several of these and when I'm working with several fasteners I label the trays for ease of remembering what goes where, I also take pics as I disassemble, laugh if you want but I'm not nearly as smart as I was 30 yrs ago

I'm pretty sure I'm where you were 30 years ago in age at least, and I use painter's tape and sharpies for my trays.

 

[bryanchurch06]

I'm pretty sure I'm where you were 30 years ago in age at least, and I use painter's tape and sharpies for my trays.

If you can believe my parents I was born in 63, you know the saying that if I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. That's about me. Still I had a whole lot of fun.

 

[SgtAlf]

That's exactly what I was thinking of, what size nut did you use?

1/4 x 20. 1/8" pilot hole, 3/8" hole, rivnut. The 1/4 20 rivnut was tough to squeeze in.

 

[SgtAlf]

That's exactly what I was thinking of, what size nut did you use?

Final product.

 

[bryanchurch06]

1/4 x 20. 1/8" pilot hole, 3/8" hole, rivnut. The 1/4 20 rivnut was tough to squeeze in.

That's exactly what I had in mind, I have 1/4×20 stainless rivnuts That's why I ordered the larger tool, I am hoping the longer handles provide better leverage, I've never used the stainless ones but I've read they're harder to set. I'll post pics of them once they are on the bike. I was thinking of putting them in the plugs that are in the passenger footpegs holes, not sure what I would mount there though.

 

[Cpd419]

I like it. HF has some great stuff and some cheap stuff but most of it is fine in my experience. Not saying I would buy some of it if I was mechanicing for a living.

 

[m in sc]

fyi. the passenger 'plugs' are solid all the way thru. not ideal for a rivnut, but you can tap them. .02

 

[bryanchurch06]

Update on the harbor freight tap die set.
Don't waste your money, after struggling to cut threads in a fairly soft nut with the harbor freight 8mmx125 tap I bought a Irwin tap and it cut the threads easily. I will keep the set and replace the taps as needed.

 

[Cpd419]

I used the Same tap out of an old craftsman set I’ve had for oh 25 years or so today.

 

[Little_Thumper_Boy]

Update on the harbor freight tap die set.
Don't waste your money, after struggling to cut threads in a fairly soft nut with the harbor freight 8mmx125 tap I bought a Irwin tap and it cut the threads easily. I will keep the set and replace the taps as needed.

Same. Some years back I received a HF tap & die set as a gift. HF does make some OK tools for cheap money, some.
But IME none of their cutting tools have been any good - not even borderline acceptable.
If you have access to a magnifier, compare a HF tap with another average/decent HSS tap -- Widia, Butterfield, OSG, WYM, whatever (not necessarily Irwin, they're marginally better). It'll become clear why the HF doesn't cut or it breaks. Dull and cheap taps break, as does low budget HSS. Not worth any money saved when a nice work piece is trashed with a broken-off tap stuck in it.
Occasionally I use the HF taps for just chasing threads, they can work OK for that. I have about half the set left, they've mostly broken or won't even chase decent. If you do have to use one for actually cutting threads, then tap aluminum only, and even then drill/ream a size over first.
Pic (not great quality sorry) 1/4-20 new HF vs. used Wida side by side. HF looks like they literally skipped grinding flutes and cutting edges.

 

[m in sc]

hf is ok for some sockets, extensions, and disposable tools like picks, hammers, etc. dont get me wrong, i love going in there, but is usually mostly just disposable garbage. A large portion of my tools Ive had for decades, some were used everyday for work as well a LONG time ago. some of the lesser air tools, like the air hammers, etc, are 'ok'.

 

[SneakyDingo]

HF is sort of a "last resort" place for me. Partially because I've just been really unimpressed with the quality. The stuff I buy there usually ends up being a gift for a buddy who wants to try something, and I think he should "buy twice instead of buying nice." Feeler gauges, a set of electronics screwdrivers that I might only have to use 3 times, some gloves that were promptly shat all over by a deer so I ended up needing another pair... Probably the most valuable thing I've ever seen there was the Apache 4800 cases are in stock and a good price. Worst thing I bought from them was an air hose for an air compressor. Big mistake.