Just a heads up about this item:
In a circular I received last week, Harbor Freight advertised this neat little
tool table for about $15 (50% off). I picked one up to use with my scroll saw.
This is a case of "you get what you pay for, sorta." The table was a pain in
the posterior to assemble. Took me over an hour. Perhaps it was my
klutziness, or maybe I was missing a trick to the assembly, but the way the
table is made, with the tolerances as they are, requires a bit of elbow grease
(and a good clamp or two) to assemble. It was frustrating at times. That's
the bad news
The good news is, once assembled, it is incredibly strong (rated to hold up to
1000lbs.), and has a couple of handy shelves as well as magnetic strips for
holding tools.
If you happen to be shopping for one of these, and they have a display model in
the store, it's a great value. Out of the box, it's only a fair value if you
have some music you want to listen to for an hour while wrestling the table
together.
Rich S.
Joe & 'Jel',
A simple example of 'know your equipment and/or supplier'.
I get a good bit of stuff from Harbor Freight;
a} YES - I KNOW it's from China. However it's at a price that is CHEAP .
. . rather than the *same thing* {check the fine print on the label}from one
of the well-known American names at 3x the price.
b} YES - the finish will be sloppy, the holes will have burrs, & I may
have to do the 'final assembly'
c} YES - the instructions will be most likely 'computer translated' and
some what generic {see 'a' above}
d} YES - it WILL do the job I expect, and at the level of accuracy I
expect - i.e. I don't buy 'Precision Digital Calipers' but 'Wood Carpenter's
Clamps @ 2.99' or 'Sliding Clamps' @ 1.99'
Regards,
Ron Magen
Backyard Boatshop
"JEL" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> > This is a case of "you get what you pay for, sorta." The table was a
pain
> > in
> > the posterior to assemble. Took me over an hour. Perhaps it was my
> > klutziness, or maybe I was missing a trick to the assembly, but the way
> > the table is made, with the tolerances as they are, requires a bit of
> > elbow grease
> > (and a good clamp or two) to assemble. It was frustrating at times.
>
>
> One of the areas where Harbor Freight cuts costs is the manuals and setup
> instructions. Most items we have purchased have been " a pain in the
> posterior to assemble". It's as though they took a generic instruction
set
> and got someone that was not skilled in the use of English to interpret
> them without any adaption to the actual product.
>
>
> joe
You never know with HF. The best suprise I ever got was the right angle
drill SWMBO bought me for Father's day. It's a Chinese knockoff of a Hole
Hawg. The thing is a beast and pretty much satisfies my requirements for
such a drill. If it survives our current remodeling project I'll just tuck
it away for those special times when nothing else but a three or four inch
hole bored through a floor joist will do. I just used it to make a wire
chase through a couple of closets and it simply devoured everything in it's
path. Precision isn't in this drill's vocabulary.
Jim
Just had to reply,! That's what I love about Harbor Freight, you just never
know what part will be missing! Had my fingers crossed though last month
when my $89 2hp4gal comp arrived. Luckily it was OK but there was a white
warning tag with red letters attached to the cord , something to the effect
of making sure the oil was filled properly and what would happen if it were
not, but the translation had me laughing out loud. Now the nailer (18ga
5/8-2inch $25) was another story, took it out and looked at it then put it
back in its case to read up on it and when I took it out a second time the
trigger mechanism promptly fell off! C- clip missing. Called and gave them
the part# from the manual which they said didn't exist for that nailer
,finally ordered what I think is the correct part ,may take 6weeks they
said, so I went down and cut a small 1/4 inch square of bubble pak plastic
and put a hole in it a shade smaller than the pin and pushed it on..fixed.
My son even asked me when he saw I had a new toy from HF what was missing or
broken..then there was the broken switch mechanism on the drill
press.............." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> > This is a case of "you get what you pay for, sorta." The table was a
pain
> > in
> > the posterior to assemble. Took me over an hour. Perhaps it was my
> > klutziness, or maybe I was missing a trick to the assembly, but the way
> > the table is made, with the tolerances as they are, requires a bit of
> > elbow grease
> > (and a good clamp or two) to assemble. It was frustrating at times.
>
>
> One of the areas where Harbor Freight cuts costs is the manuals and setup
> instructions. Most items we have purchased have been " a pain in the
> posterior to assemble". It's as though they took a generic instruction
set
> and got someone that was not skilled in the use of English to interpret
> them without any adaption to the actual product.
>
>
> joe