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Harbor Freight's Self Etching Primer

If its like any other HF product, I would run away. HF is good for temporary items that will be disposed of quickly (gloves, a special tool used xx times, etc...) Anything that would STAY in my plane would not come from HF. If you are using primer out of concern about corrosion in the long term, get a quality primer.
 
Speaking as a guy who has a budget and other financial responsibilities, I believe that there are many HF items worthy of purchase.

Their pneumatic brad/staple gun has worked flawlessly for me through thousands of cycles. Trim HVLP spray gun - works very well. Bench vice - fine, bead blaster - fine, parts washer - fine, parts bins - fine, impact sockets - very good, jack stands - very good. Random orbital sander - not good.

What I don't know is how do their chemicals work. I would personally stick with name-brand not knowing how they perform. How about doing some evaluations and let us know!!
 
I don't know about their paint, but for a few bucks more per can, I used the stuff from NAPA and I know it is good stuff!

On the other hand, I built my entire RV-12 (thousands and thousands of LP4-3 rivets) with a HF pneumatic rivet puller. It is still working as good as day one.

Sure, I have burned up countless die grinders from them, but when you buy them on sale for $9.99 at times, they are almost disposable. You can buy 12 or 13 of them for the price of one DeWalt version:)
 
I have used HF primer off and on for several years, never saw any difference between it and the other brands. Don't you suppose that it is just the same as others but re-branded for HF?
For the most part, I have found that HF stuff comes off the same assembly line as the very high dollar stuff, when the 5 o'clock whistle blows, out comes the other brand stickers. .
When I was a trucker, I loaded up on cases of oil one day, the load was not quite ready. Inside I saw the same railroad tanker car being used to fill over twenty different quart containers all with different names on the label. I often have to scoff at people that get into arguments over which brand is best.
 
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Generally I agree that it's all the same under the label. I have 2 exceptions. 1 - Kraft Mac And Cheese is NOT the same as the off brands. There is no comparison. And 2 - Harbor Freight is (generally speaking) made of ****. The quality of the electronics, the materials, the fit, etc are all poor. If this stuff is coming off the same lines as the name brand it is all of the pieces that FAILED quality control. Not to say that some stuff isn't decent, but by and large it's significantly lower quality and mostly imported.
 
hmmm. I recently bought a Harbor Freight powder coat gun for $40 with coupons and have redone the yokes in my C150, coated a stainless barrel on a new AR-15 build, several small items amongst other things...and it has worked extremely well with zero problems.
 
I concur that they have tools that work great for their intended purpose, but they are NOT the same as the name brands. I cut 500 sq ft of 1 inch stone with a HF saw and it got the job done. BUT, it is nowhere near the quality of my uncle's saw that looks nearly identical. Go buy a HF (insert any tool) and a Dewalt (insert same tool) and you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they did not come off the same line.
 
I've got two Snap On ratchets that were both over $60/apiece and I loved them until they quit ratcheting. So they sit useless in my toolbox because I'm never around when the Snap On guy visits a friend's shop. But Harbor Freight is open till 9pm and I haven't had anything from their fail yet.
 
Quality control

100 doodads come down the line and the inspector picks off 10 and evaluates them. If 3 or more fail he rejects the entire lot. The lot then goes to HF, Sears, Best Buy, Ebay etc. I recently bought ten scissors from HF for a buck each. I liked the fact that one blade had serrations and could cut FG cloth. These had no serrations, a mfg error! Still they serve other purposes. You risk getting a defect like I've gotten from Garmin etc.

Slightly Out of tolerance pistons for Cadillacs used to go to Chevies.

Hal. Sanding and scuffing.
 
HF has done me right. Not everything they sell is a winner, but to say everything is garbage there is not right.

You can spend $259 on this camera from ATS or get the same camera at HF for less.

Same camera private labeled to each distributor/vendor.

ats-vs400.jpg


Sorry for the large photo :eek:
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I'm not saying all HF stuff will be bad or will break. I'm just saying the failure rate is high and quality is low. It's one thing to get a camera too, HVLP or something else and use it. If it fails, no biggie, go buy another one. But I don't have faith in the items that would be PERMANENT in the plane - rivets, adhesive, primer, fasteners, etc...

HF is like a tool, use it properly and all is good.
 
HF tools

I have a whole shop full of their bench tools because the owner who sold me his kit included them. Since, a few have failed and been replaced. I always compare specs, features and price with name brands. A few were replaced with HF products because they worked fine for the job and were significantly cheaper. Others I wanted the feature and paid a bit more for it. I bought drills, jig saw and circular saw. The jig and circular are notoriously off and have to be checked for square before use but they do work ok. Some that are seldom used are HF. Others I use every day are name brand like Dewalt. I recently did some refinish work with two orbital sanders. One HF, one Dewalt. The Dewalt was twice the tool and given the size of the project, well worth the price premium as it shaved hours off the job.
There are some I won't use where accuracy is critical. Torque wrenches for example. The one I bought was just a few dollars more and dead on accurate.
Their die grinders, dremel and cut off saws work fine and get heavy use in my shop.
I've broken lots of their hand tools such as taps and hex wrenches so I stick with better brands now on them.
Personally I would recommend doing research. They are not always cheaper. It depends on the tool. Same for quality.
 
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