Harbor Freight Mini Vise

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RustyRatRod

RustyRatRod

I was born on a Monday. Not last Monday.
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I'm sure the same old same old will come out and hate o Harbor Freight, but I thought some of yall might like to see this.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I saw that dangit. Stop rubbin it in. LOL Story of my life. Go get you one. I like this one so far.
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Some Harbor Freight stores still offer a 30 day price guarantee. It depends on the area.
 
I personally wouldn't buy a *large* vise from them, but that's just because I use large vises for heavy duty work. However, a mini vise like that isn't designed for heavy duty work, regardless if it's a cheap Chinesium vise or a Wilton. Keep us posted on how you like it, Rusty. I'm sure you'll be quite satisfied.

I'd buy one of those in a heartbeat if I had the need.
 
HF’s quality has improved, but I’ve noticed that their prices have also gone up. They still have a lot of good buys for the money. I bought an engine support from them yesterday that looked pretty cheesy in the photos. When I got it home and opened the (surprisingly heavy) box, I was really impressed. Nice powder-coating, chrome, and quality components. It was regularly $79.95, and I used a 20% off coupon to lower that to less than $65 out the door. You still need to inspect their stuff carefully, but I think they have made a real effort to improve the quality of their goods. I don’t know if they still do it, but HF used to do a lot to support mechanical trades education in the US. As a former high-school voc-ed teacher, that gives me another reason to shop at their stores.
 
Automotive emporium, I like it. Good video and looks to be a good little vise.
Sure beats the snot out of my sears vise I bought 30 years ago, even after I milled the base and body for the swivel flat and milled the vise jaw slots parallel. It kept breaking vise jaws before that. What a turd, was/still is. Chchchchina or inininindia no doubt just like everything today no matter who’s name is on it.

I find that HF quality is quite good these days except for some of the disposable drillmaster line of tools.

My Best Buy’s? Earthquake cordless impact, Hercules cordless drill and that $20 ball joint popper comes to the top of the list offhand.
 
azaustin said:
I don’t know if they still do it, but HF used to do a lot to support mechanical trades education in the US. As a former high-school voc-ed teacher, that gives me another reason to shop at their stores.
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They still do I saw an email recently about their support for the trades. While there are somethings, I won't buy from them they have come a long way with quality, they will never match say Snap On but some of their stuff today is as good as Craftsman.
 
azaustin said:
I bought an engine support from them yesterday that looked pretty cheesy in the photos. When I got it home and opened the (surprisingly heavy) box, I was really impressed.
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I was looking at one of those.

Is this what you got?
 
Yes. I haven’t hooked it up yet, but it looks really well made. I’m hoping to set it up next week.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I'm sure the same old same old will come out and hate o Harbor Freight, but I thought some of yall might like to see this.
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You gave me an idea on where to use this. I have a folding welding table like HF’s that I use for lots of small projects. Normally, I secure work pieces with c-clamp vise grips, or rigid-style quick clamps. This would work better than those for a lot of things. Two would be perfect for holding something from either end of the table and the swivel would let you hold it at just the right angle. I got another 20% off coupon in today’s mail, so I think I’ll snag a pair. Thanks, Rusty!
 
Righty Tighty said:
I personally wouldn't buy a *large* vise from them, but that's just because I use large vises for heavy duty work. However, a mini vise like that isn't designed for heavy duty work, regardless if it's a cheap Chinesium vise or a Wilton. Keep us posted on how you like it, Rusty. I'm sure you'll be quite satisfied.

I'd buy one of those in a heartbeat if I had the need.
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Exactly my thought. If you look at the reviews, all of the bad ones where they said they broke them, you can read through the lines that they were doing more with them than they should have been. Even at 24.95 it's still a good deal. Time will tell. I'm in HO scale now, so I don't need the clamping force of a gorilla.
 
Thanks for the heads up on the vice.....gonna have to get me one. NOW, tell us about that work bench you made! At first glance, it looks like half inch thick steel but looking again it might be a plywood deck with a sheet metal skin. Nice either way!

:thumbsup:
 
JDMopar said:
Thanks for the heads up on the vice.....gonna have to get me one. NOW, tell us about that work bench you made! At first glance, it looks like half inch thick steel but looking again it might be a plywood deck with a sheet metal skin. Nice either way!

:thumbsup:
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It's store bought. It's a wood core with stainless skin. It's "rated" to hold 500 pounds, but the screws would pull out of the studs before then. lol I found the brackets just like it on ebay, so I'm gonna make another one with a wood top.
 
I bought some used pallet racking for shelving in my shop after I got the shop done. I made one section (9') of it my work bench. I stumbled into a 10' x 4' sheet of stainless pretty cheap a while back to cover the plywood top of the workbench. I finally found a place to bend it for me, so I gotta get that done. If I make it look nice....maybe I'll be ashamed to leave it looking like an airplane crash site!
 
RustyRatRod said:
Exactly my thought. If you look at the reviews, all of the bad ones where they said they broke them, you can read through the lines that they were doing more with them than they should have been. Even at 24.95 it's still a good deal. Time will tell. I'm in HO scale now, so I don't need the clamping force of a gorilla.
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I remember my old N scale trains. Really fun hobby, for sure.
 
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