Years ago when I first got into HVAC / R, my boss, of a small outfit LOVED Horrid Freight.
1--Their "alloy" pipe wrenches. Needed to move a big pipe. Cheater bar. Predictable.
2--Set of Chineseo combo wrenches. Same deal. Big nut Cheater. "poing"
3--HF MIG welder. wire feed motor would NOT run "smooth." They sent us a motor. same deal. Could not get a controller board. I'm still not a welder, certainly wasn't then, beginning to wonder if it was ME. Finally bought a Miller, and "HEY" "I can weld!!"
4--Drills. Yup. Forget what th' boss was using a 120V HF drill for, honing a cylinder? Anyhow, an old "real" B&D or other solid name brand would have loafed. Smoke. Fire. Blue Clouds of "Language."
5-- Bench grinder. Actually worked. for awhile
6--In their defense, the drill press was OK.
"Back when" I was stationed at N.A.S. Miramar in the '70's (Top Gun) I had a part time job at the auto hobby shop. Never knew sailors could break so much stuff. We had a couple of big ball pein hammer heads broke. This is when B&D was starting to build drills with a mostly metal housing and a plastic rear handle. Had a bucket full of those -- broke. 3/8 Ratchets seemed to be a favorite. I'm sure this had to do with Long Lengths of Pipe.
One of the best LOLs was a couple guys were pulling / o'haulin a Y block out of a Ford pickup, about a 59? Some of the stalls at the hobby shop were "hilly," but the semi - worthless kid at the check-in window was supposed to ask "what will you be doing?" and assign accordingly. Somebody doing a tune -up could use a sloped stall.
So I got there seconds too late. About 3-4 guys were trynnna put that Y block back in, had the snorkel of a cherry picker over extended downhill with the engine, and (I guess) one "counterweight guy" stepped off the rear. The engine / Ford-a-matic slipped forward, and stuffed the tailshaft right through the windshield, then set there "stuck" and drained ATF all over and down into the dashboard. "I wished them luck."
