Cheap import tools and product liability (was: Violent Electric Drill Accident)

I have one of those pole saws. It works great. Sounds to me like you were trying to manually saw with it. Let the chain do the work. If it is sharp and properly tensioned, you don't have to exert any great force to make it cut, and the telescoping clamp won't slip. Mine tightens up just fine with hand effort, but if the pole is as "shiney" as you say, you might try taking the shine off with a bit of sandpaper. That'll let the fingers of the collet grip it better.

But in keeping with this thread, I'll relate one incident with respect to the pole saw. You *cannot* step out of the way quick enough to avoid the limb you were cutting *directly* over your head. Fortunately I was wearing my hard hat. Now, for limbs which are so high I'd need to stand directly underneath to reach them, I use a ladder, off to one side, so I can reach

*over* and cut the limb instead of reaching *up* to cut the limb.

Gary

How good were the dissidents at assembling power tools?

If they were really good, I'd be upset. But if they were doing crappy work, then I couldn't much care.

Gary

AFAIK there isn't. It just helps enforce getting the hot and neutral plugged in correctly. Sometimes the different size blades don't get the job done because some ham handed person forces them in wrong. But with the ground prong too, they'd have to cut it off to get the plug in wrong, and that sort of tampering voids any claim they might have.

Gary

Tricky choice when the alternative is to deal with people who ignore the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of POWs

Mark Rand RTFM

I recently stopped into the locaal Evergreen hardware in AJ AZ to buy a nail (or screw) and noted a small angle grinder on the counter with a price of $6.95 on it. Yep-$6.95. I thot it was mismarked but they had a whole stack of them. I bought on. Haven't plugged it in yet.

Paul in AJ AZ

Well, the instructions which came with mine addressed that. They said to move as far to each side as posible first to cut through the bark on the underside of the limb. I realize the geometry to make that happen is kinda tough unless you add some VERY long extension ropes and can get quite far off to the side. But, that's what they said to do, and I suppose some undercutting is better than nohing....

Jeff

Nearly any "house brand" item from Harbor Freight will occasionally be put on sale for 1/2 price. Currently I don't see any on sale but there are two on sale for Inside Track Club members. Item # 43471 is currently $15.97, usually $29.99 and item # 42203 is $12.97, normally $27.99.

But the best deal I've found is from Homier Mobile Merchants,

They have a traveling truckload tool sale that comes through the area a couple of times a year and the last two times they were here they had them for $5.99! I bought two about a year ago and I'm still on the first one. Of course the 2nd one may fall apart as soon as I take it out of the box but for that price I won't complain too much. :-)

On their Web site there is a link to sign up for notification of when they will be in your area. Since the Harbor Freight store opened here in Charlotte they haven't actually come to Charlotte but they've been to nearly every city around me, usually within 20-30 miles or so. A month ago they were in the area and had autodark welding helmets for $39.99!

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

Three-prong plugs are far less likely to "fall out" or get bent if stressed. The flat shape of the North American 15A live/neutral prongs is a big mistake, I notice that most overseas plugs use no flat prongs at all, an obvious improvement over the US design. In any event, the poor design of the US 2-prong plug is supplemented by a nice sturdy circular ground prong in the 3-prong version.

I do not like seeing any part of a live prong exposed under any circumstances, but with US two-prong plugs a slight sideways pull will leave some of the prong clearly visible. This doesn't happen nearly so readily with a three-prong plug, and I believe that's a safety advantage even if the ground isn't used.

Tim.

On Sat, 19 Jul 2003 05:01:04 GMT, "Keith Marshall" pixelated:

Speaking of tool addictions...is there a 12-step program for that?

I make it down to Medford every month or two for those HFT half price sales. What a selection! And some stuff is so cheap that it's great to use merely as a pattern for a real tool. Cheap tools are great fun.

Oh yes you will! You'll be taking the second one out of the box because the first one had died and then where will you be? Get that second one out and put the first one away. Then you'll KNOW you have two good (?) grinders. I picked up a Makita 4-1/2 for $35 and it has been a good little machine. Well, the little I use it. ;)

There was a junk truck like that coming around here earlier this year, but most of the stuff wouldn't have made Harbor Fright grade. Real Chiwanese trash. Wannabemetal pliers, annealed drill bits of the same "metal". Hah!

Ditto here. Most stuff is just OK, some is real trash, some real treasures.

or...

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for that? >> seem to know anything about $14.95 units. Where do you find them?

ancient science...)

America Basher :^)!! I would agree, but then again the US doesn't use

240VAC for your kids to play with :^). So the best thing, IMO, would be a better designed plug using only 120VAC. I can't tell you how many times I've shocked myself with 120, hurts a little but no damage. I imagine 240 has a bit more of a kick.

John

Please note that my return address is wrong due to the amount of junk email I get. So please respond to this message through the newsgroup.

That connector has existed for many decades now: the 120VAC 15A Twist-Lock. In fact, a lot of the equipment I own has either 15A or 30A Twist-Lock plugs.

Now if the plug didn't cost more than most appliances, THEN we'd have a winner!

Tim.

My brother bought one at a flee market that appeared to be from Harbor freight. It was new and still in the box. I figured the guy bought a bunch on sale and made a few bucks on each at the flee market. He used it once and it died. I hear others have had better luck.