Another One Bites The Dust

"MM54" (mm54mk2) 01/16/2019 at 21:20 • Filed to: HARBOR FREIGHT

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So remember a while back I picked up a cheap “compact needle scaler” to take the undercoating off the frame of the Chevelle? About that...

After about 10 minutes of use, one of the needles fell out. I didn’t think much of it, and continued on. At ~20 minutes, it started shedding, and by the 30 minute mark, it was down to 2 remaining (of 12). Those last two really held on though, and finished the area (slowly) I was working on.

The “needles” are a very soft steel

This went back to The Plastic Hell under warranty, and I got another one. It’s been sitting on the bench until this evening, when I took it out and started un-undercoating more of the frame. After about 10 minutes one of the needles came out. At ~20 minutes, it started shedding, and by the 30 minute mark, it was down to 2 remaining (of 12). Those last two really held on though, and finished the area (slowly) I was working on.

At least they’re consistent

They are held in by the needle having a mushroom end, which fits into a disk inside the body of the tool. Either it’s hammering the mushroom out or the disk is failing, I am not certain but I think it’s the former. I will be taking this one back under warranty as well, and if/when #3 fails in the remarkably-consistent manner, I will probably add a blob of weld to the end of the needles to try and get them to stay in the disk.

Either that, or warranty it for a third time.

shop-teacher > MM54 01/16/2019 at 21:26

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Yeah, some of the stuff is really good, some of it is utter garbage.

Tristan > MM54 01/16/2019 at 21:29

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I have one of the little reciprocating air body saws and it's been unlikable. I bought another for work a couple years ago. It worked for 5 minutes, returned it, the next one worked for 5 minutes, lather, rinse, repeat. I eventually gave up.

Urambo Tauro > MM54 01/16/2019 at 21:49

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This video helped me visualize what the other moving parts should look like inside there:

I think you’re on the right track- the piston/anvil is probably hammering the mushroomed end of those needles right through that retainer.

Any chance you might have been applying too much pressure, instead of “letting the tool do the work”?

ttyymmnn > MM54 01/16/2019 at 21:58

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The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of a cheaper price is gone.

MM54 > ttyymmnn 01/16/2019 at 22:30

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I’m actually amused with how consistently they failed (on the first one I remember laughing as the parts fell off while I was using it, classic harbor freight). At $100+ for a competitor (this one was I believe $19 out the door) I’ll warranty this one a couple more times and/or modify it to last a bit longer.

MM54 > Urambo Tauro 01/16/2019 at 22:41

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That’s the one. You can see when he’s got it apart the retainer (as I called it, the disk) that holds all the rods; his look to have a much flatter/T-shaped end as opposed to mine which are more of a mushroom. I’m sure the quality control is non-existent so maybe there’s a bad batch of them or something. The very-soft material though could also be a factor; he didn’t run it very long.

Applying a bunch of pressure would put more force from the hammer onto the ends of the rods, which would (if anything) mushroom it more. The force pulling them through would be on the downstroke when the spring pushes the retainer back against the inertia of the rods moving forward.

MM54 > shop-teacher 01/16/2019 at 22:43

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I bought an impact wrench there a little while ago mainly because it was compact and I was in a bind , it turns out to be very good. I intend to do a short writeup soon-ish.

shop-teacher > MM54 01/16/2019 at 22:49

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Please do :)

RallyWrench > MM54 01/17/2019 at 02:22

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I have a Snap-On Crud Thug for stuff like that, it works wonders, especially if the material to be removed is or can be made brittle. Basically an angle grinder with a serious wire wheel on it.