Harbor Freight buffer

mrclean81

mrclean81

New member
Not long ago my shop was broken into and most of my high dollar equipment was stolen, including my Dewalt rotory. I had to come up with a buffer, and fast. I had no choice but to run to Harbor Freight and get a cheap fix until I could order a new Dewalt. To my surprise, after replacing the junk backing plate with one from 3M, this thing ran great. Its only 6.6lb, runs up to around 3300 rpm, and is quiet as a mouse. Granted it might not last long running 5 hours a day, but its the best $40 I've spent in a very long time. My only complaint is the loop handle. I wish there was an optional side handle, but for the money I can get used to it.
 
i had one to start but i now have a makita and its like a cadillac compared to the h/f buffer but it worked for a while .. it died after a while so dont expect too much out of it ..
 
I'm not expecting it to run for very long. I'm keeping faith in the local police dept to find my stuff. I live and work in a small town. Its not like there are hundreds of vapor steamers and ozone generators floating around town lol. I think most of it will eventually turn up. You can bet I have invested in security cameras..
 
I bought a HF rotary about 3 years ago it was on sale for $29.95
This winter I bought a new Makita 9227C but still have the HF it runs fine but I never used it much don't think it has 1 hour on it I use my PC for most polishing.
 
black bart said:
I bought a HF rotary about 3 years ago it was on sale for $29.95
This winter I bought a new Makita 9227C but still have the HF it runs fine but I never used it much don't think it has 1 hour on it I use my PC for most polishing.
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That is the same thing for me, Black Bart. I have the HF rotary and found it adequate for my needs. The PC does the majority of my work if and when I do it any more. Running it six hours a day is not in my retirement plan so the HF rotary will last most of my detailing life I am sure.
 
I have the Harbor Freight buffer, sometimes the elecronic speed control takes off and it just goes super high in the RPM's all by itself. Thank god I didn't have a wool pad on when it did that...only happened once or twice but other than that I am surprised that it has held up. I don't use a rotary all the time so I didn't need an expensive one when I bought it...This year I'm going to get a DeWalt or Makita just because I don't want to deal with the buffer changing speeds on its own like that. Basically I just retired it to cleaning the upholstery after that incident...Hope you get your equipment back!!
 
Dtrick.22 said:
I have the Harbor Freight buffer, sometimes the elecronic speed control takes off and it just goes super high in the RPM's all by itself. Thank god I didn't have a wool pad on when it did that...only happened once or twice but other than that I am surprised that it has held up. I don't use a rotary all the time so I didn't need an expensive one when I bought it...This year I'm going to get a DeWalt or Makita just because I don't want to deal with the buffer changing speeds on its own like that. Basically I just retired it to cleaning the upholstery after that incident...Hope you get your equipment back!![/QUOTE

Thanks man, me too. I had a Makita a few years ago and I loved it. Very light weight and smooth as butter, but the soft start feature drove me crazy. I traded it in on my Dewalt. Its a bit heavier but also runs very smooth. I don't suggest holding it over your head for very long though. I dropped it behind my head once while buffing the sleeper on a Freightliner and tore some muscles in my arms lol.
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I have 1 of these I bought a few months back. Saw it in there circular for $29.95...couldn't resist :wow:

I got it home, pulled it out of the box and looked at it for a minute or two then slid it back in the box. Thought it would make a decent backup in case the Makita throws craps :swirly:

Kinda makes you wonder how much a Makita/Dewalt should Really cost :hmmm:
 
(901) said:
I have 1 of these I bought a few months back. Saw it in there circular for $29.95...couldn't resist :wow:

I got it home, pulled it out of the box and looked at it for a minute or two then slid it back in the box. Thought it would make a decent backup in case the Makita throws craps :swirly:

Kinda makes you wonder how much a Makita/Dewalt should Really cost :hmmm:
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If you use it once you will see a big difference.
While it is a great buy at $29.95 it sure is not a Makita.
The speed control makes too big of a change going from 2 to 3 will change the speed a lot.
When you vary the pressure the speed will change drastically it is nearly impossible to get it to run at the right speed.
If a hobbyist has a PC the HF is good for those deep scratches that you get sometimes.
For doing detailing for a living the HF would not be a good choice.
 
Black Bart makes a good point that I forgot tp mention. These buffers don't like pressure.they will bog down easily. I'm prob gonna keep it around for training just for that reason. Maybee a new guy that I'm training won't be as likely to burn through paint with it. I learned on a Milwaukee..I won't put anyone through that lol.
 
black bart said:
If you use it once you will see a big difference.
While it is a great buy at $29.95 it sure is not a Makita.
The speed control makes too big of a change going from 2 to 3 will change the speed a lot.
When you vary the pressure the speed will change drastically it is nearly impossible to get it to run at the right speed.
If a hobbyist has a PC the HF is good for those deep scratches that you get sometimes.
For doing detailing for a living the HF would not be a good choice.
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My plan in purchasing this unit is if I am 1/2 thru a car and the Makita were to give out I would have a backup in hand. If it could just make it thru 1/2 a car I would be satisfied :redface:
 
I HAD a Dewalt. Never used it, so I sold it. Not a month later, I get calls to do RV's and Boats galore.... Ran to HF and got one of their rotarys. It's not a bad tool for the price. I burnt one up and picked up another. I don't use a rotary enough to justify having an expensive one. I maybe used my HF one, 4-5 jobs last year.....
 
I've got an older HF rotary as well, and for the little bit of work I've been doing lately, it does the job pretty well. It's a ton lighter than my old Blue Point was (I swear they filled that sucker with concrete at the factory), and will hold me over until I can order a Makita. I think I paid $40 or so for it, but that was quite a while ago. It was definitely worth it, but if this one gets stolen too, I'll just wait and get the Makita instead of replacing it with another HF.
 
I've had my hf rotary for about 2 years and i love it. I dont have the one w/ the big plastic handle that goes around it, mine is a bit smaller. It's actually my go-to rotary on my car jobs because its lightweight and the speed starts up as fast as a dewalt. I had to take off the orange plastic on it and paint it red, because awhile back i was on a job, and the guy knew about tools. He mocked the fact that i was using a Chicago HF brand, because he owned nothing but higher-end equipment. In the end, my results on his vehicle were stunning, and i remarked, "Not too bad for a chicago buffer"...
Now, I wouldn't try to use this buffer on large jobs such as RVs and Boats, but for the smaller jobs it works perfect. It keeps me from getting worn out from my much larger/heavier milwaukee rotary..
 
paintjobpro22 said:
I've had my hf rotary for about 2 years and i love it. I dont have the one w/ the big plastic handle that goes around it, mine is a bit smaller. It's actually my go-to rotary on my car jobs because its lightweight and the speed starts up as fast as a dewalt. I had to take off the orange plastic on it and paint it red, because awhile back i was on a job, and the guy knew about tools. He mocked the fact that i was using a Chicago HF brand, because he owned nothing but higher-end equipment. In the end, my results on his vehicle were stunning, and i remarked, "Not too bad for a chicago buffer"...
Now, I wouldn't try to use this buffer on large jobs such as RVs and Boats, but for the smaller jobs it works perfect. It keeps me from getting worn out from my much larger/heavier milwaukee rotary..
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Ive done full corrections on semi trucks with it and never had any probs other than it getting hotter than fire. Ive ran the absolute hell out of it everyday since it was purchased and I just replaced the brushes in it this past weekend. Its getting very worn out though, and Im afraid its gonna be time to replace it soon. Im waiting for the new 3M rotary to hit the market.
Ill tell you another VERY good rotary for under $100 is a Vapor. They are sold at auto parts stores like O'reillys for around $60 and they have twice the power the HF does. The body man at work has one and I love it.
 
I never used the HF brand but i have used a Northern Tools Rotary everyday for the past year which is the same level and cost as the HF brand about 50bux. I have beat the hell out of this buffer and it still runs strong. Although i did have to finally break down and order a Makita because its starting to sound like an air raid siren and apperently thats not good. But even screaming like a banshee it still runs damn good and gets the job done. I have never gotten flak for it from customers yet.
 
No I never got any of it back and no arrests were ever made. The worst part of it was loosing the steamer because it was financed, still had over 3 grand left owed on it, and I didn't have insurance to cover by equipment so I still had to pay for it even though I didn't have it anymore. Hard lesson learned. Something else that sucked the big one was the fact that without any of the high end equipment that brought in high end clients, I had to close up my shop and go back to work for a dealership and just become a weekend warrior, which is actually not a bad gig.
Update on the HF rotary - 2 weeks ago it finally kicked the bucket. I went through 2 sets of brushes trying to keep it alive but it was just worn out and beyond minor repairs. Again I had to get what I could get in a hurry, so I called Auto Tire and Parts and they sent me down an ATD rotary with a bag, a couple pads, and a crappy backing plate for $100. It's alot heavier than the HF but has the power of a 849. My biggest complaint on this machine is it's so damn uncomfortable to run. I'm going to put some foam bicycle grips on the handles of it and see if that helps. I plan to do a review on this machine after I resolve some of the issues with it.
 
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