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I'd like to know where you could get a wrench for $5

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-steel-adjustable-wrench-67150.html

True. General Motors, Ford, NASA, US Army, and the CIA buy all their tools and supplies at Harbor Freight.

Anyone with a milling machine can already build a gun. Besides, the cat is already out of the fucking bag, you retarded government motherfuckers. No, really, WAY the fuck out of the bag. Ignoring all that, the First and Second Amendments do not allow any wiggle room for restrictions, so all laws restricting firearm ownership and speech (this touches both) are unconstitutional, full stop.

I recommend an angle grinder. Why stop at just the paint? Put some body damage as well.

But, just like a human driver who fails to do the right thing and is liable for deaths they cause, the Tesla engineer who failed to write the software so that it actually did its job as expected is also liable for those people her creation kills.

Ridiculous disclaimers don't shield entities from liability. If you put a product on the market and label them "jack stands" and they seem to look like jack stands are expected to look, putting a warning label on them saying "Do not get under vehicle while supported on these jack stands" won't insulate you very well from liability for deaths of people who were crushed when your "jack stands" crumpled.

That "toy flamethrower" is basically a common propane torch, which you can buy at any Harbor Freight, packaged up all fancy. Use it to "Burn weeds, melt snow, remove paint from non-flammable surfaces and more..."

Has a bigger tank, and only costs $30.

https://www.harborfreight.com/...

I'd like a cheap point welder for metal.

http://www.harborfreight.com/w...

$5.99/ea I wonder if they discount when you buy by the crate.

Yeah. I bought a solar powered fountain pump at harbor freight back in the good days when I thought I had a lot of money, wasn't sick and had no credit card debt. Still have it. The thing comes with a centrifugal pump that will pump water only about a foot high - I guess it's enough to aerate a pond, for free. The actual website description http://www.harborfreight.com/s... says peak output power is 1.2W. Yeah, 1.2W on a full sunny bright day, like they have in San Diego. You can probably get 0.5W power out of it. But let's keep that 1.2W number in mind.

Here is ebay $111 12V 100W solar panel selling like hotcakes on ebay from missouri wind and solar: http://www.ebay.com/itm/371071....
Here is ebay $45 12V 35W etc, http://www.ebay.com/itm/371418... that I have contemplated buying for LED TV, laptops and LED house lights off of. Of course on home made batteries, or at least car jumping powerpack, including an cigarette light socket inverter that makes 110VAC from 12VDC.

Compare those above prices for the more accessible and tangible to a customer harbor freight stuff:
Here is $200 12V 45W solar panel http://www.harborfreight.com/4... . Yeah it includes some gadgets like an inverter and some LED lights bling bling, that you can probably buy on ebay for like $25 directly from China. Still, $200 for 45W max? (on a bright sunny day at noon, 9AM or 5PM it's probably 10-20W, and on a cloudy day probably 1W.)

Wind power deals with similar price/watt issues, plus moving parts that fail faster than solar panels, so solar is kind of growing faster, especially in the bright sunny desert areas, compared to wind. But wind works on a cloudy day, and especially at night too. But as a home user expect to deal with 100W or so capacities under optimum (rare) conditions, once in a blue moon, not reliable, especially cannot be relied on now now when you need it now, especially without awesome storage.

You can run a lot of small motors backwards, and may get 10-20W power via a handcrank or a windmill out of the larger ones from older heavy duty dot matrix printers or hand vacuum cleaners, if they are properly constructed DC motors, and car alternators are possibly the cheapest form of bulk power generators, but only if they are form a junkyard, not off the shelf where the price is not better than a windmill. Also car alternators they may be higher powered than what's possible to harvest via a small windmill, and only if you live near a steep slope river may they be economical, or you run a steam engine boiler on woodchip or corn pellet burner, or have means to put up one of them huger windmills on your property instead of a dinky 25W-100W one. Solar power is so much easier to just keep adding to your roof - buy 100W today, another 100W tomorrow, til you end up with 2000W-20,000W easy. You probably need a 20,000W peak power supply that runs at 5000W average if you want to cover air conditioner use and cooking (but don't forget about a possibly even greater cost of basement battery storage.)

Note that I presently get electric from the utility at $0.135/kWh (meaning 1000W for 1 hr costs me 13.5 cents , besides the tolerable $5 minimum charge.)

So let's compare that to household items:
https://www.daftlogic.com/info...

Hair dryer: 1800 W (maximum per wall socket allowed by UL, 120V x 15A, circuit breaker trips in basement at 20A.)
Typical microwave: 1000W-1500W.
Typical electric hotplate: 1000W (mine advertised at 1000W uses 900W as running, but cooks faster from better thermal contact than the old one at 1100W)
Typical window air conditioner unit: 1000W
Typical refrigerator-freezer: 150W-400W.

My water distillation rig: 180

Yeah. I bought a solar powered fountain pump at harbor freight back in the good days when I thought I had a lot of money, wasn't sick and had no credit card debt. Still have it. The thing comes with a centrifugal pump that will pump water only about a foot high - I guess it's enough to aerate a pond, for free. The actual website description http://www.harborfreight.com/s... says peak output power is 1.2W. Yeah, 1.2W on a full sunny bright day, like they have in San Diego. You can probably get 0.5W power out of it. But let's keep that 1.2W number in mind.

Here is ebay $111 12V 100W solar panel selling like hotcakes on ebay from missouri wind and solar: http://www.ebay.com/itm/371071....
Here is ebay $45 12V 35W etc, http://www.ebay.com/itm/371418... that I have contemplated buying for LED TV, laptops and LED house lights off of. Of course on home made batteries, or at least car jumping powerpack, including an cigarette light socket inverter that makes 110VAC from 12VDC.

Compare those above prices for the more accessible and tangible to a customer harbor freight stuff:
Here is $200 12V 45W solar panel http://www.harborfreight.com/4... . Yeah it includes some gadgets like an inverter and some LED lights bling bling, that you can probably buy on ebay for like $25 directly from China. Still, $200 for 45W max? (on a bright sunny day at noon, 9AM or 5PM it's probably 10-20W, and on a cloudy day probably 1W.)

Wind power deals with similar price/watt issues, plus moving parts that fail faster than solar panels, so solar is kind of growing faster, especially in the bright sunny desert areas, compared to wind. But wind works on a cloudy day, and especially at night too. But as a home user expect to deal with 100W or so capacities under optimum (rare) conditions, once in a blue moon, not reliable, especially cannot be relied on now now when you need it now, especially without awesome storage.

You can run a lot of small motors backwards, and may get 10-20W power via a handcrank or a windmill out of the larger ones from older heavy duty dot matrix printers or hand vacuum cleaners, if they are properly constructed DC motors, and car alternators are possibly the cheapest form of bulk power generators, but only if they are form a junkyard, not off the shelf where the price is not better than a windmill. Also car alternators they may be higher powered than what's possible to harvest via a small windmill, and only if you live near a steep slope river may they be economical, or you run a steam engine boiler on woodchip or corn pellet burner, or have means to put up one of them huger windmills on your property instead of a dinky 25W-100W one. Solar power is so much easier to just keep adding to your roof - buy 100W today, another 100W tomorrow, til you end up with 2000W-20,000W easy. You probably need a 20,000W peak power supply that runs at 5000W average if you want to cover air conditioner use and cooking (but don't forget about a possibly even greater cost of basement battery storage.)

Note that I presently get electric from the utility at $0.135/kWh (meaning 1000W for 1 hr costs me 13.5 cents , besides the tolerable $5 minimum charge.)

So let's compare that to household items:
https://www.daftlogic.com/info...

Hair dryer: 1800 W (maximum per wall socket allowed by UL, 120V x 15A, circuit breaker trips in basement at 20A.)
Typical microwave: 1000W-1500W.
Typical electric hotplate: 1000W (mine advertised at 1000W uses 900W as running, but cooks faster from better thermal contact than the old one at 1100W)
Typical window air conditioner unit: 1000W
Typical refrigerator-freezer: 150W-400W.

My water distillation rig: 180

Here's one for $12
http://www.harborfreight.com/u...
Uniformly positive reviews:
It works great, I don't have to yell at my husband now to talk to him, the price was great to , the ear Dr. wanted $2800.00 a pair, yours are just $16.00. What a differns it has made.

Here you go:

wired:
Secure connection

wireless:
Extra secure

You can get a sextant at Harbor Freight for $20, $10 on sale. This is the Chinese military issue version.

I have always preferred:
"Go fuck yourself with a spindle sander"

Vacuum systems are really really really really expensive.

Really? And that does 75 microns. Which translates to slightly better than a 99.99% vacuum. The Hyperloop is expected to operate at about 1000 microns. The extra superlatives apply when you're trying to build a giant particle accelerator, but Elon Musk specifically chose the point on the vacuum pump curve where that reduced pressure is achievable without falling off a cliff in terms of cost. Expensive, yes. But not vastly more expensive than any other part of the system.

Heat guns are cheap

Harbor freight has wall fishes for $10. Can't beat that for something you'll use one time!

http://www.harborfreight.com/4...

Harbor Freight wants $200 for that 45 watt solar panel, which is presently at a discount from $300. At $0.7/Watt it should cost $31.5 instead of $200.

Then have another machine to paint it with no brush strokes and perfectly straight lines.

No brush strokes
Perfectly straight lines

Would you mind posting a pic of the wheel that you have engineered that would do better? thanks. Make sure to consider launch weight, and sustained temeratures below 255deg F among other things.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1...

And why is all tarp blue? Can't they make them camouflage color for St. Pete's sake?

Silver is also popular, and there are camo tarps:

http://www.harborfreight.com/2...

http://www.harborfreight.com/1...

Also I've seen some shiny travel trailers made out of stainless or nickel plate that's not peeled, but those are small, expensive, and they are meant for more like a desert area to reflect the heat of the Sun.

Reflective coatings work both ways... They also keep heat inside from being radiated out.

I'm currently looking to sell just such a trailer, in good shape. 1950s, 8x36' in Southern California.

And why is all tarp blue? Can't they make them camouflage color for St. Pete's sake?

Silver is also popular, and there are camo tarps:

http://www.harborfreight.com/2...

http://www.harborfreight.com/1...

Also I've seen some shiny travel trailers made out of stainless or nickel plate that's not peeled, but those are small, expensive, and they are meant for more like a desert area to reflect the heat of the Sun.

Reflective coatings work both ways... They also keep heat inside from being radiated out.

I'm currently looking to sell just such a trailer, in good shape. 1950s, 8x36' in Southern California.

$6.00USD - http://www.harborfreight.com/7...

Sometimes they have them on sale for 2-3 bucks.

A lot of us build from our parents work. Some of it we don't, because technology caught up sufficiently to the mainstream. Like, before my father tired, he was working on bleeding edge work with lasers and thermal imaging.

I don't need a ruby rod and flashtube to fire a laser, at some huge gov't expense, and $10,000 (if I remember right) for an infrared thermometer. Now I can get a $20 that does both.

He quite literally had a truck filled with gear that was cooled by liquid nitrogen, to do thermal imaging. I believe the truck was the cheapest component. Instead, I can spend $2,500 for a handheld camera that does much better quality imaging.

There are some things that really don't change much. I do my own work around the house. I work on my own cars. I've built electronics. Some techniques I learned from him. Some I've improved on. If he was still alive, I believe he would be impressed.

That original $30,000 shipment was apparently 2,000 multimeters. I'm guessing that $30,000 "worth" of Fluke meters, while a nice gift, will constitute a lot fewer units, meaning fewer makers will end up getting their hands on a meter.

I guess the makers will have to get by on $10 eBay meters instead of $15 SparkFun meters (that coincidentally, *also* have the Fluke color scheme).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digita...

Or this $5 unit from Harbor Freight, that also happens to have a spot for testing PNP and NPN transistors.

That is, $5 if you don't have one of the "free multimeter" coupons they put in the Sunday paper every other week.

That one won't work, it's red, not yellow. Yellow meters are better, that's why everyone wants a Fluke.

That original $30,000 shipment was apparently 2,000 multimeters. I'm guessing that $30,000 "worth" of Fluke meters, while a nice gift, will constitute a lot fewer units, meaning fewer makers will end up getting their hands on a meter.

I guess the makers will have to get by on $10 eBay meters instead of $15 SparkFun meters (that coincidentally, *also* have the Fluke color scheme).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digita...

Or this $5 unit from Harbor Freight, that also happens to have a spot for testing PNP and NPN transistors.

That is, $5 if you don't have one of the "free multimeter" coupons they put in the Sunday paper every other week.

I disagree. Other places now sell batteries quite inexpensively, like Harbor Freight where you can find numerous button cells imexpensively blister packed (a lot cheaper than Radio Shack sells them). Along with a whole aisle of electrical supplies and nuts and bolts. Radio Shack was arrogant in thinking they could continue to charge exorbitant prices for these.

Other discount stores now sell a lot of the cables that TVs need, like Wal Mart and KMart.

There really is no need for a Radio Shack anymore. Everything can be found elsewhere for cheaper. And if they don't soon Amazon will have it for next day shipping if not same day shipping.

I don't know where the cheapest 3d plastic printer is priced. But I'd be amazed if it was cheaper then a cheap drill press, a vice, a 25 rim chamber reamer and drill set. Plus .25 ID blackpipe, caps, nails as firing pins and rocks as hammers. Buying a pipe cutter/threader might be worth it if you're mass producing.

Zip gun manufacturing kit:

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-speed-bench-drill-press-60238-9067.html 70 bucks.

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-inch-multi-purpose-vise-67415.html $70 bucks, overkill.

http://www.jgstools.com/2010catalog.pdf No prices obvious. I'm gonna guess $50 for hss.

http://www.harborfreight.com/29-piece-titanium-nitride-coated-drill-bit-set-5889.html $20 bucks

Yes, I've given a little thought to draining the gun buy-back funds. Purely as a service to society. Protect the good guns by giving them zip guns to melt down and make a decent payday in the process.

I don't know where the cheapest 3d plastic printer is priced. But I'd be amazed if it was cheaper then a cheap drill press, a vice, a 25 rim chamber reamer and drill set. Plus .25 ID blackpipe, caps, nails as firing pins and rocks as hammers. Buying a pipe cutter/threader might be worth it if you're mass producing.

Zip gun manufacturing kit:

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-speed-bench-drill-press-60238-9067.html 70 bucks.

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-inch-multi-purpose-vise-67415.html $70 bucks, overkill.

http://www.jgstools.com/2010catalog.pdf No prices obvious. I'm gonna guess $50 for hss.

http://www.harborfreight.com/29-piece-titanium-nitride-coated-drill-bit-set-5889.html $20 bucks

Yes, I've given a little thought to draining the gun buy-back funds. Purely as a service to society. Protect the good guns by giving them zip guns to melt down and make a decent payday in the process.

I don't know where the cheapest 3d plastic printer is priced. But I'd be amazed if it was cheaper then a cheap drill press, a vice, a 25 rim chamber reamer and drill set. Plus .25 ID blackpipe, caps, nails as firing pins and rocks as hammers. Buying a pipe cutter/threader might be worth it if you're mass producing.

Zip gun manufacturing kit:

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-speed-bench-drill-press-60238-9067.html 70 bucks.

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-inch-multi-purpose-vise-67415.html $70 bucks, overkill.

http://www.jgstools.com/2010catalog.pdf No prices obvious. I'm gonna guess $50 for hss.

http://www.harborfreight.com/29-piece-titanium-nitride-coated-drill-bit-set-5889.html $20 bucks

Yes, I've given a little thought to draining the gun buy-back funds. Purely as a service to society. Protect the good guns by giving them zip guns to melt down and make a decent payday in the process.

I believe he is referring to a unit like this one: http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_21166.jpg

http://www.harborfreight.com/triple-ball-trailer-hitch-69874.html

One of these, perchance? http://www.harborfreight.com/triple-ball-trailer-hitch-69874.html

When purchasing 'ink', always buy the best.

"Because most people can't afford a CNC mill and you can now buy a 3-D printer at Staples?"

You don't need a CNC mill unless you want to build several copies of the same thing quickly. Milling machines are not that expensive.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-2-half-horsepower-heavy-duty-milling-drilling-machine-33686.html

it's not the greatest, but it will work.

Secure screw bits are a $20 bucks for an entire set (Made in China) of all the designs.

$10

Pffft... $400? We're looking for CHEAP here guys.... How about $12? You can drive that down an extra 20% if you use a coupon in the second link. Be sure to get your free flashlight!

http://www.harborfreight.com/ultra-ear-sound-amplifier-66577.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/digitalsavings.html

Pffft... $400? We're looking for CHEAP here guys.... How about $12? You can drive that down an extra 20% if you use a coupon in the second link. Be sure to get your free flashlight!

http://www.harborfreight.com/ultra-ear-sound-amplifier-66577.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/digitalsavings.html

I was going to post a comment that included much of this so I'll just add a couple things here.

People's interests differ. Some people like to tinker and/or express themselves in ways that are often rather incompatible with dense urban living. Obviously the GP doesn't have such interests and likes dense urban living which is fine, but imposing that on others with broader or different interests via public policy is arrogant, bigoted, and narrow minded.

In dense housing, there are usually many more rules (either your landlord's rules or your condo/town house association rules) than in more suburban or rural settings. These include what you can have outside your unit, what time you must turn your music down/off, when you can do your laundry or even run your dishwasher (or, even requirements that you have rugs on your floors instead of bare hardwood - seriously). These rules interfere, for example, with one's desire/tendency to work eclectic and irregular hours (and therefore to do non-work activities at similarly eclectic hours).

In dense housing, there's no place to have a substantial garden and/or orchard if you like to grow food. Maintaining your own compost heap on your high rise balcony just isn't very practical. Sure, community gardens exist in some areas, but they are generally inconvenient compared to going out your back door to tend your garden when you have 15 minutes to spare or when the rain let up for a few minutes. And, of course, community gardens are not suitable for growing your own long lived plants like fruit, nut, and citrus trees.

In dense housing, there's little place for making stuff of any size and/or have multiple maker projects active (some of which are eventually abandoned after sitting and taking space up for months). It's impractical to, on an impulse, buy a mini-lathe (and perhaps mod it) and then a couple days later wake up with a neat idea and wander down to your workshop for thirty minutes before breakfast to make a prototype of your idea.

Raising kids in a high density urban environment is quite a bit different as well. In suburban and rural settings, you can usually (unless you have Chester The Molester living next door) send your five and six year old into your (possibly fenced) back yard to safely play with minimal supervision for short periods when they need to "burn off some energy". In dense urban settings where one has to rely on communal outdoor play areas, one has to monitor the kids more closely (if, nothing else, to make sure a random eight year old who you've never seen isn't beating up your five year old) and has to escort them through public spaces on the way to the play area that they are not yet competent to safely navigate independently.

So, yes, for some people who are happy with a structured lifestyle, dense urban living is fine -- indeed, likely preferable as it provides some of that structure they crave in their life. But it's not everyone's goal.

Ultimately we will need to limit, either explicitly or via evolving of cultural attitudes, world population. There is some limit to our resources and the only answer to the "population problem" can't be to keep packing people closer and closer together and reducing the resources they can use. In reality, the world would be better off with a couple billion well educated and prosperous humans using resources fairly freely (although, intelligently) than with the seven billion we have now (let alone the 9.22 billion in 2075 as projected by the UN).

Crypto geeks are breathing a sigh of relief, while the CEO of Harbor Freight laughs maniacally.

I'll probably carry a racquetball racquet with me everywhere I go (just in case)

Like this one??? Electronic Fly Swatter. It works rather well against Texas mosquitoes.

http://www.harborfreight.com/garage-shop/stationary-milling-drilling.html

Sounds like you want to slightly mod a GEM.

They're very cheap.
Adding rigid doors will cost just a bit more.
Up to 4-seats, plus a small "trunk".
For heat, one of these might do.
Street legal on roads up to 35MPH.
Top-speed of 25MPH is easily fixed. (no longer street-legal)

And this gem:

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function-digital-multimeter-90899.html

$2.99 for fucks sake! I've bought a few of them. Are they a Fluke? No, but I can buy 50 of them for the same price and they are accurate (against an HP bench meter) to about 2mV. Close enough 99.99% of the time in the field.

I'm a field service engineer and use this daily. Put one in your tool box, one in your trunk, one in your emergency kit, keep a few around to hand out to others when their batteries fail. Don't worry if you leave it up in the ceiling tile or drop it down a wall.. it's the price of a replacement battery.

an AC wrote:

>China is much more similar to Japan than India, as I have yet to purchase any good that ever came from India.

Poke around a bit.

Since the kids have taken over, there's been better quality control at Harbor Freight Tools and there have been some surprisingly nice things showing up from India:

http://www.harborfreight.com/no-33-bench-plane-97544.html

Discussion of it here:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?173650-Harbor-Freight-quot-33-quot-Bench-Plane-I-like-it.-Especially-for-less-than-10.

review here:

http://forums.finewoodworking.com/fine-woodworking-knots/hand-tools/10-harbor-freight-plane

People don't want to make junk --- give them the chance and the economic support and they'll choose to make good things (as opposed to ``good enough'').

William
(who is fortunate to have a bunch of tools from his father and grandfather)

A 500SQ foot pinwheel home is large enough for a family of 4 to live comfortably. If you are not the typical american slob you can get away with a pair of $200.00 Harbor Freight Solar panel kits and a couple of deep cycle batteries for electricity to give you lighting for the entire home and a couple of outside lights, and if you are lucky you can charge that OLPC laptop that is used for the rich kids. if your well is properly sized you can run it also off of the solar+battery system. a propane tank outside will supply cooking, heat for home and water.

Um, no.

This:
http://www.harborfreight.com/45-watt-solar-panel-kit-90599.html
is the only solar kit they have. 45watts for $180. Two = 90 watts. Barely enough to run ONE 100 watt light bulb, not to mention "a couple of outside lights" and charging a laptop and running a well pump. Oh, and Batteries Not Included.

"This looks stupidly inefficient. Either the car takes too god damn much energy to run; it has too huge of a battery; or it can't power a whole house for long."

From the description:
" supply electricity to power a house during a power outage or shortage."

Wow you didn't even get past the first sentence! This isn't designed to power your house for life, it's for an blackout, when a summer storm just knocked out power and it's 100 degrees out and you don't have a $500+ 7000w gas generator laying around. Your car engine is far more powerful than any gas generator and it has gas tank much larger than generators, problem is you can't power your house with the engine on idle, it needs to be revved up a bit, and leaving your car outside revved up for hours risks it being stolen and is hard on the engine unless you know exactly how high the RPMs should be.

This is not a new idea, this guy did it with his Prius in 2009, but I'm glad a manufacture is finally designing a car that can function as a generator rather than the "backyard mechanics" method consumers had to use in the past.

Unfortunately they're designing this for the Nissan Leaf which is an electric vehicle with no gas engine so when the battery is dead on your Leaf from powering your house in a blackout you now have no power and no method of transportation. Not smart.

I'm pretty sure they mean pressure not force, since I honestly doubt that a 2.5 'ton' of force is needed to punch through a hard disk

No they almost certainly mean force. Shop presses are sold by force. 1000 psi hydraulic tubing, fittings, pump, and o-rings vs some diameter (area is what actually matters) ram equals X tons. The shop press manufacturer has no idea what shape die you'll install. If its a wedge, I guess the area is theoretically zero at the point and the pressure is infinite. More likely limited by the compression strength of the metal in the die.

Here's a Harbor Freight Chinese 20 ton press, less than $300 delivered.

http://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-shop-press-32879.html

Chinese presses used to be famous for shipping with cast iron plates instead of steel plates. People die or are horribly wounded when the cast iron inevitably shatters. So be careful and/or buy or make your own steel plates. Another thing to look out for is Chinese "1000 psi" fittings and hoses might not actually survive 1000 psi when brand new, much less after years of abuse. So buying a press 10 times bigger than you think you need is not all that bad of an idea, assuming you can afford it.

and for anyone who doubts that, I have two words: Harbor Freight.