Grizzly and Harbor Freight?

[Ray McCullie]

Ok, you guys will shoot me (or something) but I heard from a tool repair guy the other day. The Central Machinery stuff at HF and the stuff at Grizzly, come from the same manufacturer in China. I always thought some of the tools looked alike but figured the Grizzly stuff was better.

So is the HF stuff what failed QC? Or just some extras that are sold on the cheap. I've heard that factories will do a production run and have a few extras just in case something goes wrong.

Anyway guy claims to have seen Grizzly green machines with CM tags.

[Cary Falk]

I don't know about HF but there is a company http://www.geetech.com.tw/sp.html in Tiawan that makes tools for B&D, DeWalt,Delta,PC,SawStop,WalterMeier, Jet, Powermatic, Grizzly, General International, Ridgid, Oliver. Laguna, Crafted, King and Woodworker Supply. If HF is made in the same plant then that links SawStop to HF.:eek: :DI have Grizzly, Jet, Delta, DeWalt, Ridgid and HF. I think the quality between all my tools but HF are about the same. The HF tools are less refined. That being said, I do have some HF GEMs that keep going and going.

[Ray McCullie]

Yeah... I ain't stickin my finger in there...

As someone once said, if you don't think it's dangerous, stick another finger in. Try your other hand.

Phew.

[Erik Christensen]

even if they are all made in the same place it has no real meaning on their overall quality & value. every tool manufacturer specs each product to match as best they can customer needs for every price point. cheap drill don't have replaceable brushes and commercial ones do, but many users of cheap tools use them very infrequently so who cares about not being able to replace something you will never wear out.

I tend to use tools a lot even though it is just for fun and I have so consistently regretted buying inexpensive tools as they rarely lasted as long or worked as well as I thought they should so I tend to stay away from bargain brands & retailers.

YMMV

[Mike Harrison]

So is the HF stuff what failed QC? Or just some extras that are sold on the cheap.

Manufacturing companies don't work that way. Especially ones as large as Getek. They build "per order" and make sure that the lot will pass QC the first time. Ever heard the saying "time is money"? If a production run ever does fail QC, the product is re-worked and re-QC'd. Factories don't make " a few extras" just in case.

When you are supplying just about all the tool sellers in the U.S., all selling essentially the same "me too" products, they ARE built on the same lines, Delta today, HF tomorrow, jet the next, and so on. Each person on the line does one, and probably the same, operation day after day.

HF doesn't spend much money on cosmetics, there is alot of time and money in the spit and polish portion of manufacturing, which is why their stuff looks kind of curde, but the salient portions of the product are very probably as well done as all the others.

Different knobs, a couple extra parts, a little more trim, different color, and its "theirs" and not "ours"

[Kev Godwin]

My 12 inch disk sander and my bench-top 1 inch belt sander were bought from HF and both are painted in Grizzly green but are labeled Central Machinery. (Most Central Machinery is orange color.) I looked at an older Grizzly catalog I still have and they are the exact same units. Those are the only ones I can say for sure are the same.

edit: When I bought the 12 inch disk sander, the picture on the box showed an oragne colored sander body. When I opened the box I found Grizz-Green.

[Don Dorn]

Look at the Jet JWL-1236 and the HF 34706. If there is a difference other than color and about $500, I can't see it.

[michael flay]

The only difference half the time is what a person is willing to pay for the name!!

[Steve Prill]

There was a thread here or on another active forum where someone compared Grizzly and HF 17" bandsaws. He found all of the parts were the same. For example, each machine had the same casting numbers on the cast parts. The only difference he could find was the paint scheme. HF's was I think blue and white and Grizz's was all white. At the time, HF was closing out their 17" unit for $400 to $500. I called HF the other day and the 17" bandsaws were listed as $390 something, but they were gone.

Steve

[Karl Card]

As others have stated, it is not the manufacturer that would be the problem. It is the specs from the contract of each company having tools made at the manufacturer.

Just for example years ago wal mart started selling pioneer home stereos, they werent as good as regular pioneer. The reason why was because wal mart wanted to sell a cheaper version, changed the specs to what they wanted and lowered the price. However not the original Pioneer quality.

Look at Jet, HF, Grizzly and even a few others and you will see so many simularities between the companies that sell. But there will always be the "quality" that you may not see until you actually use the machine.

I am not a big HF fan, but if you do your homework there are some tools that can be had there that are woth the money. I have a floor drill press that is very strong, accurate and runs great and it is also on the list of things that you can buy from HF that are good.