Mill holder broke! Don't buy the harbor freight POS.

[radicooldude]

I just got a 3/8in mill holder with a MT2 taper. I used it once, and then changed the mill inside. As I was lightly tightening it, the setscrew cracked in half! Now my exspensive bit is stuck in there and the mill holder is screwed. I got this from harbor freight. I hope they will send me another one 2nd air, with either my mill tool or a new one they stock that is similiar. GOD!! I am soo madd... I have waited two weeks for my mill to get up only for this to happen!

[HuFlungDung]

If you have a small cobalt drill, and can run at low rpms, you may be able to drill most of the way through the setscrew. I would then use a small masonary bit (resharpened to give it some cutting clearance) and drill right on through the setscrew, enough to remove its point. You may make a little dimple on the shank of your endmill doing this. But, you might at least loosen the setscrew this way, and then be able to screw the remnants right on through, or back them out.

[anoel]

On the other side of the fence... I've got the same HF 3/8" endmill holder and have been using it for about a year with semi weekly bit changes with no problems at all...

[radicooldude]

Man, you must be lucky...I must of had a bad set screw. Too bad I don't have any cobalt drills, or masonary bits. I do have some HSS ones with Ti coating. Maybe this will work? But then, would harbor freight still allow me to return it?

[HuFlungDung]

If you jimmy the threads trying to remove the setscrew, I guess they would balk at the return. If you can wait 2 weeks to be safe, don't risk it.

[ViperTX]

radiocooldude......was yours made in India??? I've had problems with stuff made in India cracking or breaking...just the metal parts.

[Mcgyver]

sounds like your habour frieght is like our busy bee, i once bought a set of morse taper collets, at least half had 2 thou or greater run out! return them (to their credit the accepted the return) and will never ever darken their door step again. While i like being frugal, useless crap of no value is expensive at any price .

imo unless its a tap handle or something so crude, cheap and simple that it doesn't matter, run the other way on tools made in india, especially tooling and measuring.

[radicooldude]

Well, I called up and demanded a new one. Well, they are just gonna send a new holder. And they dont even want the old one! If I can somehow remove the set screw, and find a cheap .05$ setscrew, I will have two for the price of one. (But now I somehow got to remove my tool!).

[sendkeys]

Great service is about the only thing that hf has coming to them. I hate to say but i have got some tools from them most junk some broke but i never had a problem returning or sending them back. Most time i just tell myself on none-precision tools, they will last 1/5 as long as a good version. IF i only use it one time a year or the price is <1/5's of the good version price then i try for it.

But not to knock them 100%, they do have some(very small some) good tools, like their spray paint guns. But that is because there direct copies of other high end guns german guns

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=43430
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47016

they take a little more air then highend guns and i wouldn't want to use them on a showcar. But i never had a problem painting everything else with them at 1/5 the cost.

[2muchstuff]

I would try using a Dremel tool with a small carbide burr to grind out the set screw. Eventually when the pieces get small enough, use a dental pick to pick them out. Take your time and go slowly. Haste makes waste.

[bkukowski]

sometimes when i get stuff like this stuck i stick it in the oven. the parts heat up, expand, then it might fall right out. don't know if this will help in your situation.

[Halfnutz]

Dont you love the sprayers? Ive got a couple and a green one from Grizzly. They spray really nice. For 15.00 I couldn't beieve it. I have a ton of thier junk. I love the stuff. If it breaks tghey just send me out a new one. Everything Ive ever gotten made in India though was very poor quality. India makes the worst metalworking tooling Ive ever seen. Complete garbage. But some of the Harbor Freight stuff is great. Ive got three of thier Mills and a 9x20 Lathe that all work really well. At least after I took them apart and rebuilt them!