Comments on: Hot or Not? Harbor Freight Knockout Punches

By: fritzgorbach

fritzgorbach — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:27:01 +0000

Destroyed two sets of these, boh on the first hole, bboth times the screw broke. How many does the “casual user” need. Just spring for maybe a half and a 3/4 if you really must.
Personally, I have two sets of greenlees,both up to two inch, one fairly new with a ratchet wrench in a nice plastic case(about $250 at home depot) and one fairly old in two leather pouches(5 bucks at a garage sale) and both work great.
Granted I broke the HFs on a fairly heavy cabinet when i didn’t have my greenlees with me, so the HFs might be ok around the home for a few bucks, but why take a chance. Especially if you are working in a hot panel, the last thing you want to do is F’around trying to get the broken punch outta there.
As for HFstep bits, respectfully disagree. I go through about three sets of them a year, where i used to go through one or two sets of irwins, and the HF bits are like seven bucks, compared to better then a hundred for the irwins, etc.

By: Toolmonger » Blog Archive » The Week in Tools: Toolmonger Top 5

Toolmonger » Blog Archive » The Week in Tools: Toolmonger Top 5 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:34:26 +0000

[...] Hot or Not? Harbor Freight Knockout Punches The industry standard for knockout punches, Greenlee screw- or hydraulic-actuated two-piece piloted dies are designed to make holes in sheet metal for conduit and instruments. But what about for the weekend warrior or the guy starting out in the trade? [...]

By: heywood

heywood — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:52:48 +0000

check ebay. you’ll find greenlee pretty affordable, and their stuff doesn’t suck.

hf’s doesn’t use decent steel, so the punches might work for a hole or two but then will distort and dull.

By: MeasureOnceCutTwice

MeasureOnceCutTwice — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:41:42 +0000

All very useful comments, but clearly David Bryan said it the best!

By: David Bryan

David Bryan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:44:46 +0000

I’d rather eat some metal and try to excrete one than have to use these.

By: Chris W

Chris W — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:22:05 +0000

Not. The first time I used my HF punch it started ok then began digging into the die.

By: Mike Yancey

Mike Yancey — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:22:48 +0000

NOT.
I bought the Harbor Freight punch set and I’ve found it to be terrible.

Now, to be honest, I’ve not cut conduit holes, but just a mild steel enclosure cover for a vacuum tube project, and I found it took an enormous level of force to complete the hole. I thought I’d never get it out, in fact.

As a comparison, I recently updated that project and I had bought a USED, single Greenlee punch. I’d already messed up a spare cover, so just to see if I had noodle arms or something, I tried the Greenlee punch just as a test. The one Greenlee punch I have just punched through like butter!

As a side, I also tried Harbor Freight’s step-drills. They vibrated so much I thought I’d ruin my drill press. Also, they didn’t drill very well to boot. I’m not too impressed with the Harbor Freight stuff.

By: ToolGuyd

ToolGuyd — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:22:22 +0000

I had asked around about these, and the consensus is that HF knockouts dull very, very quickly rendering them virtually useless.

I would suggest alternatives such as hole saws or unibits for smaller holes if the cost of Greenlee punches is too high to be a valid consideration.

By: Frank Townend

Frank Townend — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:28:19 +0000

Hot enough.

I have the set and it works fine. I also have the Greenlee set (and other single punches) and they are better. If someone wanted a set and wanted to know if the HF is OK, I would say yes.