Harbor Freight Vs McMaster Carr - FRL
From
Bob La Londe@21:1/5 to
All on Sat Jun 28 19:34:19 2025
FRL - Common abbreviation for Filter Regular Lubricator.
The top of the L on the FRL for the power draw bar on my South Bend mill started leaking a while ago. A week or so. It doesn't stop it from
working, but it hisses constantly, and uses a lot of oil.
A while back I discovered the FRs from HF were better than comparably
priced (Jupiter I think) from MSC, but I need an FRL. I have the old
Central Pneumatic filter regulators* on a lot of things around the shop.
The only FRL shown on the Harbor Freight website is a **Merlin brand
at 100 bucks. Merlin has been decent in air tool parts, so I was
tempted. It would cost me time to drive into town but I could have had
it today (yesterday, or maybe it was Friday). On the other hand
McMaster Carr has one for a few dollars less, it will be delivered on
Monday, and I've never gotten a bad part from McMaster.
* The Central Pneumatic filter regulators are fine, and the filter traps
on them are a 4th line of defense. My compressor air goes through a
filter, regulator, air drier, another filter, and then every air drop
has a drain valve as the lowest point. I don't have lab grade air, but
its not bad. I have considered adding a desiccant stack, but then I'd
have to plan on a drying regiment. Maybe a dual desiccant stack with
heaters and timers and solenoid valves... I don't really need lab grade
air.
** I am sure the Merlin name was picked by Harbor Freight because at a
glance some people may confuse it with Milton which is a top name in air accessories. Merlin has also proven to be a little better than other
Harbor Freight air accessories. Just like they use Central Pneumatic to
fool people into thinking if Chicago Pneumatic. It sounds similar.
Could I have pieced together something cheaper? Absolutely. I could
have probably even bought an L and scabbed it onto the FR even cheaper
than that. I waned something decent, and I mitigated the shipping cost
by tacking on a couple other things I planned to get from McMaster anyway.
Sure Harbor Freight is upping their game with their premium brands, but
when I can have a quality part delivered next day from a company that
will just take care of me without any bullshit if there is any issue at
all, they are aren't going to sell me when they are MORE expensive.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
www.avg.com
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)