Post up your latest new or used tool purchases

Mittnz said:
I got in so much trouble last night playing with my jackhammer in the living room. She was PISSED. :emb3: Louder than I expected.

Long story short, the barn on this property I am renting (where I have my XJ and all my tools) started flooding over the weekend. It actually isn’t even coming from the roof, but seems like it is seeping in through the cold joint, where the walls meet the foundation. Previous property owner must have known this, because he built this weird little drainage channel all around the perimeter of the shop? Which, I now understand exactly why he did.

I needed a quick way to start digging the old trench out a little deeper, I think I’m gonna replace it with some 2 3/4” “slim” drain channel. (It’s a rental, I’m not gonna dump a bunch of money into it, but I want to at least not be standing in 1/4” of water working on my ****. Plus I get to **** around with a jackhammer.)

This thing was $65, and I’m actually kind of impressed, that’s dirt cheap. We’ll see if it holds up through the job. The reviews on these things were really good…


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So, why doesn’t the property owner take care of the water flooding issue? Why is it your responsibility?
 
Steve300xcw said:
Grab it just hard enough to hold the thing, but not bend it. I have cut a lot of metal this way.


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Dang, I’m not sure I like that method much. My luck at the saw would work its way loose and fall on the floor fawking the saw up.

I never watched or bought anything from an infomercial before in my life. But in the early 2000’s I had a small tv in my office and was watching it while I was doing some computer work. Rockwell Brand tools just made a comeback and they were promoting their new jaw vise work station. I used and wore out two older style B&D folding work tables with their table top vise system. So I was very interested in the new Rockwell jaw vise.

After the showed the welding setup option (aluminum V notched replacement jaws and a third hand arm thing - which I never used yet) I called their number and ordered it with the weld package.

Since then, I have used the **** out of it for fab work and praised the engineering peeps who designed it all the time as well. The V notches or grooves in the aluminum jaws hold the Milwaukee bandsaw handle perfectly. I’ve used this setup a lot and like I said, wore out one bandsaw cutting so much this way fabbing things out.

Only complaint I’ve ever had with all this was the limitations of the depth of cut. But I know these saws were never intended for using them in this manner but people do and that’s why swag made their table setup.
 
Yea theres a few guys on here who cringe when I throw up a pic of that :laughing:

Ive never had it move on me. Its fast to set up and it works. If I was cutting every day on the thing, then yea a table would make sense.
 
Landslide said:
Only complaint I’ve ever had with all this was the limitations of the depth of cut. But I know these saws were never intended for using them in this manner but people do and that’s why swag made their table setup.
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I max mine out all the time cutting yokes, tube an such. One of these days I'll get around to shiming the rollers to get it cutting a lil straighter. Still a damn handy tool that has saved me a ton of time
 
Landslide said:
So, why doesn’t the property owner take care of the water flooding issue? Why is it your responsibility?
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Well, it’s not, but, he’s been really great to us since we moved in (3 months ago). For example, he’s an electrician, and I asked if he could put a 220v drop in the barn for my welder, and he had it done that week no problem. I was nervous to ask him because I figured he’d shoot me down and tell me no welding at all (seems like a landlord thing to do.)

So, I’m trying to save my “hey this is your responsibility to fix” cards for when I really need them, like when **** breaks in the house itself. I also got the barn for a great deal (literally an extra $200/mo on rent. Which, if you know Bay Area prices, is absurdly cheap).

Plus he lets me kind of do whatever I want to the place, which I love because I love “rentovating” and dumping money and effort into property that isn’t mine.

House I was renting before this, I remodeled the bathroom just for the hell of it (it started with me fixing a crack in the drywall, and wanting a place to put stuff by the sink. WTF kind of bathroom doesn’t have a counter at all.) Ended with me doing full crown moulding all around, skim coating the walls to make them square/flat, hanging textured wallpaper (I didn’t want to do that much knockdown), redoing all the trim/casings around the door, new baseboards, painting, replacing the exhaust fan, and hanging an LED medicine cabinet. I have no idea what I’m doing but it’s okay because it’s only gotta last until the end of my lease anyway :dustin:


I get bored.
 

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Mittnz said:
Like this?
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I’m having trouble picturing this. Is there some sort of horizontal plane that you have attached, for the object being cut to rest on?
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I got a little 3x6" table bolted to the saw of my own manufacture
the older ones have a much squarer handle in the trigger hand, its flat sides go in the lower vise very nicely
yeah I got a low mounted vise with the jaws at about 30" and a bench mounted one
 
Mittnz said:
Look into these if you don’t already have one:

www.swagoffroad.com

Portaband Table Pro Model - SWAG Off Road

Discover the SWAG Portaband Table Pro Model - the perfect tool for metal fabrication enthusiasts. Made in the USA, our table offers exceptional durability and stability in a compact design. The table features built-in dual miter gauge slides and bolt-on steel legs, providing a stable platform...
www.swagoffroad.com www.swagoffroad.com

www.swagoffroad.com

SWAG "Choke Out" Trigger Control Kit

SWAG "Choke Out" Trigger Control Kit Tired of reaching around your Portaband table to squeeze the trigger and turn on the saw? The SWAG Choke Out allows you to turn your saw on and off with a simple pull tab located conveniently on the front edge of the table. The Choke Out Kit is compatible...
www.swagoffroad.com www.swagoffroad.com

Have used mine a few times, though with a harbor freight bandsaw.
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I'm cheap and I have tools. I made my own. Took me awhile to figure out where to mount it in the shop without taking up more space. Finally settled on the grinder stand. Has worked out nicely. Dunno how I went so many years without the little thing. I use the **** outtah it.

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Velcro trigger lock and a HF foot pedal round it out. (foot pedal normal sits up on the wheel lip)

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I keep my corded one on a platform like that, so handy. I really wish I had a larger vertical bandsaw, don't have much room for another machine though :-\
 
I built a rolling fab table with 2" square tube inset under the top plate. The ends of the tube are open on the 4 corners allowing me in slide in my portaband , vice or future ideas using 1.5" square tube. Having the table surface makes it easy to cut longer pieces of material easy. First pic I could find.


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I was having a hard time finding any new metric ignition wrenches that were not stamped steel.

Ended up finding these. Didn’t really need them all in double open end and sae, but it didn’t seem right breaking them up since they had been together since the 1960’s.
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Here’s a 1950’s SAE set that served my Grandfather and then me each for about 30 years as electricians (I got them in 1980 as a 9 y/o kid after he passed away). :
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And this is a modern set that came with a socket set I gave my 13 y/o son for Christmas…. Sad what became of Craftsman. They work well enough for rc car turnbuckles I guess.
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muddyrover said:
And this is a modern set that came with a socket set I gave my 13 y/o son for Christmas…. Sad what became of Craftsman. They work well enough for rc car turnbuckles I guess.
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Oh man that’s disgusting 🤮 and they should be ashamed putting crap like that out there.

I too have old school small wrench sets from craftsman tools. I have them in my to go crazy heavy pig tool box.
 
Landslide said:
I bought this with a magnetic adjustable arm base too off of FBMP. New never used.
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Sorry, I’m dumb. Regular dial gauge indicator for multi-purpose (like backlash etc), or does this one have a specific purpose (like a bore gauge)? Looks different than the ones I have seen.
 
Mittnz said:
Sorry, I’m dumb. Regular dial gauge indicator for multi-purpose (like backlash etc), or does this one have a specific purpose (like a bore gauge)? Looks different than the ones I have seen.
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It works by leverage on a finger which you can move to different positions. The lever moves on a hinged point like how your finger moves at your knuckle. So instead of typical dial indicator piston style shaft movement for measurements, this one works by the finger movement on the indicator.
 
Mittnz said:
Sorry, I’m dumb. Regular dial gauge indicator for multi-purpose (like backlash etc), or does this one have a specific purpose (like a bore gauge)? Looks different than the ones I have seen.
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They are very useful indicators. I use them for checking parallelism, concentricity, runout ect. They are super sensitive. Each hash mark is a .0001 of an inch. One complete rev is only .008 of an inch.
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
They are very useful indicators. I use them for checking parallelism, concentricity, runout ect. They are super sensitive. Each hash mark is a .0001 of an inch. One complete rev is only .008 of an inch.
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I have piston and finger in thou and tenths. Basically never break out the tenths except for surface plate "how tall/deep is this bump/hole" type assessment.

The form factor makes a huge difference in not having the body of the goddamn thing in the way of whatever you're trying to set up. Piston for lathe, finger for mill is what I wind up doing the majority of the time. Toss a rotary on the mill and then it's the piston one with the magnet base holding it to the side of the head.
 
Landslide said:
It works by leverage on a finger which you can move to different positions. The lever moves on a hinged point like how your finger moves at your knuckle. So instead of typical dial indicator piston style shaft movement for measurements, this one works by the finger movement on the indicator.
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Interesting, thank you this is exactly the explanation I needed.
 
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