What new tools have you got lately?

[84_c10_GMC]

It’s metric but I have a standard set on the way. We use them at work for cnc maintenance. They are nice sets for the size and great for in the car on the road, or around the house.

 

[vr1967]

Not tools, but picked up 4 of these shelves today for cheap. 4’ wide, 2’ deep and 6’ high. A local store overbought. That had one in the store with roughly 100 12pks on it and it was sturdy.

Using 2 in the new pantry (was 3” too long of turning a 3rd sideways against the back wall, because of the big freezer) and the other 2 are for the shop.

May go pick a few more up, just in case I have room later. Am planning on adding on another 30’x44’ soon.

We may be getting rid of some pallet racks at work soon, so they may be my new spare engine storage racks, to get the spares off the floor.

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[bucket]

In anticipation of replacing all the old iron water pipe in my house this year, I got a PEX fitting crimper. Also today we finally got a Snap On driver to add our shop to his route, so I upgraded my tubing bender today. My old one was a bit worn out and only did 90* bends.

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[Camar068]

In anticipation of replacing all the old iron water pipe in my house this year, I got a PEX fitting crimper. Also today we finally got a Snap On driver to add our shop to his route, so I upgraded my tubing bender today. My old one was a bit worn out and only did 90* bends.

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don't forget shark bite connectors/valves. They make em for pvc/pex/copper now. quick and handy.

 

[bucket]

don't forget shark bite connectors/valves. They make em for pvc/pex/copper now. quick and handy.

Yep, but they are significantly more expensive than the basic fittings and crimp rings. I don't have a whole lot to replace, but it would still all add up.

I'll actually be taking out far more water lines than I'll be installing. There's actually two water systems that are now combined. One half used to run off of a cistern tank, the other half used to run off a windmill pump from the well. There's now a normal well pump in place of the windmill pump and the cistern was abandoned. Both systems feed off the well pump, but only the one half goes through the water softener. The whole system can be greatly simplified.

 

[legopnuematic]

Got a vise for the mill. It’s a Kurt knockoff sold by Yost/Eastwood. For some reason Eastwoods EBay store had it for $20 less than the site and free shipping (about $60 to ship from their site). Was $150 after tax to my door.

It is certainly not a Kurt, visually similar but the fit and finish definitely is second rate. Functionally I think it will be fine but I’ll be doing a full tear down/clean/deburr/inspection before really putting it in service. When I was tramming it in I noticed there is a low spot in the dead jaw above the right side screw hole. I’ll probably re grind them to get them right.

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Took a test cut with an ancient insert face mill I got with one of my Kennedy boxes, all three inserts were chipped and I didn’t feel like rotating them, so the surface finish is representative of that.

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[DoubleDingo]

Not a tool perse, but was too cool to not get two.

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[vr1967]

Was given this because one end was messed up. As can be seen, this end was only tacked together, not fully welded. Will reinforce and use it to move engines/transmissions around the shop. The end uprights just pull out.

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[Dejure]

I prefer kd inserts on spark plug holes.

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The Farm/Ranch did a comparison of low and high end clickers to bar types and even old bar types came out in the upper end.

 

[Dejure]

I may have to change my name to George Jetson. I made the plunge and bought a Bambu P2S printer. The purchase was inspired, in part, by future plans to replace the dash and do other work to the interior of my 78.

In the past, I had a 69 step side and built my own dash. Too, I built a stereo frame, ashtray cover, lower door panels with extended cabinets (at the forward end) for speakers, a shifter cover for my Hurst floor shifter (it had a flair at the top to hold the rocker that allowed me to kick the over-drive in and out at the touch of a finger), glove box cover, and overhead gauge console.

Looking around, I see aftermarket dash replacements for a mere $1,500.00 (gulp). That makes building my own, again, pretty attractive. More so in that I'll have one unlike any other and out of whatever wood I desire (first time around, I may go with walnut, since I have a lot on hand).

One nice thing about that will be, no longer will it be a pain to get to sections of the instrument panels. I'll have at least three panels. One for the tac and speedo. One for the vacuum gauge and whatever else I deem appropriate to be installed there.

I'll add indicators to warn when the headlights are on, or the fogs, or the running lights. . . .

What I didn't have on the old dash was, labels, though I did have lights (I used 24 volt DC neons for a bazillion year life span). I'll do the indicator light thing again, but will be adding labels for nearly every thing (headlights on, high beam, backups, fog. . . .).

Did a few test runs and this thing does a REALLY nice job of printing labels in any configuration, color(s) and size I deem appropriate.

On a whim, I pulled up a few GMC files, including the Sierra thing. They printed nicely. With the right filament choices, I can cover that Chevy Emblem on the grill with a GMC one. I can add a big GMC to the flat, aftermarket tail gate.

Too, I plan on labels that can be tie wrapped, lace corded, or taped to wire ways to allow quick identification of circuits (e.g., tail, stop, head, turn, backup, marker and other lights. Add to that the heater, horn, starter and other circuites under the hood, in the undercarriage, or behind the dash.

Because the colors are above or through the print, they would wear off anytime soon.

The nice thing is, once done, if I need replacements, they are just a George Jetson touch away.

The sky seems the limit. Be it a frame for a gauge, for the shifter, a new knob, even an air intake, it just boils down to taking the time to learn the CAD necessary to pull it off and buying the right filament to hold up to the heat of the hot summer sun and under the hood.

Oh, and that GMC emblem lists for $85.00 and up on line. That's nearly 1/10th the cost of the printer with the automatic filament feeder (AMS).

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Was given this because one end was messed up. As can be seen, this end was only tacked together, not fully welded. Will reinforce and use it to move engines/transmissions around the shop. The end uprights just pull out.

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A six wheeler...or if you're at Target they call em U Boats. I used to push these around when I worked at Marty Wal, stocking shelves on the night shift. And yes there are varying degrees of quality on these, same with pallet jacks. Great for moving case goods and big boxes of stuff. Looks like this one has decent casters on it too....

 

[78C10BigTen]

A six wheeler...or if you're at Target they call em U Boats. I used to push these around when I worked at Marty Wal, stocking shelves on the night shift. And yes there are varying degrees of quality on these, same with pallet jacks. Great for moving case goods and big boxes of stuff. Looks like this one has decent casters on it too....

The grocery chain here, Weis markets has them. Calls em u boats.

 

[bucket]

A six wheeler...or if you're at Target they call em U Boats. I used to push these around when I worked at Marty Wal, stocking shelves on the night shift. And yes there are varying degrees of quality on these, same with pallet jacks. Great for moving case goods and big boxes of stuff. Looks like this one has decent casters on it too....

The grocery chain here, Weis markets has them. Calls em u boats.

They are known as u-boats at the local TSC that my wife works at too.

 

[legopnuematic]

My buddy picked this up for me yesterday, a 30x60x1/2” steel plate, this will become my welding/fab/assembly/worktable. Need to source some square tubing 2x2x3/16 is what is ideal, but I found some 3x3x1/4 for a good price pretty local, which would work.

Well yesterday I took an hour off work and picked my buddy up and we headed south to Washington and got some steel. Got 40ft of 3x3x.250, 40ft of 1.5x1.5x.188, 20 ft of 2x2x.188 for my boss and 10pcs of 1x1.5x14ga 39"lg. Prices were very good. $6/ft for the 3", $3/ft for the 2", the 1.5" was $2/ft, but he had some old stuff that was surface rusty he sold me for $1/ft instead.
Truck rode nice with the extra weight.

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So we get back up to the shop and notice this angle iron crate sitting by the road for the taking, so fire the tractor up and boom pole it back. Hey, free steel is free steel.

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[Ricko1966]

Well not got a new tool it's a I need help fixing an old tool. A neighbor gave me an old 2T cherry picker, it's one of the cheapies with 6 wheels on the bottom and adjustable length legs. It needs a new ram but the capacity is not legible,can I get some of you to look at your cheap cherry pickers and see what they use for a ram? Yes I know I could use an 8 ton ram but a 4 ton ram would be quicker rate going up. That's why I want to see what comes on the majority of the budget cherry pickers new. Thanks.
Edit, well @legopnuematic and @TotalyHucked answered this for me. Thank you very much gentlemen.