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Just thought that I would warn  goons that they should under no circumstances buy King Canada tools. Here is a list of my grievances with them after teaching a semester of shop in a tech room almost completely stocked with King Canada crap.2 of the 3 Palm sanders cannot be held steady. You need two hands and 100lbs of force to even think of using it. Router cannot hold its depth for more than a few seconds. One gets deeper, the other shallower. Router bits are the cheapest things on this planet! They suck sooooo bad! I don't think there are poorer quality ones on the planet. Biscuit joiner incapable of making two cuts the same depth. We finally had to clamp the drat thing to the shop table top. Belt sander crapped out after a month and a half. It also runs terribly slow for a belt sander. Skill saws are just cheap, not terrible, but not good. 12" planer depth gauge is waaay off. Lasers fell off both of the jigsaws. Best part! $1100 lathe (43") works fine, but all of the handles and bolts for the tool rest setup have broken and stripped. The three parts of the lathe you are going to be using the most have been made out of the cheapest, softest (yet most brittle?) metal ever forged. I'm sure Chinese farmers made better metal in their back yard smelters during the cultural revolution. Add to that lovely customer service and never answering emails, and you have a winning combination.
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Jun 4, 2013 14:04
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dwoloz posted:I have one dead 18v Milwaukee lithium and one dying. Was wondering if I could swap a possibly good cell from one to the other and save it. Not sure how to tell which cells are good or bad though Besides measuring voltage, which is easy but doesn't tell you everything, I think you'd need to load test every battery. Hook up a load and time it. It would be a pain to do. If you want to mess with your packs I'd suggest just finding new cells.
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Jun 4, 2013 15:18
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iForge posted:I just got a new (to me) truck and needed a better toolbox for the bed than the plastic one I had so I bought this old as gently caress Knaack box off craigslist for $80. Rust removal, primer, paint has already been done. I painted it a gloss gray, very similar to AbsentMindedWelder's lathe if you have been following his repainting of it. I also tig welded the feet a bit since a couple of the welds were cracked, presumably from it banging around for 50-ish years. Just gotta touch up the paint and get locks for it. The inside is only getting cleaned and not getting painted since it will just get scratched from my tools anyway. Anybody dealt with these old boxes before? I haven't tried fitting any yet, but I have no clue what size padlocks are going to work on this thing. The new ones use Master #5s apparently. I guess I could contact Knaack and see if anyone there knows. I couldn't find a model number for the box anywhere on it, but it measures 48L x 24W x 24H. Pictures of the finished product will come after I get locks for it and toss it in the bed of the truck. That is awesome. You can actually buy Knaack Tan paint and decals from a distributor, if you wanted to "restore it." We have some where I work as "touch up" for when boxes get scratched in transit. From their website, it looks like a 2048 Classic. As far as a lock goes, their newer boxes use the "Watchman" series, which allows you to attach a padlock that only keeps the bottom visible, so that the shackle is actually recessed into the box, but this one looks like it predates that technology. If it helps, a Master Lock 5 should have a 3/8" diameter shackle, if you want to measure and see if it would fit. If you want to be really secure, and it has a spot for two locks, check out a Master Lock 175. You could get two of them, and set them to different combinations, and not worry about losing a key. I think their shackles may be thicker, so you might want to check that out first. I'm kind of a Knaack Nerd. I still can't convince my wife to let me get an 89 for the garage.
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Jun 6, 2013 03:25
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WashinMyGoat posted:That is awesome. You can actually buy Knaack Tan paint and decals from a distributor, if you wanted to "restore it." We have some where I work as "touch up" for when boxes get scratched in transit. From their website, it looks like a 2048 Classic. As far as a lock goes, their newer boxes use the "Watchman" series, which allows you to attach a padlock that only keeps the bottom visible, so that the shackle is actually recessed into the box, but this one looks like it predates that technology. Thanks for the info! This one pre-dates the tan paint and it was originally gray. I painted it a slightly darker gray, but it is close enough to original. I have a master 175 so I will check if it fits, thanks! I should be getting my truck back today, it has been in the shop all week getting the A/C fixed.
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Jun 6, 2013 13:02
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I did a little touch up painting on the box after work, but after I loaded it in my truck, I realized that I have a little more to do. The roller shed quite a bit on the paint but I don't mind much. I don't know how I missed the feet, but it is raining now so that will have to be done another day. I used Rustoleum's "Rusty Metal" primer and their "Gloss Smoke Gray" for the top coat. Lid got 2 coats because the roller shed the most on it so I sanded the piss out of it and re-painted with a foam brush. I stopped by Home Depot and got 2 padlocks for the box, and they fit really well, plus they are supposed to be hard as poo poo to break into. They are the Master Lock Magnum padlocks. Mine are the laminated stainless steel ones, designed to live outdoors in the elements. I wonder how these locks will fare in the wintertime. I may have to figure out a cover to keep them from icing up. All in all it cost me: Box - $80 Paint - $20 Padlocks - $18 Total - $118 I'm pleased with the results, considering these cost around $600 new. Edit: I reckon someone will be curious, this is the truck I just bought. 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 with 69k miles on it. She ain't even broke in yet and looks brand new, even though its an 11 year old truck. 
iForge fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Jun 7, 2013 |
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Jun 7, 2013 01:32
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Blistex posted:The three parts of the lathe you are going to be using the most have been made out of the cheapest, softest (yet most brittle?) metal ever forged.  Hardness and brittleness are different material properties, though they are somewhat related! Hardness is a measure of a material's resistance to deformation in general, while brittleness is measures a material's resistance specifically to plastic deformation. Think of peanut brittle and polyethylene for example. Peanut brittle isn't hard at all, but it snaps into pieces instead of stretching first like polyethylene would.
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Jun 8, 2013 00:38
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Squibbles posted:I think I need a brushcutter but I'm not really 100% sure. My yard has a lot of loose rock retaining walls that have grass growing wild up between the stones as well as rock edging around raised garden beds. Oh, and a good portion of the back yard (and some of the front) is overgrowing with blackberry bushes. I currently have a battery powered string trimmer but it's not very powerful and the string gets thrashed extremely quickly against the rocks so requires constant bumping. A bit late and no one answered this so here: Get a Stihl string trimmer. I have the FS 55 R. Then get a Pivotrim replacement head (about $20). It has 4 little pivot things that you thread lengths of trimmer line through. The idea is they pivot when hitting something like a fence or rock and last longer. Get a big roll of trimmer line and cut a bunch of them to the right length. When you're ready to go out trimming just grab a few and put them in your pocket. I found they last long enough that I don't need to replace them for at least several jobs.
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Jun 8, 2013 01:49
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It seems that Ace Hardware now carries Craftsman tools. Does anyone know if they also honor the lifetime replacement warranty on hand tools? I have something I want to get replaced, and the Ace is a lot closer than Sears is.
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Jun 8, 2013 06:41
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stubblyhead posted:
I think he was basically saying that it's the cheesiest, crumbly-est pot metal tool part he's ever had the displeasure of attempting to use.
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Jun 8, 2013 17:40
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Is this a good deal? http://annapolis.craigslist.org/tls/3844884712.html
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Jun 9, 2013 03:38
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Cpt.Wacky posted:A bit late and no one answered this so here: Get a Stihl string trimmer. I have the FS 55 R. Then get a Pivotrim replacement head (about $20). It has 4 little pivot things that you thread lengths of trimmer line through. The idea is they pivot when hitting something like a fence or rock and last longer. Get a big roll of trimmer line and cut a bunch of them to the right length. When you're ready to go out trimming just grab a few and put them in your pocket. I found they last long enough that I don't need to replace them for at least several jobs. Too late! I stopped by a place today and picked up an Echo trimmer. The place carried Stihl, Echo and Shindaiwa. Shindaiwa was more expensive and some people online seemed to be of the opinion that they went way downhill since Echo bought them. The Stihl and Echo ones were the same price but the Echo's had a 5 year warranty compared to the Stihl's 2 year. I got the SRM-225 It has a bump head but the line is super easy to put in. Takes about 30 seconds to load about 12 feet of line which seems kinda cool. Plus the sales guy tossed in a starter pack (gas can, oil and a roll of line) and a hat. Oh and they filled up the gas tank for me haha. The only downside is it won't deal with my Blackberries but maybe I'll look into a hedge trimmer for that or something. I don't know.
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Jun 9, 2013 05:18
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Squibbles posted:Too late! I stopped by a place today and picked up an Echo trimmer. That's cool, Echo is a good brand too. You can always get the pivotrim head later and swap it in. You're going to have to dig out those blackberry roots anyways or they just keep coming back. I've heard of injecting Roundup into them but never tried it. Good luck!
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Jun 9, 2013 17:06
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Cpt.Wacky posted:That's cool, Echo is a good brand too. You can always get the pivotrim head later and swap it in. You're going to have to dig out those blackberry roots anyways or they just keep coming back. I've heard of injecting Roundup into them but never tried it. Good luck! Thanks, they grow hella fast for sure. If I leave them for a week or two the sprouts are 3 feet tall!
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Jun 9, 2013 17:11
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kastein posted:I think he was basically saying that it's the cheesiest, crumbly-est pot metal tool part he's ever had the displeasure of attempting to use. That's exactly it. It stripped in the inside where it met the tightening nut because it was very soft, but was brittle enough to crack in half.
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Jun 10, 2013 02:39
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stubblyhead posted:It seems that Ace Hardware now carries Craftsman tools. Does anyone know if they also honor the lifetime replacement warranty on hand tools? I have something I want to get replaced, and the Ace is a lot closer than Sears is. Ace stores tend to be independently owned, as such it'll vary a bit store to store. Generally the policy is, if they carry it and have it in stock they will honor the replacement warranty but they aren't going to custom order a replacement to a tool they don't normally carry.
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Jun 10, 2013 18:50
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Anubis posted:Ace stores tend to be independently owned Yes they are. You can't even rely on being able to return products purchased from one store at another. Typically, it will be allowed between stores owned by the same franchisee.
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Jun 10, 2013 20:35
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Just saw this ad on craigslist and did a double-take at the title. Can you spot the casual racism?
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Jun 12, 2013 02:52
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iForge posted:Just saw this ad on craigslist and did a double-take at the title. Can you spot the casual racism?
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Jun 12, 2013 02:59
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They also spelled the racial slur wrong.
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Jun 12, 2013 03:04
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I'm looking at tap and drill sets and found this Greenlee set that drills and taps at the same time, it has good reviews. I haven't done any tapping before... comments on this or other recommendations? http://www.amazon.com/Greenlee-DTAP...Drill+Combo+Set 
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Jun 14, 2013 22:07
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wormil posted:I'm looking at tap and drill sets and found this Greenlee set that drills and taps at the same time, it has good reviews. I haven't done any tapping before... comments on this or other recommendations? They work great in my experience, but you can't use them on anything thick. Less than 1/8" if I remember right. I used them for building a few different projects out of 3/16" steel and they're really nice and fast. I'd recommend getting a regular set, and if you've got a drill press, tap guides are a wonderful thing.
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Jun 14, 2013 22:14
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wormil posted:I'm looking at tap and drill sets and found this Greenlee set that drills and taps at the same time, it has good reviews. I haven't done any tapping before... comments on this or other recommendations? Having tapped a few things I have a hard time seeing how that works. Drilling is a fast operation but usually tapping is a careful hand operating. I'd be concerned using those with a power drill and question how much of an advantage that is over the traditional method. Although I guess I've mostly tapped fiberglass which is pretty soft. And if the reviews are positive that says something.
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Jun 15, 2013 00:29
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asdf32 posted:Having tapped a few things I have a hard time seeing how that works. Drilling is a fast operation but usually tapping is a careful hand operating. I'd be concerned using those with a power drill and question how much of an advantage that is over the traditional method. Although I guess I've mostly tapped fiberglass which is pretty soft. And if the reviews are positive that says something. I had much the same concerns. If it actually works, though, that would be exciting and awesome.
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Jun 15, 2013 00:31
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I am an electrician and I used to have a set of these before they were stolen. I never really had any desire to replace them as they are OK for some applications, but 9 times out of 10 you get better results from using separate drills and taps. Maybe if you were drilling and tapping a LOT of holes for a particular project, they could be kinda worth it, but I prefer to keep my drilling and tapping separate.
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Jun 15, 2013 00:57
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asdf32 posted:Having tapped a few things I have a hard time seeing how that works. Drilling is a fast operation but usually tapping is a careful hand operating. The reviews recommend drilling with a slightly undersized bit then following with the Greenlee bit at very low speed. I'm going to try borrowing a tap and drill kit but if I can't, this has both for a reasonable price. I'm looking at tapping 8-32 threads in 1/2" mild steel rod.
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Jun 15, 2013 01:45
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I think it's time I bought a chainsaw. My current project is rehabbing a fruit tree orchard. I've done fine so far with lopper, manual pole saw and chipper but now I have a bunch of larger limbs that won't fit into the chipper because they're too big or not at all straight. How terrible are the cheaper battery-powered chainsaws from Home Depot, like the $50 Homelite 14" model? I'm trying not to spend more than $200 for something decent but if it's more than about $100 I'd rather put it towards a gas-powered model from Stihl.
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Jun 15, 2013 02:15
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wormil posted:The reviews recommend drilling with a slightly undersized bit then following with the Greenlee bit at very low speed. I'm going to try borrowing a tap and drill kit but if I can't, this has both for a reasonable price. I'm looking at tapping 8-32 threads in 1/2" mild steel rod. If you're going to do that, you might as well just buy a regular tap. If you have a drill index you may even have the corresponding drill bit. We had some of those spiral combo taps at my last job and I remember the guys broke them pretty quickly. Inexperience probably played a role there. Extracting a broken tap can kind of be a pain in the rear end so I use regular taps.
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Jun 15, 2013 02:16
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LordOfThePants posted:If you're going to do that, you might as well just buy a regular tap. If you have a drill index you may even have the corresponding drill bit. Well someone just offered to loan me one but I hate borrowing tools almost as much as I hate lending them so I might end up buying a set down the road. And I only have a basic set of bits, none of the odd size tap bits.
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Jun 15, 2013 03:10
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One thing to keep in mind for taps is that the recommended hole diameters are weird and all over the place: imperial, metric, lettered, you name it.
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Jun 15, 2013 05:11
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wormil posted:Well someone just offered to loan me one but I hate borrowing tools almost as much as I hate lending them so I might end up buying a set down the road. And I only have a basic set of bits, none of the odd size tap bits. This is where cheap tools come into play - consider a harbor freight drill index. It's a hell of a lot better to have a cheap version of the right size drill bit than expensive versions of the wrong one. Or just buy the drill/tap you need. I know Home Depot carries the pairs in standard sizes.
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Jun 15, 2013 05:44
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Don't waste your money on gimmicks. Pick up a couple of huot tap and drill indexes and fill as needed. They're under $15 on Amazon, last forever, keep your poo poo from getting chipped up in your toolbox, and make everything neat and organized.
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Jun 15, 2013 07:21
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Cpt.Wacky posted:I think it's time I bought a chainsaw. My current project is rehabbing a fruit tree orchard. I've done fine so far with lopper, manual pole saw and chipper but now I have a bunch of larger limbs that won't fit into the chipper because they're too big or not at all straight. I don't think those little electric guys are worth the hassle, personally. My grandfather gave me one and anything above 3" seems to be a lot for it to manage. I have one of these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Poulan-PRO-18-in-42-cc-Gas-Chainsaw-PP4218AVX/202367634#.UbzZRNj3Pju as my "little" chainsaw. It's actually taken quite a bit of abuse from me over past few years. I've ran questionably old gas through it and it didn't gum it up, though of course there was a performance hit at the time. The tool-less tightening isn't horrible but I'd prefer a tool tightening system. The chain break did lock up and that took me about an hour to fix (read: rip off and carry on). Besides all my limb work I've used it to fell something like 8 medium to small trees and one ill-advised go with it as a really underpowered Alaskan saw mill. I did, just today, replace the whole side panel with the brake and chain tightening, because the chain tightener gears finally stripped plus my wife really didn't like the fact that I ripped a safety feature off a chainsaw. Then again, she has to look at my face if it snaps back at me and I can just avoid mirrors, so maybe that's fair. The part only cost $30 shipped from an online parts store and besides chains, gas and oil that's the only money I've put into it over ~3-4 years. All in all, it has it's problems and certainly wouldn't be what I'd want to use if I was doing this for a living but it's going to be worlds above what an electric saw can do. And if you get an electric you just know your going to have something become too big come falling out next week.
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Jun 15, 2013 22:31
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Anubis posted:I don't think those little electric guys are worth the hassle, personally. My grandfather gave me one and anything above 3" seems to be a lot for it to manage. Thanks. I picked up a $10 Fiskar bow saw and its tearing through these branches. I also rigged up a pretty goony sawbuck out of gridbeam sticks.
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Jun 15, 2013 22:51
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kid sinister posted:One thing to keep in mind for taps is that the recommended hole diameters are weird and all over the place: imperial, metric, lettered, you name it. I dunno about metric, but I have definitely seen fractional, numeric, and lettered drills in the tap charts I've used. It all has to do with the minor diameter of the threads being tapped along with the amount of thread height required.
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Jun 17, 2013 00:55
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I have this motor that's about 50 years old. It needs to be cleaned.     Any advice on how best to approach this? I was thinking about just going nuts with compressed air and trying to blast everything out, but I'm wondering if there's a better method for getting a good deep clean, all the way down to the taint and beyond. Like, maybe a soak in kerosene or something? I don't know what might be considered going to far. Bad Munki fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Jun 17, 2013 |
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Jun 17, 2013 01:43
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Cpt.Wacky posted:I think it's time I bought a chainsaw. My current project is rehabbing a fruit tree orchard. I've done fine so far with lopper, manual pole saw and chipper but now I have a bunch of larger limbs that won't fit into the chipper because they're too big or not at all straight. I bought one of these (sawzall variant) when I had some branches down in the yard and it's worth considering. It doesn't compare to a chainsaw for big stuff but they sell wood blades up to 12" so it can do them (one Amazon review for a 12" blade is titled "Don't need no stinking chainsaw"). For branches 2x4 size and less it's good. Plus it's a sawzall so it's great at a host of other things. 
asdf32 fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Jun 17, 2013 |
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Jun 17, 2013 02:51
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Bad Munki posted:I have this motor that's about 50 years old. It needs to be cleaned. Blow it out with air, reassemble. If rebuild kits are cheap/readily available, maybe that too.
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Jun 17, 2013 03:31
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Agreed... might want to take some very fine crocus cloth or polishing compound to the commutator bars, but be sure to leave no residue behind and don't take any more off than you need to. I might even suggest a cloth buffing wheel on a bench grinder and toothpaste. Some new brushes wouldn't hurt either.
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Jun 17, 2013 04:12
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For an upcoming job I need to get a rotary hammer with the SDS-MAX spline chuck on it. Normally I would just rent the drill because I use that size drill too infrequently to justify such an expensive tool, but for this particular job, I am looking at about $500 in rental fees, so I may as well just buy one. I already have SDS-MAX bits to go with the drill. Anyone have experience with the cheaper drills out there? Harbor freight sells a sds-plus drill that has great reviews, but nothing in sds-max. I already put a wanted ad up on craigslist for a used one. Any recommendations for a good brand to get? Not looking to go too much over that $500 mark, so a new Hilti is out of the question.
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Jun 17, 2013 04:12
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Kaluza-Klein posted:The poo poo charger that came with the poo poo FIRE STORM Black & Decker drill I have no longer functions. Since the batteries don't hold a charge worth poo poo in the first place, I am a bit stuck. http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-FSMVC-9-6-Volt-18-Volt/dp/B00021LPNI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371526789&sr=8-1&keywords=fsmvc If you don't want to replace the kit you already have, this is a better charger than the default ones with the Firestorm kits. It trickle charges, and has a diagnostic module that will blink patterns at you if something is wrong with the battery while it's charging. Mr. Yuk fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Jun 18, 2013 |
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Jun 18, 2013 04:46
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