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I called an old geezer with an ad out for an antique bench vise. The ad was lacking in detail but I bought it sight unseen, since he seemed honest and all. Yesterday I took delivery, and it's a beast! Big and heavy, forged steel. The mating surfaces and screw are in great condition, and the rust seems cosmetic, though there are a couple of deep pits that may or may not get welded up. I've disassembled as far as I need to, the turning handle can stay in the screw for all I want to do with it - it will be a hammerite spray job and new grease, pretty much. Maybe the waffle pattern in the jaws might get a grind job as well if I feel like it.
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Aug 19, 2018 10:54
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Seminal Flu posted:Very nice. Hot wide are the jaws? Looks like a good 6+"? Is there a company name on it? The square bolt definitely shows it's old, and old vises are best. I restored a 1914 Reed 6" last year and it's a great vise. I used black and silver POR15 and that'll probably last longer than a spray. I haven't wire brushed it properly yet but I can't seem to find any markings at all on it. Since it's forged rather than cast it makes sense it doesn't have those big embossed letters, but I can't seem to find anything stamped either. As for the paint I might try brush rather than spray. Turns out there's exactly one vendor in this country that sells POR-15 paint. It gets great reviews from all his customers and people in AI keep raving about it. Expensive though! Does it keep well in the can? The quart can isn't that much more than the pint (i figure the 4 ounce can is on the small side and it's out of stock anyways). MrYenko posted:Also, I’m jealous of ya’ll in the real world with a used and antique tool market. All we have here is pawn shops full of stolen craftsman junk.
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Aug 19, 2018 16:05
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Colostomy Bag posted:POR-15 doesn't handle sunlight. Huh. Turns out it doesn't. That's no good for my intended application then, this vise is going on a workbench outside. It's under a roof but there's direct sunlight. I'll slather it in conventional rust protection paint and call it good.
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Aug 20, 2018 06:07
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Old bench vise update: First I went to town with wire brushes until I ran out of wire:  I also had some brushes for drill attachment, but those weren't nearly as effective so I decided to try something I've been curious about for years:  After a few hours of electrolysis in a sodium carbonate solution, something had happened. I'm not super impressed with this method of rust removal, but it made an impressive gunky foam at least.  By this time it was obvious that I haven't actually bought a forged tool like the seller claimed it was, since there are clearly visible casting marks on it. Not sure if cast steel or cast iron, but I decided not to risk welding it since it was strictly cosmetic pitting that bothered me a little. Several coats of paint later, it looks like this:  Assembly and install will have to wait for a few weeks, hopefully enough time for the paint to not be gummy and sensitive anymore. I went with red since I found some paint chips embedded in the rust in that color. On second thought green would have been nicer, but the deed is done and it will have to do.
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Sep 2, 2018 21:30
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An old shop compressor has come under my care. It seems to work fine right now, but it's doubtful that it's seen any maintenance since the 90's or so. It's a Tamrock FX of some kind, a screw compressor powered by a three phase motor. It pushes a lot of air in relative silence, so I'd like to keep it running if possible. There seems to be at least some parts available from an iffy-looking site (oil separator, inlet air filter and oil filter. The drive belts look like a pair of normal v-belts that could probably be sourced wherever). The question is what type of oil to put in it. The best matching manual I've dug up online isn't super clear to me. It's also translated from Finnish:   Specialty screw compressor oil is hard to find, and expensive. Most of what is available is "food grade" which I don't need or want. An oil change with that stuff is likely to be at least $200 or so if I can even buy it. A regular hydraulic oil that fulfils either ISO VG 32 or 46 is readily available and an oil change would be like $30. The thing is that I read somewhere that these oils contain a zinc additive that could be a Bad Thing somehow. I don't want a glogged oil separator or worse. I'm ambivalent but leaning towards ISO VG 46 since heavy machinery guys mainly seem to use 32 when it's really cold which won't be an issue. If you happen to know I'm being dumb and making a mistake please tell me so. If I'm overthinking this I'd like to hear that as well. I don't know much about lubrication and nothing at all about screw compressors.
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Feb 4, 2020 21:25
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TrueChaos posted:industrial supply store
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Feb 5, 2020 13:58
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Are there any non-air die grinders that are any good? Airless air chisels? It's inefficient and increasingly archaic, but shop air is nice. By far the most common reason for me to grab a hose is for blowing things clean. I'm thinking of getting a small compressor to keep at home mainly for that.
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Apr 20, 2020 21:47
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pretty high up on the list of things to fabricate is an angle grinder stand on wheels, like the one that the Project Binky madmen built. Hangers for four grinders, power cord management, storage for extra discs and some PPE is what I had in mind.
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Apr 26, 2020 19:17
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TIG prices depend not only on brand but also lot on the amount of fancy functions you want. Will you be welding aluminum? If so you need AC, which is generally a more expensive machine. Steel alloys only and you can get a DC only machine which tend to be quite a bit cheaper. If you need to weld a lot torch cooling becomes an issue if you want to avoid down time because of that. A pedal is really nice, even necessary if you want to make use the full potential of the technique regardless of what alloy you're working with. Pulse functions and the like can be nice but aren't necessary, especially if you have a pedal for power control. Make sure you get a machine with touchless arc start whatever you buy. Scratch start seems like a nightmare. Also make sure you budget for all the peripherals you'll need. Gas is the big one, but there's lots of little doodads and it adds up. Fillers, cups and gas lenses, tungstens and a way to sharpen them - these sharpeners can cost hundreds of dollars. I just use a dedicated flappy disc and chuck up the tungstens in a cordless drill, but perhaps this method isn't ideal. I have a chinese inverter TIG. It has lots of knobs and switches and also does plasma cutting and stick welding at 200 amps really well. It cost like $1000 and I like it, my only complaints are the size of the thing and the lack of a graphical user interface - analysing all knob settings takes some though with my machine. The seller left a 5 year warranty so it seemed safe enough to buy. Time will tell I guess.
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Apr 27, 2020 07:52
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Krakkles posted:How are Forney welders? I think Astonishing Wang uses one and liked it, but I'm curious how good they are overall. If they're at all decent, the price points are definitely attractive - they've got low end stuff under $200, and this 3-in-1 (MIG/Stick/TIG) for just under $1k. You don't see many TIG/MIG combinations (TIG/stick is common enough). That particular machine is probably not very good at TIG though. It seems to be DC only (aluminum not possible) and scratch start only. The "manual" they link to states "A scratch or lift Start is often used to initiate the arc". High frequency start is really something you want IMO. Lots of people make good welds with scratch start but it's tricky and makes it harder to be precise at the beginning of a weld. When you're working with thin sheet metal it's a hassle you don't want to deal with I think.
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Apr 27, 2020 21:51
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Motronic posted:500 lbs of 1980s transformer goodness. Brother and I recently got an old-ish Lincoln MIG that is 90 kg without its gas bottle, and I thought that was heavy. Threw my back out a little loading it into the car because I'm stupid like that. It's not running right though, the wire comes out of the gun in a spiral motion messing up the bead. Probably needs a new liner or an entire new gun assembly worst case. On the plus side it's a three-phase machine with what seems like a high quality wire feeder and some serious power compared to the old unit we used. Whenever you Americans describe your electrical woes I feel bad for you. 230V and ubiquitous residential three-phase seems awesome compared to what you guys are dealing with on a daily basis.
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Apr 28, 2020 07:17
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 This is the inside of a 300 liter air tank. It was made in 1956 and last inspected and pressure tested to 12 bar in 1994 according to the stickers on it. It had a good amount of rust flakes at the bottom. Replacement ASAP. It will probably live on as a BBQ or something.
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Apr 29, 2020 22:07
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I love my CL antique humongous bench vise. It was rusty and banged up and had no paint left to speak of when I took possession but I could never replace it with anything new with equal capabilities at a price I could justify. Totally worth the hassle. That's my vise story. Turning bases are more of a liability than an advantage, is my vise opinion  .
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Apr 30, 2020 20:29
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The Door Frame posted:People are starting to wise up on the value of old school metalworking tools like vises and anvils. Can't find any around me <$60 when they used to be free I spent years looking for an anvil since it was common knowledge that they could be found for cheap, but not so. Finally I gave up and just paid market value which is about $6/kg for a nice one in my area. I get the impressions that the era of great bargains on used old stuff is more or less over unless you're looking for really odd things that almost nobody wants to buy.
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May 4, 2020 06:10
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 This is my antique vise after I dolled it up. The screw and nut were pristine but the rest was pretty rusty. Electrolysis took care of the worst of it. It cost me $120 IIRC plus an angle grinder wire brush and a can of paint. I forget how big it is but I've used it to break beads on car tires with room to spare. It's not mounted on that workbench because that would just be silly.
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May 4, 2020 09:22
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I mixed mortar today as well using my brother's beast of a Milwaukee brushless. No problems, but I did small 6kg batches. Battery drain was significant but I guess that's to be expected.
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Aug 1, 2020 19:48
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My lovely corded drill is nowhere near as torquey as that Milwaukee (or my own much smaller one for that matter), and I judged that thing would probably have let the smoke out in short order so I went with what I had access to. Absolutely not a reasonable use of a battery powered tool though, I agree. If I find myself in a situation where I need to do more heavy mixing than a small floor tile job I'll shop around for something more suitable.
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Aug 1, 2020 20:28
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I've had my dremel for 27 years. If I had to replace it tomorrow I'd get a Proxxon for sure. It's just nicer in all kinds of small little ways.
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Aug 3, 2020 19:45
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I did something I should have done a long time ago and got some decent quality lab bottles for convenient use of small quantities of commonly used solvents. The straw is molded as one piece with the cap so they don't leak there like those bottles tend to do. The "bensin" one is 4-stroke alkylate gasoline. Doesn't smell much compared to pump gas and leaves no residue but still great for cleaning sticky stuff and the like.
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Aug 30, 2020 16:21
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Hypnolobster posted:Wash bottles kick rear end. I actually use them for cooking oils too. Looks weird, but works awesome. Yup. My bottle straws have little caps on them that are tight enough to hold pressure, but when I removed that I got a large outpouring of IPA I wasn't expecting. I have LED strips lighting the workbench mounted under the shelf they were sitting on. Now they sit on a different shelf, hopefully that will solve the problem since the room itself has very stable temps being more of less in a basement.
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Sep 16, 2020 07:18
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OSU_Matthew posted:I saw this video too, and it really makes me wonder what the hard fault threshold is. I typically run my batteries to empty to reduce the number of charging cycles This isn't the best way to treat lithium batteries for maximum longevity. It's how you should treat the NiCd batteries of old. Lipos should be ideally be kept at 3.85V per cell. Draining too far below this voltage wears out the battery faster. Being stored full damages a lipo cell over time even when not in use. This wear gets exponentially worse the closer to 100% they are stored, dramatically exacerbated by heat. The number or charge/discharge cycles a lipo cell will stand before it's worn out depends on several factors (temps, amps, volts etc). If you can nominally get 500 cycles between full and empty (this voltage depends on what the charger/BMS allows but 4.2-3.2V is common), you can stretch the use out of a battery a whole lot by trying to keep the voltage away from the extremes. For tool batteries I tend to not charge a half full battery unless I plan to use it soon. Charged RC batteries I didn't use on an outing I discharge to storage voltage before putting them away (a descent RC battery charger will have a function for this). On my e-bike batteries I have modified my chargers with a programmable high voltage cutoff in order to keep the cells between 3.6 - 4.0v in daily use, and only charge to a full 4.2 if I need the extra range. This means I charge both at home and at work, doubling the number of charge cycles - it seems to have more than doubled the life I get out of my current batteries though, compared to how they wore before I started doing this. Also I never charge a pack that's too cold or hot if I can help it anymore, which is probably a big part of this improvement too. I googled a bit before I wrote this to make sure I wasn't full of poo poo, and it turns out I should actually charge to 3.92v, so I guess I'll go and reprogram my charger now. Source: https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
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Sep 17, 2020 08:31
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Bahco used to be a quality brand before they started to put their name on bad cheap stuff. Hopefully they're going back to their roots - I don't think low quality tools are manufactured in the U.S. in general?
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Sep 21, 2020 14:08
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Maybe my prejudice is because I only ever see the exported stuff here which tends to be pretty niche, expensive and good. From your reaction I'm guessing the domestic market is full of cheap lovely tools where "proudly made in the USA" is a selling point but I never see those. I think that segment is flooded by even cheaper chinese tools where I live.
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Sep 21, 2020 18:07
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Krakkles posted:Ah, that makes sense. Yeah, there's just as much cheap poo poo that comes out of here as anywhere else. There are certainly good brands here - if you check my prior posts here, you'll see me tout Snap-On quite a bit - but there are also cheeeeeeaaaaaaaappp poo poo with a flag (probably with the wrong number of stars) and "MADE IN THE U.S.A.!" stamped on the package. I wouldn't take a US made tool over anything else just because it's from the US. Some sense at least. Sweden where I live has a long history of tool making and a steel industry in general, but AFAIK it's all at least attempted high quality - due to wage costs it'd be hard to compete in any other way and I guess the domestic market is simply too small to keep objectively uncompetitive things afloat for patriotic reasons. I don't know if it's the same in say Germany or Japan, I just always assumed it was. Sure, you'll see Husqvarna churn out cheap chain saws but they're all from China. In my mind they're making a mistake using the same color scheme and name on those, but it's probably for a quick buck. Much like Bahco did in the 00's, at least that's my impression. I still haven't forgiven them for a lovely Spanish made Bahco pipe cutter I bought ten years ago instead of the Ridgid I really should have gotten.
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Sep 21, 2020 18:35
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Recently I drilled a bunch of 7mm holes through M12 bolts for a project. I did it on a lathe so I had control over the speed. Feed was hand cranking on the tail stock which wasn't perfectly uniform though, and some bolts were really hard compared to others - they came from different sources I think. I bought a fancy brand name cobalt drill bit that did a lot better than regular cheap HSS bits. It managed a few holes before becoming unusable but several of those bits would have gotten expensive fast so I ended up annealing the hard bolts with an oxy torch which worked great for my application since soft steel is fine and the zink was coming off anyways.
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Sep 28, 2020 21:29
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MrOnBicycle posted:Ok so maybe something like Bosch Cobolt drill bits should do the trick. What's the correct way of drilling these sorts of things. Low speed and plenty of lubrication? Pretty much, in my limited experience.
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Sep 28, 2020 22:00
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I got to use a tool I've only looked at in horror before and it was indeed both obscene and traumatising to use. I had to replace a CV boot I had stupidly grazed with a grinder while changing some swaybar links, only I couldn't for the life of me get the CV joint apart. So I summoned all my courage, lubed up this huge plastic cone thing my brother has laying around in his garage and stretched that boot over the whole jagged lump of metal. Luckily I had bought a premium rubber part rather than a slightly cheaper plastic one, so nothing tore but the hole for the axle shaft was a bit sloppy afterwards. Hope I never have to do that again.
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Nov 16, 2020 22:29
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You're really not helping me process my trauma with that reference.
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Nov 16, 2020 22:39
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I have a creeper opinion: don't get the cheap ones made of injection molded plastic that looks like this:  I've seen two of them fail in the same way, where the plastic cracks right where the wheels attach.
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Nov 24, 2020 08:09
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opengl128 posted:I've had this convertible one for a few years, no complaints at all. I've been looking at that since it's available on German Amazon, cheap and looks sturdy. What I really want is a creeper that converts into a reclining chair. Bro has a lift in his garage where I do car work, but the ceiling height isn't enough to stand upright under any vehicle. Most of the time I scoot around on a height adjustable stool on wheels which isn't too bad, but a creeper that could recline the backrest at various angles would be nice. Working above my head isn't great and sitting down makes it worse I think. Also if it's $100 rather than $600 that would be cool too, and available in europe. Of course what I really want is this thing but it's not even close to within my price range: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVaLBX5T060
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Nov 24, 2020 20:39
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Cat Hatter posted:Have you considered putting wheels on a patio chaise lounge? I have. Except I think they're too big. I'd never get my feet down for effective scooting. Something like a gym bench for pressing and whatnot is probably more like what I'd try to modify. There's really no upper limit to how ambitious such a project could become though and I don't have infinite time for such things sadly, so I'll probably live with the stool unless I stumble upon a suitable bench or something by accident. It's not like I spend so much time under cars that neck and shoulder pain is a real problem. Also there's this thing I could get but it's $500 and I don't want one that badly. 
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Nov 25, 2020 08:42
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Given the lengthy discussions IIT about jackstands I thought this was relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjmXQNhKCks
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Dec 30, 2020 22:56
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 The BAHCO 141 was the best nutcracker I tried today, though the KNIPEX Cobra wasn't too shabby either.
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Dec 24, 2021 20:42
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Motronic posted:I would try anything like this, including any other cleaners I could, before using ozone on some unknown plastic that I can't spot test ahead of time. I'm just picturing some scenario where you come back a few hours later and the entire inside shell of the fridge is tan and brittle. I have a sketchy aliexpress o3 generator. I've mainly used it on smelly car interiors. Sometimes running it repeatedly over several hours has been required, but I've never seen any noticeable effects on the various plastics or fabrics. I've looked for it and I'm sure it's there on a microscopic level, but it's bound to be extremely superficial. From my very limited layman experience I wouldn't hesitate to try it inside a stinky fridge. I'd make sure to not breathe the stuff though.
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Dec 29, 2021 23:47
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Just out of curiosity, what type of surfaces were affected?
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Dec 30, 2021 00:02
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Wasabi the J posted:I should warn you that ozone "removing" odors is mostly it overpowering it and it will trigger asthma even in small amounts; it's literally used as an asthma detection gas. It also will reduce your lung's ability to clear bugs out. Ozone removes odor by oxidizing smelly things turning them into different not smelly things, if that's what you mean by "overpowering". The 03 molecule is highly reactive and will damage lung tissue - of course I'm careful. I zap smelly cars outdoors and air them out for a long time before sitting in them, and I turn the generator on and off remotely. Like any exposure to bad things the danger corresponds with concentration and time. There's always a small amount of ozone in the air we breathe, moreso in the summer when there's more sunlight. If you allow enough time to pass in for example a treated car interior, all extra ozone will either have reacted with something or dissipated until it reaches ambient concentration. In practical terms enough time is overnight or so in my experience.
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Jan 3, 2022 08:51
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I can believe it. My 18v red drill and impact driver are both totally overkill for my regular needs. The impact in particular is absurdly overpowered to the point of being tricky to use sometimes.
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Feb 4, 2022 12:46
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slidebite posted:She was recommended a Stihl, which is (I believe) a 2 stroke. She's not helpless, BUT, mixing oil, trouble shooting, fouled plugs probably is something to avoid. She doesn't like 4-stroke lawnmowers. I just use 4 liter jugs of fancy alkylate gas for all yard tools. Red jug is 2% oil blend and blue jug is for the lawn movers. I can't recommend the fancy gas highly enough. Super stable, doesn't gunk up carbs over the winter. Also the exhaust gases are really benign to inhale compared to pump gas. Twice or thrice the price but I don't use much so it's easily worth it IMO. I bought a pro grade machine cheaply as inoperable and all it needed was a new fuel filter. It's still a gas unit with all that entails, but man is it a beast at blowing stuff around for hours on end. Also really well built and reliable. I can't speak for Stihl's consumer models though. I like red brushless power tools a lot, they're really great, but there's just no way I could blow leaves like I do on battery power. It's a 4hp engine going at full tilt for extended periods of time and I don't think a reasonable number of M18 packs will do that.
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Mar 4, 2022 20:37
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kastein posted:If you're going to be welding above your feet, wear leather boots with uppers that extend up into your pantlegs or eventually you'll find yourself hopping around on one foot swearing and trying to untie your shoe after a blob of slag melted through the top of your sneaker and went China Syndrome on the top of your foot. Also I found myself welding more than a little under a car a couple of weeks ago. The garage ceiling is too low to hoist a car high enough to stand underneath so I was sitting down working and found out that I really need to get a leather apron or something similar. I'm not dumb enough (anymore) to wear synthetic fabrics when doing stuff like that but cotton burns pretty well too. In the groin area. Ouch.
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Mar 14, 2022 18:57
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Advent Horizon posted:I’m still going to just buy a cart to start with. My materials costs are such that there’s no way it would make sense to build one. Sometimes you can find scrap steel on like facebook or craigslist etc, or by simply talking to people or even by the roadside and such. Heaven is a well sorted scrap yard where you can roam and pick out goodies and pay by weight. I have such a place not far away and on my way to work but they mostly do other things than mild steel, and all of that it is in huge containers so while I get to climb around those because the owners are cool I can't really browse the junk effectively or safely. It's all about luck at that place, but sometimes I score something amazing for peanuts.
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Mar 15, 2022 06:45
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