Cool New Tool Thread

[GypsyR]

"On sale" he said. Borrowed a couple here and there and thought I needed my own. Fresh off the truck. C'mon guys, don't make me carry the whole thread now.

 

[swpruett]

Not sure when I'll get around to trying these out but they're pretty neat. The PWM tool is the cheapest I've seen for the purpose. THe idea is that it fits on your Powerprobe tool and you can activate 12 volt components with the pulsed levels of power they expect rather than straight DC voltage. Modern fuel pumps and many transmission solenoids are what I had in mind using it for right off. Bought the amp meter....well, because it was there.

I am very surprised how difficult it seems these two units are to source on Amazon!

 

[Boom]

Nothing exciting like what yall have been posting. I order some of these for the shop here. Gonna pick up a set for the house too.

 

[Horseplay]

I saw an ad for those and meant to buy one...then forgot. I've got lots of different magnetic metal trays and such but thought these to be more useful when actually working on a car. Easy on a fender kinda thing. Thanks for reminding me with the post!

 

[GypsyR]

Had a gift certificate for almost 4 months for Harbor Freight so finally cashed it in. I went to get a little gas bottle refilled/exchanged at the welding supply and they didn't have any. They were only able to upgrade me to a bigger one, so I did that. Problem is the old little bottle I made a little rack on the back of the welder so I could tote both together. The new bottle I can barely pick up. I did have the welder on a recycled ammeter/batter "VAT40" tester cart. Now I have this. I had my doubts about the "100 pound capacity" as I think the freaking bottle weighs that by itself.

Anyway it hasn't collapsed. Piled all the MIG stuff on and as I had hoped, the little plasma cutter fits on the bottom shelf. Here next to the cart it replaced.

I think I need another bracket or two for cable management. Maybe a little tray thing for spare tips and such, we'll see. Felt kind of stupid buying it, owning a welder and other fabrication tools, but anyway. I figure if it isn't robust enough I can always give it an angle iron subframe, better wheels, four wheel drive, etc later. I still have one small CO2 bottle so the MIG is still portable with that. Now what to do with the old ammeter cart? Don't really have room for it.

 

[Boom]

I have a cart very similar, the one with drawers instead of the shelves. I've had a large cylinder like you got now for gosh, 6 years now and it hasn't collapsed. Moved 3 times since then too.

Harbor freight is one of my favorite stores. Walk around for a bit, guaranteed to find something useful!

 

[Horseplay]

I still have my MIG on a HF cart. I stepped up a notch for the TIG set-up and went with one from Northern Tool. Just a tad beefier metal and a little more overall stiffness/rigidity. I had thought of building my own cart to house all but honestly, I like the size of the two I have as they are fairly narrow and fit in more areas of the ever shrinking garage space.

 

[Horseplay]

I'm so far behind on stuff here. Have a number of new garage toys to share but I'll start with this one. New plasma cutter. Just delivered yesterday but I didn't get a chance to play with it before I had to fly out. Looking forward to firing it up later this week. Drove myself nuts trying to decide which to buy. In the end, this one won because of a few factors not the least of which was the control layout and overall packaging. Like the air pressure on the front for sure. I'll be mounting a new (separate) air filter/regulator, water trap along with a desiccant canister dryer on whichever cart this gets loaded onto as well.

 

[Horseplay]

Just noticed something in the plasma cutter pic that would be another thing I'd like to share here. Not so much a tool but just as valuable, I think. Right next to the cutter, on the benchtop, is a poly bag with a bunch of metal discs in it. I got them from Speedway Motors. They are hole filling slugs. Used for projects like filling in and smoothing a firewall or plugging unused holes in a frame. They sell them in various thicknesses to suit the need. They are laser cut and feature tiny little peaks around the perimeter, kind of like you might draw rays coming off a cartoon sun. Just enough "meat" to them that you need to kind of hammer them into place. They then stay put without the need for magnets or clamps. This also leaves a perfect little gap around the edge for good weld penetration. Talk about a time saver! No more hole sawing out blanks and then grinding them to fit etc. Just use a step drill (if needed) to size the existing hole to match a plug and weld it up. I have already done dozens of holes with them and have more to go on the F1 frame. Love 'em!

 

[GypsyR]

I have a spendy Milwaukee 18 volt battery that only charges up to 75%. Youtubes suggest I may have a bad cell or two. Out of warranty so I thought I'd take a shot. I repaired a different type of battery pack and soldered the connection tabs on, which sucked. So this time I bought one of those wacky little 12 volt powered "spot welders" came with a strip of nickel. Might make such work a LOT easier. I got it from AliExpress but here's the same one on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/ZHANGLI-Port...cphy=9010458&hvtargid=pla-1035226082831&psc=1