Tool Thread!

[peger]

I finally bought a gas bottel and regulator for my mig.

And I tell you compared to flux core wire it's like day and night :).

And the cart I made.

[mr moose]

2 minutes ago, peger said:

I finally bought a gas bottel and regulator for my mig.

And I tell you compared to flux core wire it's like day and night :).

And the cart I made.

very nice job.  If it wasn't for dirty smoke and the need to wire brush flux core it would be my favorite of the wire feed welding methods.

 

 

 

[peger]

9 minutes ago, mr moose said:

If it wasn't for dirty smoke and the need to wire brush flux core it would be my favorite of the wire feed welding methods.

You forgot about the splatter. I welded fence and cleaning all the welds was real paine in... .

[mr moose]

5 minutes ago, peger said:

You forgot about the splatter. I welded fence and cleaning all the welds was real paine in... .

That's what I used the wire brush for (the bit that makes it less appealing),  I use a wire wheel on a grinder and it usually takes all the splatter off.

[Lord Mirdalan]

9 hours ago, James Evens said:

throwaway jigs

-snip-

For what? you can't just leave us hanging like that.

[Lord Mirdalan]

These arrived today.

 

Thank you @Drak3 for the advice to go with the fuel version, it seems to have been worth it.

Now, I just need to find some rusty nuts...

[DrDrummer]

just bought an Bosch Professional Cordless-Drill last week. absolutely loving it 

[Lord Mirdalan]

@DrDrummer,

So, slightly off-topic question here: 

 

Bosch tools are (semi) commonly available in stores in the US (where I live). Are "american" brands like Milwaukee, DeWalt, and Makita available in Germany?

 

...And I'm glad you're enjoying your drill... Nothing quite like a new tool.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Bosch makes good tools but, in my experience, their customer service is awful.

[Lord Mirdalan]

14 hours ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Bosch makes good tools but, in my experience, their customer service is awful.

Example?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

45 minutes ago, Lord Mirdalan said:

Example?

I recently tried to find out the vertical weight capacity of their gravity rise table saw stand (which other manufacturers provide in their product descriptions) and took weeks plus numerous emails to finally get a response from them. That gives me no confidence in how I'll be treated if I ever have a warranty claim. That is one reason why I will not be buying any more of their tools.

[Lord Mirdalan]

So I tried drilling some holes in concrete with the hammer drill and it’s a LOT better than I expected.  Honestly I thought it would be useless where concrete was concerned.

 

Color me happy.

 

 

[DrDrummer]

On 9/5/2019 at 12:09 AM, Lord Mirdalan said:

@DrDrummer,

So, slightly off-topic question here: 

 

Bosch tools are (semi) commonly available in stores in the US (where I live). Are "american" brands like Milwaukee, DeWalt, and Makita available in Germany?

 

...And I'm glad you're enjoying your drill... Nothing quite like a new tool.

Makita is available everywhere (mostly and is Widly used by amateurs and semi professionals like the Bosch Tools. Also saw some DeWalt Tools here and there.

 

i would say Milwaukee isnt a real Thing here. The „Go To“ for real professionals is „Hilti“.

[mr moose]

in Aus. we get a good mix of all the tools,  on the site and in factories you'll see everything from dewalt and makita to hilti and milwaukee.  I personally use AEG (same brands as milwaukee and rigid and also own ryobi/homelite) as my pro kit and ozito (cheaper bunnings owned tools) for everything else.  Sometimes it's just not worth the extra cost for something as simple as a blower or grinder for odd jobs.

 

 

[Lord Mirdalan]

3 hours ago, DrDrummer said:

Makita is available everywhere (mostly and is Widly used by amateurs and semi professionals like the Bosch Tools. Also saw some DeWalt Tools here and there.

 

i would say Milwaukee isnt a real Thing here. The „Go To“ for real professionals is „Hilti“.

Well, I'd love to use Hilti tools, but I don't have a giant pile of money without a use for it, so...

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

4 hours ago, Lord Mirdalan said:

Well, I'd love to use Hilti tools, but I don't have a giant pile of money without a use for it, so...

 

I'm kinda sorta in the same boat. I have a hard time justifying the cost of better tools when I'm not going to use them very often (although I'm not adverse to buying better tools when they will get used enough). I would love to own Festool tools but I just can't justify the expense for the amount of use they would get.

 

I have a large (and growing) stable of Ryobi 18v tools. There are far better battery operated tools out there but, years ago, they were one of the best battery operated tool lines out there for DIY homeowners (and still are). I stick with them because I have so many of their batteries and chargers (Ryobi has earned a good reputation of making the vast majority of the battery operated tools compatible with earlier batteries and the newer batteries are compatible with their earlier tools). If I was a full time construction worker or cabinet maker (I actually used to be a cabinet maker), I definitely would want something far more durable but for the comparatively limited use I give my tools, the Ryobis work just fine. However, I now usually recommend people starting out to get Ridgid because of their lifetime warranty (even though you sometimes have to fight tooth and nail to get them to honor it).

 

When it comes to measuring and layout tools, I stick with the better brands. I recently spent over $100 for my little 4" Starrett combination square. Sure, I could have found one for half the price but I use my combination squares (now the 4" Starrett plus the two 12" Starretts and a 9" high quality, unknown brand, all three that I got from my Daddy) frequently and the inaccuracies that cheaper tools can cause make the better tools well worth the higher cost. My only regret I have for spending so much for my little 4" combination square was that I didn't do it sooner.

[Scheer]

8 hours ago, Lord Mirdalan said:

Well, I'd love to use Hilti tools, but I don't have a giant pile of money without a use for it, so...

 

Watch the pawn shops, its insane how many Hilti tools I've seen for dirt cheap at pawn shops. My only guess as to why is new contractors must think it is smart to buy best of the best when they start out so it will last, but the company goes under and they just want a little bit of cash ASAP...

 

However, please call Hilti with the serial number to make sure it isn't stolen before buying, and if it is let the pawn shop know so they can track back who pawned it. You'll either get a Hilti tool for cheap, or get someone caught for stealing and hopefully a contractor gets his tools back. Hilti keeps good records and contractors who buy Hilti usually register at purchase and report when stolen.

 

Be careful buying broken Hilti tools, parts are quite hard to find. As far as I know the only official way to get new Hilti parts is to send it in and have them repair, and their repairs are outrageous. It was over $300 with shipping to replace a switch in a demo hammer, which for any other brand would have been $20 and 10 minutes time to do it yourself... then again any other brand likely would have had a major failure and been thrown away before the switch would wear out.

 

[vetali]

For a while there was tons of new cheap milwaukee stuff on offerup locally. Heard from a reliable source that employees from the home depot were stealing and selling them. 

 

Also don't ever buy expensive tool truck stuff second hand if you work in a shop. Like toolboxes and scanners. They'll scoop that stuff up if its found in a shop and still has a lien on it. 

[mr moose]

6 hours ago, Scheer said:

Watch the pawn shops, its insane how many Hilti tools I've seen for dirt cheap at pawn shops. My only guess as to why is new contractors must think it is smart to buy best of the best when they start out so it will last, but the company goes under and they just want a little bit of cash ASAP...

 

However, please call Hilti with the serial number to make sure it isn't stolen before buying, and if it is let the pawn shop know so they can track back who pawned it. You'll either get a Hilti tool for cheap, or get someone caught for stealing and hopefully a contractor gets his tools back. Hilti keeps good records and contractors who buy Hilti usually register at purchase and report when stolen.

 

Be careful buying broken Hilti tools, parts are quite hard to find. As far as I know the only official way to get new Hilti parts is to send it in and have them repair, and their repairs are outrageous. It was over $300 with shipping to replace a switch in a demo hammer, which for any other brand would have been $20 and 10 minutes time to do it yourself... then again any other brand likely would have had a major failure and been thrown away before the switch would wear out.

 

I picked up a $450 oxy/acetylene kit for $145 from a pawn shop.  It was brand new only the cutting torch had been used (looked like it was only used once to boot).

 

Also got a $145 makita aluminium base circular saw ( the lower wattage one that is better for higher tooth blades and fine work) for $30.

 

 

[Drak3]

6 hours ago, Scheer said:

parts are quite hard to find.

Maybe where you're at, but my company has a DX350, DX2, GX100, GX120, and TE22 that have been resurrected in house multiple times. It's only had to get parts for the TE22, and only because of how long it has been out of production.

[Scheer]

4 hours ago, Drak3 said:

Maybe where you're at, but my company has a DX350, DX2, GX100, GX120, and TE22 that have been resurrected in house multiple times. It's only had to get parts for the TE22, and only because of how long it has been out of production.

Are you in the US? I've seen a few European websites that have parts, but I emailed them and they aren't allowed to export them here. I've only checked on TE35-70's, maybe other models are different.

 

All the local Hilti dealers say they can't even sell parts, it has to go through their repair center to even be evaluated. Something may have changed recently though, we gave up trying to repair them about 5 years ago and would just turn them into parts machines to keep others going. Would be awesome if parts are easier to get now, there are pry 10 misc TE series we just need brush holder and switches for. If you can't tell, our guys are REALLY hard on tools. Its a miracle if a tool set lasts more than a year.

[Drak3]

Just now, Scheer said:

Are you in the US?

Idaho, to be specific.

 

1 minute ago, Scheer said:

our guys are REALLY hard on tools.

Our TE22 has survived 30ft drops.

[mr moose]

Whilst not a tool in the same vein as we have been talking about, I purchased one of these a while back.  I was skeptical that it would prove to be useful given any joe with a multi-meter can test cables.  But I have to say it has paid for itself in lost time already. being able to go through 15 Mic cables and several guitar cables in a few minutes and test for intermittent faults is wonderful.

 

[UrbanFreestyle]

Last year i bought myself the iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit and have never looked back. I love it and when i lost a bit, i emailed them asking if i could buy it seperately. a week later the part arrived in the post with a note saying to look after it this time! haha

https://eustore.ifixit.com/en/Tools/Toolkits/Pro-Tech-Toolkit.html

[Lady Fitzgerald]

In my caae, I haven't bought any new tools lately.