The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest What was the last tool you bought?

I picked up 2 brake drum mic’s from an old friends estate sale,, dirt cheap!
They’re good to have at the swap meets .

Well I didn't exactly buy this... I helped an Old friend build his barn a while back, today he shows up today with a 12 inch Craftsman Band Saw. His father had a warehouse full of equipment before he passed away. So my friend David is clearing it out and this was for my helping him with the barn. Free is always good and friends are better. Not sure how old it is, I'm guessing probably late 70's early 80's. It came with extra blades for wood working. I'll need to research it and find some metal cutting blades as well. Great way to end the year...

I've got an almost identical saw that I purchased from a gunsmith shop that was going out of business. You'll probably find, like I did, that even on low speed, the blade will be moving too fast for most metal cutting chores. I'm looking into adding another pulley, or maybe a jack shaft to give me another speed ort two on the low side.
Jerry

I have no doubt that I will picking your brain. Now though I just have tell the wife I'm brought home another toy, and of course find some where to put it.

I bought 1 of those back in around 1980. I also found it was too fast, so I added a couple of pulleys:

Millner Haufen Angle Grinding Wheel -- Electroplated diamond 4 1/2" - bought with 2 nice gentleman from southern Kentucky at Lexington Goodguys --my cost $88.50 with a lifetime warranty. It is what they advertise.

I have been wanting a blast cabinet for years and I bought a HF bench top model due to space restrictions in my garage. I know, I’ve viewed the forum’s on Stovebolt, that say “buy the biggest you can”, but I just don’t have that floor space. My garage is only 24’ by 24’, with 8” thick concrete walls leaving me with 22’ 8” interior space and I share my garage with my wife’s pride and joy, a 2007 VW Eos, a sporty hard top convertible with a 2.0 turbo, so space is at a premium. The bench top model was really my only option.

On my first attempt to use my new HF blast cabinet, I hooked up my shop vac, turned it on it immediately created a dust storm inside the cabinet, to the point that I couldn’t see even before I pulled the trigger. Wanting to get some of my parts done, I improvised by cutting up a 1 liter soda bottle and placed it as a coupling and taped to the suction hose. I then cut some holes in it to allow some air to mix, thus reducing the amount of vacuum. This stopped the storm and I was able to blast some parts. After a couple of minutes, the pickup tube sucked up all the media available around the area of the tube. The hopper seems to be a bit too shallow to keep feeding the intake tube. Shaking the cabinet allowed me to continue. I later discovered by adding the whole bucket of media (full 40 lbs) it temporarily solved the issue. Previously I only added half the bucket. I do mean temporarily, because as you blast the level of the media drops so I eventually end up in the same predicament. I’ve seen some YouTube videos on adding a vibrator to solve this dilemma and will investigate this option.

The other issue I discovered was my vacuum was sucking in the media. After about an hour of the blasting , the media in my cabinet was disappearing and I discovered it was caked around the filter and in the vacuum itself. I solved this issue by buying a cyclone separator that clips to the top of a five gallon bucket saving the media for reuse. I found one at Home Depot for just over $40 that came with all of the attaching hoses and fittings. It claims 99% efficiently and has effectively extended my blast time out for days. I still find the filter with some media on it but that is after several days of intermittent blasting.

I have since added a 2” PVC Sanitary Tee, some short nipples and a coupling to replace my temporary plastic bottle to reduce the vacuum and direct the suction hose down to the cyclone bucket. I turned down the OD of the pipe to fit the ID Of the box and turned the ID of the coupling to fit the suction hose. I placed a spray can cap with a 1/2” hole to reduce the suction to the box as a temporary measure. I want to add a valve to fine tune the amount of suction.

The last issue is it needs a light inside. I haven’t figured a good solution to this as of yet. There is a limited amount of room inside so whatever the solution, it needs to be small. I’m leaning towards an LED light strip or a fluorescent tube in a protected plastic sleeve. Maybe some of our “Bolters” have some Ideas.

I paid just over 100 dollars for it with a 20% off coupon and the quality if this cabinet is amazingly good. I experienced no cabinet leakage during use. It was factory sealed and I used it as it came out of the box. If you have limited space and a limited budget like I do, I give it a thumbs up.

Links to the products:
HF Benchtop Blast Cabinet
Duststopper

Looking at your photo, I think you could have gotten the freestanding model with the funnel base since you have it on a cart rather than a bench. HF's freestanding cabinet is only a foot larger in width. A buddy bought one of those and he needed to blast some long parts (I do as well ), so we added about 5 ft of 10" round duct to each end. We needed to fab up a metal door to replace the plastic one to support the duct on the door end, but that wasn't a big deal as I had some 16 gage steel and he had a friend with a box brake. We haven't used it yet, though. Need to get after some stuff that needs blasting.

BTW, I wish I had your garage. Mine is a single car with about 4' extra on one side, so about 24' x 12'. It's crammed full of my truck project and my wife's car has been ousted for over 2 years now. She hates that it has to live out in the cold. That comes up fairly frequently, especially since it's finally gotten below zero here. A double car garage would have been better for the marriage, but then she'd complain about the dust all over her car.

The cart is temporary stand. I use the cart as a work station when working on projects. When I done blasting, I’ll have to find a place to store it.

Thats a good Idea to add the extension. Even if the extension was only on one side, you could blast one side then reverse the piece to get the other side. Food for thought. In my case it would have to be removable so I could stow it.

I am not complaining about the size of my garage. Like most, I am envious of those fortunate to have shop that you could store 2 or 3 cars have the ceiling height for a lift etc....etc....etc. When I really need the extra room, My wife doesn’t mind if I park her baby in the driveway for a day or two so I’ll gain the extra space I need. I’ll do that when I'm welding, painting or any other time I need the extra room or I don’t want to get her car dirty.

I have no regrets buying the bench model. The amount of parts that I have cleaned is unbelievable. The other plus is it works really with an 40 year old Craftsman 2HP compressor that I have. The compressor cycles on and off as I’m blasting, so I know that it’s blasting at it’s full efficiency.

What we did on the extensions was have a sheet metal shop build flanged duct sections with a plate on one end to close it off. They bolt to the side of the cabinet, so are removable. We drilled the cabinet to match the plate on the opposite end of the duct so it could be used to block off the hole in the cabinet side if we didn't need the extension. Not a bad idea about just extending one side. My buddy is an airplane guy and was talking about blasting wing spars, which is why we extended both ends.

Another Sears is closing it’s doors here in San Antonio, so I thought I’d stroll through it during my lunch break. Everything was 40-75% off. Most all the tools were gone or picked through but I spotted a Craftsman bench grinder stand all by its lonesome in a corner. I had been wanting a stand ever since I picked up a Baldor 662R at a swap meet a couple of years ago. Gave $25 for the grinder and $59.99 for the stand. I assembled the stand last night and attached the grinder this morning. Bought a new abrasive wheel and a new wire wheel at HD yesterday and put them both on. Fired it up and the Baldor ran smooth and quiet, and the stand was stable and didn’t “walk”. I’m a happy camper!

P.S. New eye shields and another tool rest are on my shopping list. Won’t use the grinder until I’ve installed them. Safety first!!

Nice setup. You stole that Baldor grinder at $25! If you keep a wire wheel (or polishing wheel) on one side, you don’t need the tool rest on that side, nor should you use one. I learned the hard way, having a bolt that I was cleaning get sucked in between the tool rest and the wheel. It stopped the grinder, made one heck a noise and it scared the heck out of me. Fortunately neither me or the grinder suffered any damage.

OSHA has requirements for tool rest on grinding wheels but none equipped with a wire wheel.

https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1926/1926.303

Don

Thanks for the comments Phil and Don. I didn’t know a tool rest isn’t required or needed when using a wire wheel, so I won’t worry about it now. I definitely will be buying new eye shields!

Thanks again!

Ditto on the eye shields. I also use a full face shield that I hang on one side of the grinder as a reminder of safety. Especially if your using the wire wheel. As they age they start to throw wires at you that can stick in your skin. That is also a painful reminder to replace your wheel.

Nice find!

Ah yes good ol' Sears....soon a distant memory...where at one time you could buy almost anything including a house. And for those of us who remember the name Roebuck and the famous catalog that was a part of every household across the land and eventually discontinued...things slowly went downhill.

Found myself a Mityvac Fluid Extractor. Should come in handy for adding brake fluid to those under dash brake masters.

I snagged a 1/3 HP Craftsman “block” grinder (circa 1970) on Fleabay last month for $34.99 + $47 freight. It has an electric brake, and the quenching tray was included. Unfortunately the seller packed it poorly and it arrived with broken eye shields and the frames were bent and distorted too. The seller had insurance on it and agreed to pass the claim amount of $75.65 on to me, so I’ve got $6.34 in it. I straightened the frames pretty good so they are functional. The glass is broken but shatterproof, so they’re doing their job. I looked on Am–zon and found a nice pedestal stand for $39.97 with free 2-day freight and it arrived today. It’s really a nice stand, although not quite as heavy as the Craftsman stand I bought last week for $60. Just finished assembling the stand and attaching the grinder. It runs super quiet and really smooth. I’m a happy camper...again!

Chuck, I was just wondering how your Mrs. felt about having a bench grinder and stand in her kitchen...

I assembled it and took the pics while she was out running errands, then quickly moved it to the tool shed. I’m not stupid! LOL

Nice machine at a good price.
I'd raise the tool rest on the grinding wheel to be about center with the motor shaft.
Then get rid of the rest on the wire wheel.
Just my thoughts.

Oh and I'd leave it in the kitchen until my redheaded wife gets home.
You have to keep them fired up to have fun!
Don

Bought off eBay a neat accessory tool.
An Engineair tire filler tool made by G.H. Meiser & Co in Chicago. It screws into a spark plug hole and uses the cylinder as an air compressor. My dad had one on his '48 GMC shop truck, and we used it to air test a long gas line that we had installed many moons ago, so kind of a nostalgic thing for me. It's complete with the wrench, gauge, etc. The hose is rotted away, but hopefully will be able to find some cloth braid covered hose and get it into operation. I got it cleaned up a bit tonight and looked up the patent info, and it was originally patented in 1930, and the latest in 1940. It has a pair of flapper inlet check valves to draw in fresh air so it doesn't pump as much gas-air mixture in.

Very COOL set up. I know that had to take back in time .

I did a little more research and found that the round hole in the wrench is there for the hose to go thru. Pretty ingenious way to keep you from losing the wrench. I didn't remember that part, but it was before the weekend when I used one of those.

I bought a flexible LED light/magnetic parts retriever for $9.99 at HF.
I can now maybe retrieve my 9/16 Snap-on combination wrench from behind the gas tank in my '50.

Purchased a Dewalt angle Grinder (DWE402). Lots of projects I can use this on.
--Tom

Bought a Milwaukee 14" chop saw (or as they call it "abrasive cut-off machine"). First project will be brackets for the new rear bumper. I will be using have 2x2 square tubing and 2x2 angle iron for the job.

Cobalt drill bit. No match in drilling through cast iron almost effortlessly!

New chop saw is very slow on 2" sq tubing. After if finally grinds thru the top of the tubing it cuts down the sides quickly. Then it's slow grinding thru the bottom. Is the disc that comes with the tool garbage? Or is it operator error?

It is cutting through less material when cutting down the "sides".

Yes, that is true, but it seems unreasonably slow. I will try moving the tubing back so the disc starts in the corner rather than on the flat surface of the top.

What is the grit of the wheel? If it's too fine it will be slower.

Don't know what the grit is - doesn't say on the wheel. It's 3/32" thick which is the thinnest that they recommend.

Abrasive cutoff wheels are slow, especially when cutting on the flat side of the square stock. Your wheel is most likely fine, it’s just the nature of the beast. Take your time, don't force it and let the wheel do the cutting.

I bought a Ancel conductance battery analyzer.

Got me a pedal pushing tool. Comes in handy for keeping an engine running off idle or for a one person brake light check.

Gord, try shimming the square tubing in the vise so the cut begins on the corner of the tube instead of the middle of the flat spot. You'll get a much quicker penetration into the open part of the tube. A 1" thick spacer against the non-movable part of the vise should be just about right.

I've found that a variable speed Sawzall with a relatively fine-toothed blade makes for quicker cutting on square tubing than abrasive wheel chop saw. Use a square and a sharpie to draw a guide line around the tube, start at a corner, and turn it in the vise if necessary to get an accurate cut on all sides.
Jerry

Thanks, Jerry. I did the shim thing. Cut a bit with the shim, remove shim cut some more, repeat...

Finished the cuts with my 4.5" angle grinder with a thin (0.045) cut off wheel.

The cuts were at a 22.5 degree angle so they were a bit tricky. For straight cross cuts, I think will just use the angle grinder. The chop saw can be used to start the cuts.

Done for now, much to the neighbor's relief, I'm sure!

A couple of years ago, I bought a chop saw with a carbide blade specifically made for cutting metal. It cuts angle, square and round stock almost as fast as cutting wood. It cuts clean, square and you can handle it as soon as your finished cutting, as it doesn’t generate heat like a abrasive saw. I highly recommend them. [link]

I didn't buy any tools lately, but I did make a set of go-no-go gauges for leveling an AD cab. I will bring them to Homecoming in April to demo them. They are very simple and easy to make, but make the leveling job a breeze.