SwampNut

Post 'em. I'll get a tissue and some lube ready.

The little Harbor Freight machine is one of the ones I looked at. Yeah, I'm sure those have some serious limitations. I don't have the budget for a big machine, and space would be a mild problem. I don't think I'd be making much serious stuff. I'd like the ability to machine small things. For example, for the bath remodel I had some aluminum or chrome brackets for glass shelves in mind, but couldn't find a pre-made one anywhere. I can't imagine that would be a challenge even for the most "mini" machines. This is the sort of thing I've often wanted to make. Mick, your info was excellent and most useful. Brings me to ask about blades though. I assume, like router blades, that there is a variety of bits/blades that you'd have around for different cuts? Are they ridiculously expensive? Are they carbide, or what? Do they last? :shock: :worship: What's your closest airport, and can you give me a ride? I'll bring beer and drawings.

Strange. Does that rebar connect to "ground" somehow, or just float in the concrete horizontally? It would make sense if it was vertical, or connected to a vertical metal object sunk in the ground deeply.

Ridgid is Home Depot's house brand. As far as I can tell it's made in the Orient strictly for Home Depot. I haven't found any matches for their tools like I did between DeWalt/B&D/Craftsman. Their new pro line of tools is quite impressive. I don't know anyone with experience with Ridgid, but just touching and using them in the store, they do impress. Also, right now as an introductory promo they are giving a LIFETIME warranty on power tools! :shock: On the zero clearance plate, I just ordered one made from phenolic. Though that may have been a poor move since I am pretty sure I want to dump the DeWalt saw and get something else. It was $22, and seeing the complexity of the adjustment screws for it, I didn't think I could do a good job. On the splintering, I also deserve a big "DUH" for myself. I've been using an "all purpose" blade. I should have been using a fine woodworking blade. I happened to find DeWalt's "Woodworker series" Fine Crosscut blades on clearance at Home Depot. I bet that's going to be a huge help.

Nice stuff. "S & M Machinery Sales" Hmm. Didn't know they made machines for that, I just go to Mistress Helga.

$133. I do not shitteth. Don't need any of the other stuff in there really, except maybe the vac for the bench and to use when I do a cable box at a customer's office. It was supposed to be a little more, I negotiated a "meet half way" deal with the manager, but the cashier put in the lower price. I didn't notice until this morning when I was scanning the receipt to file it.

Damn. So much for that one. I spent some time at Sears. Haven't been there in a while, impressive selection. They had my saw right next to a Craftsman Pro that looks more like what I want. Also checked out a Delta that looks very industrial. Didn't come home with a table saw, but came home with this at a very significant discount after some haggling and then a pricing mistake by the cashier: 18 volt cordless tool kit. My ancient 9.6v drill/driver was getting rather long in tooth, and needed new batteries. Two batteries cost nearly what I paid for the damn kit.

I get the impression they are mid-line, which is probably good for home use. Also, Campbell-Hausfeld has just come out with a new "pro" line which got some good reviews. No idea on pricing. Oh yeah, and don't forget to check eBay, even for something that big.

Hehe, or "rent" from a place with a liberal return policy... :twisted: I don't really do that, but wish my ethics were liberal enough to allow me to. I just found out B&D owns DeWalt. That explains a lot. Wow. Looks like eBay price on my saw is nearly $400. DeWalt is sending me a $179 free tool. And I paid half price for it. I'm gonna make a killing and get the Ryobi.

That's a damn good idea. I might just do that. I bet I can get a bunch of cash for it. Plus they have a promo now where I'm getting a $179 nail gun free for buying the saw. I'll sell that to, and end up with a nearly free saw.

I'm happy to be the front man for group discounts and such. However, I don't think there's much demand, and I can't very well go ask for a group buy for a couple people. We'll see if the poll turns out differently, but I doubt many will want to buy these.

My $500 (retail) table saw said all the adjustments were pre-set from the factory. So I went to using it, and had some troubles. More splintering than I expected, and some not-so-clean cuts on hardwoods. I put it down to my own inability. I've never actually owned a good table saw, so I am not sure what it should be able to do. Stupid me. Later I read a "troubleshooting" article on the net somewhere which said some of my problems related to adjustment. I go check. Well, every fucking thing on the saw that should be adjusted--wasn't. Blade parallelism, fence parallelism, nothing. No wonder I had problems. As I try to adjust it, I find a bolt that just won't fit any sockets. WTF? Am I missing a weird size? Finally I try a metric socket. Aha. So much for American made... And having to use both SAE and metric to adjust one tool??? What the hell were they thinking?? Yesterday I was checking out some drills, not real seriously, but thinking about replacing my 12 year old Craftsman Industrial standard plug-in drill, which is also sold under the Black & Decker Pro label. I assume that means it is below DeWalt's standards. As I'm holding the drill, it seems eerily familiar. Hmm...it's EXACTLY THE SAME DRILL. Albeit in a bright yellow case with "DeWalt" on the labels and a big price tag to go along with it. So much for American made, and apparently DeWalt just buys shit and rebrands it just like everyone else. Next I look at a Ryobi table saw, just because it's got some cool features. For the most part the specs are the same as my saw, except the include a slide-out extension table which the fence rides on, a slide-out runout support, a self-folding set of legs attached to the saw, and attached wheels. When you grab one end and lift, the legs fold up and you end up on wheels. Very nice. Mine has none of these. A hard-to-use runout extension is $100 and there are no extension table options. The only thing lacking is the geared fence the DeWalt has, but even that has not worked as well as I expected. If I hadn't ended up with a ridiculously low price for mine, I'd take it back and get the Ryobi. Mine is definitely not work the $500 MSRP. The Ryobi is $269. Why is this important? Well, stupid me, I was going under the assumption that I could safely make quality assumptions based on the name. I guess there really is no such thing any more. It's just hard to take home 2 or 3 tools at a time to compare them. I wish there was a place where you could actually go use some of these things and see what you think.

Weird. I've known lots of people who really dropped cholesterol by being low-carb. Do you know what your count was before the diet?

Me too. And I miss being able to fart. You just lose all those lovely bacteria when you're low-carb. I had Thai food yesterday, with about 75g of carbs in rice. Dropped some good hangers at Lowe's in the power tool dept. I know those guys can appreciate it.

Try Harbor Freight, they're having some serious sales right now. I would not go oil-free. I have that now, the noise is pissing me off. Remember that SCFM is NOT equal to actual real usable CFM. My SCFM is higher than I need, yet some continuous-duty tools, like sanders, run me out of air. Run yourself two output lines. A coiled one for convenience and a real hose on a reel for the bigger work (the coiled hoses are restrictive on airflow). Harbor Freight has a very nice reel marked down from $25 to $10 right now. And bronze fitting kits on sale for $2.50 (coupler with five connetors). For something that big, consider a dedicated circuit. I've been running mine on a shared circuit and sometimes pop the breaker. Having the table saw, miter, big lights, or washing machine going at the same time is too much for a little 20a circuit. Also, even when it doesn't pop a breaker, it's running on low voltage which is a huge stress on the motor. On the tools, cheap stuff is fine for some things that don't need to be precise. Air chisel, grinder/cutoff, brad nailer, etc. On stuff like ratchets and impacts, mid-line is good, but cheap is really bad (so I've learned from experience). Harbor Freight has a nice brad nailer on sale right now for $13(!) that does a good job with up to 1 5/8 nails.

Good point. I think he was talking about infrequent use for days of indulgence, though. Used two times a month, let's say for example, you think there could be long term effects? And what you're saying is that they really do work? How much (IE, what ratio is blocked)?

I don't know if there's any real difference, but I've been using standard diesel to clean parts since I was a kid.

Thanks again guys. So, was it too anal of me to build my own TP dispenser and light sconce because the ones available in stores didn't meet my standards...? (The mirror backlighting is good mood light for a shower or having a dump, but insufficient for shaving or picking splinters out of my fingers, so I added a halogen 500w above the door.)

Yeah, we need pics. I've been looking at a garage addition, but don't know if it would be too close to the property line. Your way of approaching it is a good one. I think sometimes we do a better job than pros because we take care to follow every little step. Every pro job I've ever seen had shortcuts in it. My house's framing, for example, is a clusterfuck.

Mick had posted some pics of his metalworking tools and some nice shots of his work. I've had access to a few such tools in the distant past, but never really learned how to use all of them. I don't even really understand the details of lathing vs. milling, though I have the very basic concepts. I looked at both yesterday (BIG CASH) and see a mill looks like a drill press with a complex and accurate sliding table arrangement. The lathe of course holds a bar and cutters engage it. Now...what do you do with each... Mick, if you've got some time, how about talking about some metal basics. For example, basic tools (you mentioned some in the other thread), and things you can make with them. Also what quality/feature levels are really necessary? Saw combo drill/mill machines for $250-600, and dedicated mills for $300-1000. Lathes from $200-1000. Also, any reason these can't also work with wood? IE, you buy a metal lathe, can it be used with wood?

Reminds me of the people I met at my first--and last--Mensa meeting.

Whoa, smoke your breakfast today? Damn it, now I'm going to have that song running through my head all day.

Thanks guys. It doesn't seem fast when you don't have a working shitter... :grin: Strangely enough, the new one is much more efficient. In fact I haven't had a double-flusher yet, and that's my normal standard. Must be in the design.

Heh, I'd probably put one in there, except remember I'm a speed-shitter. I take the Pocket PC in there, but I'm usually done by the time I open the browser. It's not quite that automatic. You give it a push and it lowers itself slowly. Yeah, I was thinking about that earlier. It would be a challenge for kids. Plus if you open the faucet too much, the curve of the bowl shoots the water back out the front. Oops, already forgot I made that section. Man, I'm tired. Two weeks of this has run me ragged.

All the major stuff anyway, just have to get shelving up and some other little details. Unfortunately, I don't have my digital camera right now and this borrowed one doesn't allow me to get decent shots in a small space. And I can't adjust the exposure, so it looks strange because the lighting comes from behind the mirror. The sink table is made from 4x4 hard maple. The top is granite with a light speckle, which just doesn't show in the pics. I had it cut with rough edges to give that real stone feel. It's held up from the table by 3/4" spacers I made from a chrome rod, same one I used to make the towel bar across the front. The sink is a clear glass bowl. The mirror is offset from the wall by an MDF frame with 9 mini-base 60 watt bulbs around it, so they can't be seen but backlight the mirror. I wanted to do this to bring out the character of the stone. The walls are natural American slate in random patterns and colors. Floors are tile and go up the wall for two tiles. I still need to put glass shelves inside the open space on the left wall, and probably some on the back wall. A TP dispenser is still a necessity, though I might just build one myself from the leftover stone. I love that stuff. I am also planning to put a shelf near the bottom of the table, but haven't decided what it should look like. Here's the old bathroom... And some of the destruction I had to go through... Hey, my new shitter is not only this cool all-in-one aerodynamic unit, it has a self-closing shock absorber lid: http://www.cbr1100xx.org/temp/nov/toilet.avi