Tools/Garage Stuff

So I decided to make a new thread that's more on the topic of tools and garage/shop stuff. Basically just somewhere that everyone can post about tools that they have and what they're used for, and also just general things that you have in your shop that's really useful....maybe even things that aren't useful that you wouldnt recommend buying at all. Also garage organization ideas and pretty much anything shop talk or shop related. Again anyone can post so dont think your going to take over the thread or anything like that.

P.S. I couldnt think of a better name at the moment so if you have a better one let me know.

Built this a couple years ago for my old craftsman box. Recently adapted it to my new roll cart. Just a 2” box tube cross affixed to the frame of the cart with muffler clamps. The sheet metal on the bottom is pretty thin so I used plate steel as a big washer. Easily removable for if it’s going to stay in one location for awhile. I take it an hour home from work every weekend to work on my own stuff

That's a pretty neat setup there! Reminds me of Hotrod Drag Week where people put tool boxes, tires and pretty much everything they need on the back of their race car.

Well I've been using these 90 degree clamps a lot here lately and I recommend buying one or two of these if you haven't already. These are WAY better than trying to clamp whatever your working with to the table and then try to hold the square up to the part and clamp it down at the same time.

Well I definitely had a good Christmas. My parents got me this nice craftsman tool box and tool set! It's pretty awesome, it comes with both 3/8 and 1/4 inch ratchets and sockets from 5/32 to 7/8 and from 4mm to 19mm. It also comes with a set of both metric and standard Allen wrenches, a small assortment of regular box end wrenches, and a 1/4 inch drive screw driver thingy (idk what they're called) with a bunch of different bits. I'll still use my vintage Husky 1/2 inch ratchet set but these are nice because they are 6 point sockets and even though I'm pretty skeptical about the quality of new tools (even the ones made by old companies) these actually feel really really nice and are even a little tighter than my Husky set from the 70s.

Them craftsmans are nice but dont leave em in the rain toomuch and dont use em as hammers otherwise they are tough ive left them in the rain vs kobalts and they won every test against my kobalts

@Budget_gokart wrote:

Them craftsmans are nice but dont leave em in the rain toomuch and dont use em as hammers otherwise they are tough ive left them in the rain vs kobalts and they won every test against my kobalts

Yeah, I take good care of tools. I've got some kobalt ratchet wrenches that I use pretty often. They are definitely nice to have. The kobalt ratchets are nice but the sockets are like 3 bucks a piece.

My craftsmans reverse switch on the rachet fell apart but the rachet is so old i dont even mind that it did and my kobalts reverse switch thing exploded

Dang. That just sounds like a bad day right there!

I buried the kobalt its dead to me and the craftsman though hard to switch works fine

@BlakeGroce wrote:

Well I've been using these 90 degree clamps a lot here lately and I recommend buying one or two of these if you haven't already. These are WAY better than trying to clamp whatever your working with to the table and then try to hold the square up to the part and clamp it down at the same time.

These things are the best, especially if youre lazy like me and dont care enough to make perfect cuts. Theyre dirt cheap too.

Where do I get one of them there angle clamps? Do they make any other angles too? Need like an adjustable one where you can change the one side. The 90 one would be helpful pretty often though. I'd like to have some kinda exhaust pipe vise too for work. I'm sure there's something out there but I never research it. Something with cupped jaws instead of flat like a normal vise, because trying to cut exhaust pipe in a normal vise with a sawzall is a pain. It rattles loose and the vise crushes the pipe down. Especially short pieces.

Mr modified you even seen a chain vise? We have a ancient one, it’s just a piece of motorcycle type chain with long pins, I’ll find a link, they work great for thin wall pipe
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200342889_200342889?cm_mmc=Google-pla&gclid=CjwKCAiA57D_BRAZEiwAZcfCxfJqfS507M6K3hwHMh6FTv3kZ5krOqa5aJTwUs7sRE5eVY-WWfBvRxoCWIcQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&utm_campaign=Northern%20Industrial%20Tools&utm_content=153790&utm_medium=Hand%20Tools%20%3E%20Vises%20%2B%20Clamps%20%3E%20Misc.%20Clamps&utm_source=Google_PLA

Pipe vises work good but honestly the one @Creepycrawler linked looks like it would work better than the one we have.


Heres a link to an adjustable clamp.
https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Clamp-9133-Corner-Splicing/dp/B0009JGYH0/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=adjustable+angle+clamps&qid=1609379136&sr=8-5

So for my birthday I bought myself a bead roller which is pretty cool! I've been wanting one for awhile now and I got this one on Jegs cause it was on sale. Its overall a good value for the amount of dies it comes with.



Like most of these it flexes alot and there are some things that I would like to change to make it better. So I will definitely be upgrading alot of it. I was going to just build one but the gears would have coasted more than the bead roller and finding 2 spur gears with the same outside diameter as the dies that fit a keyed shaft is hard.

I bought myself a tubing notcher. Just one of those cheaper one's off of Amazon. Its actually alot nicer than what I thought it was going to be, so that's pretty cool! It's about 3 degrees off which ain't bad, need to make some adjustments but other than that it'll be fine for what I'm gonna use it for!

Thats pretty slick.

So yesterday I went and bought a tool box! I decided to go with the US General from harbor freight because I liked it better than the craftsman one at lowes, it had more drawers and the top box is the full length and width as the bottom box. Overall I'm pretty happy! Should last me a long time!

I got to get a picture of my bolt collection one of these days...I have pretty near 200 bolts that I keep in stock. I bought a Dewalt angle grinder a half a year back and I’m thrilled with it...never bogged it down once. Other thing I bought is a 231c ingersoll that I haven’t used yet but we’re going to test it out soon

@Rustbucket Garage wrote:

I got to get a picture of my bolt collection one of these days...I have pretty near 200 bolts that I keep in stock. I bought a Dewalt angle grinder a half a year back and I’m thrilled with it...never bogged it down once. Other thing I bought is a 231c ingersoll that I haven’t used yet but we’re going to test it out soon

Nice! It's always nice to have a stock of bolts, how do you organize yours? We've got a drawer with plastic bins in it but we need something different since the workbench the drawer is in, is going to get took apart.

I use some of those plastic storage bins like these Here. When I get home I will grab some pictures. Also: anybody else try and build their own tool chest/cart? Thinking about buying a brake and some drawer slides and giving it a go.

The storage bins are nice but they aren’t the best until you buy at least 20 bolts, but I literally have over 150 1/4-20 bolts. They are good for the small parts too, I have one filled with bearings and cotter pins and spark plugs.

Pictures.


From top left: 100x 1/4-20 grade 8, 200x 1/4 stainless flat washers, 100x 1/4-20 zinc lock nuts,
6x 1/4-20x3/4 stainless carriage bolts and lock nuts+10x 1/4-20x 1 stainless bolts+10x 1/4-20x3/4 stainless bolts with lock nuts+28 1/4-20 x 3/4 grade 8 bolts, 1/4 zinc washers, 1/4-20x1 machine screws,
50 3/8-16 locknuts and 7 3/18-16x3/4 grade 8 bolts, 43 grade 8 3/8-16 x 3/4 bolts, some 5/16, 1/4 and 1/2 carriage bolts,
6 3/8-16 g8 bolts in 1”, 1/2-13 x 1” stainless, spark plugs & needle bearings, electrical supplies, hinges and latches, cutoff wheels. It sounds disorganized but I have a system that is too complex to list.

Here is the new impact and grinder:

I do like how the bins are on the wall, I think we would run out of wall though.    Nice impact and grinder too! They should last a long time, good brands.

I've been trying to get all my tools in my tool box and figure out a layout that I like. I've also been cleaning up all my tools before I put them in there since most havent been cleaned since never lol. I dont have alot of tools, most of my "nicer" tools I've inherited or were gifts, others are just cheap crap that I bought.

This is definitely my favorite ratchet set I have! It's an old Husky 1/2 inch set from around the 70s. I inherited this set from my great grandfather along with a bunch of other tools but this has to be my favorite! It's extremely comfortable to hold and the handle doesn't dig into your hand like other ratchets do. I also like that it is fine toothed so it works great in hard to reach areas where you can only move it so much. After all these years it's still nice and tight and hardly has any play in it. Not sure what company made it but like most old tools it's made right here in U.S.A. like everything ought to be!