I found a decent link today:
http://www.cctrap.com/~varmint/alath.htm

 

Neat info.

 

The Chineese Tool Merchants are in Town!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!
Going down to pick up a 3/4 HP Mill/Drill for 199.oo

Its a start! Next.... a lathe

 

Who are they?

 

He's probably talking about the traveling tool places. HF type stuff basically. We have them a few times a year around here.

 

Yes, this one is HOMIER Distributing.

 

I don't guess we have any of the traveling tool people here.

 

Go to http://www.homier.com/default.asp3


Unfortunately they were out of the Mill/drill I did buy some car dollies, a work table, 8" Grinder and a little drill press for $100.00

 

Damn, they have some really good prices. They sell a bandsaw that looks just like the Harbor Freight sells for $179 for $99! They are out of stock on it but at that price it is easy to see why.

 

Yep, the 7 x 10 lathe for 299. They are having a big sale in Columbia soon, I plan on getting the lathe.

 

A 7x10 is so short you may want to consider paying a little more and getting something bigger.
The problem is that even though you look at it and you are thinking there are alot of things 10 inches and less that you can make, you really don't get the full 10" very easily. You have to setup a right hand cutter to the right side of the tool holder to work the right side of the part, and a left to work the left. You can't travel the full 10" without changing the tooling and that can be a pain.

But, if you get it you can learn the ropes on it and then pick a bigger one up later when you decide that the limitations **** you off a few too many times. This would still have a good resale value on Ebay when that time came.

 

Very true

 

I have been looking for a good sized storage building so I can get as much non-shop **** out of my garage as possible and I found a place that I can get a 12'x15' for $895 for the complete kit. The price shows $950 on their site but I got the price directly from a sales rep at their Texas location. The one in the picture is of the 9'x12'. The 12'x15' comes with a double door.
The only setback for using this as a shop if the 7' ceiling is a little low.
I may try to see if I can get a 9' of 10' wall made up.
I have been pricing around and have not found anything this big for close to the price. They will deliver it for $35!
All I would need to do is pour a slab and put it together.
Of course I live in a town that requires a building permit for anything going on concrete. If I have to go through that I may as well get an electrical permit so I can wire it.
So that leaves the decision on whether or not to just go ahead and make it into my shop. That would free up my garage to actually park and/or work on my cars in it once in a while.
Right now with a slab it would be less than $1500 to set this up completely. So here's another project
http://www.muellerinc.com/products/b...gs/utility.php

 

Off on another tangent:
I built a 25 x 32 x16 S-Series Pioneer steel Arch Building

Here is their webpage http://www.pioneersteel.com/home-1.html

 

Tangents? I live for tangents! Damn, I wish I had room to build something that big. Here is what took up a large part of my backyard a few years back. Even a 12'x15' is kind of pushing it.

 

Got a Harbor Freight add in the mail the other day...

was wondering what you guys think of:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=33686 - $799.99 (reg: 999.99)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44991 - $449.99 (reg: 499.99)

and also:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=36739


At a thousand the top one was kinda out of my range... at $800 it's a little more feasable....

Thanks,
Brian

 

Go with the bigger one. The bang for the buck outweighs the prices IMHO.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. At 799, seems like a real good deal. The sale is until 3/24, maybe I'll have to go over there Monday after I get paid

Brian

 

You all are forgetting the MOST important tool EVER:

A big F%*king hammer!

 

But big hammers are such a touchy subject. It brings out "hammer" envy and all. People start telling each other to "get a bigger hammer" and it just gets ugly from there.
That was why I avoided the agreed most important tool of all

 

I prefer a 3# deadblow hammer

 

Interesting reading:
http://popularmechanics.com/automoti...ng_machinists/

 

That is really cool what he wrote and absolutely true. In the 80's when I used to weld I was able to make a descent living doing it. Then the recession hit and the oil fields shut down and even shops that were not affected took the opportunity to cut benefits and make the trade a low wage job (except for union shops but those were up North and did not have any openings either)
That time period took it's toll on that industry. I work on computers for a living, a good living now but that could happen in this industry as well.
This was the same situation in the machinist trade as well. Mr. Leno did not touch on how the trade became an endangered species but I can tell you first hand that welding in a Texas summer for $10.00 an hour with **** benefits was not an attractive proposition as opposed to easier trades that paid the same or more.
That went on for about 8 years. Anybody with those skills during that time were telling their kids to learn anything but what they were doing.
The kids that were becoming adults during that time period were lost to other skills.
I was Texas DOT certified for structural work (bridges, etc.) and I was offered $8.00 per hour by one of the bigger contractors in 1992.
So I agree fully with Jay about the end result but that is just another angle of how and why we have arrived at this situation.
It's kind of funny though that it really worked to my benefit in the longrun.

 

Hey Guys: For the newbie machinist and the old FARTS that need a refresher:

http://155.217.58.58/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/tc/9-524/toc.htm

 

Hey Guys: For the newbie machinist and the old FARTS that need a refresher:

http://155.217.58.58/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/tc/9-524/toc.htm