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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: November 26, 2015, 8:48 pm 
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Joined: November 13, 2015, 1:26 am
Posts: 88
Location: Central Kentucky (Winchester)
I have been doing steelwork for many years and there are two tools I use all the time. A drill press and a portaband. I am on my second one. The first one lasted fifteen years. Milwaukee rocks.


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PostPosted: November 27, 2015, 5:46 am 
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Joined: May 27, 2006, 9:46 pm
Posts: 1954
Location: BC, Canada. eh?
The angry grinder is one of the tools I consider essential. I have 3, currently (all 4 1/2" models). One has an aggressive sanding disc, one has a brutal wire brush (be careful with those - they fling wire strands outward at roughly the speed of a .223 bullet!), and one with an ultra-thin, depressed-center carbide cutoff disc.

The latter I buy by the dozen. I use them for a LOT of my cutting duties, from plate steel to angle iron to sheet metal & aluminum (careful - when cutting aluminum, it reaches the temperature of molten lava roughly, oh, instantly, without any outward sign that it's hot. And holds that heat for about an hour. I've been burned countless times by aluminum). Still, these discs make a nice, clean cut, remove a very thin kerf, and waste very little material.

As for air tools, "Hi, my name's Mike, and I'm an air tools addict." I've owned (still own, actually) several compressors, ranging from one I built myself decades ago from cast off, garage sale parts, a little "use this in your kitchen for brad nailing" model, and an oilless model with a good sized tank. The oilless unit is relegated to my old "dirty" shop, as it's loud enough to drown out AC/DC's amps at max output at a range of 6". I could not remain in the shop whenever that thing kicked in.

As of a few days ago, I managed to locate a used Sanborn 60-gallon single-phase compressor. The original owner had bought a new one (roughly the size of a Chev Yukon standing on its tailgate) for his professional mechanic's shop, and offered up his old one for sale. I found out that he'd had concerns about the motor on it (it originally had a 3.7 hp, 15-amp motor), so had replaced it with a brand new, industrial, honest-to-God Made in the USA, 5 hp motor. Then, he promptly bought the new leviathan compressor when offered a deal he couldn't refuse. I installed the unit in my shop yesterday (wired the panel today) after installing a new pressure switch (I thought the old one was looking the worse for wear), blow-off valve (can't be too careful), and doing an oil change & installing new air filters. When we fired it up this morning, a couple of things we noticed: 1) it's FAST - 5 minutes, from dead empty to 135 PSI shutoff, and 2) it's QUIET. That one, I did NOT expect! I shut it off after it filled and found, as a bonus, that after 12 hours, it hasn't lost even 1 psi. Not bad!

Woohoo! An excuse to buy more air tools!!

I do plan on one modification to the compressor. On the unit I built myself, many moons ago, I had added an intercooler which, at the time, was unheard of. I fashioned it (in true Locost style!) from a cast-off cooling loop from an old deep freeze. The loop was a thick-walled, copper, elongated U shape, with hundreds of little U's on the outside as heat synchs, and 1/2" NPT threaded ends. I installed in in front of the compressor's fan pulley, and found that in testing, the air going in from the compressor pump was at 350*F (hot enough to cook bacon...mmmmm, bacon!) and was reduced to ambient temperature coming out. From there, the air went into a water separator, then the pressure switch etc., and into the tank. that beast was turned on & charged for 15 years, and there was never even a single drop of water in the tank! I did, however, have to empty the water separator pretty much daily.

In true, Locost tradition, I'll be scavenging the old cooling coil, and installing it on my new compressor.

Sorry for the long post but, as our British brethren say, "I'm chuffed!", so I had to brag... :cheers:

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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PostPosted: January 29, 2016, 6:42 pm 
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Joined: November 13, 2015, 1:26 am
Posts: 88
Location: Central Kentucky (Winchester)
I received a harbor freight ad the other day and they now have portaband saws that look like Milwaukee for 159
with the 20% coupon that's 127. and change. Not bad at all


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