Hello All!
Thank you for the information I always receive from this post. I am looking at making some fairly large tool purchases in the near future and so I would like the input and better alternatives if you have any.
My shop is roughly 24′ long ranging from approx. 15′ wide at its greatest width and 9′ wide at it’s thinnest. All of my powertools are on mobile bases and can be moved in and out of the shop if the space is needed and kept in the rest of the basement which my wife says I need to leave alone. I am looking at a list of tools and clamps. The list is below:
1. Bandsaw – Laguna LT14SE (If the budget allows)
2. Dust Collector – Penn State DC – 1B with the canister and clear plastic bags
3. Air Cleaner – Penn State as well
4. Clamps – Bessey K-Body’s – 24″, 40″, 50″, and 60″
5. Clamps – Jorgensen Hand Screws – 4 of each size 0 – 4
6. Benchtop Drill Press – Thinking about Craftsman 12″ – Price is right, have a mortiser already so won’t need the ability to put on a mortising attachment.
That’s about it for now. A variety of hand tools. Any input is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike
Replies
Do you already have a table saw? Thats first.
Clamps, K-body's are nice but I'd look at standard bar clamps, quantity trumps stlye with clamps. I use my standard quick action, (tradesman type), bar clamps a lot more than my fifteen hand screws, but both are good to have.
A floor type drill press will do a lot more work.
Mini Max is a a way better bandsaw in my book, go as big as you can afford and have room for.
That said, I have all old heavy cast iron used machines and would not do it any other way.
A thought on the floor type drill press,
I've done fine wit a bench mount for many years - I just mount it near the edge of the bench and rotate it if I need extra height (I can think of once in the past 8 years where I needed the extra height).The other benny, my DP is a radial type, so I can extend the head out about 24" from the post and I can tilt the head at an angle. Both the extension ability and the tilting feature turn out to be quite handy.It's a delta "factory refurb" got from WWarehouse for a song - I'm not sure if Delta makes them anymore but a good place to look for refurbs (and save a few bucks) is http://www.toolking.com.MarkMeasure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Edited 4/1/2005 9:31 am ET by Mark
I'd love to find an old Delta radial DP, your right Mark that would be the one time a bench mount would be the way to fly. You gotta love the that old iron!
I rooted around the web - it appears that Delta does not make them anymore. Lucky for me I guess.Quite a funny story when I bought it,
I was walking around the wwwarehouse (long before they went out of business) and noticed it. It was priced at $319 (or so).I asked the store manager if he got the refurbs in stock often (I wasn't ready buy so I wanted to know if I'd be able to purchase one at a later date).The manager said, "No and I'm tired of looking at that one." I smiled and saw my opening - said "Oh, in that case, will you take $200?" His chin hit the floor when he realize that he had just said something really stupid.He goes to the front of the store to check the price and calls back "the best I can do is $275"So I tell him I not ready to buy and start to leave.
Then he offers me a set of forstner bits to go with it. Again I say no.
Finally he says, "How much would you pay to take it.?" I offered him $210 and walked home with it.Of course, then I had to convince my wife of how good a deal it was...:-)Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
i have a bunch of the k body clamps and some hand screws. you can save yourself a wack of cash if you look into other brands of the same types of clamps. k body are called parallel jaw calmps. there are 2 or 3 other brands i have seen since i bought mine that are a bit cheaper but are a little ore user friendly. also i own 2 jorgensens and 8 of some other brand. the 8 cost me the same as my 2 jogs and they have performed just as well.
http://www.grossstabil.com/wood_clamps.htm
jorgenson also makes parallel clamps but i dont know how much they are.
cheers
Tmaxxx
urbanworkshop.ca
Vancouver B.C.
Now when i nod my head, you hit it.
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