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jd750ace
Front Toward Enemy
That's a good bit cheaper than a genuine Whitney punch!
I have that same punch, and it works fine. I do a bit of modelling in brass and aluminum which is why I bought it. It's MUCH easier and cleaner to punch thin sheet than to try to drill it.
When I was installing electronic equipment for a living we had a high-dollar aircraft unit that would punch pretty heavy duty aluminum and steel. Probably could've bought a pretty nice 650 for what the goobermint paid for that thing...
When I was installing electronic equipment for a living we had a high-dollar aircraft unit that would punch pretty heavy duty aluminum and steel. Probably could've bought a pretty nice 650 for what the goobermint paid for that thing...
Sn34ky
Farmer's can build bike 2
My mini-frig full of beer cans!!
racerdave
^ Gone not forgotten ^
I've been a squad car tech for 33 years. If I don't have a hand tool at home, I usually do at work. I'm retiring in 9 working days and will have all I own home soon. I will probably sell some off,maybe. I do need a welder though. My 14x22 garage is getting even smaller.
Congratulations on your retirement! I turned in my keys October 1st, and have never been happier.
I did a lot of job-hopping in the last 10 years, due to circumstances and/or boredom. Two of those jobs were tool-intensive: Mechanicing at an equipment rental place, and Assistant Maintenance Manager at a cannery. Both were good excuses to expand my tool collection, and having to have a toolbox at work meant having to duplicate a lot of tools for my home box.
When I got out of the maintenance business, I brought my big box home and had trouble finding a place to put everything. After a couple of months, I took a day and sorted through ALL my tools, kept the best two of any multiples (wrenches and screwdrivers mostly) and stuffed the rest in my little box.
There was a kid who worked for me that showed great talent and enthusiasm, but didn't have the resources to really equip himself. He was buying a tool or two a month and making good choices, but a wife and two kids and the local pay scale were severely cramping his style.
I offered him my roll-around base unit, big Craftsman middle box and small Craftsman top box full of all my extra tools at a fire-sale price, and let him make payments. He got a good start on a working set of tools, and I got the pleasure of giving an ambitious kid a little jump start. Win-win.
jd750ace
Front Toward Enemy
Classy move there, Downeaster. That young man will never forget that you believed in his capabilities enough to facilitate his career choice. A vote of confidence from a "graybeard" does wonders to motivate a properly minded young individual. I always try to keep my guys' confidence up, and I'm hardly ever (unless it's just plain stupid) a real ass when they get it wrong. Odds are, when they mess something up, I have probably done it before myself in a similar circumstance. I do my best to advise them of pitfalls in a particular project before they reach them, but Murphy happens. You'll pull big Kharma points for that one.
osteoderm
out of the box
Laptop out in my barn/workshop. Now i have access to shop manuals, pictures, parts shopping, and places like this right when I need it without having to clean up and head back to the house. My attention span seems to falter right after I walk through the door and and then I'm at a complete loss as to why I came in. Might be an "old guy thing". What was I talking about?
essexboydave
XS650 Enthusiast
My hole punch is def one of my all time fav tools, especially for using rivets when your patching up a rusty old jelopy, works way better than a drill and leaves a nice clean hole.
That looks smart, I'll have a look round and see if I can find something similar
deadchef
xsbobblehead
1974jh5
Curmudgeon.
I'm with 5twins, my T handles are some of my favorite tools. One of my buddies has a set with swivel sockets made on them, they are really nice.
Wasn't Micronta a Radio Shack brand here in the States? Anything Micronta is good stuff, but when RS started getting private branded stuff it went downhill. Having said that, I have a RS branded pocket size auto ranging multimeter that's pretty decent.
I need to get one of those hand punches.
Wasn't Micronta a Radio Shack brand here in the States? Anything Micronta is good stuff, but when RS started getting private branded stuff it went downhill. Having said that, I have a RS branded pocket size auto ranging multimeter that's pretty decent.
I need to get one of those hand punches.
Paulrxs650
XS650 Enthusiast
Hey Downeaster, when I started as an Apprentice at Roll Royce, someone did a very similar thing for me and was my mentor! To this day I still credit him with an awful lot of my ability and success! I'm so glad that People are still doing the same things today.
Purplezinger
XS650 Addict
My Mitutoyo dial caliper. I use it every day.
Yamaha_chop
Fabricator Extraordinare
My Miller TIG, I don't do any work on my bikes without it.
I'm a transmission tech at a dealer, and so I have a good bit of tools at work, but fortunately the metal working tools are generally different enough so there's not much overlap. But seriously I have no idea how I'd accomplish any of my ideas without my welder.
I'm a transmission tech at a dealer, and so I have a good bit of tools at work, but fortunately the metal working tools are generally different enough so there's not much overlap. But seriously I have no idea how I'd accomplish any of my ideas without my welder.
jd750ace
Front Toward Enemy
Yes sir. Back when Radio Shack was a trusted and respected brand-name retailer. People made fun of the Realistic electronic brand when I was growing up, but some of the very best Radio and tape decks and turntables I heard (sound quality-wise) growing up were older generation, Japanese made Realistic equipment. I'll bet if you ran it side by side with some of the crap we have today you could tell the difference. Much of the Micronta equipment was produced by Texas Instruments throughout north Texas, and some was made in Japan at Texas Instruments' plants there.
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essexboydave
XS650 Enthusiast
We still have a Realistic radio/8-track player in work! It must date from around 1974 and the radio still works perfectly, don't know about the 8-track player though as nobody seems to have any 8-tracks to play on it
