What Are Your 3 Favorite Tools?

Bob Kelly III said:
Mine has to be the HF 3 in 1 Mill drill lathe.... don't know how I got along without it all these years !
the Lincoln 225 AC stick welder
and the Vice
Bob......
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Hi Bob,
I envy your mill/drill/lathe and I get by with a Lincoln 180 stick welder.
And while your unique approach to spelling is part of your charm,
the part-squeezer thing bolted to your workbench is a VISE.
Discussions about your vice (or vices) are best posted to an adults only site.
 
upthemaiden said:
Jealous! Both the HF mini lathe and mill are on my list of needed tools. Is the 3-in-1 a reasonable compromise, or would be better to have the individual lathe and mill??
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Hi 'maiden,
this is the Grammar Police: you are not jealous, you are envious.
About a 3-in-1 vs individual machine tools. How big is your garage/workshop/billfold?
The 3-in-1 takes a while to swap between modes while a separate mill & lathe can be left set up.
The 3-in-1 has a far smaller footprint and is more affordable.
 
Judging by how many I have, it has to be my hammers,
3lb Deadblow mallet,
Rubber & acrylic head composite mallet.
Big wooden mallet that my neighbor gave me.
2lb club hammer,
ball pein hammers:- 27oz, 27oz with a squared-off head (effectively a 24oz) 16 oz & 8oz
Claw hammers:- Good quality claw, good quality roofer's, 4 el-cheapo steel shaft/rubber grip claws
Sheetmetalworking hammers:- 14oz straight pein, 14oz cross pein, 12oz, 10oz & 8oz ball-ended planishers.
 
LOL Howdy Fred ! Hammers ? I can relate to that ! I got all My Dads body and fender hammers Plus a contingent of my own which include a sledge hammer (pipe handle) splitting Maul, and a home made Sledge with a short handle.... LOL
..... My 3 in 1 From HF cost only $300, as it was a demo model with some parts missing so I jewed him down a bit....
I would much rather have 3 seperate machines mainly because the table for the Mill part is way too small and clamping to it is a major pain
although the Lathe works very well , this model does not have the threading portion that more expensive versions have
and I found that that addition is a MUST HAVE for a metal lathe although the lathe speed is a bit too fast and chuck too small
I still find it adequate for my needs over the years I have made many attachments for the lathe and mill and we get along just fine now
..... If i had it to do over again I would get the separate machines but this things small foot print in my tiny 12'x20' shop works well !
......and Fred I thought my vice was purdy good at squeezing things ! <GRIN> :laughing:
Bob.......
 
Aahhhh, other people's versions of Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor ! He who is worthy, wields a mighty tool of construction, or weapon of destruction, and is not to be taken lightly (no pun intended)...
 
fredintoon said:
Hi 'maiden,
this is the Grammar Police: you are not jealous, you are envious.......

......The 3-in-1 has a far smaller footprint and is more affordable.
Click to expand...

I thought about you telling other people that as I typed it. I went for it anyway.

That was my assumption about the 3-in-1, save a few dollars on the lathe/mill. I already have a drill press. After I spent some time looking around for the 3-in-1s(it appears HF doesn't sell them anymore), it looks like they're up around $1500. The mini lathe is only about $600, and I think the mill is around $700, so even from a financial standpoint, you're better off buying the two separate machines.
 
I would check craigslist too. My lathe is a 9" swing and 36" between centers and it cost me $500. Mill cost a bit more at $1800 but it's a full size 9x42 and came with a whole lot of tooling. But you have to have the space too.
 
I look on craigslist occasionally, it's typically all wood lathes. I'm not really in the market yet, so I don't check to often. Someday!

Some full size ones would be nice, but I feel like I'll mostly just be using them for small things like wheel spacers, bushings, and brackets, so I'm sure I'd be perfectly fine with the mini versions that would just fit on my work bench. Once I have them, my opinion will probably change and I'll start thinking of all kinds of things I could do if I only had a bigger one!
 
Oh i fully understand. There are times I wish my lathe was a free standing one instead of bench top, mostly for rigidity and being able to take a deeper cut. But for now it just takes me longer to finish parts.
 
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