Useful tools

[redbean]

He seems to like it. I'm gonna get one and i'll tell you what i think about it!

Haven't heard of northern tools but harbor freight is a great family owned hardware store! Right now i have a coupon for a 3 set of those step drill bits for 8.99!! I got a drill press from there for $50. They have lifetime warranty on all hand tools and they have a members club for $25 a year with even more discounts. Great place!

Thanks for the reply, and for reminding me of Harbor Freight. I plan on buying a drill press and step-drill bits. I wish they sold auto-ranging Equus digital multimeters because I'd buy one from them too.

This was the cheapest drill press I found ($79.99): http://www.harborfreight.com/5-speed-drill-press-38119.html

So, I assume you got a membership discount or bought a different model. Did you get a drill press vice, and what size?

... a HA! I just found a Harbor Freight store 5 miles from my house in New Orleans. I guess I'll have to wait until after Mardi Gras to go there, since a lot of the roads are blocked off around me right now.

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

I wish they sold auto-ranging Equus digital multimeters because I'd buy one from them too.

http://www.amazon.com/Equus-3320-Auto-Ranging-Digital-Multimeter/dp/B000EVYGZA <---this one?

This was the cheapest drill press I found ($79.99): http://www.harborfreight.com/5-speed-drill-press-38119.html

So, I assume you got a membership discount or bought a different model. Did you get a drill press vice, and what size?

I found a coupon in the weekly ads sent to my house. It had that $80 model for $50 so i went and picked it up. I figured for $50 i couldn't go wrong! I didn't buy a vice because they didn't have the biggest size in stock. I plan on getting one shipped eventually. I haven't even set the drill press up because i found an example of barry(guitarpcb) drilling a box with just a hand drill. He uses a center punch, a small drill bit and a unibit(step drill bit). I'm gonna wait to find a nice place to set mine up and i don't do enough builds to have to use it quite yet.

I haven't signed up yet for their membership but the guy said there are member only discounts and some special parking lot sale i guess. I signed up for the newsletter and get tons of emails with deals on different stuff every week. plus a 20% off any 1 item in the store

[jkokura]

A drill press has changed my life. I also use a punch and I use a small drill bit to drill pilot holes before using a step drill. With a hand drill it would take me an hour to drill an enclosure or two. I can now fully drill out 8-10 enclosures in an hour.

Jacob

[redbean]

http://www.amazon.com/Equus-3320-Auto-Ranging-Digital-Multimeter/dp/B000EVYGZA <---this one?

That's the one I found the other day on Amazon (it's in my shopping cart) because I could not find one locally that I liked.

I haven't even set the drill press up because i found an example of barry(guitarpcb) drilling a box with just a hand drill. He uses a center punch, a small drill bit and a unibit(step drill bit). I'm gonna wait to find a nice place to set mine up and i don't do enough builds to have to use it quite yet.

That's what I planned to do in lieu of buying a drill press, plus using an anvil/vise combo I already have. However, after reading Jacob's reply below, I think I'll get a drill press with the proper attachments ASAP.

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

this is the video i'm referring to. he does it in 7 minutes. what a master!!
http://www.guitarpcb.com/apps/videos/videos/show/8450950-drill-your-own-enclosure-

[redbean]

this is the video i'm referring to. he does it in 7 minutes. what a master!!
http://www.guitarpcb.com/apps/videos/videos/show/8450950-drill-your-own-enclosure-

Thanks for posting the video. I might try that method before I get a drill press. It looks like something I could do well, if I take my time (and have an extra case or two if I mess up).

Are you familiar with this step drill bit set? If so, is it good?:
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece-titanium-nitride-coated-high-speed-steel-step-drills-91616.html

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

those are the bits i have a coupon for. i'm gonna go get them sometime real soon. i have confidence in them. if you wanna ensure longer bit life and easier drilling you can purchase some drill lubricant.

[Haberdasher]

I bought some cheap chinese step bits from ebay last year.   They look like they would be about the same quality as the ones from HF, and they have held up fine so far just drilling through aluminum.  The beauty is if they break you can get new ones for ten bucks.

If you're constantly making pedals every day I could maybe see spending the extra dough on Irwins, but otherwise I say grab the cheap Chinese ones and start making holes in stuff.

Another thing, I got my drill press from HF on sale and they still let me use the 20% off coupon I got when I signed up to receive their endless emails.  All said, I think I ended up paying around 45 bucks for it.  Not too bad at all.

[jkokura]

Please forgive my n00b questions: Isn't 45 watts a bit high for working on pedals? How does one keep the device clean? (-- doesn't it fill up with used solder?). How is it working so far, since you posted this?

He seems to like it. I'm gonna get one and i'll tell you what i think about it!

Haven't heard of northern tools but harbor freight is a great family owned hardware store! Right now i have a coupon for a 3 set of those step drill bits for 8.99!! I got a drill press from there for $50. They have lifetime warranty on all hand tools and they have a members club for $25 a year with even more discounts. Great place!

If you can get a second set, and you're willing to ship them to Canada, I'd happily send you some paypal funds.

Jacob

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

I bought some cheap chinese step bits from ebay last year.   They look like they would be about the same quality as the ones from HF, and they have held up fine so far just drilling through aluminum.  The beauty is if they break you can get new ones for ten bucks.

Exactly!! My neighbor used to drill holes in airplanes working with hardened carbin steel and if your doing that then you gotta worry about breaking bits like crazy. But for aluminum he said the same thing, these should last more than long enough to learn on and when your ready you can shell out $80 for the nice irwin set!

i have a coupon right now for the 3 piece step drill bit set (shown in the link above product#91616) for $10 per set. The limit is 5 and i was only planning on getting 1 or 2 sets so i can grab the other 3 if your interested. Send me a message. I plan on going sometime this week/early next week!

[irmcdermott]

Just posted this on another thread, but it belongs here as well. Very useful.
http://www.justradios.com/uFnFpF.html

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

There's some other extremely valuable information on that site about tube radios! and some cheap caps too.

[jimmybjj]

I don't have one (yet) but i imagine it would come in really useful for cutting PCB's. Its a 4" mini table saw


http://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-mighty-mite-table-saw-93211.html

I have a more expensive panavise version of this but if I had it to do over again i would probably get this as it is alot cheaper

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-3-4-quarter-inch-articulated-vacuum-vise-3311.html

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

I bought that vise when i went to harbor freight last time. It works great and i would recommend it to everyone as it makes soldering much easier!

[madbean]

I don't have one (yet) but i imagine it would come in really useful for cutting PCB's. Its a 4" mini table saw

I used this for about a year to cut PCBs. I recommend a bandsaw instead. This thing kicks PCB dust everywhere. A bandsaw is a little more expensive, but better suited for the job and less dangerous.

I also have one of those Harbor Freight drill presses. It does the job but mine has rusted over something fierce.