favourite workshop tools

[scubasteve]

Tough choice between the ratcheting ring spanners and my Milwaukee 18v impact gun, think the impact gun wins though! I use it for almost everything possible!

Attachment 47621

I have one of these too and love it. I have one of the new milwaukee 18v tool kits but have barely had to time to use any of it on my week off work. Im looking at the 1/2" impact gun at the moment too which would allow me to do bigger stuff that the 1/4" cant. The list is looking good though guys im liking all the ideas and writing them all down to find prices for. All of those socket accessories look handy as and not too expensive. Im also tossing up whether to get a new socket set as my sidchrome set (12months old) is only 3/8" and only goes up to 19mm.

[Col.T]

Scuba,
what an awesome collection of answers.
It's taken me over 50 years to collect pretty much what I've needed for all the Holdens, Fords, Old Jag, Valiants, B.S.As, Yamahas, Kwakas, lawn bloody mowers and dunny cisterns that I've been asked to fix.
Good news is, saves an mint, you learn stacks and you finally KNOW the standard of work completed.
Bad news (which hasn't been mentioned) is there's always one more special tool needed or the next model you buy uses a totaly different system.
I've had three houses and the ONE thing I reckon has paid off big time is a pit. Had one at each place, dug it, bricked/concreted it myself, and it's made car work a dream. Even 'simple' things like working on brakes or lubing the tail shaft is so much easier and safer if you're down there looking at it.
Don't give up on not welding. I've made my own wheel bearing tool but there's stacks of engineering shops around who can fabricate stuff if you need it. Shop around till you find someone who is helpful. Come across some top fellows over the years.
Probably won't help but one thing you'll really need is a set of wheels to get you to the 'shop' when the wagons half dismantled and you find you're missing that one tool. I'd recommend a large capacity, high performance in line four Japanese bike. I've finally gone Kwaka and have been very, very happy. Get's you there bloody quick too so no time wasted.
Regards,
Col

[scubasteve]

Scuba,
what an awesome collection of answers.
It's taken me over 50 years to collect pretty much what I've needed for all the Holdens, Fords, Old Jag, Valiants, B.S.As, Yamahas, Kwakas, lawn bloody mowers and dunny cisterns that I've been asked to fix.
Good news is, saves an mint, you learn stacks and you finally KNOW the standard of work completed.
Bad news (which hasn't been mentioned) is there's always one more special tool needed or the next model you buy uses a totaly different system.
I've had three houses and the ONE thing I reckon has paid off big time is a pit. Had one at each place, dug it, bricked/concreted it myself, and it's made car work a dream. Even 'simple' things like working on brakes or lubing the tail shaft is so much easier and safer if you're down there looking at it.
Don't give up on not welding. I've made my own wheel bearing tool but there's stacks of engineering shops around who can fabricate stuff if you need it. Shop around till you find someone who is helpful. Come across some top fellows over the years.
Probably won't help but one thing you'll really need is a set of wheels to get you to the 'shop' when the wagons half dismantled and you find you're missing that one tool. I'd recommend a large capacity, high performance in line four Japanese bike. I've finally gone Kwaka and have been very, very happy. Get's you there bloody quick too so no time wasted.
Regards,
Col

Cheers mate im loving the ideas. I havent quite given up on welding yet and since Cuppa suggested a small inverter unit ive been looking all over the place for a reasonable one. Its just one of those things that is super handy to have when you need a quick bracket or something whipped up even if its not on the car, so ill keep at it and hopefully I can teach myself somehow. I know the feeling of missing that one tool or part it always seems to happen to me haha luckily for me the wagon is my side project and my daily driver is 2011 d22 navara so I can chuck even thw biggest tools in the tray. Keep the ideas comin though guys im sure alot of other people will get some use out of it too

[lhurley]

I recently bought a gas/gasless mig welder for a couple hundy. It's my first welder, have not really done much before now. With a bunch of YouTube videos and playing around with settings, my welds actually come out out. Not the prettiest but the are strong. If your interested, it's a cigweld 135 amp mig. Great little unit, easy to control. Will even weld panels if need be.

If I can weld, I'm sure you can too. Practice, practice, practice. Raid some scrap metal bins for chucks and just cut it, weld it, cut it, weld it.

[Cuppa]

This is the one I got. I think 110Amp is about the most you can use with a standard domestic power supply. Works pretty well for me, & have easils welded stuff up to around 6mm thick.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/WeldSmart...a91ee56&_uhb=1

The $50 self darkening helmet makes all the difference.

[mudnut]

Have a look at this bloke"s video. Some sound advice about stick welding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akvv4ApYMVE

[NP99]

This is a good info site - http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/...ng-videos.html

[gaddy]

I'm all for doing as much as you can yourself , but know your limits , I am currently rebuilding a jayco camper for offroad touring , new chassis new suspension , drawbar etc, and while I am reasonable with the welder , most of these welds need to be top notch , and not having a understanding of metalergy , and proper penatration of welds and metals , I am fortunate to have a mate who has the skills to do it right , I would hate to have it come apart , and the consequences that could arise .

[NP99]

I'm all for doing as much as you can yourself , but know your limits , I am currently rebuilding a jayco camper for offroad touring , new chassis new suspension , drawbar etc, and while I am reasonable with the welder , most of these welds need to be top notch , and not having a understanding of metalergy , and proper penatration of welds and metals , I am fortunate to have a mate who has the skills to do it right , I would hate to have it come apart , and the consequences that could arise .

All my welding has a concrete guarantee. Once it leaves the concrete there is no guarantee

[Cuppa]

I'm all for doing as much as you can yourself , but know your limits ,

Absolutely! I personally wouldn’t be trying to arc weld anything which is ‘critical’. (i.e. if it fails it carries a risk of injury or major damage). Nevertheless I still find the small welder a very handy piece of gear, doesn’t get used heaps, but when it’s needed nothing else will do. An example recently was the threaded ‘rod’ with locknut, used to adjust the fit of the tow ball in an old trailer receiver. With the locknut loosened there was no way I could turn the ‘rod’ using the screw driver slot on it’s end. it was a relatively simple job to weld a bar onto it’s end onto which i could put an extension bar, adjusted it up & locked it up. Alternatives were having the tow ball loose in the receiver, or having to buy a complete new receiver.

I do miss the flexibility of my old oxy set though. Just wasn’t an economic proposition to keep the rented bottles on hand ‘just in case’.