Specialty tools....What's in your garage?

[Brent Mills]

Figured it would be interesting to find out what specialty tools people have in their garages...If nothing else, it will help us create our birthday present lists...

For me:

• 30" combination shear, brake and roller.
• Metal shrinker & stretcher tools. (have about 1" mouth)
• Hobart Handler 170 welder with gas.
• Drill Press
• General assortment of grinders/cutters.

The rest is just the standard assortment.

[427 S/O]

Metal lathe, bench mill, plasma cutter and
dreaming about a 5 axis CNC.

[Dan Semko]

A 7k# Superior 4 post lift.
A Sony Sound System
Lots of Bandaids!

[Hal Copple]

for many years, i have had a secret yearning to learn how to weld. I look at the welding machines, and have tried my hand with my brother in law's wire feed/Mig machines.

But i think welding is something that becomes an art, and with any art, either one is gifted, or very practiced. Lacking both, i will just have to continue to take whatever i want done to a Pro to do it for me.

Someday, when i retire, i might sign up at a technical school for a welding class, like when older folks go back to school for this or that. Then i can weld up my mower to my heart's content.

Richard Griot, who owns Griot's Garage, a automotive gizmo company, has used a quote of mine in his catalogue for over a year.

http://www.griotsgarage.com

I really have tried to buy some sort of tool or automotive gizmo every month for many years. Sometimes a big thing, sometimes a tiny tool. But for me, tools are like jewelry to a woman. You can never have too many tucked away in this or that chest.

[Art Burtt]

A whole bunch of old Craftsman tools,and a couple of large sledge hammers,you know if it don't fit hit it witha bigger hammer hee hee!

[Cal Metal]

Pliers, 1/2-9/16 combo wrench, and a hacksaw

[agro1]

Allot of blood sweat and tears...Great learning "tools"

[STROKER]

Metal Lath, Bench Mill, Drill press, Blast Cabinet, mig and tig, all kinds of specialty hand tools but never the the proper one, Reason to go shopping...................

Favorite........English Wheel, it's like running in a circle , save your allowance buy a sheet of Aluminum, cut it to size, beat it, roll it, beat it some more, roll it again, cut another piece of Aluminum go through the same procces, beat it, roll it, beat it, roll it. Throw it all in the scrap pile.......GO BUY ANOTHER SHEET OF ALUMINUM!

It's all worth it though when it's done.

Next on the list is a Shear, Break, and Slip Roll. Probably a combination setup. I'm out of room. Brent how do you like yours?

Danny

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Other than the normal tool box full of Craftsman hand tools I have a smoke wrench (torch)-drill press-bead blast cabinet (used quite a bit)-commercial shop size air compressor-and a whole bunch of specailty tools,most I made for varouis things as brake jobs and for engine building.....

Wish I had some of the tools Dan (stroker) has,but I have the next best thing.....A cousin two miles down the road with all the shop equipment he named and some more that I can use anytime,better yet I get my favorite cousin to do my machine work for me as he is afraid I'll brake some of his tools.....I'm fairly handy with the mill,but I leave the lathe work to him....

David

[Bill Wells]

two lifts , lots of plugs, 110 and 220, compressor and MOST importantly : a refrigerator with lots of beer, duct tape and wd-40. bill.

[Turk]

Q-tips and a single white sock. I can't find the matching one.

TURK

[xlr8or]

A constant supply of Brake Cleaner to get the blood spots off the chrome and the floor.

Works well to get the grease out of the cuts too!

[excelguru]

Usually it's just me. Sometimes my neighbor comes over. Oh wait... you said tools, not fools...

Keith

[dkjos]

I'm envious of you guys with the sheet metal machinery. I have to call my buddy and get access to his sheet metal shop every time I need to shear or bend something and with the amount of stuff I'm fabbing right now it is a royal PITA.

I do however have an 18" chunk of train rail and a tinner's rivet set/header. Amazing how handy they are.

[427Aggie]

I am just finishing my garage...I have alot of plugs...getting a polishing wheel and tumbler, waiting for a lift when the wife lets me and I already have a 1960's coke machine that takes bottles for out in my retreat area..

Oh but the best tool I had installed was central heat and air with the walls finished and fully insulated

Matt

[Aussie Mike]

You can never have enough tools.

Cincinatti Toolmaster Turret Mill. It's a 2 Ton monster but I picked it up cheap, rebuilt it and converted it to single phase. As a friend of mine always says "You can do a small job on a big machine but you can't do a big job on a small machine"

Next comes the lathe, it's another ex-industrial machine that I fixed up. It works well and I'm always finding new jobs for it.

200A Mig and a 120A Tig.

A belt linisher, this is an incredibly handy tool. It's on one end of an 8" pedistal grinder with a fine stone on the other end for grinding tool steel. The linisher gives you great controll for shaping and finishing up small parts. A scotchbrite belt gives a great brushed finish on things and is a good first step to polishing something.

Another Pedistal grinder with a Buffer on one end and a wire wheel on the other. There is a great deal of satisfaction from polishing something you've just machined.

Pipe bender (for home made roll cages and stuff).

Engine lifting crane, I just bought this recently. Years ago I built a gantry that you could bolt together and stand up over a car and use a chain block. Very portable (friends are always borrowing it). The engine lifting crane is handy though because once you've lifted something you can wheel it arround. I'm making an attachment so I can use it to lift my Cobra body on and off by myself.

Gas heater for chilly winter nights. I've been thinking lately about a ducted cooling system for next summer. I could also rig it to extract air for when I partition off the shed for spray painting.

Cheers

[Excaliber]

A couple of roll away tool boxes stuffed full of all kinds of tools I never use anymore.

That 3/4 drive socket set. WHY do I keep that? I hate working on anything that big anymore.

Brake cylinder hone. Nope, I'll buy a new wheel cylinder if I need one.

Cylinder wall hone, piston ring compressor? Not likely I'll need them.

OH,,,,I think I'll keep the SU Carb flow balancing tube, I might work on the Healey carbs.

It's time for another yard sale...to much,,,to old, (the TOOLS, not ME)! LOL

Ernie

[Neal Jackson]

Miller 250 Syncrowave water cooled Tig and Miller 135 Mig welders, Lincoln buzz box, full size English wheel in progress, cherry picker, engine stand, floor jack, jack stands, porta power, buffing/polishing machine, grinders and cutters, upper and lower tool cabinet full of craftsman hand tools, Cheetah chassis jig which I keep adding to, free standing drill press, looking for a 48" box/pan 16 ga. brake and slip roll, probably an electric bead roller, Irvan Smith draw bender, sand blaster, 6 hp 80 gallon upright compressor and about every body tool and several paint guns to go with it.

[shnookie]

1) American 16 x 60 metal lathe
2) Peterson 10 x 50 Vertical mill
3) Large vertical bandsaw
4) Horizontal bandsaw
5) Clarke Turbo 150 Mig welder
6) Miller Sychro 180 TiG welder
7) Lincoln Procut 25 plasma cutter
8) Oxy / acetelene set-up
9) 24 x 24 blast cabinet
10) 30" sheet metal brake / shear
11) Hotcoat powdercoat rig with oven
12) Air agitating parts washer
13) Bench grinder
14) Overhead crane with electric lift and trolley
15) 5 horse 60 gallon upright compressor with refrigerated dryer in separate compressor shed plumbed in throughout the garage.
16) Freestanding drill press

Two large german shepards with their own dog door who don't like unexpected visitors.

[Mark Husar]

Giant compressor plumbed into the garage
small 5hp portable compressor
Nail guns , concrete tools, hand tools, sheetmetal brake, arc welder, gas welder,full compliment of bodyman tools, portapowers,jacks,engine hoist,ripsaws,finish trim saws, metal cutoff saw,spray guns.(prime unit: Binks 2001 metallic spraying gun), but the most fun is the 17'oak bar fully stocked, oak ceiling with four fans, surround stereo and 26"tv with dvd&tape player, guitars,banjo,squeeze box and of course the lazyboy and sofas to relax after drivin' the car and shootin' pool!!
Life issss good!