Show off your tools!

[e9999]

Mooooommmm! Not fair! How come he gets all the nice toys...!

 

[PIP]

Mooooommmm! Not fair! How come he gets all the nice toys...!

This is a "poor man's" big boy bender. This one's got one axis PLC control. If we can figure out how to make our parts on it I will modify it into a cnc bender. To buy a turnkey cnc bender for 4" is more than my house cost me.

I want to do a 4" radius in 4" stainless. You need a serious bender for that and they don't grow on trees.

There's two for sale in the entire country right now.

A close friends business does all my bending. They are always slammed and my orders get delayed. We discussed a few options and concluded that they could show me the ropes if I was up for buying my own bender.

There's a lot of additional support machines needed to go with a mandrel bender like a tube slicer, end finishers and other super niche stuff.

 

[raisinhell2]

Been wanting to make this for years . Finally had the time works better than I dreamed it would have . Anyone who has ever taken a bolt out of the frnt of the crank on a 80 series knows the pain

 

[cruisermatt]

A bit mundane but I have wanted to bring this in-house for years and have been waiting for a deal on a the right one, finally
got my own flywheel surfacer!
I have about 15 2F flywheels so hoping I can do a few of them and offer an exchange on the website with easy pre-packaged/pre-labeled return shipping for cores.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Those fork truck eyes are legit

 

[raisinhell2]

Those fork truck eyes are legit

I know your were thinking it !

 

[SNLC]

We have one of their spot welders and have been happy with it. The Miller mig machine bit the dust last week so I bought this. Supposedly it’s all made in Italy. I will take that over China any day! Seems like A LOT of machine for the price.

Time to set it up an see what it is all about!

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Still screwing around and config’ing before trying out some welds but man it seems real nice for the cash. This machine is only $3k new, I am impressed so far!

Cheers

 

[aztoyman]

I got an HTP MIG 2400 and HTP Invertig 205 15 years ago and haven't had a problem with them other than I broke my power switch on the MIG. I had a new one quick for under $20. They're well built and run great.

 

[SNLC]

I got an HTP MIG 2400 and HTP Invertig 205 15 years ago and haven't had a problem with them other than I broke my power switch on the MIG. I had a new one quick for under $20. They're well built and run great.

Awesome and good to hear! Like I say we have one of their spot welding machines and it has been great. Not been gentle with it and have logged a good many hours on it and it has been zero problems!

I been a Miller guy from day one but they let me down on the tig machine we bought. Granted it is not a production machine but regardless at about 100hrs the board took a dump and burned up. I had an Everlast plasma cutter and it sucked. So really it feels like there are not a lot of options these days besides the big names or China junk. Low end or big bucks machines with not much in the middle.

This sucker so far sure seems to be hitting the mark for middle of the road but quality at a reasonable cost which also seems to be there selling points.

Cheers

 

[PIP]

My opinion is all the big names in welders sell the cheapest stuff possible until you get into their hard-core industrial stuff.

You probably are better off buying a welder from a company trying to prove itself in the market if its not a heavy industrial machine.

I bought a new Lincoln 256 MIG awhile back now. The welder was worse than hot garbage. The only thing worse was Lincolns warranty service.

When the Lincoln was in the repair shop for its 3rd time in 2 hours of use I was watching marketplace and bought a virtually new, fully kitted out Miller XMT304 for half of new. Couldn't be happier with the XMT, but no way I could justify one at new retail price.

Good to hear the HTP machines are pretty solid.

 

[SNLC]

My opinion is all the big names in welders sell the cheapest stuff possible until you get into their hard-core industrial stuff.

You probably are better off buying a welder from a company trying to prove itself in the market if its not a heavy industrial machine.

Good to hear the HTP machines are pretty solid.

I am sure most of the boards come from all the same places, ie China & Taiwan.

We tossed around this spot welder from them a lot in the last 6-7yrs. No issues at all with it, it can overheat if you are trying to do production spot welding but for a small shop or hobbyist it rocks hard.

That’s about what I am expecting here with the “Freedom 3000”, silly name! And perhaps it is assembled in Italy from Chinese parts but “designed in the USA!” Haha lame!

Either way upside down included I am so far pretty friggin impressed with the quality, features and even how it welds! Threw a half dozen quick welds down with it this morning, getting ready to play with it a lot more right now!

Cheers

 

[AirheadNut]

I am sure most of the boards come from all the same places, ie China & Taiwan.

We tossed around this spot welder from them a lot in the last 6-7yrs. No issues at all with it, it can overheat if you are trying to do production spot welding but for a small shop or hobbyist it rocks hard.

That’s about what I am expecting here with the “Freedom 3000”, silly name! And perhaps it is assembled in Italy from Chinese parts but “designed in the USA!” Haha lame!

View attachment 4185168

Either way upside down included I am so far pretty friggin impressed with the quality, features and even how it welds! Threw a half dozen quick welds down with it this morning, getting ready to play with it a lot more right now!

Cheers

Does it do pulse welding on aluminum? I've been fairly impressed with what can be done with our Miller 255 at work, we got a Fronius gun for it since they feed aluminum way better without the need for push-pull or a spool gun.

I've really wanted to try out a Fronius Transsteel machine, our robot welder at work runs a Fronius TPS 400i with CMT push-pull, it is incredible what it can do and I recently learned that the Transsteel manual welders have a lot of the same features/synergic line settings. I've gotten pretty close to TIG-looking welds when dialing in the settings on aluminum with it.

 

[AirheadNut]

I needed to build some 3/4" hard coolant lines, was looking at a die for my JD2 Model 4 bender but $200+ seemed like a lot for a couple of lines. Chanced across a vintage Parker Hand Bender #12, it did a great job on some aluminum tubing.

Once I had the tubes made I needed a way to put a bead on the ends, everything I found either didn't go large enough or didn't go small enough, or was waaaaay too expensive. Vintage Parker tools to the rescue again, a mostly complete No.416 Hand Beading Set popped up on eBay for a reasonable price so I snagged it. New replacement dies are available, so I'll piece them together until I have a complete set. The tools are all gummed up with old grease and oil, but otherwise appear to be in great shape.

 

[AirheadNut]

Cleaned, oiled and sporting a complete set of dies. Replacement dies from Aircraft Tool Supply fit perfectly and appear to be very nicely made.

 

[SNLC]

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Does it do pulse welding on aluminum? I've been fairly impressed with what can be done with our Miller 255 at work, we got a Fronius gun for it since they feed aluminum way better without the need for push-pull or a spool gun.

I've really wanted to try out a Fronius Transsteel machine, our robot welder at work runs a Fronius TPS 400i with CMT push-pull, it is incredible what it can do and I recently learned that the Transsteel manual welders have a lot of the same features/synergic line settings. I've gotten pretty close to TIG-looking welds when dialing in the settings on aluminum with it.

Yes it does do pulse welding on aluminum and steel too.

Cheers

 

[PIP]

Cleaned, oiled and sporting a complete set of dies. Replacement dies from Aircraft Tool Supply fit perfectly and appear to be very nicely made.
View attachment 4202909

Those are pretty rare and desirable tools!

Nice score!

 

[Mudder]

View attachment 4203001
View attachment 4203002

Cheers

I’ve always wanted a 3D scanner for personal use. I’ll have to keep this one in mind. I used to use a Creaform HandyScan 700 for work and loved it but they’re not affordable for the average user.

 

[SNLC]

Another recent purchase.

Cheers