What Did You Buy Today?

Thanks for the kind words. Ikea seems to keep changing the available colors of the Helmer units. I could only find 3 colors back in '18, so I bought two white units and painted the drawer fronts of one of them for a 4th color. Having 4 uniquely colored sides has helped me remember where to look for things!

As for sturdiness ... I miked the side. It's about 0.028 (including paint).
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In addition, the sides are one with the bottom - "fold on the dotted line." So the edges are holey and prone to "leak." I did add hot glue to all the seams of the front and back panels to make the drawers a bit sturdier, and might eventually do the same for the bottom side edges. But everything I keep in these drawers is in boxes, baggies, or other secondary containment.

My rolling/spinning "hardware store" storage unit is about 90% devoted to fasteners, and the Helmers units are great for that ... probably less so for heavy machine parts.
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@hman thank you. That's not bad, except for the holes. if I were using for woodworking, great, keeps the saw dust out, or dropped to the bottom.
I can see using one unit for files. Setup some racks inside to keep them separate and keep different types in different drawers.
 
Picked up this 175HD Lincon mig for $175. It was absolutely filthy, and covered with sawdust inside and out, but had a new gun on it that had never been used, and had a repair tag inside, also came with a cheap auto hood. Disassembled it, and blew everything out, adjusted the feed mechanism, which was way off, fired it up and it runs like a champ. Took a few passes to get used to the settings. Not a big fan of the mostly plastic feed setup, so ordered an aftermarket metal one, with larger diameter feed wheel https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/apparel/rcxgs/tile._CB483369110_.gif . Will probably pass this one on to my son as I'm pretty full up on welders. MikeIMG_20210922_183604534.jpgIMG_20210928_125847465.jpgIMG_20210925_124843363.jpg
 

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GOOD SCORE.

That’s basically the same welder I have. I used a 175 just like it out in the field all day, everyday for 2yrs and like you I was skeptical of the plastic feed but it never gave a moment’s problem unlike the Miller 175‘s we had in the shop with nice looking drives. Those things were boat anchors. The one thing my 175 suffered from was it sat mostly and the amperage knob at the top was acting up. And the welder started malfunctioning. Took it apart and the innerds of that knob have like a step for different contacts for the amperage and where the shaft went through it was sticky. So it was not making good contact. Squeezed some dialectic grease in the so the whole thing made contact like it should and never had another problem.

YMMV.
 
Two packages arrived today... the first one is a Mittler Bros shrinker body...

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A couple of years ago I bought a shrinker/ stretcher setup that came with both sets of jaws but only one body, so I ordered this body so I don't have to keep swapping the jaws out.

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The other package had this...

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... it is an old Hendey follow rest... it's pretty interesting, and not made like any follow rest I've ever seen.

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When I first saw one of these on e-bay, I thought it was hogwash, that there was no way that's what that thing was... then I found it in an old Hendey catalog on V-M.

The one on e-bay went for too much money, but I found this one for sale elsewhere and had to have it...

-Bear
 
682bear said:
not made like any follow rest I've ever seen
Click to expand...

Me neither.
It really would support the work directly behind the cut.
Great idea!

Why aren't they all made like that?

-brino
 
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It's a heavy unit. The instructions look like they were written from somebody in 5th grade. Probably translated to english from someone who doesn't know english. I'm a little concerned about the adjustment of it. I played with it on the kitchen counter a little, man is it sensitive. I hope I didn't waste a 100 bucks!
 
Finally broke down and purchased an internal mic. I decided on electronic to cut down on the squinting. I wish these units were a little smaller, like the standard units, but I guess you can't have large digits in small places. Its not Mitutoyo but I think it will be better than stuffing calipers down a hole and wiggling them around until I get the largest reading.
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