Recent content by Slide

What kind of shop are you putting this into? If you are doing production work on relatively thick material, the MIG will probably be the most cost-efficient. (Not just faster, but easier to train new employees, and since TIG requires a little more skill, you'd hafta pay higher wages, etc.) If...

The Chinese food here in the US is almost repulsive compared to what I ate when I went to China a couple years ago. Kinda like a reverse of the difference between premium US-made tools vs. Chinese-made tools from a convenience store. Just don't ask them to make a cheeseburger. (McD's there is...

I'm not sure what the answer would be regarding the original question, but keep one thing in mind: The Chinese make what's asked of them. So when some westerner says they need a particular tool manufactured, and they need to have it at a certain price (as cheap as possible), the Chinese...

FWIW I work with a guy who used to work for B&D, and I asked him about the internal differences between the B&D and DeWalt brands. According to him, the DeWalts do use much better components, and have tighter tolerances, etc. Some specifics he mentioned were that the DeWalts use actual bearings...

I would tend to agree with you regarding any Cman portable power tools, but I have their 7" "Craftsman Professional" angle grinder, and it has become one of my favorite power tools. I would say it meets the quality of any of my US-made Milwaukee tools. I caught it on-sale for way less than I...

I recently bought a Fowler dial caliper... it says nothing on the package or the tool itself as to the country of manufacture. Like others, I'd like to know what economy I'm supporting (being that Fowler is HQ'ed in the USA, at least SOME of what I paid is going to the US :rolleyes:). But in the...

Just thought I'd pass this along. I just got an email of the Father's Day flyer from Ace Hardware, and there's some pretty swanky prices on DeWalt and Makita power tools. (I don't work for Ace, and I'm pretty covered for what I need for these kind of tools, but if they help someone else...)...

I also have a very short atten..... um.... what was it we were talking about?

My MM135 came with one like what was shown in post #1. It's out-of-square, and very unimpressive. I have a friend that has the HF unit... I like the HF one much better. I'd build my own but I'm too busy working on the Chevy.

I'm kinda late to this one, but this is something that's really been miffing my wife and me a lot over the past few years... vacuums, coffee makers, dishwashers, CD players... all of it. A couple others touched on the consumer aspect of things. The instant gratification. The "Wal-Mart...

I saw somewhere on SO's site that the Instinct handles are available in a hard version. I have a set of the old ones, and I like them. Haven't tried the new ones, so I can't really weigh in on that.

Hello. I'm Mike, and I'm a toolaholic. :D Not sure about your neck of the woods, but regarding tool storage, there are frequently some good deals on the local craigslist here (Dallas). Especially if you are a home DIY-er, and don't mind a small scratch or two on the box. I've seen some Snap-on...

MIG welding pliers are super handy if you're learning or dealing with pitted metal. The squared-off outer edges of the jaws are great for cleaning the spatter out of the nozzle, and they can clip the filler wire when you run it and forget to attach the ground clamp. (I NEVER do that! yeah...

Not sure where you are, but the local craigslist around here has an occasional deal pop up. I have the MM 135, and it's awesome for body work... and I've done OK with some 1/4" stuff, but that's pushing it hard. Cyberweld.com has pretty good prices on new stuff.

I only use the 2" one when I need to get into tight areas or when I run out of 3" discs. I have 2 angle die grinders, and keep a 2" on one and a 3" on the other, but the 2" probably gets used maybe 10% of what the 3" gets used for.