Recent content by VTX1800

I am at a total loss to figure what your issue is, if I understood you followed about the same steps as I did, I've done two frames/suspension pieces etc by first sandblasting, then rusty metal primer and finally top coat (the next day) with satin black. I hope the formulas haven't changed as I...

We purchased a Hypermax 30 a few years ago (My wife is a metal sculptor and I play with old cars) and I was really happy with it but....as my wife's skills sets increased she needed a little more cutting power. I went to the local dealer in Council Bluffs IA and asked if they took used plasma...

my wife does metal sculpture, I do cars, as her skill sets improved so did the necessity for better equipment. I built this four foot by six foot fab table using 3/8 steel for the top, the rest was sourced from our "inventory":) I can move it around by jacking it up on one end with a tongue...

About twenty years ago I built a 26 x 34 garage with 10 foot side walls. I wired the building and got the side walls insulated and sheet-ed before winter came. I had a wood burner and with no ceiling in the garage I burned a lot of wood before I could get it comfortably warm. The next summer I...

After reading opinions both here and on the Jalopy Journal I went ahead and spent part of the children's inheritance on a Beverly B-1, once my wife uses it she will know that I made the right decision:) Several places listed them with decent prices but they didn't have any in stock. I...

We have used and abused a Harbor Freight throatless shear for several years and the blades are shot, time to replace. I know a constant refrain will be to just buy a Beverly B-1 and get the best, it will last a lifetime. I am way past 70, lasting a lifetime might not be that long:) The Baileigh...

I hate to comment, I like to be positive, but a two barrel manifold is worth it's weight in scrap value, I buried one in concrete instead of re enforcing rod. If it has sentimental value then vat it or blast it and paint it, then hang it on the wall as garage art.

I've got a Duracraft (if I remember correctly) that was made in Taiwan that I purchased back in the early 80's. Sometime during a move the quill got bent, and it lost a degree of accuracy. Had it not been for that I'd still be using it. I bought mine at an Ace Hardware store if that matters:)

I have had two large shops, one 45x40 and the current one is 50x40. The first one was sheet rock taped and finished, looked great, didn't put much on the walls there, the shop I've been in for the last 8 years is OSB, painted, gray up to about 4 feet, white to the ceiling, I can hang anything I...

I've got one laying by the drill press and one in the roll around cart next to the car I am fabbing patch panels for, it is much easier to use even a somewhat inexact tool to determine drill bit size than none, my 73 year old eyes and ineptitude on identifying drill bits make those cheap little...

I picked up a similar vise at a garage sale, same price but it had heavy coat of latex paint on (evidently afraid it might rust away in the basement), I took a heat gun to it to clean the paint off, just a darn nice vise. Picking good tools at a garage sale doesn't happen often but when it does...

My wife got one for free or maybe $10 at a garage sale, price was right but I am 70 years old and at 155 pounds I am not a weight lifter, she thought outside the box and bribed a couple of young guys to haul it out for $20. It was worth it. After we got it home we disassembled it, she used the...

My wife bought an IPAD for me as a gift, I didn't think I would use it a lot. I was wrong. It goes to the shop in the evenings, we use it for music (Pandora, IHeart radio, YouTube Etc) as well as when I need it to look something up that I am working on. It's wireless so no plug ins except...

About twenty years ago I was adding ducting to my furnace during a remodel, I needed to run metal screws through the tin work to affix it together, I predrilled the metal and due to an inherit depth perception issue drilled a hole through the metal into my finger while trying to hold the metal...

I have used OSB in the last two garages I owned or built, easy to work with plus unlike sheet rock it's easy to affix things to the wall as long as you use common sense in how heavy the item is. I put two coats of paint on and called it good, about as much for reflection of light as well as my...