Basic tools

[mikejohn]

So we have the ShopBot. It works great, I seem to be able to make what I want, but I do wonder wether sometimes I am using the ShopBot where I might be better employed using another tool.
I am wondering what you consider to be the desirable list of tools to accompany the 'bot, in a workshop with mixed materials, and mixed products.
Some signs, some furniture, some small parts.
Have any of you gone back to older tools that you used before the ShopBot for some tasks?
How many are making jigs on the ShopBot to use on a table or overhead router, for instance? Which tools that you have had for some time now seldom get used?
Which tools can't you do without?
I feel i've become a little blinkered in my thinking with the arrival of the ShopBot, 6 months down the line I'm trying to re-think.
.................Mike

[mrdovey]

I'm still using all of my pre-ShopBot tools, except that my router table is seeing a bit less use.

I haven't used my shaper much - but that's not because of the 'Bot. I haven't used it since '74 or so.

Probably the most used tools in my shop are the table saw and the radial arm saw.

You're invited to visit my visitor web page (http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/interest.html) for a look around.

...Morris

[gene_marshall]

We use all sorts of tools, I guess it depends on the task at hand
Shaper, planer, table saw(s), band saws, jointers, chop saw, glue press/clamps.
Our shop is here
http://marshallsmillwork.com/shop.htm
As far as not using some... I guess the lathe is kinda dust covered...maybe the molding machine too. but even the drill press has adapted, it holds the mop sander now.
Cheers
Gene

[bleeth]

Mike, since I was building furniture for a long time without the bot using all of the usual equipment my experience may not be the same as someone who bought a bot but didn't have a shop full already. But for me, I can tell you that I still use virtually every tool in the shop regularly. That includes my router table, cabinet saw, band saw, planer, sanders, sliding chopdrill press, blum press, etc. Like any tool, the bot comes under the heading of "didn't know how much I needed it until I got it" but it hasn't replaced anything, rather it has enhanced my work and made some previous jobs easier and others possible that weren't before. Unlike Gene, I havn't done much turning and don't have an indexer either, but I bet if I added one I would darn sure figure out what to do with it and then wonder how I got along without it. But I think I would go for a wide belt or drum sander and edgebander first.

Dave

[marshawk]

My take is that it all depends on time. Some things are better off left to the router table than the ShopBot. It may take 20 minutes to set up and zip off an ogee edge on the router and 20 minutes to just design the same thing for the 'bot. If you already have the design, you may just want the 'bot to runit overnight so that your waking hours are used to prepare the next project.

I am a believer/frequent beneficiary or Murphy's Law. Inasmuch as tools are concerned, the minute that I get rid of one, and I don't have a replacement, will be the minute that I need to use it.

The the very least, take a look at your old tools and determine if it has any age or antique value. You may just want to restore one in your spare time and sell it or put it in a museum. There is a whole Old Woodworking Machinery culture out there that is dedicated to restoring and maintaining old equipment. Check out this website: http://www.owwm.com

Anyway, I enjoy using both the ShopBot and all of the other tools in the shop. The lathe IS collecting dust, however...

Chip

[mikejohn]

Thanks Chaps.
Let me re-phrase the question a little.
Which tools do you now use a lot less since the arrival of the ShopBot?
Owning a ShopBot, which 5 tools wouldn't you get rid of?
If Santa was feeling really generous, what machine would he put in your stocking?
..................Mike

[gerald_d]

Santa could give us a sharpener for our bits.

[jhicks]

Top 5 here based on style and dimension are.
1) 1/4" end mill up and down cut for just about anything
2) 1/4" upcut O flute for plastic and mdf
3) .020" radiused corner end mills 1/8" 3/16" and 1/4" for area clear in plastics/sign letters
4) V cutters 60. 90, 120 and 140 degree sign letters
5) Ball noses 1/8" 1/4" 3/8" and 1/2"
But lets not forget the router table finger joints, flush cutters, and assorted edge profiles. Or the decorative bits for the Legacy ornamental turnings.
Together they are complimentery and give us about all we need for most projects. Just a matter of collecting as needed then finding new uses for them.
Certainly any would be welcome in the Christmas stocking.
A couple photos of a 14' X 30" sign in color core. With 8' max sheet length the center joint was created at 7' by adding a back mounted frame and lap joint, with a finger joint edges to establish a "mitered" joint at the surface where top color layer is only .050" thick and some dimensional allignment as glue does not adhere to color core.
Oh well for some reason I couldn't upload the attachment but the finger joint worked pretty well. If I figure it out, I'll post separately
Happy Thanksgiving to all.

[jhicks]

For some reason I get a message when I try to download a photo that says "Pop up window blocked" My main menu tool bar says they are not but I can't add any download?
Certainly its me but if anyone reading this knows the cause/cure, please let me know.
Thanks

[bleeth]

I no longer use the mounting jigs for my hand router used to swing arcs and circles. I no longer use my sabre saw and sanders to make jigs of shapely parts. Instead I cut the parts directly on the bot with no patterns. I don't use my flute cutting/dado jigs. My plunge router gets almost no use as a plunge router but I can't say no use. When I get to the point on a table top where it is all veneered and edged with solids that have been fine tuned for sweet fit over umpteen hours I don't have the nerve to cut any needed inlays with the bot and so I cut patterns with the bot and then still use my 3HP plunge router to cut in the inlay. I hope to get over this trepidation soon.
I will get rid of any of my tools shortly before my ashes are scattered into the Pacific Ocean or right after I hit the lottery (assuming I start playing it sometime).

Dave

[gene_marshall]

For amusments sake...
DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching
flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the
chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against
that freshly painted airplane part you were drying.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere
under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprint
whorls and hard-earned guitar calluses in about the time it takes you
to say, "Ouch...."

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their
holes until you die of old age.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board
principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable
motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more
dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is
available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to
the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various
flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the
grease inside the wheel hub you want the bearing race out of.

WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and
motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16 or
1/2 socket you've been searching for the last 15 minutes.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground
after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack
handle firmly under the bumper.

EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4: Used for levering an automobile
upward off a hydraulic jack handle.

TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters.

PHONE: Tool for calling your neighbor to see if he has another
hydraulic floor jack.

SNAP-ON GASKET SCRAPER: Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool for
spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for getting dog**** off your boot.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any
known drill bit that snaps off in bolt holes you couldn't use anyway.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the tensile strength on
everything you forgot to disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large prybar that inexplicably
has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the
handle.

AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

TROUBLE LIGHT: The home mechanic's own tanning booth. Sometimes
called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine
vitamin," which is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health
benefits aside, it's main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs
at about the same rate that 105-mm howitzer shells might be used
during, say, the first few hours of the Battle of the Bulge. More
often dark than light, its name is somewhat misleading.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of old-style
paper-and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt; but can also be
used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-
burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed
air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that
grips rusty bolts last over tightened 50 years ago by someone at
Ford, and neatly rounds off their heads.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or
bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays
is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts
not far from the object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of
cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly
well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic
bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic
parts.

DAMMIT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage
While yelling "DAMMIT" at the top of your lungs. It is also the next
tool that you will need.

EXPLETIVE: A balm, usually applied verbally in hindsight, which
somehow eases those pains and indignities following our every
deficiency in foresight.