I am getting ready to buy some cutting tools, grinders, etc and I was wondering what are some of the better tools out there for the job of maintaining 914s!

What tools would you have in your workshop?

I have 3 angle grinders.. one has a grinding wheel, one a flap sander, and one a cup style wire brush. I plug them all in to a tri-tap.. makes for fast tool changes.

For cutting a single layer of sheet metal I use an air body saw.. sorta liek a really small and fast sawzall.

And then there's the MIG and plasma cutter.. I couldn't survive without those!

What brand of tools do you buy?

Miller welder

Hypertherm plasma cutter.

Harbor Freight air tools and grinders. HF has them so cheap that I'm still ahead even if they last 1/3 as long. They work good enough for me.

Dewalt cordless drill (used to use a Makita, until I used a Dewalt)

Porter Cable random orbit sander

Can't think of anything else at the moment.

Are you talking personal use? How much and how often?

If it's just for your own hobby where they will get light to moderate use, then it's tough to beat Harbor Freight.

Hobby, I write code for a living and play with cars/mc for fun...

I think you can get by just fine with Harbor Freight stuff as long as you don't push it too hard. (Which I did with an angle grinder I bought at "Stupid Prices." Now it moans and groans and spews smoke. But only because I ran too big a wheel on it and pushed it too hard.)

So now I have another one that I'm more careful with, plus a big old beast for the high-power jobs. I've scored a few great deals at estate sales too.

QUOTE (Rand @ Sep 30 2005, 02:01 PM)

Are you talking personal use? How much and how often? If it's just for your own hobby where they will get light to moderate use, then it's tough to beat Harbor Freight.

Yeah, I should clarify that this is stuff I use in my own garage, for personal projects and the occasional odd job.

That said, the architecture department at Cal Poly where I worked for several years used HF angle grinders almost exclusively.. They had a few Makita ones too. They both lasted about as long, and suffered from the same failures when exposed to heavy use.

Failure 1: Students grinding into the cord. (fixable)

Failure 2: Internal cord breakage where the cord enters the body. (fixable)

Failure 3: Student is grinding for hours.. grinder gets too hot to hold.. student gets gloves and continues grinding. (not fixable)

Whether it's a cheapie or a brand name, if the motor melts down it's gonna be cheaper to buy another than have it fixed. The biggest difference between name brand and cheapie is noise. For you it doesn't really matter because you should be wearing ear protection anyways. But if you might get complaints from the neighbors (or wife) then that's the only reason I can see to get a name brand grinder.

High quality metal sheers (pay the money for em... HF ones last ONE CUT)

A nibbler has been useful as well...

Always a bench grinder/buffer/wire wheel

Um..

thats all I got to add right now.

My choice for hand tools, pretty much in this order:

Bosch
Makita
Ingersol Rand
Porter Cable
Chicago Pneumatic

The CP air tools aren't too bad, but the IR are better. From my experience the $15 or so difference in price, is worth it.

DeWalt right angle grinder
Lincoln Electric MIG Welder
Gas Torch (cutting and welding)
Wyss Snips (all three angles are really handy)
Dremel

Can't think of anything else for rust repair.

My favorites are:

Electric drill- 3/8 variable speed reversing

A hole saw for spot welds (fits in drill)

Sanding/grinding disks for the drill and a backing disk (for paint removal)

An electric sawzall for cutting sheet metal (SCREW the HARBOR FREIGHT AIR ONES they last less than an hour)

A dremel with fiber cutting wheels for fine work -

A Miller 135 MIG welder.... (I love it! one of those all time favorite tools)

A 4 inch angle grinder with grinding disks, and wire brushes (cup)

A 9 inch grinder with a John Kelley shrinking disk to shrink those body bumps..

a hand nibbler ( Radio Snack had a nice one)

A tapered reamer (up to 3/8- get at the Radio Snack)

Hammer and dolly's for metal bumping

Sanding block

Long sanding block

Long squeege for bondo (mine is for spacking and about 2 feet long - smooooooth panels with this..)

And a HVLP paint gun and turbine to paint with (mmmmmmmm).

Get those and you will be happy and can do almost anything to a car body.

Ken

For a grinder, cutter and sander I love my hitachi 15amp angle grinder. Others will do the job just the same, the power range of this unit can do most anything you want. I like a trigger over a power switch, but that is personal preference.

Thanks for all of the information.

Mike