Buying Tools Again

I recently was told by Gary Laker (his blog) that Aldi supermarkets had a small compressor and two air brushes for $99 so I went to investigate. I am a sucker for air brushes and did find it but decided against a purchase as I already have five or six. While there I saw a band saw also for $99 and it looked very familiar. I have been eyeing off a band saw at Super Cheap Auto for the last year or two and it was $169. So a quick walk for a couple of hundred metres found me at Super Cheap. Sure enough, it was the same band saw just a different colour and badging but now at $189, easy decision. Back to Aldi and home with the saw. I haven't had a chance to un-box it yet as other issues have taken precedence such as no where to put it for now.

Earlier this week I went to Jaycar to get some small jumper leads, you know, different colours and twelve to a pack. While perusing the tool section I found a pack of small metric drill bits for $12.95, now I have the number 60 - 80 imperial ones and felt I just had to get these just in case, you know what it is like. The 20 drill bits in the set covered the following sizes: 0.3, 0.35, 0.4, 0.45, 0.5, 0.55, 0.6, 0.65, 0.7, 0.75, 0.8, 0.85, 0.9, 0.95, 1.0, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6mm.

Photo from the Jaycar web site.

I also saw a set of small metric taps and dies for $59.95 covering 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2 & 2.5mm. The taps come in both taper and plug.

Photo from the Jaycar web site.

I know that I won't use the taps and dies a lot but when I need them they will be there. I have already thought about using a die to put a thread for a retaining nut on the top of the post on brass steam locomotive tenders to stop the connector bar to the loco from coming off. This is important as there are wires running from the DCC decoder to the loco that can get broken when the connecting bar comes adrift. I do have BA taps and dies but as brass locomotives are usually full of metric screws and bolts I felt that the set wouldn't go amiss.

Also tweaking my interest is a Sheet Metal Bender set (also called a bending brake) but so far I haven't succumbed. The two pieces are magnetic so will stay in place in a vice as per the photo from the Jaycar web site below.

Please note that I don't have any connection to Jaycar.

Too many nice tools and not enough money.