Tools, tips and tricks

Pelsea's picture

What tool is your worst waste of money?

You all know about my love affair with tools. I really appreciate a well designed and constructed tool, and have amassed a substantial collection:

But they aren't all gems. Occasionally I have fallen prey to hype, or optimism or just been swindled and wound up with something I've never used, or worse, tried and found out it wasn't up to the job. For instance, this looked attractive once:

Box Car Work Holder - Resin Car Works Blog

Good tip today over on Resin Car Works Blog

http://blog.resincarworks.com/boxcar-model-holder/

Thought a few here may find it usefull when working on Boxcars ect.

Controller or phone holder

Well I picked up a DigiTrax wi-fi interface and it's working pretty good. 

I upgraded the wife's phone and I'm using her old one as my controller. So I wanted a place to park the phone when not in use and went on a search. Went to the dollar store first and nothing peaked my interest there. Next was Wally World and wandered through kitchen, bath, and sporting goods, I ended up in automotive and came across a nifty little pouch that's supposed to hang from the vent in your car. It's made by Auto Drive. Pics below.

SD90's picture

Kadee couplers

I want to change the couplers on my Athearn 60' Hi-Cube box cars over to Kadee's, any idea which model to use? Thank you in advance!

 

 

smadanek's picture

General Cordless Precision Screwdriver Chuck for Drilling Needed

I am looking for a mini/micro chuck that will fit in a General Cordless Precision Screwdriver to make a cordless very slow speed drill for working with resin and plastic kits and kitbashes. I found the screwdriver at a decent price but attempts at finding a workable chuck for 60-80 drills have been thusfar fruitless. I found a Gyros 45-0181 Mini Adapter Chuck but it has a 1/8 inch shank and have not yet found an adapter to make it work with the fixed 3/8 inch hexagonal screw driver "chuck"  of the screwdriver. 

Image Converter

I have a number of traffic reports for inbound and outbound freight by location in PDF format.  I only need some of the information so I did screen shots to PNG format....now I am trying to convert Excel format and not having luck.  Anyone know of a excellent converter that is free that will do png to excel?   Or should I try converting the original PDF to excel?   What works best?  Trying to save time from manually entering several hundred shipments.

Thanks

Michael

https://milwaukeeroadlynden.blogspot.com

NormanW's picture

If you can have only one, which and why?

I'm thinking about a new piece of equipment, but I only have space (and money) for one.

I'd like a 3D printer and I'd like a laser cutter, but don't know which to get, soooo....

If you could only have either/or a 3D printer or a cutter, which would you buy, and with what rationalle for the decision?  And if you already have one, what would you recommend?

Norman

Martin t's picture

Get started on Static Grass - Introduction for beginners

Hi! I made a short video tutorial to introduce Static Grass for beginners. Cost effective application and a few recipies with final result photos. I hope it can be of use.

nbrodar's picture

Adventures in Car Storage

Author's note: This thread spawned many solutions.  I encourage you to peruse them all.  If want want to see the system I ultimately used, jump right to page 8.

I currently keep by rolling stock in thier kit boxes, which occationally causes issues because 50ft cars don't fit back in the most Athearn or MDC boxes with the couplers installed.

I'm playing with Sterilite plastic drawers from Target.


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