What do you recommend for tools?

[FunkyE9th]

I've been thinking of building my 1st amp and been looking into tools I'll need. In particular, chassis and board making tools. So I have a bunch of questions...

What do you use to get all the holes you need on a chassis? Drill press? Punch? Hand drill? Any poorman's alternativel? Do you buy the chassis with all the holes in it already?

What tools do you use for making the boards? Any poorman's alternative?

Any other must have tools? I got the chopstick covered.

Thanks,

-FunkyE9th

[gearhead]

If you can, would recommend getting pre-cut and turreted boards to begin with. There's enough other things to worry about.

Same with chassis, although for most you need to do some kind of mods. I use Irwin Unibit-like stepper drill bits from Greenlee. Cheaper than punches, but still talking about 40-60 total if you get all sizes needed.

Also, read this thread:
https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.php?t=4749

[CaseyJones]

I know a couple tools who think they're amp builders!

Seriously, if you're into turretboards a $150.00 benchtop drill press is worth its weight in gold. You can find 'em in pawn shops for at little as $50.00. You can make a quick jig out of wood or just clamp a back stop to the work table to get all your holes in a row. If you make a jig with a backstop and one pin sticking up out of it you can keep jumping the board forwards on the jig to get precisely even hole spacing.

You can make your own staking tools on your drill press, just chuck a cut off bolt into it and use the drill press as a mini lathe. It's the slow way to do it but for lack of a real lathe it's the way to go.

If you want to go bigtime invest in an arbor press for staking turrets.

It really is true, investing in a couple pre-built turretboards will get you going a lot quicker.

[skyboltone]

I'm the only nutcase around here that uses Forstner bits for making holes in chassis. I use Rapid Tap cutting fluid and slow speed on the drill press and haven't wore out a bit yet. I also predrill a 1/16th center hole to guide the Forstner because the tips are not designed to make a hole in aluminum.

The resultant holes require no deburring at all. I've never made a clean hole in aluminum with a unibit.

Harbour Fright makes a $40 drill press that actually works but the quality varies all over the lot. I bought one years ago that worked really well and I even put a keyless chuck on it. My Dad bought one that looked identical and it was a piece of junk. Casey's suggestion about pawn shopping is a good one. I now use a Delta Milwaukee made in 1952 that I picked up for $200. That's a tool!

YMMV
Dan

[CaseyJones]

I'm the only nutcase around here that uses Forstner bits for making holes in chassis. I use Rapid Tap cutting fluid and slow speed on the drill press and haven't wore out a bit yet. I also predrill a 1/16th center hole to guide the Forstner because the tips are not designed to make a hole in aluminum.

Awww... I like Greenlees, I only need three sizes and I don't have to de-grease the chassis. It makes me cringe to think about twisting a $30 Forstner through metal. Unless you're talkin' the Harbor Freight dink "Forstners", they're around $30.00 a set!

Harbour Fright makes a $40 drill press that actually works but the quality varies all over the lot. I bought one years ago that worked really well and I even put a keyless chuck on it. My Dad bought one that looked identical and it was a piece of junk.

It depends on whether or not the drill press you get was on the top of the stack or the bottom of the stack when the Longshoremen gave the sea container the ol' Ten Foot Drop. As a Teamster you must have seen the ol' Ten Foot Drop, no? I've seen sea containers so twisted and buckled that they had to be opened with a torch.

Casey's suggestion about pawn shopping is a good one. I now use a Delta Milwaukee made in 1952 that I picked up for $200. That's a tool!

Yeah, those old Deltas are The Last Word in drill presses short of an old mill drill or a boring machine. I've seen the heads mounted six-up on a gang drill table and used 24/7 for production. If they'll hold up to that one out of some old timer's workshop can be considered "good as new".

[skyboltone]

Awww... I like Greenlees, I only need three sizes and I don't have to de-grease the chassis. It makes me cringe to think about twisting a $30 Forstner through metal. Unless you're talkin' the Harbor Freight dink "Forstners", they're around $30.00 a set!

I have a set of Bosche... but these:
http://eagleamerica.com/product.asp?pn= ... 1205856295
are very nice. Do you think carbide can tell the difference between teak and aluminum? I think teak or beech would wear out a bit quicker as long as you don't overheat.


Oh, IBEW electrician not teamster...and I have seen the 10 foot bounce test.

[CaseyJones]

Oh, IBEW electrician not teamster...and I have seen the 10 foot bounce test.

Oh. Well they were all AFL/CIO before the Teamsters pulled out. As we wander further and further off topic every time UPS delivers... that's a Teamster. They must teach 'em to break stuff as part of their apprenticeship!

Used to be there were as many machinists under the IBEW banner as there were under the Steelworker's.

I use Forstners (real ones) for woodworking. I have an ancient set of flycutters I use on metal.

[jjman]

I have a nice 17” adjustable arm Grizzly drill press but I have not used it for my current build. I bought a set of punches but the sizes are wrong for me so I’m using titanium bits and Unibits and they are working great on the aluminum chassis. Haven’t yet figured out how to deal with hole for the power jack thing (EIC?) I think I saw a punch for that somewhere but I may wing it since I’d likely never use it again. This will be amp #5 so probably no more afterwards.

“Any job is easy if you have the right tools.”

[Andy Le Blanc]

the first tools I invested in when I started were a drill press, half way decent
multi meter, basic scope, good solder iron.
I started out with turrets but found I could make own boards with eyelets.
if your into kits you probably be able to get away with a iron and meter.

but if the addiction progresses.......

youll want to look at the process.... metal fabrication...assemblly....dressing cabinet fab..... finishing....etc......
and break it down it into steps and figure what tools are needed for each....
set a yearly tool buget.....goals
this year I got a sheet metal brake and enough claps to glue cabs with out having to frigg around.....

[FunkyE9th]

Thanks guys. I think I'll be looking at drill presses this weekend, just to see what's out there. Gotta find a pawn shop.

[66merc]

I punch all the holes I need with two Greenlee knockout punch tools (about a $60 investment) and a cheap set of step drill bits from Harbor freight ($9-19 depending upon sale). I put a set of holes in a piece of scrap metal so I can easily match up the tube socket to whichever tool I need to use. I build point-to-point so I never have needed a drill press for turrets. I use a lot of terminal strips so the step drill comes in handy to drill the screw holes.

Need a set of curved, smooth needle nose to bend with. Small wire stripper. Soldering kit---I use the cheapie from Rat shack and replace it every few months. I burned out the nice meter I bought and now use/toss the Harbor Freight $4 meters. A tackle box is nice to put tools/parts in for handy access.

As a drummer, I advise parents to get the cheapest drum kit they can find and upgrade later when the kid deserves it. I kind of feel that way about amp tools. BTW--I probably still don't deserve good tools as I've only been at this for a couple of years and still have much to learn. Someday I will buy a nice soldering setup, scope etc but I'm on about amp 15 now and still gettin by OK.

Here are some of my first builds:

http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s315/spammeup/

Let me know if I can give you any advice from a relative beginner.

66merc

[FunkyE9th]

Thanks 66merc. A friend of mine gave me a bunch of his father's terminal strips, so I'm also considering using those instead of turrets. Gotta check out some punches too. Right now I'm checking all the possible options. It can be overwhelming though with all the info.

[FE911]

I'm an avid pawn shop hound. I went looking for presses at about a dozen different pawn shops. Probably saw forty of them for sale. All around $60 dollars. They were mostly Central Machinery brand, and in really rough condition. Lots of vibration in the units. None of them seemed very old. There were a few really nice units, but they were around the 2-3 hundred dollar range. Out of my budget.
Gave up and went to harbor freight. That's when I found out that Central Machinery was their brand. And they were all on sale. For forty bucks I bought their keyless chuck model. And luckily, it works pretty well. For what I'm using it for, it will work just fine.
When Pawn shopping, remember that you have to educate yourself on what an item is actually worth. A lot of times they price tools and other things at what retail "new" is. And the old days of haggling aren't what they used to be. Management must not give salespeople much power to negotiate anymore.

[FunkyE9th]

I was at Lowes last night looking at drill presses. I was told that if I'm going to be drilling metal with holes that are 1" in diameter or bigger, I need a drill press that can go slower than 620RPMs. Is that correct?

[doctord02]

I highly reccomend this set of chassis punches instead of a drill bit solution. Yeah they arent Greenlees, but you get a whole set for under $60. I've done maybe 10 chassis with mine and find it invaluable...

http://www.oselectronics.com/ose_p64.htm