Tool shoppin'

Gotta catch up on long-term tool procurement, before supply chains get even further disrupted and/or inflation really gets rolling.

Starting to ponder actually ordering the large equipment for the workshop, even though the workshop is still a barn, sans electricity, so I won't be able to set things up until sometime-next-year.  Big stuff would be lathe, vertical mill, and TIG welder.

My original plan for the workshop involved a full-size knee mill, maybe a 14x40 lathe, and some sort of decent-sized CNC mill, but that ain't happening; the budget is tighter than anticipated, and logistics in Pestilent times get complicated.  A significant constraint is that I'll need to be able to move things from the road up to the barn myself, using the loader on the tractor, which means each pallet/crate must not exceed about 700 pounds.  So, some sort of mid-sized bench mill, and probably a 10x30 lathe.  Looking at Precision Matthews as being a step up from Grizzly without busting the budget.  The machines I'd want are currently back-ordered, so there'd be time before they arrived to smooth out the bigger lumps in the not-a-driveway to the barn and let the grass grow back.

In the smaller-tools department, a cordless ratchet seems like a good thing to have.  (Literally speaking, none of my ratchets have cords, but I'm looking at the powered kind.)  Obvious choice is something-from-Milwaukee, since I'd standardized on the M18 FUEL line for general battery-powered tools, but... a ratchet would be in the M12 line, so I'd need a couple of M12 batteries, and that's getting seriously pricey for something that won't get all that much use.  I don't really want to mess with off-brands and yet-another-proprietary-charger.  The new-ish offering from Ryobi looks promising... and it uses the same battery as the new bug fogger, so most likely I'll get the Ryobi kit, with a battery and a spare charger.

Also pondering a decent thermal-imaging camera for the electronics lab, and various other Stuff.  That, and we still need to figure out what we're doing for a machine shed or extra garage, to get the tractor, mower, etc. out of the barn to make room for workshop things.

Afterthought:  A good 12V-only automotive battery charger has been kinda on the wish list for a while.  Alas, it appears that the quality control on such things has collapsed; looking at the ratings and reviews on them on various sites, I see an awful lot of one-stars the past couple of years, generally of the form "it worked, sort of, a couple of times and the crapped out completely."

Joy ran into the same thing a few months ago when looking for a replacement countertop coffee-maker: all the usual brands have abandoned quality.

Comments

[Rob]

I have an air ratchet and the other useful tools that use air (rattle gun & impact gun). Having a compressor is a good thing!
The shop... get a floor poured, then you can set it up. If needed a generator can be used to provide the power & will come in handy later.

[Eric Wilner]

I have some air tools, and a portable compressor... but there's always stuff that needs doing where there's no place to plug in the compressor (and I don't think my portable generator will play nice with the compressor, despite the nominal ratings seeming to line up).
For the workshop, the "barn" was originally built as a workshop, but never finished. Got a nice concrete slab, and the structure, siding, insulation, and so on, but it needs wiring, plumbing, drywall, and so on.
The new construction that's needed is a storage building to get the equipment (and flammables) out of the barn. Probably some sort of prefab metal garage, but we'll need to work out the details and arrange to have the site prepped, concrete poured, and all that stuff, along with all the other things we're trying to get done during a building boom / labor shortage.