Garage

Wednesday 18 July 2012

Spam on The Wandering Axeman


 I have been going over comments of late and have had to remove some because of people linking their comments to their online stores or businesses. I don't mind doing this if I have an agreement with you, or, I review whatever it is your selling and it turns out that;
  1. You are a reputable businesses person with anti fraud measures in place
  2. You don`t sell crappy stuff
If you would like me to review a product that you sell or make, by all means contact me and we can arrange something but please be aware that I will be truthful and honest. If it is poo, I will state that on my blog.

Under NO other circumstances will I allow people to link to their businesses / marketing sites.Considering that to date there have been over 43200 visitors to this site the temptation is there to break this simple set of guidelines. If that is the case I will simply mark the comment as SPAM and it will be removed and sent to the fiery depths to dwell with the motivations of politicians and lawyers.

It is my intent that if I link to anything on this site it is because it is worth buying or reading. I have never intended for this blog to be filled with people plugging their wares or websites.

If you would like me to show a link to your blog, contact me about it and I will check the content and either provide a link to it on the right of my articles, or politely decline. Stay safe and spam free.

Sunday 15 July 2012

What Powertools for a Garage Workshop?

I have covered what general handtools I think are necessary in a previous post:

Which Handtools?

So I will move on to power tools now. For the most part, I have bought powertools more typical of building and renovating projects. These however are useful in any handyman / tinkerer's arsenal of tools so I will divide the tools up into must-have and nice-to-have.

Must Have Powertools For the Workshop
Bench Grinder
I think every workshop needs a bench grinder. This tool is useful for re-profiling pieces of steel, sharpening drill bits, lathe tools mower blades etc..

I have mine attached to a rolling trolley so I can roll it outside to avoid getting the abrasive dust in the garage which destroys bearings very quickly.

Cordless Drill
Sometimes you just want to drill a quick hole. This is where a cordless drill comes into the picture. They are useful for light work and usually come with 2 batteries so if one runs out of juice, you still have a spare. I don't run a lithium ion drill because in my opinion the cost wasn't worth it at the time.

Despite having a "cheaper" drill, I am very satisfied with it. It has run faultlessly for 7 years now and I have used it to mix grout etc... Buy a decent brand name cordless and you will be set for quite a few years.
Cordless impact driver

When the 10V lithium ion tools came out they were revolutionary. My brother had the ordinary 10V screwdriver and said it was brilliant. I was using my codless drill at the time to drive screws and it was having a hard time with long screws, often stripping the heads. I had it happen one too many times and decided an impact driver would remedy the problem. Despite the small battery size, this little Bosch 10.8 Volt driver has a huge amount of torque, able to driver long screws into wood. I can't comment on how it would perform on hardwoods, but on pine and other softwoods it outclasses the drill.

Angle Grinder
An angle grinder is useful because it cuts and grinds. With different disks, you have the versatility of a grinder, cutter, sander and polisher. I have used my little Makita for a wide range of tasks and it is my go-to tool for axe reprofiling.


Corded Drill
Why would you need a corded drill if you have a cordless? Because corded drills have a lot more power, don't need charging and are much more capable in tough materials. I have 3 corded drills. The first is my general or light duty drill.


This drill has a quick chuck and is lighter than most drills. I use this when I have a lot of drilling to do that is repetative. It won't wear me out since it is so small and light. The next drill is my medium duty drill.


 This drill handles medium drilling and hammer drill tasks. It has more power, a heavier duty gearbox and also more wattage for more serious tasks. This kind of drill is expensive and you should only buy one if you really need it. If you do need this kind of drill and think it will see regular use, get a decent one right away. I am very happy with my metabo and would buy one again if this one fails. My last drill is used for heavy duty drilling and chipping tasks.


It is a Hitachi DH 24 PC3. It is a drill that uses SDS Plus tools and as such can handle much more torque. If I compare this with my metabo when drilling into concrete or stone, this Hitachi does the work in a 5th of the time. It will also function as a small jackhammer used for chipping duties such as removing tiles, concrete dregs dried on the floor etc.. I bought this Hitachi because I had the much larger DH 45MR and was so impressed with it's reliability and power. I have not been disappointed.

Circular Saw
Handsaws work, but who needs all that bother? When you are building a fence or a dog box, a circular saw will save you a great deal of time and effort. You don't need to go extravegant. I bought this one at a second-hand shop 8 years ago and it has been used to renovate 2 houses.


There are better saw available but this one works and I am used to it so I have not bothered to replace it. As a side note, make sure the saw you buy has enough power. This is especially important if you will be cutting hard wood or if your blades won't be changed so often. I would recommend at least 1000 Watts. Every power tool has this info on it:


 New saws have a riving knife to stop kickback from occuring. These saws are unforgiving so make sure you have someone show you how to use it or else risk losing digits.

Heat Gun
A heat gun is a great little tool used for stripping paint, softening plastics, unfreezing pipes etc... I have used mine to soften linoleum before laying it down and stripping paint. They are effectively a hair dryer on steroids. I didn't spend much money on mine yet it haslasted years and despite being mistreated by a friend (who melted my compressor hose with it among a long list of other things he chose to rest it on), it still functions well.


Soldering Iron
This should be on anyone's list of power tools. This little tool will help you repair or make electronics, shrink heat-shrink or even burn your name into the kitchen table. When my washing machine stopped working, this $10 tool allowed me to melt the solder and remove the burned-out speed controller and solder in the 50 cent replacement. This saved me a $300 call out fee or a $1000 replacement machine. You can get fancy soldering irons but I just have a cheapie because it does not get used very often.

Sander
You should have at least 1 sander in your tool list. These save you a huge amount of time and effort and given their relatively low price, it isn't hard to get a few different types for differnt tasks.

I have a half sheet, a quarter sheet and a belt sander. The half sheet is used when I have a large surface that needs finish sanding. It covers a wider area than the quarter sheet. When I need to sand small areas and I have to be a little more carefull, I use the quarter sheet. If I need to remove large amounts of material, I use the belt sander. This bad boy will rip through paint and wood without mercy. This is used for rough work and care needs to be taken not to gouge the work. I bought the green "handyman" Bosch sander because unlike other brands, it is made in Switzerland which is renowned for producing excellent tools


Hole Saws
Although these are not power tools, they are used with drills and are a valuable accessory to have. I would consider these as necessary as a good set of wood drill bits. I have a Starret set which is HSS. These will cut through steel as well as wood and as such I don't have to be worried if I hit a nail with them as they will chew straight through it.


Nice To Have Power Tools
Now that I have finished with what I consider to be essential tools, I will move onto the nice-to-haves.

Air Compressor
This tool is so nice to have it is borderline compulsory in a handyman's kit. I have nail guns, rattle guns and air driven drills. They save trips to the petrol station if you have a flat and you can use an air-gun to blow dust out of your tools when you are finished with them  

My compressor is 2HP direct drive unit. It has a water seperator so I can spray paint with it and it has 2 regulators in case I want to use 2 different air tools at once. When looking at a compressor, you need to decide how much air you will use and buy one with the appropriate tank size. Belt driven units generally last longer, but, they need higher current so if you will run it from a long extension lead, a direct drive will have less chance of triggering your circuit breaker.

Router
Routers are nifty little things that are used for joinery or profiling the edges of wood. I have used mine to manufacture my own architraves and skirting boards so I didn't have to run back and forth to the hardware store. Mine is a Bosch GKF 600 and is pretty tiny. I bought the full kit which allows me to trim laminate or use stencils. I have been really happy with mine. 


Make sure you buy a good set of router bits since it spins at 33,000 rpm. You don't want a piece of tungsten carbide flying off at that speed.

Planer
Sometimes you just need to shave a few mm from a piece of wood to make something fit. Sometimes you want a pice of wood to have that glassy finish. This is where the planer comes in. Instead of using abrasives to remove wood, it uses knives to shave a layer of wood away. I never realised how nice it is to have a planer before I bought mine. I used it alot for preparing rough stock or getting windows or doors to fit. It has been used to make door floor plates and furniture. I bought a mid range Bosch because it handled the depth of cut I needed.

Saws
Sliding Compound Mitre Saw
I have a lot of different saws. Each serves a different purpose. The most used of these is the sliding compound mitre saw.




I bought a Makita LS701 because the larger Bosch I had previously was too hard to manuever up stairwells. When I first moved to Norway I worked as a carpenter and it became back breaking. I replaced the Bosch with this lighter Makita and couldn't be more pleased. It is a very accurate saw, has great dust collection and the laser makes life much easier when trying to make accurate cuts. It will trench cut too which is a bonus. The relatively small blade size means that there is less wasted material and less dust. They are also cheaper to buy. I attached mine to a set of Bosch saw feet so it will attatch to my portable saw stand.

Jigsaw
A jigsaw allows you to cut curves due to the small thin blade it employs. A circular saw blade will catch if you try to turn the saw but a jigsaw will not. A good saw will have orbital cutting, variable speed, quick blade chang and tilt function. It may even have a built in light which is a huge bonus. I chose the Makita because it had all these features. I have been really happy with this saw and use it for installing floating laminate floors since a jigsaw blade is cheaper to replace than a circular saw blade (the laminate trashes blades!)


Reciprocating Saw
This saw is the Ivan Drago of hacksaws. It will outcut and outclass a hand hacksaw. I used mine for cutting out windows and door. It sliced through screws and nails and since it had a 4 way adjustable blade, it could cut very close to wall. I bought a DeWalt because it was manufactured in Germany where as the others were Chinese. I wanted a quality saw since my last experince (an Ozito Recip Saw), shook the freckles off my face.


Fein Multi Master 
This little guy is a saw that relies on an oscilating blade. I have used this tool when I have been faced with a job with poor access where I need to make the neatest cuts possible. This tool is in class of it's own. It comes with a vast array of attachments from scrapers to grout removers and is the best multi-use power tool I have ever used. It's not a tool you use everyday, but when you need it you are very glad you have it. 


 Since the patent ended for this saw, many companies have begun making copies including Bosch. There is an adapter available so you can use Bosch blades on the Fein:

adapter

Why is this a big deal? Because the Fein blades are super expensive wheras the Bosch blades are not.

Drill Press
The drill press can handle heavier drilling than a hand held drill. It also has a table so that you can drill at 90 degrees. A good drill press will have a belt or gear system so that you can alter speeds. It will have a depth indicator and a depth stop to help you measure how far you have drilled. These can be expensive but are very useful tools to have. I bought a rusted up junker and fixed it. With a drill press, mass equals more rigididty and less viabration. Mine weighs about 60 Kg.

Once you have the press, get yourself a good vice or clamp set-up. I use a vice grip type with a T nut. It slides along the cut outs and locks work to the table. It's fast and convenient.

Well, I didn't intend on this post being so long and in honesty, I have used several hours putting this together so I hope you guys get some use from it. The tools you need are always dependent on what type of projects you undertake, but for a general handyman, this guide will be a good starting point. Stay safe.

Friday 13 July 2012

Online Machine Manuals

I have taken an interest in tools that are no longer in production. This has meant going to great lengths to get the instruction manuals for these machines. I will continue to update this online manual section as I get more machines and their related manuals. The goal is to have an online reference so you good folks won't have to waste as much time as I did finding info on these machines. Enjoy.

Emco Maximat V10 and V10P Online Manual
Emco V10 Manual

Emco Maximat V10 and V10P Parts List Online
Maximat_V10P_spareparts

Inca 340 Bandsaw / Euro 260 Bandsaw Online Manual
Inca 340 Manual


Inca 510 Jointer Thicknesser Online Manual
510 343.190.01 Hobelmasch. Aut.190.01


The Inca Woodworking Machinery Handbook Online - How to use the Inca jointer planer
Using the Jointer Planer

What hand tools do I need?

I was asked by a friend recently what tools I would recommend to a person just starting out with tinkering / repairing of mechanical equipment. I wasn't really prepared for this question because from a young age, I had always had tools around due to my dad being a builder and a diesel and petrol mechanic. In an effort to try answer his question, I will give a breakdown of what I have and give some justification for why this would be necessary. Please remeber, I have collected these tools over the last 17 years and many (if not most) I have bought second hand. DO NOT USE CREDIT TO BUY TOOLS!!! Be patient and check garage sales, ebay and cent sales. Deceased estates are also rich in tools. Avoid buying new if you can and give an old handtool new life!

Work Bench
This is probably the most important piece of equipment for the garage tinkerer. The workbench needs to be solid and must be able to withstand the weight of the projects and the wear and tear caused by dragging things over it's surface. My work bench has a steel covering so I can weld or solder on it without damaging it. It is also large enough to fit several projects at once. The addition of drawers and a shelf below are handy for items that would otherwise clutter the work surface.

 Steel benches that have welded joints make much better tables than wooden benches in general. Wooden benches end up with play in the joints making them a rickety alternative to a steel bench.

Bench Vise
There are loads of cheap vices available now. They are Chinese variants of popular brands. For the most part though, the cheap knock-offs don't hold a candle to a decent quality vice. I have a Record No. 3 vice and recommend the Record vices. If you don't have a vice, do yourself a favor and buy a decent one first time.
You can find used vices at reasonable prices but check them carefully. The jaws should be parallel to each other and the screw should be smooth, free from dents and chips. The jaws are generally replaceable but given the cost of parts, unless you have machine tools to manufacture them hold off until a good one comes along.

Lighting
I can't recommend good lighting highly enough. It's depressing working in poor lighting and it ruins your eyesight. Do yourself a favor and get a good bench mounted lamp to light up your projects. I have 5 different Luxo lights and a flouro light attached to the bench. I also have a flouro light with magnifier which is used when working on small projects.

Hand Tools
Now we get down to the tools themselves. It's hard to recommend tools because the choice depends on the type of projects a person works on. I do general tinkering and mechanical / electric / metal work so I have a mix. The following picture will be used as the reference:
  1. Pliers and snips. Get good quality first time. Cutters I recommend are Knippex and Bahco
  2. Slotted Drivers. If you have an option have 2 sets. 1 for rough work, one for clean work
  3. General cutting tools. I have an Olfal knife which has snapable and replaceable blades.
  4. Steel ruler. This is absolutely necessary in every garage workshop. I have an adjustable block for repeatable measurements and scribing on sheet stock.
  5. Cold chisels. These are often overlooked but are extremely useful for shearing bolts, unfreezing nuts etc... I have a variety of sizes and patterns. I tend to use Stahlwille chisels because their steel seems to last a long time under use.
  6. Adjustable / slipjoint pliers. These are useful for general crimping, bending or holding tasks. I also have a Norwegian "Kongsberg" pipe wrench to the left of the pincers. 
  7. Philips head screwdrivers. I have 2 sets. This set is my PB Swiss quality set reserved for clean work.
  8. Calipers. These are used for measuring the depth of holes, diameters and thickness. These are indispensable in a workshop. This is my rough set as I also have some digital Mitutoyo calipers that are used for more accurate measuring.
  9. 1/2" ratchet and breaker bar. These tools are compulsory in a workshop. In fact, the first tool set I ever bought was a Sidchrome socket set. What you pay for in a set is the ratcheting mechanism. If you go cheap, you will regret it due to the course teeth in the mechanism and the potential to break teeth or slip under load. Avoid the dollar store specials here and get a reputable brand. The two you see in the picture are Hazet (breaker bar) and Stahlwille (ratchet). These are my heavy-duty or rough use tools.
  10. Misc flat blade drivers. These are my stubby and long flat bladed drivers. Theyare  useful when trying to get at hard to reach screws. Spend some money on these to make sure you get good steel. Once the blades wear a little, they will cause cam-out making screws difficult to remove. Since these drivers are used for screws found in difficult places, don't compound the problem by using drivers that cam-out.
  11. Philips head screwdrivers. This is my rough set.
  12. Bolt cutters. These small bolt cutters are used to clip screws, nails and hard wire. They save my pliers from getting damaged since they are designed for heavy cutting.
  13. 12" Wrench. This gets used when I need to put serious torque onto a large bolt or nut.
  14. Universal joint socket adapter. These are used for hard to reach nuts and bolts. They allow the socket to reach around corners in a sense, making life easier in general.
  15. Magnetic bowl. If you don't have one,you need one. This will keep all your screws and small parts in one location and save you having to look for bits on the floor.
  16. Micro screwdriver set. These are necessary for electronics and small mechanical components. I have reviewed these tools here: PB Swiss screwdriver review  I also have a centre punch which is used for marking metal surfaces so drill bits can get purchase instead of skating on the surface.
  17. 6" Wrenches. These are handy if you are unsure what size a nut or bolt is. Adjustable and a handy size for general mechanical work.
  18. Alan key / hex set. I have 2 sets, one in inch and one in metric. It is necessary to get good quality hex keys. Many times that is the difference between getting a rusted hex bolt out or snapping your key
  19. Magnetizer / demagnetizer. This tool needs to be in every tool kit! Many times a magnetized screwdriver is a major annoyance, other times you wished the driver would just hold that difficult screw so you can get to that hard to reach spot without it falling off. This little gem will both magnetize drivers when needed. then de-magnetize when it isn't needed. They are only a couple bucks and are a must.

  1.  Ratcheting Flex-head Wrenches. This is a stellar gift idea for any woman wanting to impress her hubby with her gift ideas. They are expensive, but make the perfect tool to convince the man to help assemble all that Ikea furniture.
  2. Specialized pliers. In this case they are pliers for removal and installation of circlips. These are not necessary but are handy to have. They are the kind of tool that you can buy as you need them.
  3. Small hacksaw. This little guy is useful for shortening screws, bolts and small metal things. It has fine teeth and causes less damage to parts than a larger hacksaw.
  4. Spanner set. For years I have used a Chinese spanner set that although was functional, was not a pleasure to use. It was made with sloppy tolerances and the metal was a little soft. I finally upgraded to a set of Stahlwille spanners and am very happy I did. I have all sizes from 19mm - 6mm and have a quarter inch just in case.
  5. Vice grips and aviation snips. Vice grips are necessary in any tool kit. They allow you to close the jaws and the mechnism holds them clamped onto the object. They are adjustable and extremely useful. Aviation snips are used for cutting sheet metal and are also a handy addition to a tool kit.
  6. PPE. This stands for Personal Protective Equipment. You should have eye, hearing and dust protection available at all times. Your health is not worth risking so these are one of the most important pieces of equipment.
  7. Stubby spanners. These are shorter than normal spanners and allow you to work in tighter spaces.
  8. 1/2" Ratchet and extensions. These are my clean 1/2" tools when I am working on equipment that isn't greasy and dirty. These are kept in absolute pristine condition. They are made by Sidchrome.
  9. 1/4" Ratchet and extensions. 1/4" ratchets are less robust but are much smaller than 1/2". They allow you to work in confined spaces and are very useful. I have a 1/4" driver as well for when I don't need the ratcheting feature.
  10. Misc tools. This magnetic strip is where I have the miscellaneous tools. I have my thread gages, open ended spanners, weird wrench, scriber, dividers and screwdriver / bandsaw vice handle. 
  11. Sockets. A full metric set in both 1/2" and 1/4"
  12. Hacksaw. This saw will handle steel and is used for shortening bolts or removing metal stock when making tools.
Hammer Time!
Having the right hammer is vital and I have a wide selection of hammers for different tasks. In the the image below, you can see a claw hammer used for carpentry, a cross peen hammer, and a dead-blow hammer. The dead-blow hammer is filled with sand to avoid recoil when it strikes an object. This is especially useful for seating things in vices or tapping metal parts that have a tendency to "bounce" out.


The top hammer in the below picture is a small sledge hammer. This is a heavier hammer that packs a lot of whallop when swung. The next down is a soft face hammer used when I don't want damage to a surface. The final hammer is a rubber mallet which I use when I need to distribute force over a large area and I don't want to marr the surface.


Metal Removal
 At some point in time you will need to drill or file. There are different tools required. First we'll talk drills. If you need to drill holes in sheet metal, do yourself a solid and get a step drill set. These make drilling sheet metal a breeze and prevent tearing or twisting of thin stock.


Files are esential. Get a set that covers round, rectangular and triangular profiles. These need to be looked after so don't just throw in a drawer together. Keep them rust free and maintained.


Heat
When metal parts seize and get stuck, heat makes life easier. Heating the parts and undoing them while hot will save hours of time. I use a self starting torch.

I bought this 4 years ago and I am still on the same gas bottle. It has seen a lot of use in various projects.

Work Holding
It will be necessary at one point in time for you to clamp materials together or to the bench. Sometimes Vice-Grips are sufficient however most times the parts are too big. This is where the Irwin Quick Grip and the F clamp come into their element. The Irwin is fast to use and holds reasonably well. The F clamp is better suited where serious pressure is needed or you will be applying heat. I have a range of F clamp that spans 6 inch to 2 1/2 foot.

Oil Can
A good oil can is a useful item in the workshop. Oil is needed to un-seize things, stop rust or just lubricate joints. Cheap cans leak and have poor quality pumps. The can below is about 25 years old and still going strong. It pays to get quality.

So there you have it. This is a very basic run-down of the tools every tinkerer should have. If you find yourself asking, "what hand tools do I need?", then you can use this as a guide. Feel free to comment or ask any questions. This list was created with mechanical repairs in mind. I have not gone through carpentry tools and machining / grinding although I probably will at some point in the future. Stay safe.
 

Saturday 7 July 2012

Renovations Finally Complete!

I had mentioned in the past how we were busy renovating. The house was built in the 50's by Norsk Hydro and at a quite poor standard when we bought it. The walls had been wall papered about 5 - 6 times leaving huge bulges and floor coverings were of various types and exceeded 7 different floor types in the top 2 floors alone.

Here is the house advertised online:

House Pics

Here are some previous pictures so you get an idea of the work we have put in:

Stairwell with me foreground and my brother Alex

 Bathroom floor (note the multi wall papered walls)


Kitchen

Living / Dining Room

The bathroom with the cement sheets up


I tried to find other pictures but it seems like we avoided taking photos of the worst parts of the house. These give you the general idea though.

Now this saga is done, we just need to sell the house and we can start to enjoy this strange thing called "free time". Up until now I thought this was a symptom of people who have inherited large sums from obscure relatives or a result of those not understanding that credit debt is intended to be paid off. Regardless, I aim on catching up on the last 5 years of missed holidays, weekends and afternoons after work that we have spent renovating our house. If you see me parachute into your swimming pool or wrestle a crocodile at your local zoo, just know it's not early dementia, but rather me experimenting with "free time" and all the rash behaviour and injuries this strange phenomenon can result in. Stay safe.

Friday 6 July 2012

Ixion BST 13 Refurb

Ixion BST 13
A while ago I found a drill press in need of attention. These are good quality drills and new they command very high prices. I dig European tools and their quality. Unfortunately though, mine looked like this:

 It had been left in an unisulated, dirt floor garage. Exposed to wide temperature changes, it didn't take long for the condensation to kick in and begin rusting things.

Stripping Rust From the Tables
I started by stripping off the small parts and letting them soak in vinegar. I then turned my attention to the bases / tables. I started by using a brass stripping wheel on a drill to take the flakes of rust off and then went to fine steel wool. They were then degreased and the old paintwork was sanded. I washed the parts again and then taped them up and painted. Below is the bottom table finished next to the movable table before it was painted.


Once I had taken care of the tables, the small parts were taken out of the vinegar and cleaned. The parts are left with a patina but this was removed so that they could be blued.

Bluing Parts
When I blue parts, I use a cold blue solution for bluing gun barrels. The trick I have found is to
  1. Polish the part as much as possible,
  2.  Degrease it. 
  3. Put the part into hot water to heat it and then take it out allowing it to dry. This happens quickly so I have the bluing solution ready to go on a cotton bud. 
  4. The blueing is applied evenly, allowing it to dry (this takes seconds on the hot part)
  5. Rinse the part under cold tap water.
  6. Give the part a buff and repeat if necessary.
  7. Oil the part
In Praise of Belt Run Machines
Many people like gear driven machines and for obvious reasons. They can handle heavier work, can drive with more torque and are faster to change speeds (for the most part). Then why go with belts? There are several reasons:
  1. Belt machines are cheaper
  2. Belt machines run MUCH quieter
The second point is the main thing to consider in a small workshop. I don't want to need ear protection for every machine I own. This drill press is quiter than Makita cordless drill. I can safely and comfortably use it without ear muffs.

Making Machine Belts Run Quiet
If you are having issues with belts that squeek here is a tip... Start the machine and lightly rub a candle on the edges of the belt. The wax will melt where high friction is present providing just enough lubrication to stop the noise. Don't apply too much though or you will cause the belts to slip and possibly glaze your pulleys.

Keyless Chuck Considerations
I love keyless chucks. They are fast when changing bits. They do suffer from slipping though which can be really annoying. To solve this, I grip the belt in one hand when tightening, squeezing the belt, trying to make it touch in the middle. While I do this I turn the chuck to tighten it. This allows me to exert more torque on the chuck. It can still slip with the bit if I'm not careful so I need to listen carefully to what the drill bit is doing.

The Finished Product
Here is the Ixion BST 13 finished.





Rust removed, repainted and rewired. I also added a 2 meter long cord since the old one was deteriorated. It has been an excellent addition to the workshop. Even though my mill has a drill press option, I am trying to save the mill for milling only to avoid having to set up milling jobs from scratch each time I need to drill something.

By American standards $160 USD is not a bargain for a fixer-upper. In Norway though, this isn't a bad deal. I couldn't get a cheap Chinese drill press for twice that. In total it cost about $200 given the cost of paint and primer. It seems that all my metal working machines needed repairs and fixing. It is always a learning process and a joy when you first turn them on knowing you brought them back from the dead. Stay safe.