Kobalt are my favorite, they seem to stand up a little better than craftsman. But everything is better than home depot's stuff, husky I think.

 

craftsman was the home handyman standard untill they got bought out. quality has been declining since.

 

Fortunately they still replace them (craftsman)if they are broken. I have a lot of craftsman tools, but I buy KObalt nowbecause I have only broken one of them, andthat was my fault. They still replaced it "no questions asked".

 

Cobalt tools are good. Ratchets have a fairley smooth action and I've never broke a Cobalt socket. I like them better than Craftsmen, however I do not like their wood working tools as much as the mechanical hand tools.

 

matco for me all the way,,

 

here ya go, mark.. finally worked after random about and drastic measure.

the uber drawer.


uber drawer's uber handle.. all nice and 45* chamfered..


drawer rails and rear rollers


back of front plate.. milled to lighten it a bit..lol


static rail welded to side wall


static rail.. originally (i think) 1x2" barstock milled for rear roller..front roller is just a roundstock bar turned to a ..450" O.D. and .500" O.A.L. screw is 1/4-28


unmounted/welded left rail in action.. rollers in place..


the clearance between the sidewall and the inside of the drawer.. not much..lol


i chamfered the front plate and milled a pocket in the walls and baseplate so the drawer rolls back and is totaly flush with everything else..looks nice.. just gotta finish welding it up and make some hinges for the top section.

this things gonna be an F'ing tank when i'm done.

all the metal is 6061 T6, and was TIG'd using helium and 4043 rod. using a Miller 350 synchrowave, pedal control, Hi freq start.


machined manually on a Fadal 4020 CNC with a 2 flute, .500" endmill, 2 flute, 45* .500" chamfer and 3" 7-insert sandvik shellmill. bout 10,000 rpm on small endmills and chamfers, 4500 on the shellmill

well, thats about it, for now..

i'll acid dip this whole thing and iriditite itgold when done. i really wish i had anodizing, but all we have at work is this iridite/ chromate chemical coating crap. still classified as a class II finish at about .001" thickness, like standard anodizing.. but its a mil spec finish, being that we do all gubmint work at the shop, so.. eh.. it'll be cool tho.



but hey, it's free, and i made it.. lol.. still debating on whether to add another smaller drawer tho.. i probably will.

 

iridite is primarily used for electronic components because its highly conductive.

 

Wow, that's freaking sweet![sm=hail.gif][sm=icon_rock.gif] I wish I had those skilz.

 

i did not know that, kb.. but thats what we do.. we make electronic enclosures, so that makes sense.. lol

like the $78,000 F'in KEYBOARD.. we made 15 of em.. whittled them out of 200 lb chunks of 6061.. took like 2 hours an operation and 4 operations to make one.. so, 78K times 15.. whatever that is.. thats alot of money i ..... never saw..lol

puts ya in mind of the "$5000 hammer" kinda thing. guvmint.. gotta love it.

kinda cool tho cuz the stuff i make is probably right next door to ya, kb!!.. i make stuff that will be installed in subs, tanks, hummers, aircraft, missles, ships.. anything military related..

mark.. lol.. ain't skillz bro.. just basic knowledge..

i'm an electrical engineer.. not a machinist..machining seems to be just math and simple know-how.. like lets say.. endmills.. the harder the metal you'r ecutting, the more flutes you want on your endmill so it takes smaller bites and lasts longer..

we use 2 flute endmills and spin them at 10,000rpm all day in aluminum.. the second we see any type of steel, a 4 flute endmill is called upon. and the feedrates and speeds are lowered as well..

i dunno.. i guess there a little skill there, but it's nothing that can't be easily learned i think.. i've been at that place for like 6 months now, and HAVE learned alot.. like the aformentioned info, but i've machined out of neccessity when i had to make electrical enclosures or switch brackets or whatever in industry.. i do it just to be able to say i can do it, basically..

i've taught myself all welding modes on all metals (except exotics), machining, electrical, (tho i have a degree in it, too) mechanical.. alot of crap ..

but, this just makes me a better bike mechanic as well. which is why i do it. i've always had an interestin crap like this.. being able to make things out of nothing.. it's wicked.