The Tool Thread

nzhumpy

Googlemeister who likes bikes and scandal
Talking about packaging, I got these delivered today.

This is the foam (PE45) your talking about, easy to get, harder to cut but these guys have nailed it.

 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
The stuff to get is called "tool foam". Not readily available in Aust but very popular in Europe and the US for tool organisation.

We make our own by laminating a thin layer of high density foam on top of a thick layer of coloured lower density foam. Can't remember the exact type of foam but its a tough closed cell variant which is chemical resistant. We then machine it on our CNC mill with special straight flute cutters that are made in Italy. The contrasting colours make it easy to see if something's missing from the case.

 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
The stuff to get is called "tool foam". Not readily available in Aust but very popular in Europe and the US for tool organisation.

We make our own by laminating a thin layer of high density foam on top of a thick layer of coloured lower density foam. Can't remember the exact type of foam but its a tough closed cell variant which is chemical resistant. We then machine it on our CNC mill with special straight flute cutters that are made in Italy. The contrasting colours make it easy to see if something's missing from the case.

Just looked on ebay and you can get it. Also hot wire cutters.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Hack tip: Hook the ring end of a spanner over the allen key. Obviously not something you ever want to do, but it's got me out of trouble a couple of times in a pinch... ;)
I was stripping a high temperature valve back last century. The bolts were Allen headed Nimonic alloy. 32mm 1" drive inhex socket with a fuckoff long breaker bar. Three hairy chested fitters on the end and not moving Jan. So we picked up 10' of scaffold tube and added that with another two bodies. BANG! Bits of inhex socket everywhere. Called the supplier. Ah yes those are torque to 0.2% proof stress. One use only. Heat the heads to cherry red/orange then wait until they dull and then hit them with everything you've got. The noise of the bolts letting go was scary. Only 32 of them too. Threw most of the old bolts away but kept some for history. Newbolts were something like $500 each. Sometimes you have to be just that bit rougher.
 

slider_phil

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Promised box pics, here they are



1/4" 3/8" and 1/2" sockets. Torque wrenches plus various miscellaneous things


Too much stuff to list, but organised into categories that make sense.



All spanners and wrenches plus extensions. Two left hand sides are metric. Two right hand sides are Imperial. Wrenches and extensions in the middle


Most of the electric gear plus drill bits, fittings etc


Bit of a junk drawer. Mostly bigger breaker bars, pipe to make said bars longer and pry bars


Welded brackets so I could fit gas struts. Makes a ton of difference working out in the field



LED strip lighting. This bit lights up whatever drawer you have open. There's more strip lighting in the top



Small 11l Waeco fridge. Keeps lunch and drinks cold all day



Side box has inverter for charging things, plus funnels, fittings, hydraulic test gauges. Just a bunch of stuff I use regularly.



3/4" set, multimeter with a ton of test fittings, electrical break out harnesses and some hydraulic caps



Big ass spanners that were cheap enough to cut up to make fit into small spots. Plus miscellaneous stuff



As you can see, dirty, used and abused. But it works and has worked for 10 years now without issue. The white side box is a piece of shit that work supplied. My old custom side box was so much better but this one came pre installed with the new ute. So I'm making do while I design a new one to go in the same spot.
 

link1896

Mr Greenfield
Where is the wurth pump pack? No god damn way I could be in the middle of a paddock with a busted machine, layers of grass seeds, then dust, then grease on top of the offending assembly.
 

slider_phil

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Luckily 90% of issues these days are electrical. 5 mins to 2 days to find offending rubbed or broken wire in a maze of looms and fix. Most used tools are multimeter and laptop for wiring schematics.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Promised box pics, here they are



1/4" 3/8" and 1/2" sockets. Torque wrenches plus various miscellaneous things


Too much stuff to list, but organised into categories that make sense.



All spanners and wrenches plus extensions. Two left hand sides are metric. Two right hand sides are Imperial. Wrenches and extensions in the middle


Most of the electric gear plus drill bits, fittings etc


Bit of a junk drawer. Mostly bigger breaker bars, pipe to make said bars longer and pry bars


Welded brackets so I could fit gas struts. Makes a ton of difference working out in the field



LED strip lighting. This bit lights up whatever drawer you have open. There's more strip lighting in the top



Small 11l Waeco fridge. Keeps lunch and drinks cold all day



Side box has inverter for charging things, plus funnels, fittings, hydraulic test gauges. Just a bunch of stuff I use regularly.



3/4" set, multimeter with a ton of test fittings, electrical break out harnesses and some hydraulic caps



Big ass spanners that were cheap enough to cut up to make fit into small spots. Plus miscellaneous stuff



As you can see, dirty, used and abused. But it works and has worked for 10 years now without issue. The white side box is a piece of shit that work supplied. My old custom side box was so much better but this one came pre installed with the new ute. So I'm making do while I design a new one to go in the same spot.
I hope those photos are taken after a tidy up, lol!

20181207_165141.jpg
 

slider_phil

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I hope those photos are taken after a tidy up, lol!

View attachment 349519
Haha, na. That's how it always looks. Nothing really moves around in there.

Your box looks similar to my tool box at home. I don't know why but I'm far less organised at home. 7 drawer roller cab with a box on top of that and it's full of bike tools and parts thrown around randomly lol
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Haha, na. That's how it always looks. Nothing really moves around in there.

Your box looks similar to my tool box at home. I don't know why but I'm far less organised at home. 7 drawer roller cab with a box on top of that and it's full of bike tools and parts thrown around randomly lol
Yeah that's my home box, even when I was on the tools I gave up on spanner pouches as they end up tearing all the time. Some of the ratchet spanner sets I used to keep all togther with a carabina but generally the spanner draws were a mess.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Fancy, mine end up 100% not in the tool box all the time

Spanners at home we’re hanging off hooks from the floor joist from the room above.
If I leave tools out they usually go walking never to be seen, my brother takes jobs home and then forgets which are his tools, I live on acreage and get visitors during the night also. When I had my work van I hooked up a hidden switch so that the door lights operate the horn to catch them, I had a flat battery one night and put it on charge, left my jumper leads out and next morning all gone.
 

nzhumpy

Googlemeister who likes bikes and scandal
Hook it up to the mains, tools will stop disappearing but the smell will be horrible after a day or so. Give the brother a heads up though so he doesn't run a 240v surprise toastie.
 
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