wrote:
... buying a lot of metal-working tools doesn't mean
you'll be turning out usable parts. ... So
instead of day-dreaming about a 48" metal brake from Harbor Freight
that you'll probably never buy anyway, why not pick up a piece of
angle iron and start LEARNING how to do metal-work....

-R.S.Hoover


There is another outcome possible at Harbor Freight - other than the
day-dream ending. Like me, you may BUY a tool.
I am thinking of the tube bender I bought. I KNEW that the usual tube
bender that features a ram pushing a forming tool against a pipe while
two side rollers hold it in place - is a disaster - it is about
guaranteed to collapse the wall unless the tube is loaded with sand,
ice, eutectic - whatever. So I bought the BETTER type tube bender on
sale. This has a roller that pulls the tube round a die - this
provides the motivation to stretch the tube wall on the outside, rather
than ripple the tube wall on the inside of the turn.

So fine: I bought it, and I bought a tube drilling jig, to make those
nicely fitted tube joints at 90deg, 45 deg etc....and plenty of other
things too.

What's wrong with that? I haven't used these tools at all. Not once.
And now I covet a machine lathe too (there could hardly be a more
bargain deal for $400 after all). Trouble is, Momma would have
conniptions if I put it in my study, and I would not dream of putting a
machine lathe in an unheated workshop where the ways might attract a
layer of rust.
That would about break my heart.....

Brian W