1st Gen Lunchtable Thread - General Discussion

HF is great, I like the icon and Doyle line of stuff. I got this German pipe wrench not that long and and it’s been great.
There’s a lot I’ll buy icon and just replace with something like Williams or Porto as things break or get lost in a set.
Some things I absolutely won’t cheap on, like allen keys, I stand by wera ones, best I’ve ever used.

some stuff I have knipex and a HF clone of it. Use them interchangeably, other than looks I can’t tell the difference

 

Shoot I may end up with a Siegmund table (possibly) before I upgrade my plasma cutter

I can cut up to 3/8" with my 45XP and there are others that cut 1/2" and 3/4" with it as well - if I regularly end up doing 3/8" I'll go with a 65Sync but at almost $5k, the Siegmund makes more sense

You meant Harbor Freight plasma cutter right? If so, keep it as you can still use it if you ever buy a CNC table

 

Yeah we have a few, bring them out a lot when we need to make accurate holes in structural steel on job sites. They work way better than a hand drill that’s for sure

 

I think I own every icon hand tool they offer by now…

Yup, I have the Titanium 45, thing works great! I had it at ~37a for 1/4” and it did it with ease so 3/8” is probably in play for this thing.

 

The only real difference is, Hypertherm is made in USA and their real strength is in their torch and consumable setup

However, it's more about longer-life than anything else with consumables

I say this having ran a Chinese plasma cutter with Chinese consumables over 3 years before that - I still had amazing results, square cuts, and made many precise parts but with less consumable life

 

I love the Icon version of the Knipex wrench, it's crazy nice

 

Ya, zero parts or service available for this thing… But I picked it up for ~$380 at one of their liquidation sales so I’ll run it until it’s trash!

 

I have a good amount on their stuff, but definitely nothing crazy, I use a lot of different brands, from mid grade to high end tool truck stuff

 

Their smooth jaw pliers are nice

 

yeaaa been eyeing those pliers hard. just trying to justify the cost when channel locks work fine enough most of the time

 

I refuse to own channel locks now.

 

What’s up big dogs, I’m planning to pick up some Alcan leaf springs. Are aftermarket shackles worth it?
I helped a buddy lift his 4Runner yesterday and my hunger to pimp my ride has been rekindled

 

Stock shackles are technically all you need. The old wheelers (now trailgear) greasable shackles were nice as long as you don't over torque em like most do

 

I do like me some greasable parts
Do people just assume you torque them the same as OEM?

 

Nah, each nut 25-30ft lb. That's my own spec but it worked well, the 60 per nut they recommended squeezed the shit out over everything and made it impossible to move

 

They are quite nice!

Just wait for them to go on sale, about every quarter they will have a parking lot sale and a different icon category seems to get put on at 40% off. Last one was sockets and torque wrenches. That’s how I’ve gotten most of my icon stuff.

 

running alcans + stock shackles for 13(?) years, no complaints. flexes out well and they’ve held up great

 

ah yeah i usually skip those to avoid the crowds… sounds like it could be worth it to get the deals though

 

need to go shake down my truck a bit, i think I might have cooked a wheel bearing. cant hear it with the window up (yet) but it is annoying me

 

Gotta cut off between 1-2" off each 6' square tube

Then mark where I'll weld up all the tabs

Easy day later