We all want ALL the stuff.... but the reality is SPACE/MONEY/USE.
I have zillions of dollars invested in tools -- some are rarely if ever used. Some I wish I had more of. More talent to use some that I have. More projects to utilize what I do have.
Some tools to do specific jobs cost serious money. Sometimes I ask myself if I just want the tool - will I use it much beyond the current need - and what if I don't buy the tool and just have someone else make the part for me. Or better yet - make it another way. I usually end up making it another way.
Here's the one thing I will add - once you have lots of tools. I never look at a project and start to think how I was going to make something. I look at the situation and just ask myself how I WANT to make "it". Before having lots of tools there were limitations and I'd have to fuss around trying to make do with what I had.
There is no question in my mind that having a minimum amount of skill - but having the right tools to do the job - increases your "skills". The job will turn out better... But for many people -- you have to ask yourself how many cars do you really intend to build?? One? Three? Unlimited? When you're done with the car you're working on now -- what's next? Do you have the budget to build another? Improve what you did already? Help your buddies build theirs? It wouldn't be much fun to own kool tools if there's nothing to do with them.
I'd like to have a pro planishing hammer and english wheel and maybe a shrinker/stretcher... so let's call that 10 grand. Why don't I have them already? Because I've found that I'm not really building "bodies". I'm doing patch panels... and I can build some pretty decent patch panels with a beater bag and some hammers and some time. Anything more than that will be pro built.
The cars I've built or worked on -- generally have been the "popular" models. I can buy most any panel on the car - use what I need of the panel or use the whole piece (floors - firewalls - quarters etc). I'm not building a complete over the top custom everything car. I've bent sheet metal tranny tunnels over a gas bottle laying on it's side.... I really didn't need a slip roller... The crap I'm doing is going to be carpeted anyway.
I've also found suppliers for all the little tabs and brackets and suspension parts that I've ever needed. I might have to "mod" them.... and that's where the good belt grinder or some other tool comes into play... But I didn't have to make the actual brackets. I might have had to buy a bracket for something "else" and just whack and finish off the part that I need for my intended purpose.
Where I've "invested" in tools --- has been more in the QUALITY of the tools I have bought. A cold cut saw needs different blades for the metal being cut - Stainless requires a blade change as does Aluminum etc. I have multiple blades for my band saw - depending on the cut being made. I have different bottles of gas for the MIG -- tri mix for SS... that sort of thing. If I didn't own a TIG - I might have a spool gun for aluminum... and even today -- If I need something super fancy that is going to show - I'll take that to a pro shop. I'm a really good welder - but I don't do it enough/often enough or upsidedown and backwards that I can make it look "pro". I admit that - and just hustle it off to someone that can. It's rarely more than $100 and usually more like 40 or 50.
Ditto stomping cut sheet. I find I can get what I need for a "cut fee" right at the shop I buy my supplies from. They have a water jet and a plasma... since I have a great belt machine - and a plasma - and all kinds of hand grinders etc - I'll try to make the piece on my own first. If it's super critical - then I'll order it water jetted and just suck up the set up fee. Fortunately I'm friends with lots of hot rod shops in my area (before I moved) and then would always be willing to help me when I got into trouble. Buying the whole shop pizza for lunch on Fridays was way cheaper than buying a tool I'd rarely use.
I'm fortunate enough to be able to buy any tool I'd ever need... and even I don't have some tools I'd just like to own. A lathe is one of them... I'd like one "just because" and I shop them all the time... But the 8 grand or so for the one I really would buy isn't worth the space or money for the twice per year use... and I've made it 40 years without one so far so why do I think I really "need one" now. It's what keeps me from hitting the buy it button. Ditto the $8000 dollar Kaesar screw compressor I did buy... but was able to cancel - when the electrician told me I'd have a minimum monthly electric bill for the 3 phase 408V service needed to run the one I had on order. Even I think that's a pretty dumb waste of money. I have a great compressor -- I just WANT a screw compressor - with air dryer... but I don't need it at all.
If Gaetano (Track Junky) was closer to me -- since he needed a new compressor -- I'd have ordered a new one just so I could give him my old one... that's usually how I end up "upgrading" stuff.
|