Best example of what I'm talking about might be my welder. Planning on picking up a Miller suitcase welder to replace my trusty MM251.

Not sure what I'm going to do for a tubing bender. Have a JD2 Model 4 bender with a full assortment of dies, so will probably just adapt that to be a little bit more portable.

Have gotten into the habit of mounting most of my tools to 2" receiver stock, and think that will work really well in this new environment. Planning on building storage racks along the walls where I can mount the tools when they're not being used, and then I can pull them out and plug them into a receiver hitch wherever I want to use them.

Just picked up one of these 10" Dayton bench grinders Was looking for something smaller, but found a good deal on craigslist. Probably bigger than I want/need, and might end up getting something else. Really like the idea of setting a grinder up with a multitool belt & disc grinder.

Have also been looking for a small drill press. Something that I can use with a milling vise and compound vice. Would really like to have a small mill/drill unit, but a quality unit is not in the budget right now, and I have some reservations about putting a piece of equipment like that in an especially rough mobile environment.

Definitely going to pick up one of the portaband-to-vertical bandsaw kits from Swag Offroad. This product epitomizes what I'm trying to achieve here, and I've already got a Milwaukee V28 cordless portaband.

Need a chop saw of some sort too. Not sure whether I'm going to get an abrasive-type or a dry-cut saw. Working in such a small space, where I'll also be storing my bikes, motorcycles, and other toys, am leaning towards a dry-cut saw.

Planning on installing some type of curtains to help keep things clean, and don't expect to be doing to much actual fab-work inside the trailer.

 

Best example of what I'm talking about might be my welder. Planning on picking up a Miller suitcase welder

That is a wire feeder, it will require a separate power supply. The machine you are thinking of is the Miller Passport Plus. 115/230 power supply and wire feeder in a suitcase form factor.

 

One of the most useful thing I could imagine stuffing in there would be Torchmate's 2x2 table. mmmm.

 

You're absolutely right. Edited my post to link to the right welder.

 

Great idea with the tools mounted on receiver stock. I am a farrier and have a vice and barstock sheer mounted to go into the receiver. I drilled and tapped a hole into the receiver and thread in a 5/16'' bolt welded to a 6'' piece of stock to take out all the play.

 

Thanks, but not exactly an original idea. Had obviously seen it down before, just decided that it would be a good idea to adapt to all my tools. Or at least most of them. Was working in a one-car garage at the time, and things were tight. Made this welding / fab cart a few years ago, and then just kept adding receivers to things.

You will love the multi-tool belt/disc sander attachment if you get one. I can't imagine life without mine now.

Yeah, had been looking for something like a grinder/sander combo-tool and that is the best multi-tool setup I've seen. Great to hear from someone that has some personal experience with it, and am really glad to hear that it's not junk. The fact that Van Sant sells it lends some credibility too.

...how do you like that JMR notcher? I really want one, but it's hard to justify more than double the cost of a JD2 notchmaster.

It's wonderful. Wrote a review for off-road.com years ago. It's a tool is made better than it needs to be, and agree that it's hard to justify the expense. Especially when, like you point out, a tool like the JD2 NotchMaster is so much less expensive. I actually have one of those too (along with a Beast), and my only complaint about the Notchmaster is that you really have to crank down on the dovetail offset adjustment nut, or it will slip. But then you have to shim the JMR notcher to do offset notches, so that's an even bigger pain in the ass. But with all those notchers at my disposal, the JMR is the one I use the most. Especially like it for this kind of stuff:

 

You will love the multi-tool belt/disc sander attachment if you get one. I can't imagine life without mine now.

BTW how do you like that JMR notcher? I really want one, but it's hard to justify more than double the cost of a JD2 notchmaster.

 

"On-car" notching is exactly why I want the JMR.

I am currently working in a 20'x21' garage and it already feels super cramped, I can't imagine downsizing from here.

 

Not to hijack but Arya, if you get a JMR, immediately check the main shaft run out within the pillow block. I've had two pillow blocks that both allowed to the shaft to deflect about 0.040." On the other hand, I've spoken with many people who said there's is rock solid..

 

Just got one of Swag's new V3.0 portaband tables. Pretty slick. Really like the new integrated miter-gauge slots and the removable legs are going to work out great for me, because I think I'm going to try to make them fold-up or something (to be more compact for storage). Never used the old portaband table with an aluminum center-section, but Troy told me the new steel ones will wear a lot better.

 

V3.0 is :smokin: I haven't seen that one yet. I was thinking about making my own, but it might be time to finally pull the trigger on one.

Not exactly mobile like some of your ideas, but I moved my compressor into the attic above my garage to make room in my already small work space. My compressor is a horizontal unit, so it free'd up quite a bit of floor space as well as reducing the noise volume. See link below for more details.

Remote Compressor Switch Panel

 

Yeah, it's a pretty slick deal. That's a cool compressor control setup too.

 

yeah that is a pretty good idea with the compressor setup you have there.

 

i fabbed up this receiver accessory mount to hold my cheesy HF bender, vice, notcher, etc. at one point it had a 5/16 plate about 18"x18" as a weld station, but i robbed it to make other parts

here i'm drilling holes for shift linkage

 

Think I might have finally scored a sewing machine. It's an old Pfaff walking-foot industrial machine, which is not exactly a portable setup, but I'm going to see what I can do about re-packaging it. Really just want to be able to put it away, stored so that it won't take up any more space than it needs to.

Have also been thinking a lot about how I'm going to keep different areas within such a small space divided. In a 10ft trailer I'm going to be storing all of my tools and bikes and other toys, which I don't want to get filthy-dirty when I'm working on stuff. Will obviously do as much work as possible outside, but anticipate that I'll need to work inside sometimes too. What kind of curtains and things should I be looking at? Have seen a lot of different setups in shops over the years, but am kinda leaning towards something like those long hanging strips that you sometimes see in walk-in freezers. Maybe adding magnets? Made out of something that will hold-up to sparks?

 

http://www.steinerindustries.com/new/Steiner_POS-HD.pdf

I personally would avoid the transparent colored screens- they get stiff and brittle as the temperature decreaes and get stretchy when the ambient temp is up. the cotton/canvas ones seem to last well and dont care about the temperature.

 

Built this receiver hitch mount for my Wilton vice a while ago (pics posted above) using a plate that I designed (CAD file can be downloaded here) and had PacFab cut for me on their CNC plasma table. Worked great but was really unstable when I set it down on the ground and it was also kinda awkward to carry around. So I added this stabilizer / handle. Much better now.

 

There are some great ideas in here :smokin:

 

For a lighter easier vise you might look at the one Mac's Tie down makes. I have one and like it for Trail Repairs and it opens wide enough to press in U-Joint cups.


Trail D-Vise - a portable vise for use anywhere

Easy enough to make your own, but not that expensive to begin with.



Carl

 

For a lighter easier vise you might look at the one Mac's Tie down makes. I have one and like it for Trail Repairs and it opens wide enough to press in U-Joint cups.


Trail D-Vise - a portable vise for use anywhere

Easy enough to make your own, but not that expensive to begin with. Carl

Cool idea

 

Thanks for posting, that looks like a really great little product. Definitely something I'd have a use for. The vice mount I made is really more of a shop tool than anything I'd consider truly portable. Just wanted to be able to move my tools around inside the trailer I'm building. Everything from vices to a sewing machine and a press for reloading ammo. So will be nice to be able to take them out and put them away as needed.

 

Have been working with Miller for a long time and my Millermatic 251 has been a soldier, but it's not built to travel. This new Multimatic 200 sure is though! Multi-voltage (120 & 230V), ARC, MIG & TIG, plus a spoolgun, and it only weighs 29lbs. It's the perfect welder for the mobile workshop trailer I'm building to tow behind the motorhome. Sorry big guy, but you're getting left behind.

 

Had been looking for a good deal on a bench-mounted belt sander for, oh forever. Would you believe that I found this one in an abandoned house? Honestly, I swear. It was right near the ocean and it had been there for years, so the whole thing was rusted solid, and the power cord was all burned-up. But I took it home anyway. Stripped the rust away, threw some new bearings in it, replaced all the hardware, installed a new power-cord, and is didn't look half-bad. Especially considering the price. But the motor wouldn't run. So I asked my buddy Yawan at Kodiak Industries take a look at it. Before he even opened the cover he said, 'bad ground'. Yup. That's all it was. Then he handed me a bunch of new belts for it. Little thing runs like a champ!

 

Picked up a used Hougen HMD914 mag drill last night. Primarily to drill-out a bunch of rivets in the frames of our trucks, but think I'm going to build some kind of a base for it too, so I can also use it as a small drillpress. Not a replacement for a nice drillpress, but it's more powerful than the little one I'm using now. Slower too, only turning 350rpm, and that's nice. Only challenge is building the drillpress base in a way that it will accommodate larger things. Might even cannibalize a drill-press to do this. Haven't thought about it too much yet.

Magnetic Drill made into small drill press - YouTube

 

Awesome thread! I'd love to find a good deal on a mag drill. I've used them before, and they are sweet.

 

This is kinda what I'm thinking. Pulled the head off this little drill press and bought some steel to make a new collar and mounting plate for the mag drill. Dropped the tubing off at a friend's machine shop so he can bore it out to the right size for me. Also ordered a 5/8" threaded drill chuck adapter for this machine. Thought I was going to be able to save a few bucks by drilling and tapping the tapered 5/8" chuck that I removed from the old drill press to fit the new threaded arbor, but it's 5/8 x 16tpi! Standard fine thread is 18tpi, but guess Jacobs started using that wonky thread pitch back in the days of yore and now we're stuck with it. Dammit. Either have to buy a tap, or an adapter, or a new chuck.

 

How are you liking the Multimatic 200? Haven't decided what machine I want to buy but I have decided, somewhat reluctantly, to get a dual voltage machine. More versatility vs. bigger power but bigger footprint.

 

Awesome. Still haven't done anything but MIG welding with it yet, but it's super slick. Highly recommended.

 

Had alerts on eBay and craigslist for quite awhile before I was able to pick up a Hougen for $350. I wasn't seeing a whole lot that weren't $600 or more, so I snatched that one up.