Best Of What's in DKS's toolbox?

[DKS]

Pics please of your workstation and on-hand supplies. I'm a foamer for bench shots.

No bench yet. And I might not have one for some months to come. Right now my tools and supplies are all in storage cabinets, and I work at the kitchen counter.

[wazzou]

Eh, I've posted some before, I'll see if I can't take some new ones since I moved.

[wazzou]

Pics please of your workstation and on-hand supplies. I'm a foamer for bench shots.

Late to get these added for @chuck geiger but It's been a whirlwind lately.



Train Storage and projects in the stack to the right.

[Kentuckian]

Nice! So what is that white machine in the middle of the workbench?

[DKS]

Well, now that this has been officially made a "Best Of" topic, perhaps it might be better suited for the "Weathering, Detailing, and Scratchbuilding" section. Also, I'd suggest re-titling it "What's In Your Toolbox?" since others are contributing worthwhile content.

[wazzou]

Nice! So what is that white machine in the middle of the workbench?

Ott-Lite - Dual light.  They both flip up and tilt/rotate.

[chuck geiger]

Nice!

[mmagliaro]

A second for buying up random lots of Evergreen styrene at train shows or when a hobby shop has a box full of miscellaneous packages that they are unloading as a lot.  I filled in a good number of holes in my Evergreen stash that way.  I store mine in clear plastic tubes with rubber caps that I can label.  They all fit nicely in plastic milk crates that stack and keep all the tubes organized.

[wazzou]

I should add some clarity to this image I suppose.



The small top drawer on the left, left to right has brass sheet/shim stock in manageable sizes and thicknesses and a number of K&S structural shapes in tubes.
The slot to its right has a number of Sharpies in White, Silver and Black as well as some Floquil paint pens.
The larger position has Evergreen Sheet Stock from .050 in White and Clear through all thicknesses of Plain Sheet offered, only in White plus nearly all numbers of sheets like Passenger Car Siding, Car Siding, Clapboard, V Groove, etc. in a variety of widths or thicknesses.
The Center Drawer front to back is Details Associates Brass Wire and Tichy Phosphor Bronze Wire in most Diameters appropriate for N Scale, Builders in Scale corrugated metal siding strips in large quantities of a variety of widths.
Then going toward the back in each section is all widths of .010, .015. .020, .030 and on and on plus any number of Kappler and Northeast wood sizes.
There is also a slot or two for a variety of Evergreen Rod Diameters, Tubes, I Beam, H Beam, Angles...etc.
Another slot has the same for Plastruct.
The Drawer on the right has NWSL sanding sticks, belts for them, large steel files.
The plastic bin in front has most commonly used X-acto blades bought in 100 packs, a number of Carbide and Diamond burrs for use in my Dremel tools and large numbers of small drill bits and pin vises.
The plastic bin behind it has just about any combination of MT truck, couplers, springs, wheels, doors, ladders, crossover steps, running boards and so on.
The drawers below these have many, many small boxes of Intermountain underframes, ladders, running boards, doors and so on.
The one on the right is full of binders with alphabetized and organized MS Decals and CDS dry transfers.
The very bottom drawer on the left is full of packaged sandpaper in wet, dry and all variety of coarseness, popsicle sticks for resin casting, packages of single edged razor blades and boxes of Train Show purchased 1/8" shank drill bits.
The bottom drawer on the right has Digitrax throttles, Digital Calipers a Scale for weighing freight cars and resin volumes and other electronic miscellany.
Everything else above the desk level is pretty self explanatory.
Oh and the plywood above the desk with the drawings taped to the folds in accordion fashion to enclose the whole thing completely.
Stored in that area is my 2' long sacred stash of Holgate-Reynolds brick sheet and a number of RC plane rod-tube gizmos, long balsa and other goodies.

[Cajonpassfan]

I cannot recommend this tool more highly. Much of what I do would simply not be possible without it.

@DKS, would you please elaborate a bit?
Just what makes this little table saw so indispensable to you? What do you use it for? Structures? I’m truly curious as I was just contemplating buying one from MicroMark, but today stumbled on a $38 Mighty-Mite with a 4” blade at our neighborhood Harbor Freight and bought it, see pic below. Well, it’s a piece junk and it’s going back for a refund (I should have known better; you get what you pay for )
Other than the vacuum attachment and better apparent quality, what does the MicroMark saw offer that this one doesn’t? The 2’ blade for better precision?
Thanks, Otto K.

[DKS]

OK, well, it's tough to elaborate because I use it so much, but here goes...

For starters, I use a ton of DPM kits, and anyone who has tried bashing them knows they're tough little buggers to cut down--the plastic is thick and hard. Consider this beastie, which involved dozens of cuts that must be straight and parallel:



Or these (note that nearly all of the corners are mitered):















I use it for extra thick plastic, like Plexiglas. Or to make long cuts through irregularly-shaped parts, such as this kit base with lips and steps along the edges... Before:



After:



Also wood--it does an excellent job of making very clean cuts with edges that are absolutely straight, square and true:





It's very useful for making clean, straight cuts on subassemblies that would otherwise be next to impossible to cut. For instance, I needed to shorten this enginehouse after I'd nearly finished the kit, so I just ran one end of the structure through the saw:



Some modelers complain about modifying cast resin parts, such as tunnel portals and retaining walls. I have no problem at all making very complex assemblies from dozens of precisely-cut parts. The stone arch bridge on my Z Scale Gorre & Daphetid is an example:



I use it to make PC board ties, or any parts made from PC board, like my building light electrical connectors:

   

It even works on Gatorfoam, which is not the easiest material to cut, as well as hard rubber, like Cripplebush Creek rock castings...



As for what makes this particular model so good, it's hard to say because I've not used any other (although I could have told you the Harbor Freight tool was useless--they sell mostly junk). It's a Proxxon unit rebranded by Micro-Mark, and I was totally satisfied with the quality from day one. I've used it heavily for the last decade, and it's still got the original blade. It's an earlier model without a vacuum attachment, so it's a bit messy to use, but ask me if I care.

Well, that should be enough to get you started. I could go on all night, but I do need some sleep right now.

 

[peteski]

Here is a sales video for a similar version of the DKS' saw.

I also highly recommend the larger model of the saw (which I own). It features tilting blade, and variable speed.

If you want to see what's inside see

Feel free to jump around this 1 hour + video. 

If you want to see it in action, see

To me this saw is just better quality (and probably more precise) than the $40 Harbor Freight unit.

[DKS]

Those videos are of the deluxe version with tilting blade, multiple guides, etc. I'd love to have one of them, but maybe someday.

I have the older version of its little baby brother--

[peteski]

Those videos are of the deluxe version with tilting blade, multiple guides, etc. I'd love to have one of them, but maybe someday.

I have the older version of its little baby brother--

Oops!  I got confused (again).  I re-read this thread and I made the same mistake on page 2. I updated my post.

[Cajonpassfan]

@DKS, thank you for taking the time to show all these examples. Nice and clean.
Appreciated! I hope you did get your sleep
One more question though: how do you handle all those mitered edges without a tilting blade?
Pete, thanks for the videos as well.
Otto