Thread: $2 shop : What do you buy & what is it good for ?

Some of the non-clip rubber matting stuff. Its excellent to put under a piece of timber while I sand it with the orbital sander, or while I do almost anything else with it. Put it in tool drawers, on shelves, anywhere that you want to stop things from slipping.

Things I buy:

Cheap screwdrivers - I can't make a piece of steel with a handle on it for $1.00. Useful for making single use tools.
Super Glue tubes - the little metal tubes keep for years while still sealed, and keep well in the fridge when opened.
Steel rulers and cutting mats - you can never have too many rulers, and cutting mats are just handy for protecting decent surfaces.
Plastic storage tubs - 'nuff said.
Silica gel kitty litter - it's not just for kitty poop.
USB/ethernet/other leads - Dick Smith Electronics, you can keep your $44.98 10 meter ethernet cable, I''ll get it for $6, thanks.


Things I avoid:

Drill bits (I've had twist drills untwist!)
Wire brushes for drill use (I don't like feeling like a porcupine)
Side cutters (apparently, copper wire is too hard for some of them)
Nails (I've had spaghetti that bends less)
Anything made of plastic for outside use (plasticiser to stop UV breakdown costs an extra $40 per tonne...lets just omit that to bring costs down)

Originally Posted by Master Splinter

Things I buy:


Steel rulers and cutting mats - you can never have too many rulers, and cutting mats are just handy for protecting decent surfaces.

Rulers are people, a rule is used for measuring..........

Meh. The Oxford Dictionary says:

Definition of ruler
noun

1a person exercising government or dominion.
Astrology another term for ruling planet.
2a straight strip or cylinder of plastic, wood, metal, or other rigid material, typically marked at regular intervals and used to draw straight lines or measure distances.


I hate to say it, but it's not the 1940's any more....


...but more importantly, any shop calling it a rule will probably be charging ten times more than a $2 store....

Be careful with the steel rulers..... I bought one from a cheap shop and could not figure out for the life of me why a project just wouldn't line up. I measured twice cut once. Measured again and again and again.

After a little while I found the mm markings on one side were at different spacings (ever so slightly) to the other side.

Originally Posted by I_wanna_Shed

Be careful with the steel rulers..... I bought one from a cheap shop and could not figure out for the life of me why a project just wouldn't line up. I measured twice cut once. Measured again and again and again.

After a little while I found the mm markings on one side were at different spacings (ever so slightly) to the other side.

I got caught out recently

One steel rule was marked in eighths of and inch and the other was marked in tenths. I became terribly confused before I found out what I'd done wrong.



Bill

Containers of glitter for casting in pens.
Small spray bottles I can fill.
Takeaway food containers to fill with prawns when I catch them.
Craft foam to apply CA to pen finish.
Hinges and box clips as they are less than half the price of BGS.
CA.
dust masks.
electrical connectors.

Originally Posted by steamingbill

I got caught out recently

One steel rule was marked in eighths of and inch and the other was marked in tenths. I became terribly confused before I found out what I'd done wrong.



Bill

That's why I only use the metric system.


Peter.

x2 and x3 magnification reading glasses.







Geoff

Sharpening stones ideal for so many uses especially if you have a Tormek or similar wet grinder.
Clamps
scrapers
magnets some are earth
magnetic trays
rolls of hand wipe
electricy tape
gaffer tape
rules
tape measure
wood drill bits which I grind and turn into turning tools
Chopping boards wood or plastic wood ones used to be made into drop spindles they were pre laminated and variety of wood types. Plastic/nylon ones a variety of uses.


Their CA tubes not matter how I store I seem to end up with empty tubes

Those littlebags of fibre washers, O rings, rubber washers etc. all in assorted sizes. Very handy.

Windsor Plywood. That's what the store is called. Maybe 200 species of wood.
You need an $8K live edge walnut boardroom table blank? You need to buy bird'seye maple for $1.10/kg? I buy bundles of rosewood cutoffs from guitar makers. Mahogany, 3mm x 100 x 600 is like $0.25 a stick. I can afford to stir paint with it.
You want a 60 x 60x 200cm piece of Yellow Cedar for carving? Which one?

Metal recyclers: I got 6mm copper rod, some 6mm x 75mm x 100mm copper plate for $10.10/kg ($5/lb). They had #6 copper wire but I don't need any yet, freakin' bin full of it.

Princess Auto: a chain store with an unbelievable selection of recycled motors, fans, etc. Lots of good new stuff.

Computer recyclers: exquisite +/- 12, +/-5 VDC power supplies and fans for next to nothing. My house is 2 x 1,200 sqft (metric unknown). I run a compressed wood pellet stove, (Harman P38+) to heat the whole place through winters that can sag down to -20C. That takes 5 tons. 10,000lbs.
The whole place operates on a stupid little 5W computer fan for circulation. The bottom line is that the system saved me enough money in 2 winters to pay the $3K for the stove.

Originally Posted by Avery

Those littlebags of fibre washers, O rings, rubber washers etc. all in assorted sizes. Very handy.

Aldi has plastic assortment boxes of those for $4.99 at the moment, handy to have in the shed, as you say.

Things to avoid - any thing more than $2.