Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

A rather obvious method to add holes in thick rubber or webbing. Take a piece of tubing and grind a sharp edge on it and use your press to punch it out. A heavy duty vise will also work.

 

Hammer on a piece of wood will work good too. I actually have a set of those, my Dad gave me. He called them “ hole cutters” .






Bones

 

When I've had to cut a hole like this and I couldn't back the piece up with wood/metal I chucked the hole cutter up in the drill and spun it just like a hole saw. Works great.

 

king pin bushing reaming

 

I can't count the number of times I have had to ream stuff out with Emory paper. Takes time but sure is a lot cheaper than a reamer, especially when they are hard to come by.

 

Same

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Always wear pants when working in the shop.

 

Funny, long while back my steel supplier send me a batch of miss-cut 3x4.1 channel cross sills for a block bed we were building, he didn't want them back, turned out to be just right amount of steel for the floor joists and beams for a deck I wanted to build; not MIG tho, stick welded.

 

king pin bushing reaming[/QUOTE]

I’ve always just wrapped a piece of emery paper around a drill bit (in a drill) and done it that way.
Never did have much patience......

 

I say now @RICH B , you will notice ole man that I said "most", as in non-inclusive, and evidently that, dear sir, applies to you. Bully! Now then, where did I place my bourbon?

 

This simple A frame rack kept the body parts from being damaged and also saved valuable space in the garage. Next time I will use larger diameter swivel casters on all 4 corners

 

Great idea
I also have a lead block about 6" round and 3/4" thick that I use for a dolly when I'm punching holes,,
After punching heaps of holes on both sides, I drop it in to a tin an melt it down an start again with a good flat block,

 

Specially when the power meter reader turns up

 

Don’t think, I’ll be just grinding on this a few seconds so I’ll be fine in shorts and flip flops. Sparks burn on the feet!


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I did some pipeline welding , think about laying on your back stick welding pipe , the slag dripping off and burning through your overalls , pants and into your junk . That is a real bad day and , you will be sure you use a blanket from that day forward. Just think about the company accident report and the company nurse inspecting the injury . WTH !

 

I got in trouble last weekend thinking that way when I thought I could get by grinding with just safety glasses instead of a face shield

 

Use Posi-Locks for wire connections that may need to come apart in the future. Especially useful for wiring headlights on Model A's where the wires have to come back through the metal looms. https://www.posi-products.com/posilock.html

 

And frying bacon!

 

Also, it messes up your natural night vision as well as electronic.

 

I like using small brass pipe with a petcock at the end. Had to do it for a Yukon. Some drains, especially tri-five chevys can be a real p.i.t.a.

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I keep these plastic food trays from the Chinese take out shop,,, wash them and use them in the garage,, ideal for nuts ,bolts washers etc,,electrical switches,bulbs and parts,when stripping cars apart you can put all fasteners etc say from L/H fender in one container and the R/H in another,,, an mark me with a sharpie etc etc,, being transparent you can see what's inside without opening,, they stack easily on top of each other,,,, , also good for putting touch up paint in when doing stone chips round the car,,
So go get yourselves some number 8 (wontons an rice) ,, or number 12 (chow mien)and use the containers

 

Years ago, I bought a 2 ft fluorescent light, encased in a lexan tube, that runs on 12 volts. It is excellent for working in tight places, and is also an excellent emergency trouble light. It also has hangers so you can hang it from a hood.
Bob

 

If you are a person that also does wood work, the sawdust works as well as, if not better than, oil dry for cleaning up oil spills in the shop or on the driveway. If left on a oiled area and stirred and stepped on periodically, it will sometimes remove all traces of the oil.
I have also found that fine sawdust works extremely well as a hand cleaner, when mixed with dawn detergent and water. I also add soap to the mix, by lathering my hands with the soap before using the mixture.
Bob

 

When drilling into a piece of metal, or drilling a blind hole, where you don't want the chips to fall through to the other side, apply grease to the drill bit. The metal chips will stick to the grease.
Bob

 

Talking about wearing long pants in the shop--every time I have injured myself working on a car or doing woodworking, I was doing something I knew better than to do.

 

This may have been mentioned before, but eyeglasses will NOT keep chips and trash out of your eyes. In fact, I think they attract them. After having to go to the eye doc to have splinters of metal dug out of my eye, I started using goggles over my glasses.
Funny how experience can teach you quicker than a thousand verbal lessons.

 

Oh yes, like I have always been told, "Do.as I say, not as I do."

 

When welding up holes, I use a copper backer held by a magnet to prevent blowing a bigger hole.. Cheap magnet from harbor freight, scrap stainless and flattened copper pipe.

 

Nice!!!

 

I use the copper bar and I use magnets to position pieces, but never thought of attaching a magnet to the copper bar. Duh!
I'm going to be on this tip like a spider on a fly.
Bob