Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

as you can never have enuff light: I guess every body has an old power bank worthless today because it's too small to charge a modern smart phone. Buy the cheapest usb led swan lamp for laptops you can get (if you pay more than $5 you've been ripped off ) and connect it to your power bank. Great spot light for precision jobs and consumes nearly nothing so I'm charging once a month or two. i use it all the time.

 

Whats sad is that I am so out of touch that I had to google "power bank" to see what one was. Never heard of it. Must be some new fangled gizmo...

 

One little simple one i use.

When trying to measure door openings, fender widths etc many times the surface is too slick to get the end of the measuring tape to stay there while trying to get to the other side to read the measuring tape.

So what i do is take a simple piece of masking tape and put on the surface i want the end of the measuring tape to stick too, it does 2 things, 1_ it protects the paint and most importantly it gives texture to the surface for the end of the measuring tape to bite on.

 

When you need a little more "tug" from your bungee cord try leaving one end secured then rotate / spin the other end, it will get a little tighter with every turn...

 

1. When my grand dad had to weld around a hole that he needed to maintain he would pull the core out of an old D-cell battery and slide it in the hole then weld...
I guess the weld dosent stick to whatever the core is made of.
2. When I am roughing in front end alignment i lay a trash bag out flat and spray one side with Gibbs or WD40, then fold the bag in half with the lube inside.
Make two of these then.lower the front wheels onto them. Now the tires will move freely as you adjust toe.
Chappy

 

Saw a couple for using old cutting boards- but here’s a different way. Go to a used restaurant supply house and ask for old cutting boards off prep fridge (aka sandwich or pizza prep). They’re about 3/4 thick, 10-14 wide and 3 or 4 feet long and made from high density polypropylene. Cut into long strips and use as slides for moving heavy objects. Ever see a guy move a big safe by himself? This’ll get it done

 

Carbon rod cores in old batteries.

 

I was chopping a '28 tudor as entertainment at our club event...
guy came by and asked if there was anything I could do to bail him out...
he had snapped off the big alt. bolt on his aluminum head…
I taped a same size flat washer to the area around the broken bolt...
then welded into the hole a couple tacks at a time... eventually built up a 3/8" weld that stuck out the same... the washer kept me from welding the head, the heat from welding let the bolt come out with plyers.
made a new friend !

 

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A fender stand with a plywood top works equally as well and the height is adjustable by dropping a chain link or two. Folds flat against the wall.


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View attachment 4469727 I have some tool boxes that have wrenches in them. I have one for standard wrenches and one for metric. Then I use a separate drawer for each size and the larger wrenches 15/16 and up go in a single drawer. That way all the 9/16s are in one drawer and I can pick the one I want for the situation. If you neatly store them in separate sets, you have to grab different sets to see what works. Its not all neat and perfect but when the drawers are closed it looks perfect.

Then over by the lift I put a pegboard and just stepped the wrenches by size. Don't care whether they are standard or metric.....just the next larger size. Then when I've got a wrench that doesn't fit I take two steps and hang it on the pegboard and grab the size next to it. Thats for all those times when you are working on a car that has both metric and standard and I always have the wrong wrench. It's really handy.......Its on an old Craftsman workbench and I can roll it wherever I need it, but mostly its parked next to the lift.
Oh, the sockets are on top of the bench and then ratchets and extensions in the drawers. Got the wrong socket in your hand......just look at the wrenches and see what the next larger one is. View attachment 4469727 View attachment 4469728 View attachment 4469729 View attachment 4469730



Not for everyone but it works great for me............

 

"Pencils - too short to sharpen"

"Pieces of string, too short to use for anything"

 

Just as a safety-oriented aside. I was talking with a one-eyed guy last week and I just came out and asked him: "How'd you lose your eye"? He said he was leaned over the handlebars securing the load on the front of his four-wheeler with a bungee strap. It popped loose and took his eye out. I'm sure the lack of depth perception can be a PIA. Be safe out there.

 

I'm sure it's been mentioned already, but as a Newbie I've learned quickly to
1. Take a billion pictures as I tear stuff apart, makes reassembly lots easier
2. ALWAYS put tools away at the end of the day, I never remember where I put that 10mm socket last night.

 

10mm what’s that?

 

You know! That little bastard that's bigger than the 3/8" you tried first, and smaller than the 7/16" that you just tried and had to walk to the tool box for the 3 effing times for.

 

For most of my projects, the under lid brushes used in cans of sealant, anti sieze and the like, are generally too big or splayed out to use without sloping the stuff where it's not intended to be. I epoxy a button magnet to the lids and stick on a glue brush. No more slop and the brush stays with it's own can of goodness.

 

A creeper works well for a fender stand table top, the wheels will kinda help keep it in place.

 

Ah, the elusive 13/32" socket.

 

The ONLY key to my shop is hanging from a carabiner on the belt loop of the jeans I'm wearing. Drives the wife crazy, she would like to put flower pots n carp in there!

1 more car I promise, Rex Winter
Dry n windy Lubbock TX

 

A technique I use when using a spark plug socket to remove or install plugs. I put a pinch of talc on the rubber inside the plug socket. It helps prevent jamming and breaking the porcelain, and also helps when removing the plug from the socket.
Bob

 

I use metric all over my Modified. Except for a few sizes used on seatbelts or suspension Imperial is much more expensive over here, especially in chrome or stainless. Imperial size sockets and spanners are specialist items and I can’t remember the last time I saw a set in Halfords (the UK equivalent of Pep Boys).


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That’s fine until you lock the key in the workshop. I had to borrow a grinder to cut the locks off, which brings me to two tips;

1. Use combination padlocks on the workshop
2. Ultra thin slitting discs have a sell buy date - the ones I borrowed were 5 years old and three exploded on me before I cut the locks off


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When buying grinding wheels or cut off discs for a bench grinder or a hand held, check the outside edges for nicks or chips. If they have them they have been dropped or something slammed into them and they could explode. The last time I looked at the local Home Depot all but one of them in the rack was damaged and would likely explode when spun up to grinding speed.

 

Before any trip be sure you have one or more shower curtains in the stow.
Great for laying on the ground or under the car in case you drop that tinny tinsy capacitor screw....ya no

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Have an old shower curtain in the trunk as well. Works great, and gives you a large area to slide around on. Cheap magnetic flashlight, and disposable coveralls are also brought along.

 

I will chime in... I work in a 2 car garage... Its not too small, I moved the washer and drier inside the house on the other side of the back wall where they were located to gain room for a toolbox... Storage is a premium in small places. Make storage that works for you.
1. Home depot has some metal folding saw horses... they tuck into a corner when folded up very nicely... Helps eliminate clutter.
2.Get a storage building in your backyard... Load it with things you hardly ever use..
3.See how to move things layout wise to open up room to work in, sometimes things you have held on to for years that have no use may need to go on to the next guys garage.
4. be realistic of what you are doing and trying to maintain... 4 welding machines, 2 lathes, a mill and English wheel etc... If you are making money its a different story, but for the normal guy building a car you dont really need all that crap if you have a super small garage... hence if you are a hoarder, go back to rule #2
5. Don't buy crap you don't need cause it was a "good deal" if your not going to use it. We all fall into that trap... BUT we get into the TRIPPING over it phase before we use it. Is 5 years of tripping over something worth the 50 bucks you saved on your good deal?
6. Keep it clean... Try to put things in an organized place if possible... Sweep if you have wood or concrete, if you have rock, I suggest getting a magnet sweeper to help keep things cleaner for your tires etc.
7. lighting, 1 40 watt light bulb in a garage isn't enough for anyone over 40... BE realistic and invest in a few lights from home depot or whatever... Its cheap enough now to get plug in led strip lights to have no excuse.. 30 bucks on being able to see or motor tear down for a dropped nut in the carburetor?

 

At my shop, we get some product in some very large Ziploc type bags. I rathole these and keep my pneumatic grease gun in them. You have to remember to handle it carefully though. The smallest hole in the bag and your good intentions are quickly undone.


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I FINALLY found a retailer of 8foot LED light bulbs that replace my flourescents! MEGA bright and use less juice. They came in a clear plastic bag. Ive been installing them in the bag. Im rebuilding my T-bucket and planning to paint it in my shop. Once the paint is done I'll remove the bags and have bright lights again. I may even look into finding something else to cover them with that's disposable.

Otherwise I'd been washing my fluorescent bulbs before and after each paint job, what a pain in the butt, but it makes a difference in light

 

So where did you find 8 foot LED?

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