Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

Just carrying a roll of toilet paper is a good tip!

 

Doesn't it make the toilet paper a little soggy for future use?

 

I always do… that is where I got it..in my car! Lol






Bones

 

I carry two rolls now! Lol





Bones

 

Hello,

Wow, another use for toilet paper other than for an oil filter like the old Frantz Oil Filtering System with a “densely packed filtering media,” better known as toilet paper rolls… will wonders ever cease! It was good to know our friend in his 1961 Econoline with the endless supply of toilet paper filters, when out in no man's land along the barren coastline of Baja Mexico, and many miles to the nearest town... Ha!!!

Those toilet paper rolls may be a commodity again, like they were at the beginning of the hording during the early 2020 pandemic days. So, one might hold on to that roll(s).

Prior to those 2020 days, a new funny looking sponge with a chamois skin surface appeared on the market. The sponge-looking thing wiped all of the interior glass cloudy stuff in one swipe. It was able to squeeze into the lower edges to get to the narrow space created by the sloping window and dash. Old hands or not, the squeezable, sponge thingy covered with a chamois skin got thin and made every inch of the interior windshield glass surface clean.

No liquid was needed as it was a dry wipe and clean. It worked wonders. But, again, it lasted longer than Glass Plus and a clean towel to wipe off, but it was not a permanent thing. We all know that what we breathe out and what circulates in the cab of any car or hot rod will eventually get on the inside of the windshield. With the A/C pumping or the heater, the circulation of stuff does its thing.

Perhaps a couple of weeks of driving around and mild weather made it last longer. But, for whatever reason, the chamois skin spongy thing stayed dry and cleaned the inside of the sloped windshield. Old fingers or not, it got there. If anyone is driving one of those radical angle sloped sporty cars with the windshield sloped way back, the little space is the worst. But this sponge/chamois skin cleaner squeezes into the smallest space and cleans. No water, spray or drips on the leather covered dash or steering wheel.

Jnaki

I have one in the daily driver and one in the garage car cleaning drawer. The model we bought is no longer listed, but here are two similar ones with the same qualities on sale now.

So, the results are good, the dry sponge thing worked the best, took less time out of our busy retirement schedule, and the windows are perfectly clean/clear… until the next month of driving. YRMV

 

I have one of the that I use on my daily drivers. Works well especially on the newer slanted windshields.

https://www.amazon.com/971801-Glass...952663&sprefix=windshield+clé,aps,327&sr=8-11

 

Man, I need to get on the ball! I should have known someone made a better tool for that job , than a roll of toilet paper! But when that’s all I had….. I improvised!





Bones

 

Just don't confuse the two: Blue long handled triangle= windshield. White, soft, fluffy paper on a roll= NOT windshield (your oh, so soft bottom instead)!

 

My dad was a heavy smoker and would eat lunch in his car most days to get out of the dental lab and its atmosphere (acetone, carbon monoxide, other poisons) for a while. One day I decided to clean his windshield, inside and out. The outside was easy, ammonia and water. The inside, much tougher. Finally realized all that nicotine was really clouding the inside. Took a razor blade to it. Took a couple of hours. Dad noticed and was pleased. I mentioned that the windshield was a hint that his lungs were building up that crap, too. He eventually quit smoking after that - and after burying my mom at the age of 59, who also smoked and succumbed to lung cancer. He lived to 81, yielding to heart disease.

 

Keep the cookie tins for small part storage.

 

And they make the shop look so festive! Those things in lots of sizes and shapes have many uses.

 

Phatrat that brings back memories.I needed the hoist to put together a single jet ski lift off my dock .I had to take it apart to get it down the hill to the dock and then lower it onto 2 pontunes (by myself). it worked well with 100 lb in a weight box that i welded on the hoist.

 

Great idea,,,I'll be making one today

 

This may seem vary basic but it took me years to figure this one out. Welding gloves are very bulky so I would use regular work gloves when welding and constantly get my hands burned. I finally started using a pair of men leather dress gloves and they work perfectly. The dress gloves are tight fitting so you can control the mig trigger very well and the splatter does not burn through.

 

Hello,

We have all used small plastic coated wire to wrap our excess cords to get somewhat organized. Unless one buys a roll of this type of wire, and cuts them to size, we all just wait until we purchase something that has the sample twisted around a cord or two.

Well, one day, I had used up my Ziplock bag full of those “free” plastic coated ties. So, in the garage, during one of my drawer clean out days, I was without something to organize small cords that look like they multiplied overnight in the drawer. I had some garden use, plastic coated green wire, but did not want to take anything away from outdoor garden usages.

So, I had some of those odd looking plastic things that hold a commercial bag closed, with yummy bread inside.
bread package clip tie on a bag

Why? I originally did not have a clue, except that they looked cool. I hated throwing them away and they aren’t recyclable. So, I put them in a Ziplock bag. Now, when the supply is low, I start collecting them again.

Jnaki

I found out one day that I did not have coated wires, so I grabbed a bread bag clip and it fit. There were some wires that were phone chargers, old wired phone earbuds, and small stereo speaker headphones.

Then I had a thicker 7 foot long Tablet charger wire curled up spreading itself. Because of the thickness of the wire coating, I had to use two of the bread clips to make them organized. Then since I have several external hard drives for my laptop and home computers, I used the next clips to organize the curled wires.

Now, when I put them back in their respective places, nothing sticks out like a wild hair style look, when we all get up in the morning. They fit in their respective places in the garage drawers, the kitchen key drawer and in a small basket for my laptop stuff. All, nice and curled under control. It is amazing at how much more stuff you can put in a drawer space when wires are under control. YRMV

 

Try buying welding gloves at your local welding supply store. For about $12 they sell some that are kinda gray looking with brown cuffs on them. There are a couple different types but they are made of stuff like goatskin which is great for welding. Once you get a pair you won't use anything else. When they get too dirty and crappy for welding, they are perfect for lifting dirty parts. Amazon has them, but I like to try them on to get the right size.

Those HEAVY/THICK leather gloves are nice for using a cutting torch....but not for mig/tig.

Try these, you will love them.

 

In my area the Tillman tig welding gloves go for about $25, guess I’m getting hosed!

 

Just bought a pair like that at Harbor Freight for about $13.

 

The exact ones shown are on Amazon for about what bigdog paid at HF.

 

Long time ago, I was working in northern Wisconsin right across the Menomonie River from Iron Mountain, MI. I could see these guys out in the woods on the other side of the river trying to cut some trees but they weren't having much luck. After work, I threw my saw in the back of the truck and crossed the river to see if I could help. I got the saw out, fired it up and to a man, those Yoopers all turned to me and said, " What's that noise ? ". That's when I noticed they were all using that contraption in your picture.

 

Last time I bought some.....about a year ago they were less than $15 at the welding store. Previously at another welding store I paid about the same ($13) if memory serves me. With the rampant inflation, I don't know if they are still the same price. I usually buy a couple pair and stick one in a cabinet. I'm bad about using them for other stuff that makes them dirty. They should last a few years with no problem if you don't grab greasy parts with them. They have several versions, goatskin,kidskin, and even Elk skin. Slight variation in price. If they are too high locally, next time you are at the weld shop try a pair on to get the correct size and then order some from Amazon. This is the large size. https://www.amazon.com/Tillman-Grai...1139452&sprefix=tillman+gloves,aps,76&sr=8-23

 

60 year old wire guides, sandblasted, painted, dipped in Plasti Dip. The coating is more like rubber than plastic; the name of the product is deceiving.
The plate for distributors does not require clamping the distributor housing in a vise.
May have posted this stuff before but I can't see it anywhere on this thread.

 

I was searching for something else when I came across the reply above by fordor41 several pages back.

Here's something similar. Not the finish nail part but what to pull the nail with. A friend made this slide hammer many years ago. The rod is a Model A brake rod and the weight is a stack of thick washers welded together. The stamped date is the day he made it. This thing hangs on the wall right over my primary bench. You'd be surprised how handy it is.

 

My distributor holder isn't nearly as cool as Oilguy's but it works and was made from scrap wood that otherwise would have gone into a bonfire or used for woodstove kindling.



And speaking of distributors; while doing some cleanup recently I found several distributors that were taking up space on various benches and shelves. Here's how I got them out of the way:

 

How do you guys store your funnels? I have a half dozen varied sizes. I just have a cardboard box, and when the box gets soaked at the bottom I get a new box. Must be a better way.

 

Looking forward to responses to this one. I don't do anything creative. I just have a large old Christmas metal can that I put all of my funnels into. After using them I drain out any excess into a waste oil container (if they were used for oil), wipe them down with disposal paper rags then spray them with brake cleaner so they're clean and dry before putting them back into the storage can.

 

To be clear, I don't do this, just grabbed the pic from the internet.

 

I have a shelf with oil bottles on it it’s fairly low, maybe 2’ from the floor, i just drove some nails in the edge of it and drilled holes in the funnels that didn't already have one. I stick smaller ones in bigger ones and leave a rag on the floor to catch drippins. A simple picture would have meant a trudge across hundreds of feet of frozen tundra.

EDIT! Now with picture

 

A cool thing about this is that you could use any visa grip jaw style that has the same adjuster screw size.

 

I have about 15 file cabinets. One drawer is for funnels only. I wipe them out before storing them and they are clean and ready to go any time I need one. There are about 10 different size funnels in there.

b-t-w; I've seen quite a few pix on the web similar to the one rdscotty posted above. For me the drawback to doing something like that is that I live on a gravel road and everything inside of my shop has a perpetual film of dust on it. I'd rather not have dust in my funnels when I'm ready to use one.