Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

I brought home a couple of those hoses many years ago when my dad was in the hospital. The ones I got had a little rib on the inside that kept them from sealing on a standard fitting. About all they were good for was siphoning small amounts of liquid. Like getting the antifreeze out from under a layer of oil in a bucket.

 

shows how valuable antifreeze is up there!!-wow...

 

At 20 bucks a gallon, I'd say it's pretty valuable everywhere. If you buy 50/50 mix at 17 bucks and consider that half the volume is water which most folks get for free, then your ethylene glycol cost you 34 bucks a gallon.

 

Another way to get a little oil off the top of a pan of antifreeze is to lay an oil absorbent pad on top. They soak up the oil, but won't accept any antifreeze.

 

Newsprint will work the same.

 

That's cool. I wonder what the science is behind that.

 

Saw this home-built buffer on-line. Has potential.

 

I seem to recall a similar one in an old Popular Mechanics or Science.

 

I made mine from an old treadmill, little more compact.

 

This little guy is a big help. Keeps my soldering iron from melting me and everything else. Made from Junk.

 

Made one for my heat shrink gun.

 

you last two guys related?

 

Just did the same on my bandsaw, but used a Variac (Auto transformer), and a rectifier to be able to vary the speed.
Those treadmills are a good source of DC motors.

 

Treadmill motors are perfect for a drill press too.

 

And for a lot of old machine tools for those of us who don't have 220. Finding the right ones can be confusing.

 

I had a little hand tool save my *** yesterday. I may have first heard of it here on the HAMB, a Vessel Impacta screwdriver. Only needed it a few times, but really needed it. A light duty impact screwdriver, for small stuff, JIS tip, like Phillips, but fits Japanese style screw heads better......works fine on ragged old small Phillips. Good for brand new screws, too, saves marking them up. No picture, Google find it easy.

 

My old wood-cutting bandsaw re-powered by a treadmill motor. Jackshafted down to cut steel. The motor controller is from E-Bay.

Gary

 

Who knows what Dad was up to.

 

Heating the shop or thawing the pipes? Making coffee?

 

Hello,

I knew there was an old photo of the variety of cords to be rolled up on our devices. The old photo was taken on a leather couch we gave to our granddaughter. It was a sectional sofa to allow her to have a nice place for her friends to sleep on late night "girl's night out" adventures. It was too low and wide for us old folks after several years.

But, it made a nice flat platform location for the myriad of corded items in need of some order and neatness. Now, when I grab one item out of the digital file container, I only grab the corded one I need. not a bunch of loose wires.

Jnaki

This arrangement has p***ed My wife's seal of approval for neatness and organization. She even uses the Apple phone charger corded clips and other wires all rolled up neatly in her own drawer for Apple products. There are a few Android cords/chargers in that photo, too.

(Plus, the ever present 4 TB external hard drive )YRMV

 

Fed honeypot solvent traps make great weld on breathers. 2 for $10 on Amazon and they even come with O-rings to seal the filter to the breather. The knurled grip area gives you a place to weld into without getting into the threads like a proper weld washer. This one is installed on a rear axle.

 

Just looked on Amazon. They have 64 hits in various sizes. What are they originally made to do?

 

A little tip when installing rear brake shoe return springs. Like most people I don't own return spring installation pliers and used to pull my hair out getting the return springs onto the anchor pin only to have them shoot off the screwdriver under full tension with the resulting shockwave making the brake ***embly fall apart. I overcome this by joining up 3 long cable ties and looping them around the cir***ference of the brake shoes to hold the complete ***embly in place. Once the cable ties are tight you can now take as many shots fitting the return springs without ***embly/re***embly of the brake components.

 

Okay but, I've seen guys hook the shoes into the bottom adjuster, with spring,
and the return springs onto the top anchor bolt.
Then pulling the shoes apart enough to set the tops of the shoes around the anchor bolt. Now just push the hold down pin into place and connect the clip-washer onto the pin(s) one at a time.
OR go BUY YOU the tool for the job. Can't be more than a large pizza.
BTW, When I bought mine it was more than Pizza. Pizza was a buck then
The Ford later style self adj. w/cable etc gets dicey with no tool.
Still get the tool.

 

Use a cable tie (looped) in place of your screw driver, and use a pair of vice grips on the cable tie to pull the spring over to where you want it. Then once in place, cut the cable tie and pull it out.
No springs popping off ……..
Cable tie doesn’t damage the spring end as does using pliers or other tools on the spring and only stretches the spring the minimum amount required to get it in position.

Handy tip, - use safety gl***es when doing it your way !
.

 

One of these has always been the easiest for me.

 

About the price of a medium pizza here.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BR1BV8Q/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Slightly different, but pretty close to what I paid for K-D brand 50 years ago. Stop chasing springs all around your shop or driveway for a half hour per corner and buy the tool. 4 seconds or less per spring and works every time.

 

I don't know where I got it and I can't find one with Google; but I've got a one-piece rod like the right leg of the one in the link above and in the pic below. It, of course, doesn't have the curves on the other end. I also have one identical to the link but like/use the one-piece one and never get the "pliers" type out of the tool drawer. Next time I'm in my shop I'll snap a pic and load it here.



EDIT: the site didn't like the pic I posted but take my word for it; it's nearly identical to the one in the link posted by Fabber McGee above.

 

Yep, I don't have the big pliers. Just a bar that has the kink on it and the round end with a tab to pop them off. No fuss. The pliers have those on the ends of the handles and cost 12 bucks on average.

 

Well, wouldn't you know it, the tool I mentioned above isn't in the tool drawer where it's supposed to be.

The first pic below is all the brake tools that I found in said drawer. Top tool is what was mentioned above and I haven't used this one in over 30 years, probably over 40. Bottom three have one or both ends that are to replace the little "washer" that goes over the spring that holds the shoe at the right distance form the backing plate. The top of these three has the indention to "hook" over the stud to reinstall the "long" spring. The top "pliers" type has a similar indention on one of the handles. These indentions are shown close-up in the other two pix. The tool that I can't find looks like the center pic on one end and I honestly don't remember what the other end looks like. The last time I used it was about 9 years ago and I don't know where I misplaced it.