home made tools and equipment...

Rivet a piece of leather so you can flap it over behind your head.

 

Hello,

We are old folks, but at the demand of our son and our granddaughter, we have joined the digital connection or connective world. It was necessary to be in constant contact when our granddaughter was staying with us 4-5 days a week. Or secretly going out on our many road trips and picnics at the So Cal beaches with a happy toddler that liked nothing better than to play in the sand, wet/dry for hours on end.
We are/were avid coastal lifestyle folks since our teenage days and it has played into our lives like it was a part of daily living. In reality, it was a part of daily living. Now, our granddaughter has come to join that part of our lives, grew up covered with protective coatings and enjoyed the beaches of So Cal like it was her third home. Ours was first, her mom and dad’s was a close 2nd and the beaches were third in the race to please our happy toddler/pre teen.

But, in the constant digital age, we always were told to do what we wanted to do, but stay in contact. So, laptops for emails, photo storage, communication when not in phone range, etc. our supply of electronic devices was growing by leaps and bounds in the never end need to stay in touch. Screen time was a must, whether on a phone tiny screen, a larger tablet screen or even a larger laptop screen. It was all there at the request of her young, worried parents.

Now, we followed orders as far as they applied to us. So, our arsenal of digital devices was rapidly taking over in our computer desks and drawers all over the house and station wagons. Needless to say, where the digital devices go, so goes the umpteen rolls of charging wires and plugs.

Jnaki

Over time, we curled up the charging wires into small curls to fit into backpacks and purses. But, at home they were also in a large pile in different cabinets and drawers. Out of sight, out of mind is the old saying, until it is necessary to untangle the cords unwind the twirly twist ties and lengthen the cord so it does not bind while plugging in the device.

I found out that the twist tie cords took too long and the constant winding and unwinding was a hassle. So, since we eat bread, rolls, English Muffins and such, we are constantly handling those colorful plastic tabs with the due date usually stamped on them.

On our huge supply of digital devices, the cords are in a small basket. Each one is labeled as to what wire/charger plug goes with which device. Iphone, Ipad, mini Ipad, Kindle tablet reader, Kindle Paperwhite reader, our laptops and my Android phone + Android tablet. That is 8 charger cords and plugs. Add in the extra Apple Iphone cords for a visiting teenager, parents and others makes the “cord basket” full of chargers+ wires. Velcro self wraps are great as an alternate cord wrap and storage item. But unwrapping and keeping the Velcro is also wearing on the time of action/usage.

So, I figured out those little plastic tabs for securing the bunched up ends of loaves of bread, are free. I like to call them “Mickey Mouse” ear clips. Look at the variety of colors and notice one guy doing his own thing… If you can find the larger “mouse ear” clips, (yellow far right in the photo above) they work the best.

Some phone cords are extremely long, but are skinny. That is good for the mouse ear clips. You can’t get all of the wires inside of the opening, but if you do the base cord + the plug end cord in a circle, the others will fit or just stayed curled up during storage.

In this second photo, the yellow larger mouse ear clip has more room to gather and hold the whole curled up length of cord. That is a plus, but searching for the bread or rolls that have the larger one is a game in itself. We happen to have a stack of ordinary mouse ears in all colors. Then on the other side of the drawer, the larger mouse ears are sitting waiting for their turn at cord organization. (only a few left)

But, I have no idea which bread rolls, bread loaves or English Muffins came with the larger mouse ears. They are the best for longer cords as pictured above.

Note: For those “gorilla twist” guys, Yes, they will break if forced to take more wire than necessary. But, they are free and plentiful. Instead of jamming in all of the cords, use the curled up main plug end and main charger end and the cord mouse ears will last a long time. One twist and it is off, one twist and it is back in place. YRMV

 

A little OT, but noticed a change in the Mickey Mouse ear clips used locally. I grew up with those same plastic clips... never thought much about them. A change happened in the last year or so, and the clips are now made of cardboard. Probably better for the environment, but a lot lest robust than the old plastic ones. They last as long as the loaf of bread does, but not much longer... the cardboard "ears" lose their tension.

Changing times.

Cheers,
Harv

 

Gonna guess this is very low speed, very light cuts?

 

Put the freshly painted fenders on the Deuce five window. Went to install the hood latches only to realize that when I boxed the frame for the flatmotor mounts I denied myself access to the to put the nuts on the latch mount bolts. Rivnuts were the answer but how to install with the fenders installed? Fabricated a deep reach rivnut tool. All's good now, Ron

 

Rivnuts are your friend.....

 

They do have there places.

 

Here's my homemade contribution. The transmission was bolted to the engine before the body was put on with allen head bolts. Now with the body on, there is no room for allen wrenches. So, I cut a small piece of allen wrench and welded a nut to it. Now I just stick the allen in the bolt and reach in with a 9/16 wrench. Easy peezy.

 

I have been tearing down an 8ba for inspection. The thing has been giving me absolute fits! It is stuck in so many ways. Its sad because it obviously never got the oil changed.... Its an engine that was on a cart at the local train yard. It was used with a 4 speed jury rigged to only go into 1st and reverse. Being incredibly stuck I figured yanking the crank out then addressing the pistons was the best course of action. Of course.... as is often the case, the two pistons whos nuts weren't accessible wouldnt move either so the crank wouldn't lift out. So...my solution; I took a cheap 9/16 socket and cut the 1/2" drive end off. Took a cheap 11/16 wrench and opened up the box end, checked the angle and burned 'em together. Worked SO GREAT! Crank is out now and I had enough room to slide a big aluminum pipe down and beat the hell outta those pistons. A few have moved

 

Now that the allen heads are out, did you take the opportunity to swap in some regular bolts?

 

That's the plan when it goes back together.

 

From the Interweb...

 

My bottle jack press. Originally built to do axles bearings on an 8" Ford rear end. I've used it on quite a bit of stuff since. Here I'm putting a double bend in a steering arm so my tie rod ends will fit on top of the arms instead of underneath. The beauty of this press is that I can store it under my bench.
Also, the vise stand I made and the 1/4" plate that clamps into it for a welding/utility table.

Gary

 

I made this to make it easy to fill gearbox's and different with oil. Put oil into the bottle and then plug the air in to push the oil into the gearbox. Clean and easy.

 

none of us knew all thread was that strong!

 

I started out with 5/8" because I had it. It worked fine for the axle bearing and other stuff but I did re-make it with 3/4" later (I couldn't find any 1" local).

Gary

 

It's pretty tough.

 

I ordered 1" from Fastenal. Took a couple of days to get it but they do have it.

 

From the Interweb...

 

In the background of this picture, you can see the socket shelf above my bench. About a 1X3 board with 1/2, 3/8 and 1/4" wood dowels drilled and glued into it to locate my sockets. Rachets, breaker bars and extensions hang on the pegboard.

Gary

 

Going to be making a bullseye pick and was wondering if anyone has a suggestion for a return spring?

 

Would some of those bolts with a "reduced" head work there. They have a washer type surface and a smaller head , kinda like some header bolts.

 

Great idea! But I already got it done with regular bolts. I just tipped the whole engine down, tightened the transmission bolts, then raised it up, bolted on the engine mounts and dropped it into place. I do, however, really love using those 12-sided ARPs for intake manifolds and headers.

 

“So, our arsenal of digital devices was rapidly taking over in our computer desks and drawers all over the house and station wagons. Needless to say, where the digital devices go, so goes the umpteen rolls of charging wires and plugs.”

“Over time, we curled up the charging wires into small curls to fit into backpacks and purses. But, at home they were also in a large pile in different cabinets and drawers. Out of sight, out of mind is the old saying, until it is necessary to untangle the cords unwind the twirly twist ties and lengthen the cord so it does not bind while plugging in the device.”

“I found out that the twist tie cords took too long and the constant winding and unwinding was a hassle. So, since we eat bread, rolls, English Muffins and such, we are constantly handling those colorful plastic tabs with the due date usually stamped on them.”


Hello,

For those that have charger cords or usb cords to connect various devices from one phone/camera/charger to a power plug or end plug for the wall. There are now more sources to get access to those larger mouse ears. The small mouse ears are still the mainstay as they have been around for ages. But in the less is more theory, the larger mouse ears probably save more money in the zillions, due to using less products for the same size.

Before, they were randomly placed on various breads, as plastic wrap holders . As more folks only got two or three unclip and clip back again before breaking the small mouse ears, there was a need for larger holes, but the same simple design.

small or regular clips with mouse ears to the yellow version with a larger set of mouse ears...

Jnaki

Behold, the industry has listened to the various complaints and have started to use the larger mouse ear clips on not just some bread company products, but in recent months, there are now on nationally known brands and on most gluten free breads and products. So, if you like the larger mouse ears, you will have to eat gluten free breads and muffins…Ha!!! Some taste awful, but are good for about 1% of the folks in the world for better health.


In recent purchases, my wife found out that her Gluten free bread has those larger mouse ears.
As you can see, the larger “mouse ears” have the same shape, but clip area is larger.

Note:

Old information: Sept 2023

“But, I have no idea which bread rolls, bread loaves or English Muffins came with the larger mouse ears. They are the best for longer cords as pictured above.” (At the time, i just found the larger ones in the drawer, mixed in with the regular ones. )

New information: NOV 2023

Most of the gluten free breads and rolls have the larger mouse ears. They did not have them when I wrote the new information on the plastic clips to use as cord organizers. But over the almost two months, those companies have changed over to the larger opening, probably to ease the tension of consumers calling to complain that the small hole mouse ears snap off due to the larger amount of plastic bread/rolls bag needs to be twisted and sealed up with the small clips. Then they break easily.

But, the larger mouse holes are a good business sense, as they are the same size overall, but use less material for bigger profits. The normal or regular bread companies have not changed over and most of those are still using the smaller hole mouse ear clips.

So, if you know some folks that need gluten free breads and products, have them save the larger mouse clips for your cord debacle situations. Then you don’t have to eat gluten free bread and still have garage and office desk drawer organization with products that are free…YRMV

 

Since people were discussing shooting dry flake out of ketchup bottles in the purple gun thread figured I’d toss up my dry flake gun. Maybe $5 worth of materials and works like a champ if you’re shooting dry. As the saying goes, pictures are worth a thousand words:

 

I was just going to ratchet strap a banjo bell to my bench and work on my QC.
Instead I went to the junk pile and grabbed a piece of pipe and an old flywheel. I bored the pipe a little to make itfit then welded the pipe to the center of the flywheel. It looks like a patio umbrella stand and would probably work for that too but I'm using it to work on my banjo. As a bonus when the whole axle is in the stand it's easier to move if you tip it a little and roll it like an oxygen cylinder.

 

I have been working on a stand for my shrinker/stretcher and I converted it to foot operation instead of lever. I built it so that it can be operated by lever also. At first I used springs to return the pedals but I did not like the feel. I poured lead weights and used them to counterbalance the pedals and I liked that.

 

seems to be the project of the month
Mines pretty basic but works well

 

School kids over here came up with the “save the environment” idea of doing away with the plastic clips a few years back.
They took it to the big supermarkets, who felt that they would be doing a good thing by implementing the recyclable cardboard ones.
I thought that they may revert back to the paper bags as well, - but not yet……..

 

Can you get a closer shot of that, please?