Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

Wear ear protection!

 

Now that is unique. Looks like it would be easy to duplicate. Hearing protection and finger protection…

 

I like it,,thinking of doing that myself .Poor man`s Pullmax.

 

the one of mine in that not very good pic above thinks NOTHING of 16 ga.!

 

That’s the one Karl Fischer of Japhands offers up. Knowing his work it must be a great tool! I believe he has plans on his website...

 

I've seen the videos. It appears to work pretty well, just slower than a pullmax. Karl is pretty inventive!

 

Hello,

When we decided to do a garage makeover, out came the old big box store cabinets and counter drawers. Once it was empty, the new thicker material and better surface material made the cabinets sturdier and safer. No more sagging shelves. The thicker shelves are double the size of the store bought shelving.

The good thing was it was done by a garage cabinet company that knew normal thickness cabinets for closets are not good for garage work or storage. So, their cabinets are simply sturdier and fit better. They are custom made to the measurements of the garage layout we had planned.

But, once we had them installed, the counter tops were pristine and so I told my self, I needed to refer to an old friend to help keep the counters in pristine condition.

41 year old Corian counter top saved from a new kitchen remodel, back when we were in our late 30s did the trick. The contractors cut out a small opening on a sink counter top. I took the opening cutout piece and made it smaller with rounded corners and edges. Warning: The raw cut Corian counter top is razor sharp and care or gloves are to be used. Once the corners were rounded and edges filed as well as sanded round, then it was easy to grab and hold to use for any “hot plate.”

Yes, the counter folks do not tell you it is ok to put anything warm or hot on the counter surfaces. Which is true. But this original man made surface, Corian was great in that for the garage use, any liquid spills, solder left overs and other paint marks on it cleanly wiped up with lacquer thinner. Now, that made the surface super clean. The one thing the installer told us was that if we did burn the counter top, a super fine sandpaper could be used to go over the marks and that would take out the burnished surface. That was true and the super fine wet/dry paper worked wonders.

But, for the garage use, the super fine sand paper on a vibrating sander did the job of keeping the surface clean after any work. Once I accidently made a deep gouge on the corner from a scraping tool that got out of the angle I was using on a project. It made a small groove one could feel as you rub your hand over the surface. So, out came various sand paper grades and eventually the super fine vibrating sander to get the marks completely off and smooth again.
Then we moved several times and the last garage re-do was the best.

In 2023, I put on felt pads for protection, when we got the new garage cabinets and counter surface. The surface is great, but the added Corian counter top work tablet is a good way to keep the counter surface clean and mark free.

One other application was when we got a new kitchen counter top made out of granite. It took on a completely new look and yes, there were big/little flat plates that were cut out for the sink and other openings. So, again, I had the counter guys do the rounding and shaving to make a smooth/rounded edge/corners to be able to work on the smooth surface.
They were good plates for smoothness and accessibility. Any gluing projects were easily cleaned up and the surface was as good as new. No hammering or chisel work was going to be used on this top. The granite had a tendency to chip easily and cracks started to show up on the new surface and size of the plate. When the plate was cracked, the edges were, again, razor sharp. The cracking continued with any lifting and work on the surface, so, the 30+ year old Corian counter top original work top was put back in play.

Jnaki

Then in 2024, my wife had this great idea of hers to change the counter top again. The granite was smooth and nice, but now, it was dark and we wanted a brighter kitchen appearance. So, we started looking for a lighter looking color and material. The popular alternative was Quartz. But it was going to have the same touchy results of the granite.

So, we opted for a quartzite material that is stronger and better suited to the daily use of two folks that like to keep everything clean and neat in the house. The new lighter counter made the whole kitchen look as if it was day light all of the time. A nice lighter look overall did the job.

Yes, I was able to get a couple of pieces of the new Quartzite pieces. But, to our surprise, the counter folks had already looked ahead and made a custom countertop work plate for us. The corners were rounded and the edges were smoothed and radius matched the curve of the corners. Now they even put on feet to give us a nice looking plate for all reasons.


Here are some other pieces I saved in raw cut form. We are using them for outside planter bowl coasters in the patio. We don’t care if the weather affects the surfaces. We just have to use gloves when moving the plates.

One advantage of sharp edges/corners, is that those plates keep the snails from wanting to climb up the edges to get to the bowl and plant. No need for snail food to keep them away from our plantings. YRMV

 

Had to remove the axles from Clarence's 8" Ford rear recently to replace the third member. Everyone on here has his/her favorite way to pull the axles. Many of you turn the brake drum around and use it as a slide hammer. That's what I did. Normally you put them on with three lug nuts turned around to the flat side. As these lug nuts were mag wheel nuts and I couldn't find any old fashioned "regular" lug nuts I just used the mag wheel nuts. Worked just fine. As you can see there was about 1/2" (+/-) of free play before the drum hit the lug nuts. Before you comment: yes, I know that I have some maintenance to do before I put the drums back on.

 

A basic kitchen timer is very handy to have around. They are cheap and easy to use. Give it a try.

 

Like for seeing how long it takes to drain your bladder?

 

To keep track of BPH...beers per hour

 

Viagra timer!

 

Viagra? What's THAT?

Ben

 

Fabbed up this “puller” out of an old screwdriver to get this nail out that was stuck in my tire this morning.

 

Very !!

 

Turn your 1 ton gantry crane into a 4/four post body lift
My first attempt, 4 x 4 thru the doors, not good to pick up a painted cab.


My second attempt, much better for a painted cab.


How I attached it to the 6 x 6 upright post.



Lift from the center of the out rails to ease the stress on the bearing at the post.

 

Posted this in my build thread yesterday, but thought maybe I should share it here. Had no idea such a thing existed until a week ago. Great for taking closeups as well. Stuck it inside the spark plug hole on my flathead to have a look see. Haha!

 

Speaking of inexpensive tools, I also recently bought this. Cannot believe you can something like this for so little. This is in CAN$ as well.

 

In a pinch you can wrap some old rubber, cloth, pool noodles, etc around it and it'll be fine.

A better solution is to get the rear seat foam from a modern car. They're great for things like that. I use them to protect paint/trim in situations like that. They also do the same job real well when you want to haul things on the roof of your car without scratching it.

 

My son and I have been working on his 56 Chevy truck lately and have had to pull the cab a couple times. He has an overhead crane that we made using the existing 2 post lift as the center support for the crane rails. We used a pair of 2x4s screwed together as we already had them on hand. Where the post passes thru the cab we wrapped it with some rags and a little foam to cushion it and it worked very well. I'd caution people NOT to use a large lifting strap wrapped around the roof, as it tightens as it lifts the cab. It can deform the edge of the roof. Don't ask how I know this.........

 

Yes, I believe the granty crane is the best buck spent on most of my shop equipment. I have done a few modifications besides the 4 post attachment.
1) Had to replace the cable winches to lift the cross beam.
2) I widen the cross beam by 12" so I could get my trailer underneath it.
3) Shorten the height to clear my shop door to get in and out of the shop.
It's a great light weight mobile crane.

 

Does the focus get any better than that?

 

Inside my engine?

 

Made the yellow lifting fixture to make it easier to put the body on/off the frame, could just take an hour or so if something needs to be fixed on the frame.

 

way cool

 

Quick Tech: Have you ever over-filled an automatic trans that doesn't have a drain plug?

If so, there's a cheap, easy & "not-as-messy-as-dropping-the-pan" solution.

1) Estimate how much the trans is overfilled.
2. Warm the car to operating temp with the trans in "park", then turn it off.
3) Disconnect the trans cooler lines from the cooler (or radiator) and insert them into an empty clear plastic bottle (e.g. 1 gallon milk jug).
4) Fire up the engine (with the trans in "park") and drain the excess trans fluid into the jug.
5) Turn off the engine when you've drained your estimated amount and reconnect the cooler lines.
6) Recheck the level with the car on level ground, engine running, and trans in "Park".

 

Mine focuses pretty well I think. Another Amazon item from 5 or 6 years ago, showing on a Sony notebook. Cost less than 30 bucks. Inside a stock Model A engine in a 29 Tudor I bought that had been sitting in a humid environment for 25 years. I wanted to be sure it wasn't full of condensation rust before I started it. Engine was supposed to have less than a thousand miles and that was probably true. It looked pretty good.

 

The pump doesn't run in a Chrysler transmission when it's in park. That's why you check the fluid level in neutral.

 

Those temp guns are one thing that you can find a hundred uses for once you think.
Which rear axle bearing is noisy? The hot one.
Is there a hot spot in the wiring harness? Trouble. Same with battery cable ends.
How well is the radiator cooling?
If it's hot out and the A/C is on or it's cold out and the heater is on, where is the door seal leaking?
Which brake is grabbing?
Are the tires hot on the inside or outside of the tread, or even?
If one trailer tire is hotter, check for a bent axle.