Bird
Epic Contributor
Me, too. Properly prepared some of the cheap cuts are very good. But I do occasionally enjoy a ribeye steak. Ribyes were $8.57 a pound yesterday and these sirloin strips look very good, so we'll see.
Repair/mechanic tricks and or tips?
- Thread starter BTDT
- Start date
Me, too. Properly prepared some of the cheap cuts are very good. But I do occasionally enjoy a ribeye steak. Ribyes were $8.57 a pound yesterday and these sirloin strips look very good, so we'll see.
mrutkaus
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kevlar gloves, answer to anything
mike
mike
RedDirt
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Geeze, I cant believe I read the whole thread....Let's get back to tips and tricks.
When disassembling small stuff I use wife's discarded muffin tin for parts. This puts them in a "sequence" for reassembly. Each cup can hold single parts or a group of parts.
Whenever I tighten a bolt/nut using the favored wrench I "choke up" and never use the full leverage allowed by the length of the wrench. Especially good for the 3/4" socket. I'll always have more leverage later to take the nut off than I used putting it on.
The only way I've kept full sets of drill bits of various types full for almost 40 years is to replace a broken bit at the next trip to the tool/hardware store after its been broken. If I wait until there are several to replace the cost seems too high. Replacing one at a time the cost is normally pocket change.
When replacing a removed screw/bolt in plastic or soft alloy I always back thread to find the original threads. With light down pressure the bolt will click and drop into the original thread. Then when winding down in the tightening direction I am not cutting new threads in the soft material.
If epoxy glues, resins, etc are hardening too fast I spread the liquid thin on a cookie sheet. This reduces the mass and the chemical heating/hardening is slowed down. Putting the cookie sheet in the refer or freezer will also slow down the setting time. Or fridge the unopened tins before parts A & B are mixed.
To oil my air precleaner on my lawn mower and other small engines I put the foam precleaner in a sandwich bag, squirt in some oil and wring it out in the baggie. Hardly any mess.
If I need to scribe a line to an irregular surface I find a flat washer that one side equals that distance and use it as a bearing. Pencil in the hole, just roll the washer along the irregular surface to get a perfect distance offset.
The correct way to use a "C" clam is to hold the fixed jaw flat against the surface being clamped then tighten the screw. This eliminates a lot of creeping and unequal forces. Also when screwing and unscrewing C clamps a long way hold the clamp at the end of the screw and with a circular motion "merry-go-round" the "C" section around the screw.
I have threads on both ends of my pipe clamps and use couplings to make longer clamps.
If I need to hand plane a small piece of wood I sometimes clamp the plane in the vice instead of the wood. I do this some times with metal files also.
I use a 10ft long (folding) sawhorse at my table saw, parallel to the blade, so I can handle full 4x8 sheets safely myself.
A chainsaw roller nose grease gun can sometimes grease a zert where I can't get my big grease gun.
When disassembling small stuff I use wife's discarded muffin tin for parts. This puts them in a "sequence" for reassembly. Each cup can hold single parts or a group of parts.
Whenever I tighten a bolt/nut using the favored wrench I "choke up" and never use the full leverage allowed by the length of the wrench. Especially good for the 3/4" socket. I'll always have more leverage later to take the nut off than I used putting it on.
The only way I've kept full sets of drill bits of various types full for almost 40 years is to replace a broken bit at the next trip to the tool/hardware store after its been broken. If I wait until there are several to replace the cost seems too high. Replacing one at a time the cost is normally pocket change.
When replacing a removed screw/bolt in plastic or soft alloy I always back thread to find the original threads. With light down pressure the bolt will click and drop into the original thread. Then when winding down in the tightening direction I am not cutting new threads in the soft material.
If epoxy glues, resins, etc are hardening too fast I spread the liquid thin on a cookie sheet. This reduces the mass and the chemical heating/hardening is slowed down. Putting the cookie sheet in the refer or freezer will also slow down the setting time. Or fridge the unopened tins before parts A & B are mixed.
To oil my air precleaner on my lawn mower and other small engines I put the foam precleaner in a sandwich bag, squirt in some oil and wring it out in the baggie. Hardly any mess.
If I need to scribe a line to an irregular surface I find a flat washer that one side equals that distance and use it as a bearing. Pencil in the hole, just roll the washer along the irregular surface to get a perfect distance offset.
The correct way to use a "C" clam is to hold the fixed jaw flat against the surface being clamped then tighten the screw. This eliminates a lot of creeping and unequal forces. Also when screwing and unscrewing C clamps a long way hold the clamp at the end of the screw and with a circular motion "merry-go-round" the "C" section around the screw.
I have threads on both ends of my pipe clamps and use couplings to make longer clamps.
If I need to hand plane a small piece of wood I sometimes clamp the plane in the vice instead of the wood. I do this some times with metal files also.
I use a 10ft long (folding) sawhorse at my table saw, parallel to the blade, so I can handle full 4x8 sheets safely myself.
A chainsaw roller nose grease gun can sometimes grease a zert where I can't get my big grease gun.
KYErik
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Most people know that you can tap on a starter that won't turn and this can help worn brushes to make contact.
Yesterday, on a long highway trip, I found out that the same trick also can work on alternators with failing brushes- a few taps and the alternator light went off and it started charging again.
Yesterday, on a long highway trip, I found out that the same trick also can work on alternators with failing brushes- a few taps and the alternator light went off and it started charging again.
patrick_g
Elite Member
RedDirt, Very interesting collection of hints. The washer spacer pencil thing and the sawhorse parallel to the saw blade were the only ones that I haven't used at one time or another in one form or another.
Maybe you could give a little more detail on the sawhorse thingy. I struggle quite a lot trying to get full sheets of 3/4 MDf onto my table saw. The table with 52inch extension handles a full sheet nicely but I don't handle it so nicely getting it up there and handling it as it comes off the back side is a hassle. I have the adjustable roller stands on tripods and sometimes they help and sometimes they are in the way or get knocked over.
Oh, and the chain saw grease gun... They make a grease gun similar in style to the hand operated one for chainsaws except it is intended to be hit with a hammer. The hammer blow develops considerable hydrostatic force and can inject grease where other guns can't.
Pat
Maybe you could give a little more detail on the sawhorse thingy. I struggle quite a lot trying to get full sheets of 3/4 MDf onto my table saw. The table with 52inch extension handles a full sheet nicely but I don't handle it so nicely getting it up there and handling it as it comes off the back side is a hassle. I have the adjustable roller stands on tripods and sometimes they help and sometimes they are in the way or get knocked over.
Oh, and the chain saw grease gun... They make a grease gun similar in style to the hand operated one for chainsaws except it is intended to be hit with a hammer. The hammer blow develops considerable hydrostatic force and can inject grease where other guns can't.
Pat
Be careful with that tapping on the starter routine, if the starter has permanent magnets, you can shatter them with even a small tap, at the wrong place! A tip for alternator testing is to take a steel screwdriver, and touch it to the back bearing, if the alternator is in good shape, the screwdriver will be drawn into the bearing by a strong magnetic force. Unfortunately, this method does not diagnose diode problems.
Iplayfarmer
Super Member
diyDave said:
I've seen it. I tore open a weak starter from a riding lawn mower I had just acquired and the magnet came out in a number of pieces. I scrapped the motor.
Bird
Epic Contributor
diyDave said:Be careful with that tapping on the starter routine, if the starter has permanent magnets, you can shatter them with even a small tap, at the wrong place! A tip for alternator testing is to take a steel screwdriver, and touch it to the back bearing, if the alternator is in good shape, the screwdriver will be drawn into the bearing by a strong magnetic force. Unfortunately, this method does not diagnose diode problems.
I was working in my dad's auto parts store as a teenager when the first cars hit the market with alternators instead of generators. Dad hosted a little barbecue and invited all the mechanics in town and we had a guy from the factory to tell the mechanics what they needed to know about working on, testing, and/or replacing alternators.
I'll never forget the guy saying, "For many years, we've done a quick check of generators by shorting across the two terminals with a screwdriver and if we got a spark, we knew it was working. Well, you can do the same thing with an alternator, and if you get a spark, you'll know it was working until you did that."
patrick_g
Elite Member
diyDave said:Unfortunately, this method does not diagnose diode problems.
Just hook a voltage probe from your O'scope to the alternator output and look at the waveform. The rectified output of an alternator with a bad diode is obvious as one of the "humps" (which the bad diode should have contributed) will be missing. If you have a freq counter and measure the output freq of the alternator (unhooked from battery) at a given RPM, then if a diode goes out the measured output freq will be less.
The rectified alternator output is a series of sinusoidal pulses which vary from zero volts up to their max value and then back to zero. An alternator can still have an output even if one of the diodes is not contributing and its "hump" is missing. You used to be able to replace an individual diode quite inexpensively. I don't know if that is possible now as everything tends to migrate toward throw away and away from DIY.
Pat
