Shop Tricks

[Runner]

I find most of mine along the road after they blow out of someone's truck.

 

[weldingisfun]

Buy your 5 gallon plastic pails from your local 'real' Donut Shop! Not Tim Horton's etc. I get them for 50 cents w/ the tops! Beats HD or Lowes at 3-5$'s. Plus they're "Food Grade" if you want to 'Brine' a turkey and such..........

Try you local grocery store bakery. They give me 3 and 5 gallon buckets with or without the tops for free. But then, it is a small town grocery.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Try you local grocery store bakery. They give me 3 and 5 gallon buckets with or without the tops for free. But then, it is a small town grocery.

I wish some of you were closer. Occasionally my food plant will buy sour cream or other ingredients in 5 gallon pails. The first hundred were easy to give away. The second hundred went a little slower. Now everyone who knows anyone who works here has all the buckets they can possibly take. A few months ago we threw about 75 in the dumpster.

 

[BigE_]

Another place to look for buckets is your local pump and well supply / service place. Around here, calcite used in the filtration systems comes in 80lb 5 gallon buckets.

I go through 80lbs in about 3 months. After 6 years I've got quite a few buckets.

 

[Bedlam]

They have many uses, including cutting them in half and the bottom half makes a great drawer for stuff on a shelf.Also Ive used them as reusable cement post forms.Cut the bottom off and the cut top to bottom. duck tape it back together, and pour the cement then to remove roll back the tape and off it comes/ Nice smooth round concrete.

 

[etcallhome]

haven't been reading all the post ,if no one has mentioned go where a house or office building is being built...Paint now in 5 gal pails,,,the dry wall compound all of these buckets most of the time are being thrown away...I had to clean some water base paint out of the 5 or 6 buckets I got but 1hr- 1 1/2 hr later all look like new.

 

[49tandc]

Another use for 5-gal buckets - 100 ft extension cord storage. (or extra air hoses) I drill a hole near the bottom of the bucket and poke the male end of the plug from the inside-out. Then I coil the remainder of the cord down into the bucket - ending up with the female plug-end at the top. The buckets stack well too. When you need to use the cord, place the bucket nearest the outlet and pull the male end out from the bottom and plug it in. Open the lid & unroll out the cord as needed. Don't forget to mark the bucket "electrical cord" because it is embarrasing to take a bucket into the field only to find that you brought an
air-hose instead of the extension cord you needed.

49 T&C

 

[sixdogs]

Another use for five gallon buckets is to use them to water new tree or plant seedlings. Drill a small--- 1/8th maybe---hole in the bottom and off to one side. Set under tree, fill with water and it drips out in two hours while you are doing something else. No runoff. Don't make the hole too big and clean the bucket before you start.

 

[tthopskin@yahoo.ca]

Last night I gave this a try on a 14.4V that has been dead for about 2 yrs. I measured it w/meter and it shower .0 V then quickly jumped it w/ a good 19.2 several times and it showed 8v. I put it in the charger and it still wouldn't do anything...even show as defective. I put the jumpers back on it and touched it to a huge 950 amp 12V battery I have hoping to "shock" it a couple of times and it showed about 12V after that but still wouldn't work in the Craftsman quick charger. I then connected the jumpers to my 12V automotive battery charger @ 10 amps and left it for about 2 hrs......miraculously when I checked it it showed over 14V and spun the drill like there was no tomorrow ( don't know how a 12V charger can bring it to 14+V, but it did. I put it back in the Craftsman charger and it still doesn't register default,charge or full charge but it is working again. I'll just use the jumpers/auto charger from now on and see what happens but for now it's working again.

MY BROTHER HAD THE SAME CHARGER HE TOOK IT APART INSIDE A FUSE HE REPLACED IT AND IT WORKS NOW

 

[BillinTX]

Here is a tip I have used in my repair shop to keep from losing the straw from a spray can.
I cut out the center section of the cap and drill a hole though the side for the straw.
This also protects the valve when the can falls on the floor.