Shop Tricks

[tthopskin@yahoo.ca]

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.

one spot i worked the boss took the pails cut the bottoms out staked them to getter and made a conna tub and it will work for a culvert too if deep enough but but in the right direction to the water

 

[BearKiller]

This is not a paint remover tip but it does involve paint. I got it from a magazine about 50 years ago and use it, most of the time.

After opening a paint can, any size, use a nail and punch a few holes in the bottom of the groove around the top. After pouring paint from the can or wiping the paint across the top after dipping it into the can, the groove at the top of the can will fill up. These holes allows the paint to drip back into the can and not flow over the side and cover the instructions and down onto the floor. Or, it keeps the paint from getting splattered when the cover is replaced and tapped down.

Since the holes are below the grip point of the cover, air is not allowed to enter the can, so the paint remains usable.

Clem

Also, mark both the lid and the can such that the lid is always replaced exactly as it came off, thus any dents, distortions, or dried globs of paint will not prevent the lid seating fully. :thumbsup:

 

[BearKiller]

>>> KEEPING TRACK OF THE SMALL PIECES <<<


One of the local convenience stores uses tough clear plastic "clamshells" for such things as cheese-burgers and various sandwiches, instead of the usual white styrofoam ones.

I finally got wise and started keeping these containers, instead of tossing them.

Whenever I dis-assemble something that might not get re-assembled right away, I put all the bolts, nuts, springs, etc. in one or more of these clear plastic clamshells, then put the loaded clamshell containers in whatever big box/crate with the larger pieces. :thumbsup:

 

[BearKiller]

>>> MAKING STARTER BRUSHES <<<


Oft-times, with foreign-made or otherwise obsolete equipment, simple parts are either impossible to find, or not available.

I recently ran into just such a situation, trying to find a set of starter brushes.

Note the necessary thickness and width of the needed brushes.

Find an available set of brushes that are larger in all dimensions.

I used a bench-top disc-sander and down-sized both the thickness and width of a set of larger brushes in short order.


Here is the rest of the story :

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/mitsubishi-satoh/96915-r2500-starter-2.html


Enjoy.

 

[camoman]

Got this one from my Dad...

If you are looking for a way to organize bolts, nails or anything else and keep it visible to easily find simply take your peanut butter jars , jam jars or anything with a lid really (that screws on) and fasten the lids to the under side of a 2x4 or 2x6 with a screw, hang the board on your wall and now you can fill those jars with all sorts of stuff and simply screw them on to the bottom of the board! all your jars are hung nicely in a row and you can see whats in all of them (if they are clear).

:thumbsup:

 

[BearKiller]

Got this one from my Dad...

If you are looking for a way to organize bolts, nails or anything else and keep it visible to easily find simply take your peanut butter jars , jam jars or anything with a lid really (that screws on) and fasten the lids to the under side of a 2x4 or 2x6 with a screw, hang the board on your wall and now you can fill those jars with all sorts of stuff and simply screw them on to the bottom of the board! all your jars are hung nicely in a row and you can see whats in all of them (if they are clear).

:thumbsup:

Leroy Gibbs uses this trick in his basement shop on NCIS. :thumbsup:

 

[Toyboy]

I find the Folgers instant coffee jars work really good for me. Easy to wash out too.

 

[BearKiller]

>>> CABLE LUBE <<<


To reclaim old frozen cables, such as choke- or throttle-cables, etc., and to insure longer life of nice new cables, submerge them in a large shallow pan of very hot oil, and leave them soak for a long while.

This works especially well with those wire-wound cable-housings, as the hot oil will permeate through the wound wire along the entire length of the cable.


Using this method, old rusty cables can be revived from the dead.

Be careful how you heat the oil and don't burn the house down. :thumbsup:

 

[powerpace]

It's Jethro Gibbs.

 

[BXinNH]

Actually, you're both right, it is Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Matt.