Smart Shop tips!

[Big Barn]

Custom hooks for those of you who use slatwall..

 

[fried1765]

It should also be noted that fire extinguishers have a life expectancy and should be serviced and inspected annually so buying an extinguisher from a big box store hanging it on the wall and expecting it to work ten years later is playing with fire.
In my neighborhood a 911 response time is twenty minutes so we have a fire extinguisher in every building, three in the workshop and one on each level of the house.
I have a local professional fire extinguisher company on auto pilot to come every spring to inspect each unit. The cost is reasonable and the peace of mind priceless.

B. John

All my extinguishers were new two years ago, and none have the plastic valve heads, like those from big box stores.

 

[bindian]

Reminds me of the time my dad sharpened my nail set.

I had numerous nail sets in my hangar tool box. It was the best tool to punch out the center lock in Cherry Lock rivets. Over time I had to grind them pointed again. Pounding the rivets was hit and miss and usually had to be drilled a little first. I would buy a set of them and grind the larger ones down to fit. I also had small chisel punches ground down to 3/16ths wide to take the collars off of Hi Shear rivets.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Budweiser John]

Okay here's another one... if you haven't played around with CA glue with spray accelerator, give it a try. I use it frequently as such temporarily holding something until I get a couple screws or brads in (picture frames, building simple jigs for woodworking, etc. Instant bond. Much faster than just using CA glue. But place the piece exactly where you want it as there is no moving it once it comes in contact.

No wait for glue to dry, no worries about hitting a nail/brad while cutting or drilling, and you can usually snap the wood pieces off with sharp blow if you need to tweak it or salvage the wood for another use. When it fails the wood tends to be intact.

OK, another use for CA glue.
Not sure this approved by the FDA but....
If you have one of those pesky wood or metal slivers in your paw that simply will not yield to the usual removal techniques, drip a little dollup of CA glue on the area and give it a spritz of accelerator. Give the chemistry a minute or more to work and pick off the glue spot.
Nine times out of ten the sliver will come out with the glue.

Round two: Snag a fingernail and know it will hurt like heck to pull it the rest of the way off.
Reach for the CA and spread a drop or two over the top of the nail. Add a little spritz, wait a few minutes and buff with a nail file or a little 180 grit emery paper. Good as new and will last for weeks.
As the ole sailor says, any port in a storm....

B. John

 

[BravoXray]

CA glue works well to glue cuts back together too. Just make sure the cut is clean and just a dot of the thin stuff will do.

 

[the old grind]

There's a YT vid of a guy building up a guitar's upper bridge in situ with a CA/baking soda mix. He would re-groove it to raise strings above the fret-board at the top of the neck. (Wrapped strings can carve 'em down after years/decades of replacing/tuning 'em. You guys knew that. )

I've tried the new UV-activated clear stuff that crossed over from dental bonding. End results resemble what Seal-All dries like but a little tougher. Fills or builds up areas almost as fast as one can squeeze drops out of the applicator. 4 sec from the UV light and you can pile on and harden additional layers if/as needed.

A recent use was when a tachometer needle's tiny hub split & crumbled away, and I needed a fix vs a make-do. It took ~5 min to build up a new hub on the back, maybe 8 or 9 drops stacked and cured one by one. I found an orifice drill to give a light press fit onto the tach's shaft and had the whole bit reassembled and running in about the time I could have posted here for help.

 

[i7win7]

Chain storage idea
Harbor Freight and hunting departments sell small block and tackle sets for field dressing large game. 6 to 1 mechanical advantage, 10# of pull to lift 60# chain.


Chain prep: grab both hooks drag chain until straight. Now drag hooks back to center point. Opposite end is the 1/4 and 3/4 points. Install quick links here, they will be the lift points for the hoist. Some additional hardware for rope storage.

Chains don't get tangled, take longer to rust.

 

[i7win7]

Homemade heavy duty hinge A.K.A. Mother of Piano Hinges

Bought 1/4" spring steel piano wire from hobby shop, 12 hinges from Menards. Removed hinge pins, ran 1/4" drill thru hinge parts, reassembled on 4' piano wires.


96 wood screws later, have large under stairs door for chemical storage. No problems in 16 years.

 

[dragoneggs]

CA glue works well to glue cuts back together too. Just make sure the cut is clean and just a dot of the thin stuff will do.

BUT DO NOT USE THE SPRAY ACCELERATOR!

I cut my finger bad one evening earlier this year but waited to go into the doctor until the next morning. The doctor looked at it and said it was really too late to stitch it up and used some 'medical' grade CA. A day later I was back in my shop and accidentally opened the wound up grabbing something and decided to self doctor using my own CA. Hurried the process using the spray and OMG! That stung!

 

[Reb954]

Most probably know this already but if you are needing to find the center of round stock to drill a hole, the quickest way I have found is to use a ruler or something straight on top of the round stock, then place the drill bit on top of the ruler. As the material is moved back and forth, the ruler will rock from side to side accordingly. Once the ruler is straight you are in the center of the material, or at least close enough for most purposes. The same can be done on a lathe to get the cutting bit in center.