Shop Tricks

[BearKiller]

Need to remove a broken key from a cylinder lock. Take a coping saw blade and break off one end pin, then grind a slight taper on the back side of the blade. Insert into the cylinder so that the blade's teeth grab the notches on the broken key and pull out the broken piece.

If you need to limit access to someone whom you trusted with a key--purposely break of a key that fits the lock and push into the cylinder--no other key can be inserted--the above tool lets you remove it when you want access. We used this trick to "lockout" tenants (illegal of course) when we needed to dunn them for overdue rent. Whose to say how a key got broken in the lock.

That's a good one, there.

I am gonna remember it.

It would be advisable to prepare a couple coping-saw blades in advance and put them in the vehicle where you can find them.

I have seen more than a few in Walmart parking lots and the like, digging in the ignition-switch with paper clips, bobby pins, whatever, after cute little junior twisted off the house-key in the ignition.

 

[BearKiller]

>> MARKING STEEL <<

Many years ago, I was shown that Pentel or BIC white-out pens were excellent marking devices for steel work, such as welding, torching, cutting, etc.

It had always been my experience that those brittle soapstone pencil marks could easily be blown or brushed away, losing your mark.

The white-out pens are permanent; and, once dry, can only be ground or sanded off.

The white line remains right in front of the hottest torch-flame, allowing one to easily follow their mark.

I am surprised that this practice hasn't caught on more than it has; I still see professional welders putting up with those aggravating soap-stone sticks.

 

[PILOON]

That's a good one, there.

I am gonna remember it.

It would be advisable to prepare a couple coping-saw blades in advance and put them in the vehicle where you can find them.

I have seen more than a few in Walmart parking lots and the like, digging in the ignition-switch with paper clips, bobby pins, whatever, after cute little junior twisted off the house-key in the ignition.

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HA!

Funny, did that just 2 days ago and it works great.

My problem now is that I could not make a key copy so I need a new switch as due to 12 years of crud the switch no longer turns when I tried to re-insert the key piece.

Never learn. Should have left 'good enough' alone, after all who would ever have known that only a screw driver was all that was needed to start my tractor.

 

[BearKiller]

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who would ever have known that only a screw driver was all that was needed to start my tractor.

The half-wits that I work with undertook to replace the steering column in the old shop truck; they had broken some irreplacable pot-metal casting in the old one when trying to fix the ignition slider-switch.

Somehow, they managed to end up not needing a key to start and drive the truck, just turn the ears on the key-hole, no key necessary.

 

[larryccf]

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... after all who would ever have known that only a screw driver was all that was needed to start my tractor.

car thieves commonly know - i had a VW R32, kind of a sporty car, 4wd, 6spd, 240hp stock - went up to montreal - 1.5 hours after checking in at 9:00PM in a frigging blizzard, went out to the car to get something - only seven cars in the parking lot and mine had been broken into - they'd simply driven a screwdriver into the driver side door lock, and TURNED IT

couldn't figure why the alarm hadn't sounded when i figured out in the morning, that the alarm automatically shuts off when driver door lock is opened, whether by hand or by key or screwdriver in the lock

all the hassle of a "smart " electronic key and the alarm is defeated by a $1 screwdriver (they left it on the seat of my car)

sorry, had to rant on that one

 

[BearKiller]

>> RECYCLING CORDLESS TOOLS <<

I have been meaning to do this for years and, seeing as how it has poured the rain for the last thirty-nine days and nights, I finally got it done today.

Over the years, I have accumulated several 12-volt cordless drills, all out of action due either to the charger going haywire, or the battery-pack no longer taking a charge.

I put 12-volts to the contacts inside the drill handle that make contact with the battery-pack when it is popped in place.

The first way I tested ran the drill backwards to the proper direction.

I switched the test-leads and she fan forward like she's supposed to.

I took my BIC white-out pen and marked "+" and "-" on the appropriate sides.

I then soldered up a three foot 12-AWG pigtail with female spade connectors on one end and a two-prong pigtail connector on the other.

I drilled strategically positioned holes through the drill's plastic base and zip-tied the wires firmly to the drill.

I then flooded the hollow area where I made my connections with hot-melt glue, such that the wire connections are unlikely to ever come loose.

I sleeved the wires inside some plastic loom to give it a more finished look.

I plugged the pigtail into one of the 12-volt power source pigtails that are scattered about my shop and pulled the trigger.

Now I have a corded 12-volt drill that I can use anywhere that I have 12-volt power.


One of the cordless tools that has waited useless in the case that it came in, due to it's charger going bad, is a Black & Decker "FireStorm" multi-tool set, with drill, sander, jigsaw, and something else that I don't recall; I intend to fix it with a cord in the very near future.

 

[toy]

I have a craftsman battery drill and one of the batteries wouldn't charge so I got a dewalt 18 volt drill and was using the craftsman drill so I could continue working longer without having to wait for a battery to charge. The other battery set on a shelf for quite a while and then one day I was doing a job that I thought it would be nice to have that extra battery if it would charge. I put it on charge and it charged and has been taking charge ever since, I don't know if that is a cure all for the batteries but it worked for me and if I have the same thing happen again I will do the same to see if it will charge.

 

[relaqbr]

I have a craftsman battery drill and one of the batteries wouldn't charge so I got a dewalt 18 volt drill <snip> one day I was doing a job that I thought it would be nice to have that extra battery if it would charge. I put it on charge and it charged and has been taking charge ever since.

Many of these batteries heat up on high discharge and in my experience will not charge until they cool. They actually indicate failed. (I moved my charger out of the afternoon sunlight )

BTW I am relatively new and want to thank everyone here for a 99.999% polite, pleasant and informative group! Thanks

 

[BearKiller]

>> EXTRA LONG TEST LEAD <<

Especially when messing with long gooseneck cattle-trailers and flat-beds, one sometimes finds themselves needing a set of wires long enough to reach from the battery in the truck to the tail-lights sixty feet away on the rear of the trailer.

Any time I have two lengths of wire that long, I end up using them on a wiring project somewhere and don't have them when I need them, especially out on the road somewhere.

Here is how I cured the situation :

I took a male and a female 110-volt extension-cord end and wired two alligator clips into each one, connecting the white "common" and green "GROUND" to the black GROUND alligator clip, and the black "hot" to the red HOT alligator clip.

I used medium-large alligators, big enough to grab the battery posts, for the battery end and smaller alligators at the "test" end.

I can now plug my alligator-clip adapters into any old extension-cord and use it for an extra long test lead.

It is a good idea to keep these adapters locked safely away if idiots or curious children are about, as one might plug one into a wall socket and get a new hairdo.

 

[tommu56]

Need to remove a broken key from a cylinder lock. Take a coping saw blade and break off one end pin, then grind a slight taper on the back side of the blade. Insert into the cylinder so that the blade's teeth grab the notches on the broken key and pull out the broken piece.

If you need to limit access to someone whom you trusted with a key--purposely break of a key that fits the lock and push into the cylinder--no other key can be inserted--the above tool lets you remove it when you want access. We used this trick to "lockout" tenants (illegal of course) when we needed to dunn them for overdue rent. Whose to say how a key got broken in the lock.

Schledge actually sell this type key they are called construction keys and there is a removal too included in the set.

tm

 

[Iplayfarmer]

>> RECYCLING CORDLESS TOOLS <<

One of the cordless tools that has waited useless in the case that it came in, due to it's charger going bad, is a Black & Decker "FireStorm" multi-tool set, with drill, sander, jigsaw, and something else that I don't recall; I intend to fix it with a cord in the very near future.

For a multitool set there has to be a way that you can rig a battery vs. rigging the tool. They you can use the same "adapter" with all of the tools.

 

[The Haymaker]

During the winter, when welding in the GarageMajal, I can't have fumes build up because the air is shared with those in the house. I use my wet/dry vac as a poor mans exhaust fan. I have some chunks of house service entrance wire that I drywall screw to a block of wod and use as a "third and" to hold the hose 6-8" from the work spot. I then put another hose from the exhaust of the vac to a port in the nearest window. Of course, I make sure to dump the pine shavings from the vac and dump it again before leaving the shop.

As said, I keep several chunks of the heavy service entrance wire around. You can mold it to any shape and it makes a great third-hand for lights, tools, hanging brake calipers, etc.

 

[BearKiller]

>> CHANGING OIL <<

I can't take credit for this one, as I read it on a Dodge/Cummins forum, but it works so good that I have stock-piled bread-bags.

For those oil- and fuel-filters that are situated such that they always spill their contents all over the engine, first loosen the filter, then skin an empty bread-bag completely over the filter; screw the filter the rest of the way off while it and the mess are contained within the bag.

If you have a FUMOTO drain-valve and use a bread-sack on the filter, you can change your oil in your Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes and not get nary a drop on you.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

>> CHANGING OIL <<

I can't take credit for this one, as I read it on a Dodge/Cummins forum, but it works so good that I have stock-piled bread-bags.

For those oil- and fuel-filters that are situated such that they always spill their contents all over the engine, first loosen the filter, then skin an empty bread-bag completely over the filter; screw the filter the rest of the way off while it and the mess are contained within the bag.

If you have a FUMOTO drain-valve and use a bread-sack on the filter, you can change your oil in your Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes and not get nary a drop on you.

I am definately going to try that the next time I change my oil in the truck. I always get oil down my arm when I'm taking out the filter.

 

[Baby Grand]

BearKiller:

For those oil- and fuel-filters that are situated such that they always spill their contents all over the engine, first loosen the filter, then skin an empty bread-bag completely over the filter; screw the filter the rest of the way off while it and the mess are contained within the bag.

I have been doing this for awhile and it works great - one caution: Inflate the bag and check that it holds air. Those bags have a pesky habit of developing little holes. I'd hate to see anyone's Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes get spoilt. 8^)

-Jim

 

[Egon]

I have been doing this for awhile and it works great - one caution: Inflate the bag and check that it holds air. Those bags have a pesky habit of developing little holes. I'd hate to see anyone's Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes get spoilt. 8^)

I'm gonna try that. Hate the feeling of warm oil running down my arm!

 

[Dave5264]

Got some Siezed Nuts/Bolts?, tired of waiting Hours or Days for the penetrating oil to soak in? Heat the bolt up with a propane torch nice and hot, then take a standard house-hold candle and melt it against the thread. it will Wick up into the threads inside and youll be able to loosen the bolt. Keep a candle in your tool box

 

[BearKiller]

>> FIX-A-FLAT WARNING <<


This is not so much a tip about what to do, but a tip about what NOT TO DO.

I have seen this daily for years; people bring in various tires for repair that are sloshing full of "Fix-a-Flat".

If I were stranded in the desert with a flat tire and a case of the stuff, I would probably just drive out on the flat and leave the flat-fixer for the buzzards.

If it stays inside a tire/wheel for more than just a few days, or is not completely washed/rinsed out within the first few hours of installation, it will badly corrode the wheel; steel or aluminum, it eats both.

It does something negative to the rubber such that a proper repair will no longer adhere to it, regardless of how much cleaning and preparation is done prior to attempting to patch the tire.

To an un-suspecting tire-monkey, it will spray him in the eye when he inflates the tire to find the problem.

It will also come splattering out in his face when he breaks the beads loose with the changer.



On another tire subject, I read of many who have "ran a tire off the rim".

In most cases, when a tire is run flat and rolls off the rim, it breaks the wire cable within the beads.

This may not be evident to the un-trained eye, especially to the one that just paid big money for the tire and is not wanting to see that it is now a junk tire.

In any case, the ability of the tire to hold itself together under air pressure has been compromised; and, it can and sooner or later will blow off the rim again with death or maiming being highly possible.

Also, in most run flat situations, the "roundness" of the rim will be compromised, thus making the inflated tire/rim a potential bomb just waiting to blow up in someone's face.

If a tire came off the rim and does so again later, consider yourself lucky no one was killed, slash the sidewall and throw that tire away.

 

[BearKiller]

>> GATE HOLDER-OPENERS<<


99% of the standard tube farm gates I see around here have a welded-on bottom hinge-loop and a bolt-on positionable top hinge-loop (so that you can turn the top hinge-pin upside-down to prevent the gate being lifted off the hinges).

Go to the gate factory (if you live in Dunnville,KY = the gate capitol of the world), the gate shop or TSC, and buy two of those bolt-on hinge-loops for each gate you have.

Mount these hinge-loops on the opposite end of the gate from the hinges; one at top, the other at bottom.

Shape a blunt handle (as described below) on a length of 1/2" or so steel rod (rebar will work) and slightly sharpen the other end.

Drop this rod down through the hinge-loops and push it into the ground to hold the gate open.

Shape the rod at the top such that, when in the UP position, it "saddles" itself on the top bar of the gate, thus just riding along out of the way; then lift the rod up and pivot it off the top bar to use it as a gate position holder.

An added advantage of such a position holder is, if you purposefully move the top hinge-pin about an inch off plumb on the side away from the open position of the gate, such that the gate becomes a self-closer, the advantages of the self-closer can be utilized and the gate still be held in any open position by using the rod.

 

[BearKiller]

>> STOP A TIRE LEAK <<

I have done this too many times to count.

When you hear air whistling out of a tubeless tire and can find where it is coming from, dab some grease on a sheet-metal- or wood-screw and screw it into the hole.

If one doesn't stop the leak, drive another beside it, making sure you are going into the hole and not just making another.

I have done this many times and not even bothered with properly repairing it later, just letting the screw wear out with the tire.

Many is the worn-out tire that we have removed from someone's vehicle that had never been low on air pressure, yet had several nails, screws, and wires poking through on the inside, with the owner being none the wiser.