Shop Tricks

[Travelover]

Another free tip - for keeping paint from skimming if it sets for a long time. After use, store the paint can upside-down. The skim will occur at the bottom of the can, leaving fresh paint "on top" when you use it again.

49T&C

I do this too, but always use wide masking tape to double seal the can. If you have even a tiny leak, it makes one heckuva mess.

 

[Workstead]

Workstead,
You and I must have read the same magazine as I've been doing the same for about that long too.
Smiley

Are you "that" old?

Clem

 

[RedDirt]

Another free tip - for keeping paint from skimming if it sets for a long time. After use, store the paint can upside-down. The skim will occur at the bottom of the can, leaving fresh paint "on top" when you use it again.

49T&C

Hmmm. This sounds good in theory but how do you mix the settled paint against the soft skinned "bottom"? Open the can and pour the liquid contents into another container and then scrape the settled pigment off the lid into the new mix container?

I used to lay a piece of Saran Wrap on top of the paint in a partially used can. This "usually" keeps the air off the paint surface and prevents excessive skinning. But it is messy to remove the wrap even with latex gloves.

 

[BigE_]

I used to lay a piece of Saran Wrap on top of the paint in a partially used can. This "usually" keeps the air off the paint surface and prevents excessive skinning. But it is messy to remove the wrap even with latex gloves.

Bloxygen works well in this application, but at $11 per bottle, it gets expensive.

You can make your own with vinegar and baking soda. Mix just a little bit together in a 2 cup liquid measuring cup and then "pour" off the resulting gases. They are heavier than air and will flow down into the can.

-Steve

 

[RedDirt]

Thanks Steve. I've wanted to try Bloxygen but never wanted to spend the $'s. I'll try the vinegar and baking soda the next time the situation presents itself.

 

[BigE_]

All Bloxygen is just simply argon gas. The baking soda and vinegar produces a different gas (CO2 I believe). Anyway, if you have a mig welder, you can also just use a shot of gas from that.

Bloxygen species it only works on oil based finishes, not water based...

 

[smiley]

Are you "that" old?

Clem

Sure am. I was stuck in Japan during the war and it was join up with them or get my head chopped off, so I joined their air force and became a Kamikazi pilot. Flew 24 successful missions before it ended!!!
Saranoya,
Smiley

 

[Workstead]

Sure am. I was stuck in Japan during the war and it was join up with them or get my head chopped off, so I joined their air force and became a Kamikazi pilot. Flew 24 successful missions before it ended!!!
Saranoya,
Smiley

Hey Smiley,

What is the definition of a successful mission for a Kamikazi pilot?

Clem

 

[smiley]

Hey Smiley,

What is the definition of a successful mission for a Kamikazi pilot?

Clem

Well, I really need to qualify that successful statement. Every time we'd get almost to the target, my engine would start sputtering so being the tinkerer that I am, Would naturally take it back to the base to tune it up. You really wouldn't want to go on a Kamikazi mission with an engine running poorly would you? It would cast a bad light on the Japanese air force. The funny part was that apparently everybody but me was reassigned after each mission, because none of the others ever came back to the same base. Never could understand that. Maybe their engines sputtered too but they kept on and disgraced the air force so they were demoted???
PS: I am very fluent in Japanese. Toyota-- Mitsubishi--Hello Joe, whadda ya know, just got back from Tokoyo--chop suey!!! Oh, excuse that last one, that's Chinese. Must be a carry over from my time with the Flying Tigers.

 

[Scotty370]

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..........

 

[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.