Best Shop Tricks - Page 48

tgeliot · 05-04-2012, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superfish

If you use MO-JO or some such....... I dump it into one of those Ketchup bottles that stands up in its cover. Very handy. Just pick it up flip the cover and squeeze.

My mojo wouldn't fit into a ketchup bottle. Just sayin'

whodat90 · 05-22-2012, 11:04 AM

Melt plastic on a chrome exhaust pipe? Oven cleaner will take it off without damaging the chrome. Also works pretty good to clean gunk out of carbs, but prepare to clean it off very quickly; it eats aluminum given any time.

As you work, stop and put away anything you have to step over or around. Takes much less time and aggravation to do it immediately than to constantly work around it.

been mentioned before, but get a couple cheap 20" box fans and a multi-pack of 20"x20" furnace filters. Duct tape them together, and screw a couple to the ceiling in your shop facing opposite directions. This filters the air and also creates some airflow. It's amazing (to me anyway) how dirty they get.

Every bolt I take out gets either antisieze or locktite upon reinstallation, sometimes both. Remember there are more than just red and blue locktite, green is used to wick into existing connections, and they also have a gel style stick that's easier to work with than the little tubes.

Floor polish applied to scratched up plastics (think dirtbike and ATV) will bring back a remarkable amount of shine and pretty, since it'll fill in lots of the scratches.

A whiteboard is invaluable in every shop, sometimes it's so much easier to draw something than to explain it.

A cheap 2000lb winch bolted to your ceiling makes for a handy crane. They come in both 12v and 120v styles, for the 12v I just use an old car/motorcycle battery and charge it once every month or two. One of the unexpected benefits of this is that it makes loading and unloading heavy stuff/pallets from a truck easy, just back under it, strap on and lift it up, drive out from under it. Lower to the ground. If you put an eye bolt (or place for a removable one) directly under the winch, you can run the cable down to a pulley then use to pull non-running vehicles into the garage.

Find yourself someone involved with large servers. They use Uninterruptable Power Supplies, which eat through batteries fairly often. Those batteries may not be good enough to power a server anymore, but they're great to have laying around a shop (usually 12v 17ah) to provide 12v as needed. They also connect using the super expensive quick disconnects used for winches and other high-amp applications.

Get at least one, maybe two self-retracting air hose assemblies and put them up high so it'll reach everywhere. Do the same with a self-retracting extension cord reel.

Get chunks of old carpet whenever you see it. Cut them into 2'x4' rectangles. Use them whenever you have to lay down under a vehicle. Throw a tarp down first and they become disposable drip absorbers.

Nitrile gloves are available at graingers by the 250 and 500 pack. One pack of 250 lasts me about a year, and makes hand cleanup so much easier. Get the good ones, the cheap ones rip too easily.

Pick up a metrinch set. Seriously, I've almost totally retired my rollaround toolbox full of tools since I got the metrinch set.

If you don't have a small impact gun (shame on you) you can often tease out small screws, nuts, bolts, etc. that are stuck by using a cordless drill set on 'screw' with the clutch set loose. Start it with the clutch set all the way loose, then apply power and start tightening the clutch up. Most screw guns/cordless drills act as small impact guns used this way.

If you're under a car, use jackstands. If you don't have any, get some. If you have some, throw them away and get new ones. Friend's dad died because he worked under a vehicle with the stock jack only. Also, once you get it on the jackstands rack the vehicle as hard as you can to make sure it's secure.

If you get the joy of building your own shop:
Insulate and rock it. My barn used to get to 120*+ in the summer before I insulated it. Now it stays pretty comfy, and it would have been a billion times cheaper and easier to install when it was built. Plus sheetrock is fireproof (resistant, whatever)
Add too many lights.
Run one circuit of outlets above the workbench, run a separate circuit below.
Run one 120v circuit to a central location that has only one outlet on it. This is your go-to for heavy draw tools and small welders (seriously, the little 110v welders and plasma cutters don't do too bad as long as they get a good solid 20a)
Figure out where your air compressor will be, then run it's own 220v circuit there. If your compressor isn't 220v yet, just wire the outlet as a pair of 110v circuits for now.

mfp4073 · 05-22-2012, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whodat90

Find yourself someone involved with large servers. They use Uninterruptable Power Supplies, which eat through batteries fairly often. Those batteries may not be good enough to power a server anymore, but they're great to have laying around a shop (usually 12v 17ah) to provide 12v as needed. They also connect using the super expensive quick disconnects used for winches and other high-amp applications.

I like to keep an extra one or a motorcycle battery with me in my truck when I am junk yarding. Sometimes you need to get an electric seat forward or backward to get to bolts, or to test some electronics. fits in my yard bag and is much lighter (and less noticeable) than a car battery.

KeithinSC · 05-22-2012, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mfp4073

I like to keep an extra one or a motorcycle battery with me in my truck when I am junk yarding. Sometimes you need to get an electric seat forward or backward to get to bolts, or to test some electronics. fits in my yard bag and is much lighter (and less noticeable) than a car battery.

Bike battery is also handy for 'testing' airbags

disston · 05-23-2012, 11:12 AM

I go to a brand of junk yards here in the Metro Wash DC area that do not allow us to have batteries in the yard. Can't beat their prices tho so I don't have a choice. Crazy Rays is the name. They even recognize me at most of them these days. I use the one on 695 in Balto most of the time but the one in Mt Airey is nice too, just farther away.

It is against the rules at Crazy Rays to test any electric part. I know, doesn't make sense but that's the rule. The way to get a battery in is to use the power pack from a battery powered tool. Oh, they are not allowed too but you can get away with one in your tool bag.

Since I'm going to be out of work in a year or something I might try being one of those junk yard greasers that pull parts? I think competition might be pretty rough. And the work is going to be hard but hey it beats starving. Maybe NOT.

garandman · 05-24-2012, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whodat90

Melt plastic on a chrome exhaust pipe? Oven cleaner will take it off without damaging the chrome. Also works pretty good to clean gunk out of carbs, but prepare to clean it off very quickly; it eats aluminum given any time./.

Bad idea. It's Sodium Hydroxide, AKA Caustic Soda or Lye, and is very corrosive to aluminum. Petroleum based cleaners are a lot safer for that use.

whodat90 · 05-24-2012, 05:11 PM

Safer, but massively less effective. Spray the oven cleaner on, let it sit for 10-20 seconds, drop it in a bucket of water. 99% of the nasty is now gone. Now use the safer cleaner, which has the side effect of neutralizing the oven cleaner. Honestly, if you put it on and leave it for hours you deserve what you get. If you just need to cut through years of grease and sitting outside quickly, it's the shiznit. Nowadays I'd just rather use the DIY soda blaster posted before, but if you don't have an air compressor handy, this will work.

whodat90 · 05-25-2012, 06:19 AM

Oh, another one. Put a magnet (shop magnet, speaker, whatever) in a plastic grocery bag, then use it to pick up all your shavings and whatnot. Invert the bag and remove the speaker, everything's clean and you don't spend the next hour picking fuzz off the magnet.

Yossarian™ · 05-25-2012, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whodat90

Oh, another one. Put a magnet (shop magnet, speaker, whatever) in a plastic grocery bag, then use it to pick up all your shavings and whatnot. Invert the bag and remove the speaker, everything's clean and you don't spend the next hour picking fuzz off the magnet.

Good one!

scooteraug02 · 05-25-2012, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garandman

Bad idea. It's Sodium Hydroxide, AKA Caustic Soda or Lye, and is very corrosive to aluminum. Petroleum based cleaners are a lot safer for that use.

Don't clean your M16 with oven cleaner either. It takes the bluing off and you get in big trouble.

scooteraug02 · 05-25-2012, 06:46 AM

This stuff works well for cleaning all kinds of metal things.

whodat90 · 05-25-2012, 12:51 PM

That napa stuff is great. It eats through the bottom of the can in about a year for me though.

whodat90 · 05-25-2012, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scooteraug02

Don't clean your M16 with oven cleaner either. It takes the bluing off and you get in big trouble.

In the same vein, steel wool will take rust off a blued barrel without damaging the bluing. Scotchbrite pads will take the bluing down to bare metal.

RoadGrime · 05-28-2012, 08:26 AM

...comes in handy around the house now and then. Spray the tube & nozzle with WD-40 to clean out the gunck inside to use it another time. I've tossed out many cans before "duh" hit me.

whodat90 · 05-29-2012, 08:05 AM

If you have the good fortune of building your own shop (or at least get to spec certain aspects of it) make sure you go with 8' high doors. That extra bit of height is the difference between fitting a bigger truck inside. Remember however that you'll need a different garage door opener or mod kit to account for the greater height. If you're doubly lucky, have matching doors at the front and back of the shop so you can pull larger vehicles straight through.

05-22-2012, 11:04 AM	#707
whodat90 Adventurer Joined: Apr 2008 Oddometer: 14	Melt plastic on a chrome exhaust pipe? Oven cleaner will take it off without damaging the chrome. Also works pretty good to clean gunk out of carbs, but prepare to clean it off very quickly; it eats aluminum given any time. As you work, stop and put away anything you have to step over or around. Takes much less time and aggravation to do it immediately than to constantly work around it. been mentioned before, but get a couple cheap 20" box fans and a multi-pack of 20"x20" furnace filters. Duct tape them together, and screw a couple to the ceiling in your shop facing opposite directions. This filters the air and also creates some airflow. It's amazing (to me anyway) how dirty they get. Every bolt I take out gets either antisieze or locktite upon reinstallation, sometimes both. Remember there are more than just red and blue locktite, green is used to wick into existing connections, and they also have a gel style stick that's easier to work with than the little tubes. Floor polish applied to scratched up plastics (think dirtbike and ATV) will bring back a remarkable amount of shine and pretty, since it'll fill in lots of the scratches. A whiteboard is invaluable in every shop, sometimes it's so much easier to draw something than to explain it. A cheap 2000lb winch bolted to your ceiling makes for a handy crane. They come in both 12v and 120v styles, for the 12v I just use an old car/motorcycle battery and charge it once every month or two. One of the unexpected benefits of this is that it makes loading and unloading heavy stuff/pallets from a truck easy, just back under it, strap on and lift it up, drive out from under it. Lower to the ground. If you put an eye bolt (or place for a removable one) directly under the winch, you can run the cable down to a pulley then use to pull non-running vehicles into the garage. Find yourself someone involved with large servers. They use Uninterruptable Power Supplies, which eat through batteries fairly often. Those batteries may not be good enough to power a server anymore, but they're great to have laying around a shop (usually 12v 17ah) to provide 12v as needed. They also connect using the super expensive quick disconnects used for winches and other high-amp applications. Get at least one, maybe two self-retracting air hose assemblies and put them up high so it'll reach everywhere. Do the same with a self-retracting extension cord reel. Get chunks of old carpet whenever you see it. Cut them into 2'x4' rectangles. Use them whenever you have to lay down under a vehicle. Throw a tarp down first and they become disposable drip absorbers. Nitrile gloves are available at graingers by the 250 and 500 pack. One pack of 250 lasts me about a year, and makes hand cleanup so much easier. Get the good ones, the cheap ones rip too easily. Pick up a metrinch set. Seriously, I've almost totally retired my rollaround toolbox full of tools since I got the metrinch set. If you don't have a small impact gun (shame on you) you can often tease out small screws, nuts, bolts, etc. that are stuck by using a cordless drill set on 'screw' with the clutch set loose. Start it with the clutch set all the way loose, then apply power and start tightening the clutch up. Most screw guns/cordless drills act as small impact guns used this way. If you're under a car, use jackstands. If you don't have any, get some. If you have some, throw them away and get new ones. Friend's dad died because he worked under a vehicle with the stock jack only. Also, once you get it on the jackstands rack the vehicle as hard as you can to make sure it's secure. If you get the joy of building your own shop: Insulate and rock it. My barn used to get to 120+ in the summer before I insulated it. Now it stays pretty comfy, and it would have been a billion times cheaper and easier to install when it was built. Plus sheetrock is fireproof (resistant, whatever) Add too many lights. Run one circuit of outlets above the workbench, run a separate circuit below. Run one 120v circuit to a central location that has only one outlet on it. This is your go-to for heavy draw tools and small welders (seriously, the little 110v welders and plasma cutters don't do too bad as long as they get a good solid 20a) Figure out where your air compressor will be, then run it's own 220v circuit there. If your compressor isn't 220v yet, just wire the outlet as a pair of 110v circuits for now. whodat90 screwed with this post 05-22-2012 at 11:17 AM*

05-23-2012, 11:12 AM	#710
disston ShadeTreeExpert Joined: Mar 2011 Location: Silver Spring, Md Oddometer: 4,992	I go to a brand of junk yards here in the Metro Wash DC area that do not allow us to have batteries in the yard. Can't beat their prices tho so I don't have a choice. Crazy Rays is the name. They even recognize me at most of them these days. I use the one on 695 in Balto most of the time but the one in Mt Airey is nice too, just farther away. It is against the rules at Crazy Rays to test any electric part. I know, doesn't make sense but that's the rule. The way to get a battery in is to use the power pack from a battery powered tool. Oh, they are not allowed too but you can get away with one in your tool bag. Since I'm going to be out of work in a year or something I might try being one of those junk yard greasers that pull parts? I think competition might be pretty rough. And the work is going to be hard but hey it beats starving. Maybe NOT. __________________ Never memorize something you can look up. ---Albert Einstein

05-25-2012, 06:46 AM	#716
scooteraug02 Dog Rancher Joined: Feb 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Oddometer: 4,181	This stuff works well for cleaning all kinds of metal things. __________________

05-28-2012, 08:26 AM	#719
RoadGrime Gnarly Adventurer Joined: Aug 2011 Location: NH USA Oddometer: 104	Great Stuff... ...comes in handy around the house now and then. Spray the tube & nozzle with WD-40 to clean out the gunck inside to use it another time. I've tossed out many cans before "duh" hit me.

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05-24-2012, 05:11 PM	#712
whodat90 Adventurer Joined: Apr 2008 Oddometer: 14	Safer, but massively less effective. Spray the oven cleaner on, let it sit for 10-20 seconds, drop it in a bucket of water. 99% of the nasty is now gone. Now use the safer cleaner, which has the side effect of neutralizing the oven cleaner. Honestly, if you put it on and leave it for hours you deserve what you get. If you just need to cut through years of grease and sitting outside quickly, it's the shiznit. Nowadays I'd just rather use the DIY soda blaster posted before, but if you don't have an air compressor handy, this will work.

05-25-2012, 06:19 AM	#713
whodat90 Adventurer Joined: Apr 2008 Oddometer: 14	Oh, another one. Put a magnet (shop magnet, speaker, whatever) in a plastic grocery bag, then use it to pick up all your shavings and whatnot. Invert the bag and remove the speaker, everything's clean and you don't spend the next hour picking fuzz off the magnet.

05-25-2012, 12:51 PM	#717
whodat90 Adventurer Joined: Apr 2008 Oddometer: 14	That napa stuff is great. It eats through the bottom of the can in about a year for me though.

05-29-2012, 08:05 AM	#720
whodat90 Adventurer Joined: Apr 2008 Oddometer: 14	If you have the good fortune of building your own shop (or at least get to spec certain aspects of it) make sure you go with 8' high doors. That extra bit of height is the difference between fitting a bigger truck inside. Remember however that you'll need a different garage door opener or mod kit to account for the greater height. If you're doubly lucky, have matching doors at the front and back of the shop so you can pull larger vehicles straight through.