Clever Things We Do In Our Shops

[Paul in OKC]

Hi Cathead....I don't know if its approved either but I do the same thing, reversing the die to get as many full threads as I can up against a shoulder, then cut a relief groove to remove the few partial threads remaining. It works well.

Ditto on that one!

 

[Techie1961]

This isn't really machine shop related but a bit more on the plumbing side. I've had to do quite a bit of fitting cleaning in my days and I'm always looking for some way to do things better and faster. So, if you have a few fittings to do and nipples as well, this is a trick for prepping them prior to soldering.

Get some fitting brushes and cut off the handles with a hacksaw, bolt cutter, whatever. If you are doing the fittings, mount this in a drill and you'll be cleaning them up faster than you ever have an likely doing a better job. Taking this further, I had to find a way to do nipples up to about a foot or more quickly.

Mount the same size fitting brush in the drill and head on over to the grinder or belt sander. Spin it while grinding the diameter down. Keep trying it with a piece of copper pipe until you can push it on without too much force. Now when you need to do some nipples, you just slide it over the brush and spin it on the drill. Takes about 3 seconds to clean it up and ready for assembly.

Put a bit of paint on the smaller brush so you know at a glance which one to grab. Use an old brush for the smaller pipe brush. I know that they make external brushes for the ends of nipples but I prefer this an they're cheaper and don't wear out since you're using emery.

 

[toolroom]

Wow, great idea. Thanks for sharing. And I thought Plumbers only knew two things... Poop flows downhill, and Payday's on Friday!
toolroom

 

[epanzella]

Tap some holes in a piece of black pipe and use it as a spider for holding oddly shaped parts on end.

 

[jim18655]

Wow, great idea. Thanks for sharing. And I thought Plumbers only knew two things... Poop flows downhill, and Payday's on Friday!
toolroom

Don't forget "Hot is on the left."

 

[Techie1961]

Tap some holes in a piece of black pipe and use it as a spider for holding oddly shaped parts on end.

That's a pretty cool idea!

 

[Techie1961]

I read on another forum after posting this that one guy had done something similar in the past and cut himself pretty bad on the end of the pipe. When I do it, I keep my other fingers away and use only my first finger and thumb and make sure I am only touching the emery cloth.

This isn't really machine shop related but a bit more on the plumbing side. I've had to do quite a bit of fitting cleaning in my days and I'm always looking for some way to do things better and faster. So, if you have a few fittings to do and nipples as well, this is a trick for prepping them prior to soldering.

Get some fitting brushes and cut off the handles with a hacksaw, bolt cutter, whatever. If you are doing the fittings, mount this in a drill and you'll be cleaning them up faster than you ever have an likely doing a better job. Taking this further, I had to find a way to do nipples up to about a foot or more quickly.

Mount the same size fitting brush in the drill and head on over to the grinder or belt sander. Spin it while grinding the diameter down. Keep trying it with a piece of copper pipe until you can push it on without too much force. Now when you need to do some nipples, you just slide it over the brush and spin it on the drill. Takes about 3 seconds to clean it up and ready for assembly.

Put a bit of paint on the smaller brush so you know at a glance which one to grab. Use an old brush for the smaller pipe brush. I know that they make external brushes for the ends of nipples but I prefer this an they're cheaper and don't wear out since you're using emery.

 

[Deerslayer]

This isn't really machine shop related but a bit more on the plumbing side. I've had to do quite a bit of fitting cleaning in my days and I'm always looking for some way to do things better and faster. So, if you have a few fittings to do and nipples as well, this is a trick for prepping them prior to soldering.

Get some fitting brushes and cut off the handles with a hacksaw, bolt cutter, whatever. If you are doing the fittings, mount this in a drill and you'll be cleaning them up faster than you ever have an likely doing a better job. Taking this further, I had to find a way to do nipples up to about a foot or more quickly.

Mount the same size fitting brush in the drill and head on over to the grinder or belt sander. Spin it while grinding the diameter down. Keep trying it with a piece of copper pipe until you can push it on without too much force. Now when you need to do some nipples, you just slide it over the brush and spin it on the drill. Takes about 3 seconds to clean it up and ready for assembly.

Put a bit of paint on the smaller brush so you know at a glance which one to grab. Use an old brush for the smaller pipe brush. I know that they make external brushes for the ends of nipples but I prefer this an they're cheaper and don't wear out since you're using emery.

Just need to get rid of the no korode , that stuff is awful,IMHO.

 

[cathead]

When working on wiring on a VFD or 3 phase motor, Take a photo of the wiring so you can
refer to it later if needed.. This is also handy if disassembling a complicated mechanical
thing to know better how it reassembles.

Don't forget "Hot is on the left."

 

[4GSR]

Just need to get rid of the no korode , that stuff is awful,IMHO.

Be nice now!!!