Hints and Tips

[Manual Mac]

And speaking of VP’s, Dick Cavett once pointed out that if you re-arrange the letters in Richard Nixon’s (first) VP, Spiro Agnew, you can spell grow a penis.

 

[homebrewed]

And speaking of VP’s, Dick Cavett once pointed out that if you re-arrange the letters in Richard Nixon’s (first) VP, Spiro Agnew, you can spell grow a penis.

Isn't he the one who coined the immortal phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism"? No wonder he was booted out of the VP-ship .

Interesting timing, for some reason I was thinking of that phrase just the other day.

 

[woodchucker]

SHIMS:
save a few soda cans, beer cans, whatever clean them out, cut them up with a scissor. Just cut the top and bottom so you have a nice clean middle section. flatten it out and put it under something to keep it from curling up... you now have some nice shim material.

I keep brass shim material too, but use aluminum where I can. you can use lacquer thinner to remove any coatings if they exist..
see post 49 in this thread too.

 

[savarin]

a couple of layers of allfoil round a shaft to make a tighter fit in a chuck.
Example
I have two small tap holders and need to tap some 3mm threads and some 2mm threads
The smallest one is too small for the 3mm tap but too big for the 2mm tap. 3 wraps of all foil and clamp up very tight and it holds sufficient to use and cut the thread (in aluminium)

 

[woodchucker]

New tip:
Was changing the oil on my wife's RAV4, she says the brakes are squealing, so I pop the tire off, check the pads, got a few weeks before it's serious.

I figured I check the discs to see whether I need to replace the discs. I'm oily, so I take my caliper, take a measurement, and zero it, so I can get it later, that way I don't have to keep it locked, and it's not a hazard with the depth rod sticking out. It's an absolute caliper, so it will keep the reading..

Just thought it's a good way to store the measurement for later..
Most probably knew it already, but some may not have thought of it.

 

[woodchucker]

This is for the newbies who may not have had a lot of mechanical experience. The people that are old hands already know this.

STRIPPED ALLEN head..

I was reminded that many may not know this, I had a stripped out head on an allen set screw. This works on all types of allens, and even torx...
Take a hammer and keep hitting the top, it will usually restore the shape to the point that you can remove the screw and replace it.
Yesterday I had a deep set screw that I needed to remove. It was stripped. I put a long punch down, and did this, I was able to back the screw out.
Now I need to find a metric replacement. Sometimes you can keep doing this if you need to put it back in service, and get a screw later. Often, it's a good idea to replace it as possible.

 

[woodchucker]

Cover open motors with fiberglass screen, or even fiberglass heating filters.
When I rebuilt my SB 9, The motor seemed like an obvious place for chips.. after all when I took the motor apart it was full of chips and crud.
I took some fiberglass screen and made a quick fix... it's kept it clean of swarf. The other day I noticed my rotary converter had chips sitting in the opening.. rinse and repeat.


Hey someone cut up my ****ty old screen

 

[woodchucker]

Being the end of the year 12/30 today.
I do machine maintenance today and for the next few days. Today was lathe and grinder. Tomorrow mill , and start on my many woodworking machines.

I change oils, lube things that get less attention, clean areas that don't normally get cleaned... check belts

The physical new year is a good reminder for me to do those things. You won't believe how many times I have found a set screw backing out, or something worn that I wasn't aware of . I think my tablesaw requires the most work... I pull out all the dust and lube the trunion with a teflon lube And check things.

Just saying.

 

[jwmelvin]

Tip: be deliberate about the tip used for ball oilers.

I’ve used Goldenrod oilers since getting my first machine tool a few years back. Worked okay, a little fussy depending on the size of the ball oiler I was addressing. I bought a bunch of tools from an estate sale and yesterday decided I could use another oiler so I grabbed one from the stash. Well, it turns out to have a tip on it that works magnificently better with ball oilers. I didn’t know what I was missing. The rigid tube is good for starters, and the tip actually seats in the oiler (of both sizes on my lathe).

I had heard about this before and meant to make one for my oiler, but for some reason didn’t realize how much of a difference it would make.

 

[RJSakowski]

On a post on another thread, I was lamenting the fact that I didn't have a proper method of storing my excess drills. I don't have enough to justify the expense of drill bit dispenser(s) let alone the space to put them. However, lumping them all together isn't the answer either as sorting through them ti find the one you need consumes a lot of time.

My criteria for storage is that the cost is minimal, storage is compact, and that sorting is relatively easy. The solution that I came was storage pouches sorted by hundredths of an inch. I have a "Seal a Meal" that works well for making small plastic bags. I also have pieces of 6 mil polyethylene sheet left over from various projects. The sheet is folded lengthwise with one half slightly longer than the other and pouches about an inch wide are made using the Seal a Meal. Once the drills are loaded, the whole affair can be rolled up into a compact roll for storage.