Landracing Forum
Misc Forums => How To Section => Topic started by: SPARKY on April 06, 2008, 11:23:29 PM
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I know several of you that have posted about tools or things that you have made to help..please post
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I found this list when going through the "humor" file in an old filing cabinet. I believe I got it about ten years ago from the M-Riders mailing list (another group to which I belong). There have been many versions of this, I know, but I think this one has merit enough to post it. If you've got additions -- feel free to add them. With SpeedWeek coming soon we can all use help with learning about tools.
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I found this list when going through the "humor" file in an old filing cabinet. I believe I got it about ten years ago from the M-Riders mailing list (another group to which I belong). There have been many versions of this, I know, but I think this one has merit enough to post it. If you've got additions -- feel free to add them. With SpeedWeek coming soon we can all use help with learning about tools.
Slim,
You have quite accurately and completely described the entire contents of my tool box..... with the exception of the side cutter pliars used for breaking the necks off beer bottles by prying at the cap.........
Ed
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This one comes under the heading of "Important things for your Harley-Davidson or older Brit Bike":
http://chopperindustry.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2725
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And Nortons, :-D
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I use a similar thing at work it is an american product called a Pig Blanket,very thin and very absorbent!.
David.
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This one comes under the heading of "Important things for your Harley-Davidson or older Brit Bike":
http://chopperindustry.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2725
Jon,
My HD V-rod doesn't Leak Oil it's marking it's Territory :evil:
Funny thing is it's really Leaks with The High Dollar Synthetics,but isn't to bad with HD's Cheap Dinosaur 20w/50w :oops:!
Good thing is it's cheap enough to change after every Race :mrgreen:!
I could add a Few more to the List,but they are all Rated R :-P............
Kaz............... 8-)
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Shop towel - Used to store metal slivers and grease out of plain sight. Also good as a fan when your drill catches it and spins.
Calipers - Device used to verify that you cut the part too short. Handy for removing metal slivers from your hand; see shop towel.
Micrometer - Used in place of a C-Clamp by the uninitiated. When it's owner finds someone using it as C-Clamp, it is grounds for justifible homicide in 17 Western states.
Two Post Lift - Used to bend sheet metal on trucks with waxed or undercoated frames.
Lathe - A destructive testing machine that is also handy for throwing chuck keys.
Mill - Machine used for drilling holes EXACTLY 0.200" off desired location.
Jig Bore - Like a mill, but calibrated to miss it's mark by 0.02500"
Burr knife - A toy for the machinist, it will hide until you don't need it anymore, then miraculously reappear.
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MCR, go ahead and add those to the list that I posted. The list is a Word document -- you might be able to modify it. If not I guess I'll add 'em later on (the original is on the 'puter at my office). And I can use my backyard skills to do as well as I could with a mill -- can miss by a quarter-inch pretty well.
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Priceless stuff MCR- just about fell outa the chair - pure REALITY!
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A minor explanation since somebody asked me privately:
A Bridgeport Mill moves exactly 0.200" every revolution of the handle. Back before digital displays, we had to count revolutions to get to our desired location. If you miscount, you are off exactly a multiple of .200".
Ditto for optical sights on many Jig Bores, except a rev is 0.02500".
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A minor explanation since somebody asked me privately:
A Bridgeport Mill moves exactly 0.200" every revolution of the handle. Back before digital displays, we had to count revolutions to get to our desired location. If you miscount, you are off exactly a multiple of .200".
Ditto for optical sights on many Jig Bores, except a rev is 0.02500".
My mill/drill moves .125 and I really got use to that as it is 1/8 inch and I could position holes very quickly in my mind and on the work with it.
Then I recently got a full size mill and yes the first thing I discovered was one turn now was .200 and I couldn't quickly in my head move 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 of an inch by even turns of the handle like before. Oh well I still drill most of the holes using the mill/drill. I can see that 5 turns on the big mill is 1 inch vs. 8 on the mill/drill, but wonder why they are different and why they settled on .125 on one and .200 on the other.
c ya,
Sum
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Die Grinder w/cut-off wheel ---- Amazingly versatile tool that sometimes butchers more metal on the backside that you're not paying attention too, as it does on the front side where you're mezmerized by it's progress and can't stop, (aka, I meant to cut off that much)
Sweaty t-shirt ---- Handy for mopping up blood after aforementioned cut-off wheel grabs said t-shirt and instantly wraps itself around, and no earthly human has the ability to let go of the lever until wheel begins surgical procedures.
DS
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My Clausing mill moves .100 each revolution. That makes it eazy even for me to figure and I still screw up sometimes. LOL
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That's essentially what happened to the Hubble Space Telescope; the focus was set to extreme precision--0.1" off. I don't remember the actual error but it was an integer-- someone simply read a scale wrong.
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That's essentially what happened to the Hubble Space Telescope; the focus was set to extreme precision--0.1" off. I don't remember the actual error but it was an integer-- someone simply read a scale wrong.
It was actually better than that. 1.3 mm. Telescope mirrors are used to test themselves. If you are at the focus point of the mirror you can see the deviations like they are hills and valleys. The mirror mounted at the focus point for the test instruments sat on a precise shaft with a very precise stop. Unless you put the shaft in backwards and make it off since it wasn't symmetrical.
(http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Workshop/Sign-Construction.jpg)
(http://sheldonbrown.com/images/tork-grip.jpg)
(http://sheldonbrown.com/images/tork-calibration.gif)
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Thanks, Dean. I knew it was something like that. Huge goof.
BTW, no need for that torque wrench-- just tighten it 'til you feel it give, then back off a half- turn.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
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That's right, tighten it until it strips, back off a quarter and call it done.
Superglue, Loctite, chewing gum, duct tape and clarinet reeds will fix anything.
Remember our motto: "Hammer to shape, force to fit, paint to match."
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That's right, tighten it until it strips, back off a quarter and call it done.
Superglue, Loctite, chewing gum, duct tape and clarinet reeds will fix anything.
Remember our motto: "Hammer to shape, force to fit, paint to match."
Hey, don't forget Silicone!
Deb
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MCR.....Have you been spying on me? I engaged the clutch on a 14 x 54 Monarch lathe with the T-handle still in the chuck.....ONCE. Jerry
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FYI, I just bought a light- duty plasma cutter from Harbor Freight on sale for $399.
It isn't anything fancy and can cut only 0.200" thick steel but that is really all I need. I fired it up for the first time and cut a piece of 16 ga. scrap tubing with ease. It will also cut thinner stainless, aluminum, & titanium.
I think their sale is on for another week. The Box says "120 Volt Inverter Plasma Cutter" & "Item 97994". It isn't a Miller or Lincoln by any means but it seems to work OK and I could afford it.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
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Along the "tools" topic -- I'm going to Green Bay day-after-tomorrow. Up here that's a big deal. And bigger still -- there's a Home Depot there. I'm probably going to buy one of their little (900 - 1,500 watt) "suitcase" generators to provide enough AC for the fluorescent lights and a few battery chargers in the race trailer. Anybody got any experience with the H D gens? The littlest one is all of $150 -- and has a two-stroke motor. But the sound level is rated at something like 59db, which is pretty danged quiet. I want quiet more than I want kilowatts -- but I'd like to be sure it's a quiet as the spec would lead me to believe. They've got a 4-stroke one, too, for about a hundred bucks more -- and it's rater a handful of decibels louder.
So -- what's your opinion on the tiny Home Depot generators?
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No direct experience with any HD gens so can't comment on them specifically. But...............
I would try to listen to them for a few Min's before a purchase decision is made, let my ears compare rather than relying on decibel numbers alone. I lived with an old military surplus 3KW powered by an 1800 RPM Onan one winter before the power line came through. Very easy on the ears and mind, doubt there are many small 1800 RPM units on the market now. As a teen working summers on a tobacco farm the Johny "popper" Deer was much easier to listen to all day than the higher revving and higher pitched Farmall's. Old Roots blown EMD locomotives were also much easier on the ears and mind than the later ones with higher pitched turbo's for me. YMMV.
Hope to give your choice my "ear check" at April Maxton. Been considering another rig myself, the Onan needs a rebuild and is too big and heavy to tote around for what we need.
Ed Purinton
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Jon,
I have no experience with Home Depot generators, but I have had a Sears and a off brand.
Then I purchased a Honda 2000, it is very quiet, fuel efficient, reliable, light [47lbs] and several hundred dollars more.
For a small load like you mentioned a Honda 1000 might work.
After owning lesser brands the quality of the Honda is worth the price for me.
Don
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Ed:
I will certainly ask for a running demo -- because there's no question, a running engine is easier to judge than a printed specification. I doubt they'll fire one or two up for me, though. I'll try.
As for buying a Honda -- The cost is probably too high for what I want. I don't care nearly as much about the long-term reliability (is ten years better than three years, or whatever?), as long as I get the lights on and the trailer 12V battery recharged. I know how quiet the Hondas are -- I want to see how quiet the less-expensive model is. At the house I've got a nice Craftsman 6kw unit to run the entire place in the all-too-frequent occasion of a power outage, and while it's great -- 220VAC for the pump in the well and the clothes dryer and water heater, indeed! -- it's a tad noisy. I run it in the garage and this coming summer will build a semi-permanent exhaust system. Now it's the factory muffler with the generator sitting in the open doorway -- which faces the house. I look forward to closing the door.
Back to what I'll buy -- I'd rather have a low-rpm unit but doubt very much that they're available in such tiny (output) sizes. Sure hope they'll start one or two up so I can listen. . . I'll let you folks know.
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Our cheap Bonneville generator's way too loud. Reliable, loud. Cheap, loud. Bought a longer cord to partially solve the problem. Wish we had a Honda.
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I was wondering... why isn't it possible to put a silencer on the generator mufflers? You can buy them for OHV's, so why not generators? The one I borrow for SW and WF isn't as loud as some, but still irritating as h..l. I hate running it in the evenings because it shatters the quiet of the salt! Also, it keeps Ed Shearer awake!! :-D There just ought to be a way!!
Lynda
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This company http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5&zenid=5f59ff767bd48bf81080d106191b7535 (http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5&zenid=5f59ff767bd48bf81080d106191b7535) has a few tools that may be of use to some like a left-handed metric screwdriver or a sky hook set. They also have an engine oil bypass kit that keeps oil temps low possibly providing horsepower gains. They also sell adjustable power bands and brass balls just like the rally drivers have.
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Lynda, you're right in asking about a better muffler -- but some of the noise isn't exhaust noise, but rather things like the whine from a cooling fan or maybe from the generator's windings, or maybe just poor cylinder design. The little engine on our pit bike is a two-stroke and super-quiet, so I know those motors can be made quiet. I wouldn't want to keep Ed awake -- but then, he and Cris retired, right, so who cares about keeping him awake now?
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Speaking of loud generators, we certainly had one for a while. We always put it on the other side of our truck and trailer so it wasn't as annoying-to us that is. One time we were pitted next to Don and Rick Vesco and on the third day our generator kept dying. We couldn"t figure out what was wrong with it until we spotted Don laughing so hard he was crying. We finally realised that he had been sneeking over and shutting it off. Great fun at the salt right? Next time we got a quieter one.
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Jon,
When I was drag racing a few years back I had 2 generators.
1/ 2.6 kW for power tools compressor etc, this had the standard muffler running into a nice muffler that came of a Suzuki road bike that had been trashed (early GSXR I Think) which helped to cut the noise down quite a bit from the exhaust, but most of the noise ended up being mechanical.
2/ A small suitcase 1.5 kW generator for running the RV and TV/PC etc. The advantage of these is that the plastic moulded case is designed to muffle all mechanical noise, and with it being an "Inverter" type (12V generation feeding into a solid state inverter) it gave a much cleaner mains supply for the PC.
I hate to say it, but have a look on evilBay for ideas.
Neil