Handy Tips

[Guest]

29th TIP....
Can't fine your small diameter drill bits for that wood project?
Clip the head off a finish nail or brad and chuck into your drill, the nail drill will actually last a long time in wood.

[Harold8]

Need some really small drill bits? Go to a welding supplies store and ask for a set of tip drills. Very tiny.

[Smitty]

Don't buy Harbor Freight drillbits for any use other than wood. Especially don't buy the very small ones (look at them under magnification and you'll see that they can't sharpen the tiny bits worth beans, all kinds of hilarious angles produced). I keep two HF drill bits in my shop as show-'n-tells. One is bent at a right-angle. The other, which had seized in a hole, had the spiral flutes straightened out over most of their length. I hand them over to visitors and say, "Bet you can't do THAT with your American drillbits!," to which they say, "Uh, no, I think you're right . . . "

For a while, there were some Chinese (maybe Taiwan) hacksaw blades that worked well once you learned that they were extra hard. If you were careful not to snap them, the teeth stayed sharp and cut pretty well for a long time. More recently The ones I've tried were too soft. If I buy American-brand blades they are probably also made in China, but hopefully with some oversight. The HF stuff evidently comes from low bidders, with minimal oversight from HF. The company's attitude apparently is to replace bad items for customers with few questions asked, and just depend on sales volume to make up for the returns. A guy who worked there quietly told me never to buy an HF welder, not that I would have. I used to buy their yellow 4 1/2" sidegrinders after American sidegrinders got outsourced and the quality dropped. At $20 each, I'd buy two or three, and they'd be good for most of a year. A year or so ago, HF came out with some black sidegrinders and had them on sale for $10 each, so I took a chance and bought three. The best one lasted two weeks, the worst about ten minutes. But now even the yellow ones don't go more than a couple of months at best (I'm a part-time welder), so I spend the money for Makita.

Zak used to refer to Konig outboards as "adult erector sets" or something like that because he spent so much time re-machining them to correct factory sloppiness. Some of the Harbor Freight tools you can take a chance on are like that. They are so cheap as to sometimes make it worth doing some corrective work to them at home, and come away with tools that are useable, if not professional-grade. I bought one of their combination sheetmetal machines (slip-roll, bend-brake, and shear). After replacing the crude bearings (one was already broken), and doing some de-burring and shimming, I got a tool that's useable if I don't push it too hard.

[Guest]

30th TIP.....
Can't find the end of that roll of sticky tape?
Make it easy for yourself next time.
After you finally find the end and cut off a piece, and while you still have the roll end stuck to your finger, stick on a large fender washer to it so that you can find it right away the next time.

[joejohn44]

Don't spend big money on penetrating oil. (Wd40 or pb blaster) best in the world : 50/50 mix of automatic transmission fluid (ATF) and acetone. We keep it in a spray bottle at the shop and call it super sauce.

[dwhitford]

This mix is also a great first-patch pass thru a powder-fouled rifle bore. I've used it for years after competitions. Saturate your 1st patch with the ATF-acetone, go eat lunch, then finish the bore cleaning afterward quickly.

[Guest]

This 31 TIP I got from Mom......
Lost something?
It will be in the last place you looked!
True 70 plus years ago, and I proved it true again this afternoon!

As my Dad would always say "I know I got that thing in the garage, but I just don't know where I put it!!"

[Guest]

TIP #32....Epoxy great stuff, except when the tube leaks all over the place or drys out.
I buy tubes of fast setting, regular and longer setting Epoxy and store them in individual plastic sandwich bags. No mess on the shelf and even if it leaks out into the bag it is still useable.
TIP #32A..... Buy epoxy in the tubes instead of the combine dispenser. Those dispensers seem to work only the first time for me, but the tube if kept separated, always allow you to get the "stuff" out.

[Guest]

TIP #33.....
If you are going to race, carry Health, Short Term, Long Term, and Life Insurance.
This is a good idea even if you don't race and have a family.

[Guest]

TIP #34.....
Read the current Rule Book!
Remember the rules change some from year to year, and most time the new rules are highlighted.
Also, a rule in one Racing Organization may be different in another, simply don't exist, or have a completely different meaning due to wording.
Be sure you understand the version of the Overlap, Bearing Away, and Safety Lane Rules you will be racing under.

[Smitty]

In another thread I offered the suggestion that when removing a damaged wooden bottom or deck, you can avoid having to manually dig out most of the old staples or boat-nails by using a carbide-tipped bit in your router, set for the exact thickness of the plywood, and just gently buzzing off each of the heads of the fasteners at the same time that you are just skimming the plywood-to-batten glue joint. A narrower diameter of bit, say 1/2", makes for lower surface speed at the tip, a little better for cutting the metal fasteners.

Be sure the bit is plenty tight in the collet, and that the height adjustment is tight, too. If either slips, you have new problems. And check to sure the bit is not bent at the shank. The shanks on these router tools are typically only 1/4" and you can bend them without realizing it; if you are paying attention you should notice the excess vibration, but I didn't when this happened to me.

I have been asked whether the carbide router tool will also do for stainless nails. I don't know. Stainless can be a miserable material to work with, and generally likes a low-speed cutting edge and lots of pressure, so I doubt my idea would work well. But if you want to try it, I'd like to hear about the results.

[Guest]

Good Tip Smitty that will save at least a day of work.

[Guest]

TIP #35.......
Need to drill some holes that need to be spaced accurately apart and can't get to the area easily to measure and mark?
Draw your centermarks on a piece of masking tape and then place the tape on the area to be drilled. Center punch thru the tape and start with a small size drill for the first pass.

[Guest]

TIP #36....
Drink Coke in the 16 oz plastic bottle?
Make storage containers for the shop by cutting the plastic bottle top off just above the Coke logo with a razor knife.
Good for all your small junk!

[Guest]

TIP #37......
Got one of those orange Ridge Vac from Home Depot with the 1 7/8" diameter fittings, and can't find a way to attach the hose to your machines?
Get yourself some 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" diameter plumbing rubber PlumbQuik. Mount one end to your wood or metal working machine and crank down the other end for a slide fit of the hose. Cheap and easy to do!!

[Tim Weber]

Handy tip #38

Don't buy anything from the made in China store, Harbor Freight.

Can you say crap?

Tim

[Shane_B]

Unfortunately dang near everything is made in China, even old US name products: Delta, Porter-Cable, Dewalt, Craftsman, etc...

[ZUL8TR]

Some of the items if carefully selected are not bad especially if the super discount coupons are used. I stay away from the electric items. Like Shane_B said most things in stores are from China and other non US areas. Sometimes the package says Made in USA but the item is non USA, yup the package is made here! Found this out on a Borg Warner part that was not made in the US. Lots of companies have manufacturer/assembly plants all over the world. Sad situation

[dwhitford]

Keep your shop vacuum close by your lathe, mill, and drill press to suck up chips b4 they accumulate to any great excess.

[Guest]

TIP 39......
I use my orange Ridge Shop Vacuum so much I wore out the hose nozzle. I made a super replacement out of PVC pipe with the same angle on the end. Had a new problem, the attachments kept sliding off. PVC is too slick. Rough up the surface and that didn't help, added a couple of "O"- rings to the nozzle that helped for awhile until the "O"- rings got sucked into the vac.
Fixed the problem finally by coating the nozzle end with black Liquid Electrical Tape (regular electrical tape didn't work, also too slick).
Works great now, the attachments don't slide off by themselves.