2017 POTD Thread Archive

[kvt]

Yea, the price you and your insurance paid for that screw, I should have been made of gold. Saw the bill for mine and like to flip out. I still have 6 and a plate in my neck, and another doctor wanted to then change that plate and screws for one that would go from C1 to T1, That would have been 16 screws and a plate, NO WAY.

 

[rdean]

Finally decided that I need to get more organized. I had small screws , nuts and misc in three different drawer organizers and all mixed up. Many of the drawers were broken and the handles were gone so it made it real frustrating looking for anything.
I bought some nice plastic see through adjustable boxes with lids to keep everything clean and safe. I fastened the boxes to leftover pieces of paneling and made a cabinet for them to slide into.



I made them so when the drawer was pulled out with the lid open it would stay in place and allow you to get what you wanted.



Six drawers were not enough as I still have one old bin left.
Well maybe someday I will make another set but not right away.
You can't imagine how frustrating it can git after 5 hours of sorting all the different sizes and threads of screws, bolts, washers and junk.
At least I have all the metric in one drawer. (maybe)

Thanks for looking
Ray

 

[woodchucker]

Finally decided that I need to get more organized. I had small screws , nuts and misc in three different drawer organizers and all mixed up. Many of the drawers were broken and the handles were gone so it made it real frustrating looking for anything.
I bought some nice plastic see through adjustable boxes with lids to keep everything clean and safe. I fastened the boxes to leftover pieces of paneling and made a cabinet for them to slide into.

I did something similar. http://imgur.com/hTYe0xV Wish I had made it bigger, need to build another.

 

[fradish]

Not today, but recently I finished up my lathe bench... In the chuck is a test bar I made to
make sure I had gotten the twist out of the bed.

 

[RJSakowski]

Food for thought....If you had your truck/car in to a trusted mechanic for an engine rebuild and after the work you notice poor performance. You confirm the compression is low and take it back in. They admit they used the wrong piston rings and have the balls to charge you again. Why do MD's have the right to do this to us.

Because physicians only have a license to practice medicine. When they get it right we can hold them accountable.

 

[Firestopper]

My wife's truck battery has been going dead after a couple of days of not running. Last weekend her battery exploded upon turning the ignition, I about pooped! It sounded like a 12 gauge under the hood. After cleaning up the mess, another Interstate Mega-Tron battery was installed. Today I decided to chase down the parasitic battery drain. I used the voltage drop method using a Fluke set to mV. It didn't take long to find the circuit that was causing the issue. The truck also had an intermittent ABS and brake light while driving. We chased it down to the ABS brake controller module. We took the upper half of the electronics off the rig leaving the main valve body and lines connected and proceeded to cut the sealant to remove the top cover and expose the circuit board. I had done some research and it seems some of the solder joints were cold resulting in failure or intermittent communication. Sure enough, we found at least three of 27 that looked bad. It took a serious magnifying glass (two in fact) attached to my cheaters to clearly see the problem areas. I went ahead and re-soldered all 10 pins for the connectors, 5 for a relay and 12 for all solenoids.

We cleaned the old sealant and applied new RTV and secured it back together using six T-8 torxs screws. Reinstalled the module and cleaned and reworked the grounding point on the frame. Fired up the truck and no ABS/brake light. We then shut it down and waited 20 min to ensure all computer controlled circuits where asleep. Re-checked all fuses for voltage drop and bingo! No more parasitic drain. Took the rig out for a twenty minute drive and no ABS/brake light, I'm not ready to celebrate just yet but I have a good feeling. Just as I was turning down our street, the change oil service message came on. Back on the lift she went and got fresh Mobil-1, filter and new fuel filter.

Was good to spend time in the shop and get positive results.
Turn and burn.
Paco

 

[FOMOGO]

Nice job tracking down the fault. Most would have just done the remove and replace deal, had they been able to find the issue at all. Cheers, Mike

 

[Firestopper]

Thanks Mike, those units run stupid money. I did a similar fix to my 82 FJ40 on the emissions computer. Cold solder joints suck for sure. The biggest difference in the Toyota was the size of the circuit board components. They where fisher price size compared to the tiny Chevy board. My eyes aren't what they once where.

 

[hman]

Finally decided that I need to get more organized. I had small screws , nuts and misc in three different drawer organizers and all mixed up. Many of the drawers were broken and the handles were gone so it made it real frustrating looking for anything.
I bought some nice plastic see through adjustable boxes with lids to keep everything clean and safe. I fastened the boxes to leftover pieces of paneling and made a cabinet for them to slide into.

I made them so when the drawer was pulled out with the lid open it would stay in place and allow you to get what you wanted.

Six drawers were not enough as I still have one old bin left.
Well maybe someday I will make another set but not right away.
You can't imagine how frustrating it can git after 5 hours of sorting all the different sizes and threads of screws, bolts, washers and junk.
At least I have all the metric in one drawer. (maybe)

Ray (and Jeff) -
I was browsing the "OUR SHOPS AND THE SPACES WE WORK IN" forum earlier today and saw what I think is a fantastic parts storage idea from samthedog. Check out post #36 in http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/20-foot-shipping-container-metal-shop.34187/page-2

I'm now starting to think of doing something similar - maybe make the bottom "layer" out of four Ikea "Helmers" http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40107872/ minus the casters, with everything resting on the 5-arm spider from an office chair. If the idea pans out, I'll be posting photos.

 

[Mach89]

My latest project is now finished. My 8 year old son wanted my to buy a pair of sais for his weapons class for karate. So I convinced him to let me make them instead. He seems happy with them, and they are perfectly sized for him.