What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[GirchyGirchy]

Changed the spark plugs and air filters in the Mazda3, then stared at it while continuing to debate whether I should fix the leaking timing cover or let the next owner worry about it.

 

[NUTTSGT]

It appears that you were successful...

Yeah pretty much. It hurt too much to cuss and I had to trim the broken thumbnail off the rest of the way.

 

[oldman_pottering]

Took the brace of an old soldering iron torch out of the evaporust bath, checked it and put it back in

 

[Old Man Roger]

Did my nails. Metalflake green. It's handy to have a big bench and die grinders.

A small barrel sander in a cordless drill works wonders on a thick toe nail.lol

 

[Old Man Roger]

Yeah pretty much. It hurt too much to cuss and I had to trim the broken thumbnail off the rest of the way.

Best to do it immediately, just like washing road rash. It hurts waaaaaaay more if you wait. When it’s fresh, it almost doesn’t hurt anymore than it already hurts. If that makes sense.

 

[Beerhippie]

I modified my Cornwell CA 84 bit holder/driver to hold more than the three or four short bits it will hold in the handle.





A 1/2" Forstener fit just inside the threads and at 150 rpm, went through the plastic like a hot knife through butter--right down to where the lead spur hit the end of the shaft.





Now it holds all those (plus one in the bit holder) comfortably. I'm setting it up to be my electrical work driver, so need to get rid of the PH 3 and add a #1 & 2 square instead. It will easily hold six short bits now.

Damn--I just love that blue color--goes back to my hippie days.

Now I'm trying to get the rust and crud out of my new-to-me pressure sprayer:



It holds pressure just fine, once I made a gasket for it, but the tip clogs almost immediately. I gave it several rinses with acetone and now have it filled with white gas and ball bearings. I'll give it a shake until my hands tire, set it down, rest, repeat until I can't do it anymore.

I may have to to fill it with sodium citrate solution and put it in the hot plate to simmer for a while--after the shake fest.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get signed up for SS online. I may have to start drinking a little early in the day.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Best to do it immediately, just like washing road rash. It hurts waaaaaaay more if you wait. When it’s fresh, it almost doesn’t hurt anymore than it already hurts. If that makes sense.

Oh it does.... Most only have pain in one area.....the area with the most pain wins...

I had just recently put a set of finger nail clippers in the garage. . . Then I had to clean the blood off them later. I believe that was a first cleaning blood off clippers.

 

[LeonardY]

Moved more stuff into the shed.

 

[Skyman]

Oh it does.... Most only have pain in one area.....the area with the most pain wins...

I had just recently put a set of finger nail clippers in the garage. . . Then I had to clean the blood off them later. I believe that was a first cleaning blood off clippers.

I know a guy who’s had to do that more than once. He shall remain nameless.

 

[Old Man Roger]

I believe that was a first cleaning blood off clippers.

Really? I use mine for surgery all the time.lol

I know a guy who’s had to do that more than once. He shall remain nameless.

I think we know who.

 

[Beerhippie]

Oh it does.... Most only have pain in one area.....the area with the most pain wins...

I had just recently put a set of finger nail clippers in the garage. . . Then I had to clean the blood off them later. I believe that was a first cleaning blood off clippers.

I always manage to miss my thumbnail and just send the bit through the meat at the base of my thumb. I've had to pull a driver bit out of there with pliers more than once.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Really? I use mine for surgery all the time.lol

Usually use the X-acto knife for that.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I always manage to miss my thumbnail and just send the bit through the meat at the base of my thumb. I've had to pull a driver bit out of there with pliers more than once.

I've done the side of the finger a couple of times.

Funny thing is, I was watching RR buildings on YT the other day. I saw Kyle run the bit into his finger and thought I know that F'ing hurts.

 

[rharman]

Nice save.

Thanks. It's a simple meter and rarely gets used but it works well and has sentimental value.

 

[rharman]

< snip >

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get signed up for SS online. I may have to start drinking a little early in the day.

< /snip >

Not sure how it is now but, when we signed up near the end of 2022, it was an absolute piece of cake.

 

[nadogail]

Started on the remodel of my Table Saw, after removing the original power switch and it's plastic enclosure i searched my storage area for an appropriate piece of steel to make a mounting bracket for the 4X4 box. Found some flat bar, cut it to length, located and drilled two holes in the flat bar. I will need to cut a notch in the flat bar to clear a rib in the Cast Iron Table. The saw needs to be elevated so I can see the underside of the table.

Stopped for Lunch and the arrival of our Part-Time Book Keeper.

The project is scheduled to continue tomorrow.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get signed up for SS online. I may have to start drinking a little early in the day.

Took me 5 minutes, way back when. Might have had something to do with public service. Medicare was even easier. I did absolutely nothing. Again, being in public service took care of me.

 

[TurnipTruck]

I bought an unfinished restoration of a Wells 3-phase horizontal band saw a couple years ago. Its prior owner just got one last little improvement done to the gearbox and I promptly hooked everything up and made some test cuts.


I have never owned this much saw before, and had only a little feel for the blade speeds I will need, so I tested all four belt speeds against an antique Stewart Warner handheld tach and converted its rpm to blade fpm.


Then I sharpied the fpm on the driven pulley.


Fifty FPM?!? I may have the pulleys backwards.

The saw still needs a few details finished, like an auto-off switch and a belt guard. The travel damper may need a rebuild, too. A pneumatic chip blower and blade brushes would be useful. If it had a chip tray I would be more interested in a coolant pump.

 

[turbowoodworker]

Replaced a ton of T8s in shop, and one ballast. Shop is a tad brighter now.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Nothing in my garage but in my grandmas garage I changed the oil, spark plugs and belt and fuel filter on her Toro ZX5400 zero turn mower. She mows all of her landlords properties in exchange for living in her house with my aunt so having the mower is important to her and I’m the only grandkid that will do anything for her so she counts on me but I really enjoy doing it. It’s helped me learn a lot about mowers too by doing this the last few seasons. The oil was very very dark so glad I changed it. This time I was able to find more information on the engine instead of buying the very expensive Kohler filter I just got a Fram and put on it and threw in 2 quarts of Castrol GTX 10W-30 same as last time. Castrol is my preferred brand of oil no particular reason just like it and it has kept my engines clean. The mower was running like **** probably because the fuel filter was black but I installed a new one and it runs like new. We didn’t realize the mower was a 2015 model as her landlord told her it was new when he bought it for her in 2019 but oh well it works so that’s the important thing.

Spark plugs for that thing are hard to find I had to go to the auto parts store to get them. I got there and realized I left my copper anti seize behind but I had brought silver so I just used the silver on the plugs it should be fine. I put in two fresh Autolite plugs. I wanted NGK or Champion but the store was out. But Autolite works fine I’ve never had a problem with them in my Ford cars before so I’m not worried. I also had already purchased the special 7/16 square pipe socket last year because I fought the drain plug with a wrench last year and this socket is so much easier to use. It’s a Sunex.

I also had bought one of those little 7 quarts open top drain pans and it fit under the mower perfectly. Most importantly I feel good about doing all of it so glad I got it done. My grandma is turning 79 next month. She kept hugging me and telling me how thankful she was I got it done for her and then slid me a Ben Franklin. I’m like you don’t have to give me anything but she insisted to like always.

She also gave me two Gatorades which I chugged because it was 91 degrees outside.

 

[micromind]

I'm trying to get signed up for SS online. I may have to start drinking a little early in the day.

It was a couple of years ago but I remember signing up was not all that easy.

I was not able to do it all online, I had to call and call and call........I'm nearly deaf, calling is well....difficult. Even worse, the person I talked to didn't speak English very well.

Finally got it though.

 

[SouthernIllinois]

Neighbor needed some aluminum welding done on his air lift gate on his grain trailer but needed tips for his Miller spool gun.

Sunday morning, no one has Miller spool gun tips was open yet.

Took my Hobart 210 MVP down there with spool gun and got him straight.

He claimed my $1k Hobart 210 MVP Spool Gun did a better job than his 215 Millermatic.

 

[cody1325]

I had some hi-vis orange paint left over, and decided to mark a couple cheap tools--actually my cheapest and least favorite in each of the categories--a Kobalt hatchet (cheese steel) and a Pittsburgh rip hammer (one, I prefer claw heads, and B: it's hung pretty poorly from the factory). Won't be losing these in the weeds again!

Also, I put **** back where it belongs. My SAE wrench drawer looked like a mess.

I modified my Cornwell CA 84 bit holder/driver to hold more than the three or four short bits it will hold in the handle.





A 1/2" Forstener fit just inside the threads and at 150 rpm, went through the plastic like a hot knife through butter--right down to where the lead spur hit the end of the shaft.





Now it holds all those (plus one in the bit holder) comfortably. I'm setting it up to be my electrical work driver, so need to get rid of the PH 3 and add a #1 & 2 square instead. It will easily hold six short bits now.

Now I'm trying to get the rust and crud out of my new-to-me pressure sprayer:



It holds pressure just fine, once I made a gasket for it, but the tip clogs almost immediately. I gave it several rinses with acetone and now have it filled with white gas and ball bearings. I'll give it a shake until my hands tire, set it down, rest, repeat until I can't do it anymore.

I may have to to fill it with sodium citrate solution and put it in the hot plate to simmer for a while--after the shake fest.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get signed up for SS online. I may have to start drinking a little early in the day.

I've got a modern Ideal (with locking bit holder) as well as a "Bear Distribution" that is yellow doesn't have a locking bit adapter, but is otherwise identical--even the same patent in the cap. I assume it was Pratt-Read sourced. Both really don't hold more than 4-5 bits, so I may try something similar. Both all just hold the same 4-5 bits in the handle (though the Ideal came with a block full of US-made bits). Normally, I keep PH2 in the shaft, with Torx (typically, T15, 20, or 25--or 20, 25, and 27 when I can find short T27 bits) and PH1 in the handle.

 

[rd65]

Tried to run the impact driver with a phillips bit through my thumbnail

Uh, you shouldnt do that.

 

[rd65]

Changed oil & filter and rotated the tires on the Mrs CX5. Car recently turned 60k, so I ran down to O'Reillys and picked up a set of NGK plugs and a Microguard cabin filter. Took it for a short drive and rechecked torque on the wheels, parked it in the garage. Moved the Miata from the garage to the shop. It needs an oil change and a check over on turbo plumbing.

 

[Beerhippie]

It was a couple of years ago but I remember signing up was not all that easy.

I was not able to do it all online, I had to call and call and call........I'm nearly deaf, calling is well....difficult. Even worse, the person I talked to didn't speak English very well.

Finally got it though.

It's a PITA. Half the pages I need to go to show up as Page Not Found. This is clicking links within the system. Why do I get the feeling that the software is by Oracle? Oh, yeah, sue me Oracle, I don't even have my SS income.

A few friends are also trying to get signed up right now. Phone calls are a four-hour wait hereabouts--and then you just get dropped. Can't make an appointment to go to the office in La Grande, and hour-and-a-half away unless you can get through on the phone or the on-line--and that office may no longer exist, meaning two hours each way from here.

....


I've got a modern Ideal (with locking bit holder) as well as a "Bear Distribution" that is yellow doesn't have a locking bit adapter, but is otherwise identical--even the same patent in the cap. I assume it was Pratt-Read sourced. Both really don't hold more than 4-5 bits, so I may try something similar. Both all just hold the same 4-5 bits in the handle (though the Ideal came with a block full of US-made bits). Normally, I keep PH2 in the shaft, with Torx (typically, T15, 20, or 25--or 20, 25, and 27 when I can find short T27 bits) and PH1 in the handle.

I'm setting this one up to work electrical boxes and such--PH 2, ECX 1 and 2 (whoever came up with this idea, get in touch--I have a hammer to show you), Torx 15 and 25, square #1 and 2. A standard bit would be handy, but that about fills the increased storage.

 

[Blue Chips]

I finished installing the new full-rise scissor car lift in our new garage. It's working great, and the quality appears to be quite decent.

The new garage has an 11-foot ceiling. In hindsight, I probably should have made it 12 feet, but it should still be fine for my purposes.

I can stand up under my spouse's Outback, as well as my 1954 Dodge M37 (IF the top is off and the windshield is folded down). As to my F-150, I won’t be able to lift it quite all the way or it would hit the ceiling, so I’ll have to stoop a bit when working under it, or else sit on a tall stool. The platforms will rise to roughly 6 feet above the floor, leaving around 5 feet to the ceiling.

The hydraulic pump and oil reservoir are inside the control console. The safety pawls on this model are operated by compressed air. Our old garage (my shop) has a plumbed-in air compressor, and I might eventually install the same in the new garage, but for the time being I bought a small wall-mount compressor with a 1/2-gallon tank that works fine, and it can double as a tire inflator or perhaps run some low-air-volume tools. The compressor can be lifted off the wall mounting bracket.







I'm planning to cover the rigid foam insulation against the garage foundation with FRP sheets or something like that. Insulating the garage might not happen for a while, but it's on the 'to do' list.

 

[rharman]

Took me 5 minutes, way back when. Might have had something to do with public service. Medicare was even easier. I did absolutely nothing. Again, being in public service took care of me.

It was a couple of years ago but I remember signing up was not all that easy.

I was not able to do it all online, I had to call and call and call........I'm nearly deaf, calling is well....difficult. Even worse, the person I talked to didn't speak English very well.

Finally got it though.

We signed up for Medicare to start 1/1/22 as I retired on 12/31/21. We delayed SS for a year to let it grow another 8% each.

Medicare was a piece of cake. We both applied at the same time. My wife got a call from a Medicare rep to verify a couple of things. She mentioned that i had also applied. He put her on hold and came back a couple of minutes later. Said he had my app too and would take care of me on the same call. Great service on both Medicare & SS.

@Beerhippie - Sorry you're having so much trouble. ***** how bad that is. 99.9% sure it's not Oracle but don't get me started on them. My last employer pissed away $100 million on an Oracle implementation.

 

[DGersic]

I use that style wheels on my modified creeper seat that used to look like yours. I love how the wheels roll. I think you will be pleased with the upgrade.

They roll really easy. I now know that my garage floor has a slight slant.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Usually use the X-acto knife for that.

I use that more for slicing out metal slivers that are too deep for the tweezers.

 

[DGersic]

Took me 5 minutes, way back when. Might have had something to do with public service. Medicare was even easier. I did absolutely nothing. Again, being in public service took care of me.

Your reputation preceded you.

 

[DGersic]

Took the car out. Drove it around a bit to settle the new suspension pieces. Parked the car again.

 

[Beerhippie]

I use that more for slicing out metal slivers that are too deep for the tweezers.

I add a pair of "geek googles"--2.5 diopter magnifying goggles. With the readers underneath.

Or, just go for an MRI and hope that ***** them out.

 

[Outlawmws]

Fell off thread for 4 days, I blame distraction by Gout...

As you can see, they taste better. I carry it in my mouth when running back and forth to the saw all day when I do a project!

Maybe test for lead paint?

My humor is wasted here.lol

I got it! that time

Yeah pretty much. It hurt too much to cuss and I had to trim the broken thumbnail off the rest of the way.

Best to do it immediately, just like washing road rash. It hurts waaaaaaay more if you wait. When it’s fresh, it almost doesn’t hurt anymore than it already hurts. If that makes sense.

I smashed my left thumbnial so bad once that it was busted near in half, and a tiny bit connected on the outside edge wasn't going to allow it to grow out properly with the tip section still stuck to my thumb.

Foreseeing weird surgery in my future, I got my GF's fingernail repair kit and glued and splinted the two busted sections together. She (GF) thought I was nuts, The company doctor asked me to let her know how it worked...

It worked perfect! I had to touch up the splint a couple of times, but everything grew out normal.

 

[cdoublejj]

Dropped these dog turds on this galvanized pipe, it's all skill getting a chunky consistency like that with working welding gas

Fun fact metal shovel handels conduct heat WAAYYY better than wood handels

 

[ATC]

Yesterday we loaded all the cardboard I cut up into my wife's Bronco Sport to take to the dump for recycling.

I marvel at just how much cardboard we turn in each week. I am starting my own No Amazon July to see how it even feels to not order anything for a month. I have always wanted to try to shop more locally, but it seems the stores never have what I am looking for. Wish me luck!

Cardboard gives me the excuse to poke at the fire once a month while tossing back a few beers!

 

[bugnut]

Fired up the bambu, stared at the prusa-prusa was giving an error on no fan warning. Looks like prusa disassembly in my near future. The crash destroying the print plate may have been worse than originally thought.

 

[Prospecter]

Nothing in my garage but in my grandmas garage I changed the oil, spark plugs and belt and fuel filter on her Toro ZX5400 zero turn mower. She mows all of her landlords properties in exchange for living in her house with my aunt so having the mower is important to her and I’m the only grandkid that will do anything for her so she counts on me but I really enjoy doing it. It’s helped me learn a lot about mowers too by doing this the last few seasons. The oil was very very dark so glad I changed it. This time I was able to find more information on the engine instead of buying the very expensive Kohler filter I just got a Fram and put on it and threw in 2 quarts of Castrol GTX 10W-30 same as last time. Castrol is my preferred brand of oil no particular reason just like it and it has kept my engines clean. The mower was running like **** probably because the fuel filter was black but I installed a new one and it runs like new. We didn’t realize the mower was a 2015 model as her landlord told her it was new when he bought it for her in 2019 but oh well it works so that’s the important thing.

Spark plugs for that thing are hard to find I had to go to the auto parts store to get them. I got there and realized I left my copper anti seize behind but I had brought silver so I just used the silver on the plugs it should be fine. I put in two fresh Autolite plugs. I wanted NGK or Champion but the store was out. But Autolite works fine I’ve never had a problem with them in my Ford cars before so I’m not worried. I also had already purchased the special 7/16 square pipe socket last year because I fought the drain plug with a wrench last year and this socket is so much easier to use. It’s a Sunex.

I also had bought one of those little 7 quarts open top drain pans and it fit under the mower perfectly. Most importantly I feel good about doing all of it so glad I got it done. My grandma is turning 79 next month. She kept hugging me and telling me how thankful she was I got it done for her and then slid me a Ben Franklin. I’m like you don’t have to give me anything but she insisted to like always.

She also gave me two Gatorades which I chugged because it was 91 degrees outside.

I like that drain pan. Didm't know about them. I have the same ZT, so will give it a try.
I like this style funnel for ZT oil changes.

 

[Prospecter]

Dropped these dog turds on this galvanized pipe, it's all skill getting a chunky consistency like that with working welding gas

Fun fact metal shovel handels conduct heat WAAYYY better than wood handels

I use that technique. Good to know the technical terminology!

 

[2001ZR2]

Had few days off and did a bunch of small things.

Rotated the tires and lube chassis on the wife's Envoy Denali. Found her driver side CV boot is leaking. Added to list.

Rotated the tires on my Colorado Bison.

Unplugged kitchen sink drain on Saturday night.

Cleaned the fins on the AC condenser because it's been brutal with heat and humidity. Or I am getting old.

Continued work on garage exorcism as garage is evil..if you've heard the saying Cleanliness is next to Godliness...

Organized my wrench drawers and ratchet and extension drawer.

When moving an old craftsman torque wrench to it's new home. Tore it down a fixed the bad teeth with a file cleaned and lubed it. Proper reassembly with screw tight. Compared to two torque wrenches and it's torque setting are almost the same. Had 48 lugs to test on