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I have a large old electrical enclosure in my garage that serves as a work surface (mostly to support bench grinders) and storage. Photo is below - pardon the mess - I'm workin' on it! To increase the storage space and utility of the enclosure, I plan to build two large drawers with heavy...

It all started with Christmas Lights. To add an outlet in the soffit out by my main 16' garage door, I intentionally knocked a sizeable hole in my garage ceiling. The plan for yesterday was to cut out the damaged sheet of drywall and replace it. Unfortunately, when I removed the damaged...

I came into possession of a Hobart Handler 180 MIG welder. It needs some resurrection, which I'll probably post about later. Christmas is coming and I have a 25% off coupon at HF (good thru 12/9/25) and the wife needs my list. I'm thinking about their auto-darkening welding helmets linked...

For work I need some weather-proof, UV resistant cable ties for exposed outdoor use. Plastic ty-wraps won't survive. Can stainless cable ties be installed by hand or with common hand tools? A lot of the datasheets mention an installation tool, but is that a convenience or a requirement? I'm...

I know this is a recurring topic, but... After about 6 years, the outer jacket of my garage air hose on a reel is cracking and starting to look kinda scary.... Time to replace. I'm in TX and it's generally not that cold, and if it is cold, I tend to not be using an air hose. It's hotter than...

I own one unit in an eight-unit condo complex. Each unit has a dedicated on-demand (tankless) water heater mounted outdoors. The main heating is by natural gas. I'd like to minimize the amount of time spent harping on the stupidity of the outdoor mounting decision. I concede immediately that...

I have a sewer lift pump behind my house to pump the effluent out to the city sewer line out at the street. We recently had drain issues and I had Roto-Rooter come out (on a Sunday AM) to clear the line. To make a long story short, at least part of the issue was that the lift pump had come...

I'm re-doing ALL the upholstery in my boat. Let's just say, it's been quite a project. The guy who re-covered everything did a great job. He was paid handsomely. I need to replace the padded upholstery covering down the sides (pic below). The guy who did the upholstery said he uses...

Hey all: I have a Payne heat pump, model PH12NA024-A. I noticed it "sounded funny". Took a look at the outside unit and see that it is freezing up? it's working... the temp inside the house and the discharge temp seems fine. This is a bit of an issue because we are heading for record cold...

My house was built in 1955 and this Venetian pink wall heater has been heating the bathroom ever since.... without issues until recently. It's natural gas, match-light (no pilot). I assume it's just a regulator letting gas flow to the burner, which is cast iron and has a bunch of holes in the...

Hey all - Bathroom vanity has two fluorescent bulbs (55 Watts each, 2G11 base). One does not work. I swapped bulbs and proved the bulb IS NOT the issue. I figured I would just replace the ballast. After pretty hard searching on-line by ballast description, part number, etc. I have not been...

Hey guys - This is a work thing and probably a longshot but here goes. I need to mount the BNC connectors in the first pic to a subpanel. You can mount them in a regular drilled hole, but the preferred method is a "D shaped" hole per the second pic. The d-shaped hole keeps the terminal from...

Hey guys - I have a general question about welding. I know there is a lot of "real" welding knowledge around here so here goes: If you needed to build up material on a 4" diameter 4140 round bar how would you go about it, generally speaking? Let's say the O.D. is damaged and the idea is to...

Long story short... bought pre-bent stainless brake lines for the rear end of a 78 Trans Am which didn't fit right even with two attempts. These go from the hose to the two wheels and mount in clips welded to the differential housing. I re-formed one of the "long" lines to make a short one...

So…. It’s been a while since I replaced a master cylinder. Last night I picked one up at an Oreilly’s near me for a 78 Pontiac Trans Am. I’m used to getting plastic bleeder fittings with hose barbs and short lengths of clear hose for bench bleeding. The hoses got stuck back into the fluid in...

All my air piping is run in 3/4" sweat copper. I'm installing a hose reel I got on sale recently. I need a union to install it. Went to the box stores over the weekend. They did not have a brass union, 1/2" female NPT threads on both ends (or brass NPT threaded unions of any size for that...

When I woke up this AM I noticed a beep from "somewhere" in the house. It was going off every 30 seconds. After a maddening search (hard to track a feint noise at 30 second intervals) I figured out it was in the garage - specifically the garage door opener. The wall operator switch flashed a...

So, it's time to get a new Rx for my work safety glasses. While I'm at it this time, I think I want to trade in my existing frames.... which ****. Got any suggestions? hopefully something not too heavy. The ones I have slip off my ears when sweaty. OTOH I've had pairs that had hooks for...

I saw the pic below on Linked-In and it made quite an impression on me - thought I would pass it along - I did not find this myself, thankfully...... The pic is a 480 VAC, 3 phase disconnect. If you look, there are micarta hooks that catch a bale on the handle. They pull a spade out and open...