share your tool abuse horror stories

[Zrexxer]

I go out to my buddy's shop, and see him holding a big blue hard-handled Cornwell screwdriver by the blade, beating a gallon paint can lid closed with the handle.

I asked "is that how you take care of your tools?" to which he replied "Well, you don't expect me to use a GOOD screwdriver for this do you?

 

[mrpowderkeg]

I had to change a U joint in my tow rig in an oreilly parking lot. I had no press to use, and I didn't want to beat up my impact sockets using a hammer. So I bought the biggest C clamp they sold. I had a mess, my truck with a 24 foot enclosed trailer and a bad u joint, but I had tools because I had come back from a night at the drag strip. I tried using the C clamp and two sockets as a press, I've done this many times with my C clamps. I ended up breaking two of those large chinese clamps, they just were junk. I ended up beating up my sockets to change the u joint. I had to take a file to them to clean up the marring enough to use them again... I still feel bad about this, but a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. I ate the cost of the clamps, it what was pretty much expected, but I had to try.

 

[foul_ball]

well this isnt a tool abuse story but it happend at the hangar where I go to school. so me and my buddy are on break just hanging around. Admiring the new airplane we just got. when all the suddon this kid that like nobody likes comes walking in and he has a cigarette in his mouth. Now I dont mind if you smoke or not but this was in the hangar! wtf so we start saying take it outside and **** and he blows a big smoke puff. and goes relax guys its a E-Cig (wtf an e sig really? be a man) and proceedes to tell us that it was like 200 dollars (I dont really care how much you spent on a useless piece of garbage I just want it out of my face) the he has this obcession with showing how "strong" he is and is amazed when he can pick up the nose of an airplane so he tried it with our brand new wheeler express and smacked the tail on the ground and put a crack in the fusalage. OF A BRAND NEW AIRPLANE! then he tried the same **** with a leer 25 and i told him if you tip that one up to far it wont come back down (engines in the back its rear heavy) Oh and one more rant we were doing a inspection on a cessna 210 vertical stabalizer wich required the removal of the bolts well Since this kid was not in anybody elses group he got stuck with me since we only had a 2 man team. well I took out my bolt and inspected the area put it back in and tourqed it. layed the tourqe wrench down and walked off for a break. this kid takes out two of the 3 bolts so now only 1 rear bolt and two front bolts are holding the vertical stab on. Doesent know how to do a Dye pen check.Well he only put one bolt in and just assumed that the tourqe I had the wrench set to was the correct tourqe (the bolt I did was a 7/16 The rest were 5/16) and he only puts one bolt back in. and then asks to use my tools. and tightens the **** out of them with my 1/2" drive ratchet and then gets the tourqe wrench out and it immediately clicks and says done. Well I tell him to put the pannel back on. I get out my flashlight to see how he did. There is a bolt missing?!?!?!? So I ask him about it and he says "oh its not important"

all aircraft owners and operators should be taking out a restraining order against that kid. He needs a non-aviation and non-management related career path FAST. Besides, I would think willfully damaging an a/c would be grounds for automatic dismissal.

 

[engineer2]

I picked up a new Craftsman nut driver set during lunch. I get back to the shop and lay it down on the new alignment rack we are installling. I turn my back for ten seconds and find my numbnuts co-worker is using my new 1/4" nut driver to pry a 50 pound steel ramp into place. Put a nice bend in it. Should have smacked him in the head with it. I hadn't owned for 5 minutes.

 

[TheCarbideRat]

i don't loan my tools but when dad borrows them he beats on them. i really hate it when he does that but what ever

Your father does that too?

 

[volvo420coupe]

I picked up a new Craftsman nut driver set during lunch. I get back to the shop and lay it down on the new alignment rack we are installling. I turn my back for ten seconds and find my numbnuts co-worker is using my new 1/4" nut driver to pry a 50 pound steel ramp into place. Put a nice bend in it. Should have smacked him in the head with it. I hadn't owned for 5 minutes.

What an IDIOT!! He should know that a flat bladed scredriver is the correct tool for that job, LOL.

 

[TheCarbideRat]

I have the Snapon king size pry bar, looked over at the hydraulic press one day and some dude was pressing something, wearing street clothes, no idea who he is and he is using the pry bar as the lower support, he is resting the pressed component on my pry bar and is cranking the ram RIGHT DOWN ON IT AND BENDING IT!!!!

So, it's like, get a rope, right? But I could tell this guy was a ***** in the true sense of the word, so I let it go.

I bent the bar back and not had any problem with it to this day.

 

[rjohnson]

Wow-so many. The best was probably the 5/16" Craftsman reversible ratcheting wrench cut in half with a hole drilled in in. It was modified to be a swing wrench for aviation. Guy at Sears is like WTF did you do to this-did you cut it? My dad said "Yes, but that's not why I'm warrantying it-it won't ratchet anymore."

 

[dkroth]

Does tool modification qualify as abuse?

A couple years ago I was changing the struts on my car. I needed to hold the end of the strut shaft while removing the nut. The nut is buried 2-3 cm down inside the strut bearing/hat. My deep offset Facom box set wouldn't cut it. So I modified a deep Craftsman socket to allow access to both the hex on the shaft and the nut. (Yes, I could have used an impact to spin the nut off, but I'd still need a solution for reinstallation)

The modification worked very well at getting the strut apart. Then, when it was time to install the new strut, I discovered the replacement nut was a different size! Break out the grinder again!

I was going to replace both sockets, but they've worked well despite the hole so no replacements yet. I do have backups in the box so if they ever let go.

 

[scooterseats]

The Oil and Gas industry is noted for tool abuse. I was working at a gas processing plant and we had a 6" Grove automatic valve that had to be disassembled to replace the internal trim. The screw top was about 8" diameter so we used our largest Rigid pipe wrench, a 48" one. We used a 20' joint of 3" pipe as a "Cheater" with a 20' joint of 2" slid inside the 3" and extending at least 10' out making a total of 30' "Cheater" on this poor wrench. We had 5 men pushing this wrench and one hitting the valve body with a sledge hammer to get the top to turn. It turned this way until it was almost all the way out (about 1 1/2" of threads). Believe it or not, the handle bent some but the wrench never failed. Needless to say, we were worn out by the time this job was finished.

 

[Nuit Damnant]

well this isnt a tool abuse story but it happend at the hangar where I go to school. so me and my buddy are on break just hanging around. Admiring the new airplane we just got. when all the suddon this kid that like nobody likes comes walking in and he has a cigarette in his mouth. Now I dont mind if you smoke or not but this was in the hangar! wtf so we start saying take it outside and **** and he blows a big smoke puff. and goes relax guys its a E-Cig (wtf an e sig really? be a man) and proceedes to tell us that it was like 200 dollars (I dont really care how much you spent on a useless piece of garbage I just want it out of my face) the he has this obcession with showing how "strong" he is and is amazed when he can pick up the nose of an airplane so he tried it with our brand new wheeler express and smacked the tail on the ground and put a crack in the fusalage. OF A BRAND NEW AIRPLANE! then he tried the same **** with a leer 25 and i told him if you tip that one up to far it wont come back down (engines in the back its rear heavy) Oh and one more rant we were doing a inspection on a cessna 210 vertical stabalizer wich required the removal of the bolts well Since this kid was not in anybody elses group he got stuck with me since we only had a 2 man team. well I took out my bolt and inspected the area put it back in and tourqed it. layed the tourqe wrench down and walked off for a break. this kid takes out two of the 3 bolts so now only 1 rear bolt and two front bolts are holding the vertical stab on. Doesent know how to do a Dye pen check.Well he only put one bolt in and just assumed that the tourqe I had the wrench set to was the correct tourqe (the bolt I did was a 7/16 The rest were 5/16) and he only puts one bolt back in. and then asks to use my tools. and tightens the **** out of them with my 1/2" drive ratchet and then gets the tourqe wrench out and it immediately clicks and says done. Well I tell him to put the pannel back on. I get out my flashlight to see how he did. There is a bolt missing?!?!?!? So I ask him about it and he says "oh its not important"

THIS is why I don't fly..... I'm sure that 98% of aircraft mechanics are talented, proud, stable individuals...however murphy dictates that I would get THAT guy working on my plane...