To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Some ramble about shops

OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
Here is another tool for the day, I will get back to these when I am in my office. I got some I bought too.
BUT,,,a lot of times I bought th3e tool and took the job apart and if I took it apart wouldnt have bought the tool. I did get bit a while back, I managed to escape not buying the tool and wont do it again till I do which means 75$ parked on the shelf after spending 75 already,,, ha But, no good way around it.
Pic 1 a version of a leakage tester snapping an air regulator in the middle and adding valve on. But,,, on the shelf is automotive unit from HF, so it was either that or strip out some parts from stock, by the time I bought gages etc it was cheaper to buy one. Same for a weed burner a while back, if I had to dig thru to make it could in a bit but all assembled for 15, pol, new hose, valve, threading pipe, certainly not worth it if time was a deal and if a guy had to buy parts would have made it farther in the hole. Would have been different at 75$ or a hundred.
The middle shows the end of the Aframe hoist. There is a switched light above that little sorting table, a suspension type that got stuck up from a damaged pull rope was hanging around there.
This is kind of the back corner. Its a little out of the way but stack a lot of stock and specialty collection. The roller is old tool boxes with pullers, old tools, some dupes, adapters for all kinds of ****.
 

Attachments

  • 20201202_151402.jpg
    20201202_151402.jpg
    57.4 KB · Views: 92
  • 20201204_095945.jpg
    20201204_095945.jpg
    154.8 KB · Views: 95
  • 20201204_095928.jpg
    20201204_095928.jpg
    151.6 KB · Views: 91
Last edited:
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I like Dave giving a real good snapshot what most of this is about and kind of why its in tools. Its not false economy, its true.
It wouldnt be any good if it didnt work well enough if we needed to use it again. I buy a couple super duty shovels and carry a fiber Razor deal cost about 30$. A 9$ shovel wont work and even free its no bargain and they do make a 50$ one and I got a couple but when I buy new today there is a competitive 30$ one I like and adequate. Cheapest isnt best.
I am a fan of some low cost auto parts and our local does this quite well. They carry and stock a generic line of front end, brake hose type things that are economy and while over 200K miles there might be a difference this 15 yr old crate wont ever see another replacement and a cheaper part is a huge incentive to replace something that should be replaced, all that **** is different than restoration even fleet work.
I put used brushed at about 60% in an alternator the other day. Fist it was kind of an odd duck and we had snagged a core, I found it in about 5 minutes and the tech could finish while standing there for putting it right back together and before someone speculated about all how it would be terrible to do this 2x it was a 15 min r and r and the original was from 1984 and the 25 hrs we gonna use it a year is going to be irrelevent However the batteries just starting to fail, these were not really related, they were old when I got them and were in there 10 yrs after that, told the driver stop and order a set this morning and pick them up on the way back. No good way around some cobbled scheme for something we want reliable.
 

Attachments

  • Mack Tire.JPG
    Mack Tire.JPG
    45.9 KB · Views: 59
Last edited:

dutchgray

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 28, 2014
Messages
6,462
Location
Dorset. England.
I understand sberry just fine, seen plenty of farmer economys first hand, almost always short of money but have time to mess with stuff.
I have known a few that put the oil they drained out of one machine in another old worn out one or save used filters just in case they need one.
Or the farmer who has about 3 of those old cheap Asian made round head 3/4" drive ratchets that have all broken and been welded solid as its cheaper than buying breaker bars.

The relatively cheap Asian made mechanics tools are in many cases as good as you would ever need and so cheap there is no excuse to not have plenty about. Common corded power tools are in real terms very cheap and last pretty well, there is really no excuse to not have multiple angle grinders, a decent SDS drill for masonry, circular saw etc and cordless tools have become so good they have basically replaced corded tools in most cases and are improving at a rate that you wouldn't have believed possible 20 years ago.
 

CS454

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 10, 2014
Messages
668
Economies of scale and industrial inertia often like to **** heads, and that's resulted in many lengthy job titles.
 
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I understand sberry just fine, seen plenty of farmer economys first hand, almost always short of money but have time to mess with stuff.
I have known a few that put the oil they drained out of one machine in another old worn out one or save used filters just in case they need one.
I try to think about economy rather than ultra cheap really and you hit the thing on the head with the wrenches and w ain scared to use some old USA when it comes our way. It allowed duplication for stuff we needed and if it sat and didnt eat much either.
Too cheap to not have is a good way to word it. I got that first one under a couple brands and they are tuff. Farm and Fleet or TSC had them too under Olympia. I probably bought a dozen most of these sizes, we used the 1/2 and 9/16 hard on clamps we got and some the others on really tight farm stuff. I clean tractor tool boxes at the end of the season. A couple my really old fine Cman were damaged.
 

Attachments

  • wrenchs 1.JPG
    wrenchs 1.JPG
    40.4 KB · Views: 40
  • wrenches 5.JPG
    wrenches 5.JPG
    60.5 KB · Views: 40
  • wrenches 4.JPG
    wrenches 4.JPG
    42.2 KB · Views: 36
  • wrenches 3.JPG
    wrenches 3.JPG
    39.8 KB · Views: 42
  • wrenches 2.JPG
    wrenches 2.JPG
    45.3 KB · Views: 45
  • wrench cheapp.jpg
    wrench cheapp.jpg
    122.5 KB · Views: 47
Last edited:

richfinn

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
Messages
4,809
Location
Leeds, Yorkshire, England
I've not read the full ramblings, but I agree with Mr Berry to some extent, I like good quality stuff but I don't go in for brand snobbery or on the other hand extreme cheapness

"A fool and his money are easily parted"

"He is the richest man in the graveyard"

Don't be either of those guys :)
 

matt_i

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
10,723
Location
SE Michigan
I'm 2 generations removed from farming, so I have some insight into the aggressive economic filter that everything is required to test thru.

I recall my uncle giving me a hard time once about using oxyacetylene in my shop when oxy-propane was so much cheaper....

I might have made $500 with my shop since I started it, with probably 100x that in investment, solely by itself it would be a headliner news story in how to waste money on many networks. What I can't put an exact value on is what I learned in there trying various things and how it helped my career grow. Extrapolated over time the earnings from self-development I believe has overtaxed the expense.

Its not pure gravy, with an ability to fix things, everything I own needs some kind of “work”. And so I fall into a sort of disarray with 100 projects open at one time.

Also, I find its interesting to own tools at different price points, one gets an idea of what that extra buys you. Everyone at some point has bought something “cheap” and been disappointed, sorting thru that process to see where you personally find satisfaction can only be done that way in my opinion.
 

zmotorsports

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
21,326
Location
Northern Utah
I have held off commenting here because I wasn't quite sure I understood the premise of the thread, maybe I still don't.

While I agree with sberry's comments about working on a farm is far different than working in a professional shop I can honestly say I am so glad I am no longer on having to work on the family farm on the old dirt floor shop/barn.

While I am forever grateful of the lessons learned on the family farm, especially the work ethic and doing more work with less tools, I am just as grateful to have had the opportunity to go from the farm shop directly into a professional industrial shop. While the lessons I learned on the farm such as the basic function of things, I never ever want to go back to working that primitively ever again.

I idolized my father in his ability to look at something and be able to figure it out and then go and build something similar that would perform the task required. My issues came from his execution and material choices which were quite crude. I never saw a stick of new steel until I was 19 years old and working in a professional industrial shop for the first time. Hell, for the first dozen years of my life I don't think I ever knew that parts came from anywhere other than a wrecking/junkyard. I remember in high school thinking when I finally "made it" I would not ever buy a part from a salvage yard again. When I started working in an auto parts store in high school I thought I had died and gone to heaven seeing all of those new parts on the shelves.

I don't regret my upbringing or the experience working in a farm shop but after building up my collection of equipment and tools (specialty and otherwise) there is no way I would want to go back to wrenching on the farm. Having the tools and equipment to do professional work to me is so much more rewarding than merely completing a job or task.
 
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I will buy anything in production that saves time or money. I will do anything that saves it. I have found it rather hard to do by "upgrading" e few common hand tools. New tool another matter, same for more in some cases.
I was trying to get a clip out today and the helper said, I am getting the welder. Thing had a stamped connection and the pin rolled, was stuck. . Fixed it at the same time, was in a dandy spot.
 

Attachments

  • 20201207_174729.jpg
    20201207_174729.jpg
    104.6 KB · Views: 68
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
More tool ***** for you freaks. Everything we need to put the job back together except a socket or 2.
As we sourced it if we need it again it gets set on that table. Sad on the left, metric on the right, drive and universal tools in the middle. It's kind of compulsive but it makes up for it by being super easy vs a pile to sort thru.
Our stuff is easy to get,,, but it's super easy to put away. I find I need only about 50% of the tools to put it back together.
 

Attachments

  • 20201208_155510.jpg
    20201208_155510.jpg
    95.8 KB · Views: 91
  • 20201208_155531.jpg
    20201208_155531.jpg
    95 KB · Views: 86
Last edited:
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
It took me about 3 minutes to hyper sort the stuff on the bench after the pic to get it ready to flow back together. I I found the 2 orings I need for the repair, have them in stock and might see if I can head this back together. I didn't think about it but it needs coolant, I hadn't looked, the gage was working but see it when I took the hood up. There is 1 brace bracket I missed but can fix it on the way down.
 

Attachments

  • 20201208_155000.jpg
    20201208_155000.jpg
    99.7 KB · Views: 46
  • 20201208_154556.jpg
    20201208_154556.jpg
    116.4 KB · Views: 44
  • 20201208_155148.jpg
    20201208_155148.jpg
    149.8 KB · Views: 47
  • 20201208_155713.jpg
    20201208_155713.jpg
    128.6 KB · Views: 47
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
The heart of the problem.
 

Attachments

  • 20201208_154754.jpg
    20201208_154754.jpg
    85.5 KB · Views: 65
  • 20201208_154704.jpg
    20201208_154704.jpg
    99.7 KB · Views: 70
  • 20201208_154859.jpg
    20201208_154859.jpg
    63.8 KB · Views: 64
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
This is old, 80 something I think. All mechanical. It's got a lot of parts and quite a system. It goes in to "idle" I had these a long time and still didn't know the first thing, I can fix some stuff but I don't know squat and I got to see it before all that **** in the manual makes any sense. I got a pen pal from Australia coaching me thru it. Some making some sense.
My former helper didn't want to do this, once they know you know kind of thing,,, but despite my trade I am not a natural mechanic, I am production and mechanic welder is simply means to me including a job so to speak, a trade.
If I can find someone to do it I will, I am as good at some, better than most but it's really experience and repetition rather than talent. I can make rate the second time kind of thing, I figure out easier the second time and fly on the 3rd.
 
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I wanna learn my way around this enough to be able to solve a few problems, mainly to get to the work I wanna do. I hate all the test and trouble shooting. I really don't mind the r and r. It's rigging, it gets easier, I must have spilled oil every way I can. I am gonna get about 3 mortar trays.
I could do this cab lift with a hi lift and block. I could pack enough to do it from a pickup or someone else's shop without too much trouble but my own is designed for it and I can clean before. It's tempting to wanna mask off the rear end and walk it out the door and wash it. It's kind of fussy but I can see I am going to be the service guy and it's not going in to field work, a wash might be good future proofing. I gonna see if I can charge for it.
There is some cleaning it's about impossible to do all together, I am kind of a master of reach up in, fiddle something apart but it's a lot more difficult dirty.
They used some of these same basic parts and assemblies for a long time, they reconfigure, recover, re linkage the same pieces for 30 years across millions of units. While they mage 500k of a model they use the same parts on 20 models.
Ford truck did the same. They made series changes but some stuff, crossmembers, fuel tanks, spring hangers, shock mounts, some of that for 30 years.
 
Last edited:

matt_i

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
10,723
Location
SE Michigan
What the exact issue, an oring on a coolant line/passage got blown out between cases in the tractor requiring a split?
 

bczygan

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,002
Location
DETROIT! Arsenal of Scrappers
Now sberry has made me think some over time.

I started out wanting the best and most complete sets of tools imaginable.

No urgent plans on exactly what I was going to do with them all.

Mostly just to have everything to do anything with.

I've used a few, but most have just sat.

And I'm now a manager of a tool storage facility with no space to work on anything.

Don't even have room to use the tools I have.

So I'm starting to think about what things I want to accomplish.

And how I can rearrange things to accomplish those tasks.

An example:

I've started a welding cart for my 120V Lincoln 3200. Working on it at school on a very fancy layout table. Dreamed of making a table like that for at home first. But don't need to. More important to clear some space and make room to actually do some welding. I have various tables that could be put to use and work just fine.

Shop air:

I've planned various multi station systems with a big compressor.

Meanwhile all my needs have been temporarily served by one Porter Cable pancake compressor and an extension cord.

Do I want to build the Taj Mahal of shops or do I want to get on with doing things with what I've got and improving things when really needed. I know the answer!

Thanks sberry!

Bill
 

stainlessyyc

Member
Joined
May 17, 2019
Messages
19
Location
Calgary, AB
Well that was a read and a half.

I know someone said it previously in the thread that “not everyone was interested in the end product” at the billion dollar shop is I think true for shops of all sizes and types from hobby motorcycle garages to a Pratt and Whitney jet plant. Seems like a lot of the lessons and anecdotes everyone has shared here seem be on that same line where if you’re not focused on the end goal you can lose yourself (including a roof over your head and shirt on your back) with funny enough going off on a tangent and buying special **** you don’t actually need.

Anyways just wanted to say thanks for a good talk!
 

Ton ton

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 16, 2019
Messages
4,592
Location
Page County,VA
More tool ***** for you freaks. Everything we need to put the job back together except a socket or 2.
As we sourced it if we need it again it gets set on that table. Sad on the left, metric on the right, drive and universal tools in the middle. It's kind of compulsive but it makes up for it by being super easy vs a pile to sort thru.
Our stuff is easy to get,,, but it's super easy to put away. I find I need only about 50% of the tools to put it back together.
Sad on the left lol.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Wrench97

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
12,048
Location
Southeastern Pa
This is old, 80 something I think. All mechanical. It's got a lot of parts and quite a system. It goes in to "idle" I had these a long time and still didn't know the first thing, I can fix some stuff but I don't know squat and I got to see it before all that **** in the manual makes any sense. I got a pen pal from Australia coaching me thru it. Some making some sense.
My former helper didn't want to do this, once they know you know kind of thing,,, but despite my trade I am not a natural mechanic, I am production and mechanic welder is simply means to me including a job so to speak, a trade.
If I can find someone to do it I will, I am as good at some, better than most but it's really experience and repetition rather than talent. I can make rate the second time kind of thing, I figure out easier the second time and fly on the 3rd.

I guess it's about 20 years newer them the last one I did...............course that was about 30 years ago now that I think about it.

Ford 3000 trans.jpg
 

username2

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 22, 2016
Messages
970
Now sberry has made me think some over time.

I started out wanting the best and most complete sets of tools imaginable.

No urgent plans on exactly what I was going to do with them all.

Mostly just to have everything to do anything with.

I've used a few, but most have just sat.

I found myself going down that path for a bit. Good income, no spare time, magpie instincts.

It occurred to me that my shop time was spent on the same small universe of cars and projects. Turns out that specialized handboxes were plenty big and didn't require so much stuff that I couldn't buy higher-end contents and sell off the sets I'll never use. OCD needs are met by grooming a small jewelry box of stuff. That's probably why I thought the KR65a thread was so cool.
 
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I guess it's about 20 years newer them the last one I did...............course that was about 30 years ago now that I think about it.

Ford 3000 trans.jpg
I dont mind clutch jobs, they are relatively straight forward. One thing I try not to do is buy parts first. My neighbors haul a whole pile over and I replace it all with reman wasnt as good as what was in it and should have used the disk and sent the rest back.
A lot of stuff I work on is older to the point that it wont see extensive service, its got to work again but it wont be put under severe use like when it was new. I dont got to fix it for 5000 hours, it wont see 500.
 

Robinson1

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 22, 2015
Messages
834
Location
Kentucky
As long as we're on a tangent...I once worked for an older English gentleman who had trained as a tool and die maker and then rose through the company ranks. I was planning out a repair job that certainly looked as though it would require some special service tooling from the OEM. When I spoke to my boss about it, he chuckled and replied that sometimes, special service tools are just a substitute for imagination and initiative. He came out to my bench and together, we did the whole job with ordinary tools we already had. He did this more than once. Very valuable lesson to me at the time.

Absolutely. It never fails to amaze me what you can do with experience.

I'm a third generation carpenter. And I do alot ofnwoodworking both as a hobby and a side business. We do some craft fairs and county festivals in the fall. Most days in guilty of walking around the fair grounds looking at the wares of the other seller while my wife stays in our booth. While alot of this stuff at such places is amateurish junk that I wouldn't take home for free. I do occassionally stumble across a true craftsman. And usually end up lost in his booth having a conversation about some obscure tool or assembly process. Then I have time to mill it all over and realise that it could be done 10x easier, 10x cheaper, and maybe slower but same outcome without a huge investment.

The best trim carpenter I ever knew worked out of an old Buick station wagon. He had maybe $300 worth of handtools and $1000 worth of power tools. Nothing considered speciality tool. He was slow and methodical. Did alot of things with handtools I wouldnt consider doing. He could have performed brain surgery with a chisel and mallet. Cut straighter with a jig saw than most guys could a table saw. He was in high demand named his price.

Here im sitting in a well equipped but still fairly basic wood shop waiting for glue to dry so I can ship an etsy order. By woodshop standards I dont have anything particularly high end. But that Harbor Freight sanders works as good as my buddys delta. Ive got a cabinet saw but do most of my rougher work on a dewalt jobsite saw. Im cutting scroll work on a $200 saw. The buyers often ask if i have a laser. Got a buddy with a CNC table. He produces more but has to sell for less to keep the production moving. I dont want to do a 500 piece order. Dont have the time or desire.

I'll ship these scroll saw christmas ornamnets. Everyone is custom drawn up on my wife's Cameo program. $25 a pop. Design takes 5 minutes. Cut it out in 15. Got $0.50 worth of wood and $0.05 worth of lacquer on it. My buddy will do them for $1 but he's got to do 25 and still not making as much in the end.
 
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
There is a trade off for sure. There are a few things u am back where i started so to speak. There are better peices but not really better for what i do. Economical is different than inferior. If i didnt like it as good or better i would use something else.
Sometimes the stuff is more universal, has more uses. Some with a given amount of material etc can't be made good cheaper. There is a limit to a dependable shovel. Technology has leaped to move some cheaper, some not. Some the raw materials improved so much with minor cost or even made cheaper it's not worth it to build cheaper.
 
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
Feel free to stop by and put this fugger back together this afternoon. I got to make one pita part for it yet I have been avoiding.
 

Attachments

  • 20201214_111356.jpg
    20201214_111356.jpg
    146.8 KB · Views: 55
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I had to drill thru a ****** block to retain this sleeve that slid. I should have got a pic of it in action. Didn't think of it till I was done.
 

Attachments

  • 20201214_180136.jpg
    20201214_180136.jpg
    75.6 KB · Views: 39
  • 20201214_174637.jpg
    20201214_174637.jpg
    54.6 KB · Views: 44
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
As I mention before I been around a fair bit and would have different tools if I was a specialist so to speak and job shop or more production fabrication. I would have Ironworker, a punch, brake and shear and maybe a couple machine tools but I fix broke one off stuff. I get a few repairs from another shop after they have at it. They can run the welder just fine but they cant really fix.
I been getting a few more all the time like that, I am slow and dont chase all the work I can get. I need to make some changes and my ambition level has been lowered and not as productive, this **** doesnt help sometimes.
But repairs are different than production, machines different, time is different. I rather have a few simple things tailored to it rather than the biggest best,,,, different in different biz but had a bud with Harley shop, old **** he had set up for Harley stuff and not so much for general job shop work.
This is a bit of an example. I should add a portoband, just never bought one but this saw is a case where they make lots better metal saws, I got a dinky band saw but really dont use it much, I like simple chop saw for repairs and salvage. It needs containment but is economical and well suited to general maintenance work. I use a plasma for miters when I really have to which is rather rare really as I am the designer and dont got to build every type of joint I ever see in it.
I see some beautiful craftsmanship in some of these projects but recall one said simple,,, and had 100 pieces and 3 weeks in it, would have been 15 and a mornings work, was anything but simple,,, it was nice and finely built but all the detail and half a dozen grinding wheels didnt add a single thing to its utility.
 

Attachments

  • chop saw pile.JPG
    chop saw pile.JPG
    104.5 KB · Views: 39
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
Ok, no.matter what I do it's not gonna stop leaking, can't tighten it enough so I pull it apart before I dump oil in and look, can feel it, a pit completely across this sealing washer. It's about the size of a quarter. I probably could have come up with a faster way than to hand finish it across a couple old da papers, took me about 45 mins but could put it back together. I tried the power but bout flung it off in to neverland. Managed to walk up on it. I should have measured the thickness.
 

Attachments

  • 20201218_124443_019_01.jpg
    20201218_124443_019_01.jpg
    50.9 KB · Views: 36
Last edited:

SuperCat

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
1,100
Location
Sacramento, CA
Was that pitting damage on the washer a factory defect? I'm just a home DIYer, but I have never come across something quite like that. Just wondering. And I am enjoying this thread a lot.
Just on this last page, 2 phrases really stuck to me:
Post 63: "I don't got to fix it for 5000 hours, it won't see 500."
Post 69: "...all the detail and half a dozen grinding wheels didn't add a single thing to its utility."
The practical side of this thread is just amazing. While I tend to overdo things for items I will keep forever, the practical side of me has been leaning the other way for the exact reasons stated in the quotes above. Sometimes, it is hard to decide when to stop, when good enough is good enough. I always have more stuff to do, I need to get better about ending a job and moving on to the next one.
Keep on rambling about shops, Mr. sberry, you are making me think about what I do in the garage and why. :thumbup:
 
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
Cat, I am not sure where the defect occurred but it was on an assembly plug wouldn't quit dripping no matter how tight.
I happened to catch myself to check before I filled the oil, it's easy to say fugg it but it leaks a drop once in a while, running or not 24 hrs a day.
As for those posts, 63. I post that with a lot of hindsight and how I look at it more completely than I did when I started this, some I been doing in some form since I was a child. I carried some habits from mentors, carried a lot from hearsay, some from school.
I was think about it as I was reading the alignment thread. I remember fussing over **** to be exact on a 30 yr old truck, I wasn't seeing, I was thinking. The difference between that and working on the cleaning lady's car the other day I notice it doesn't look right as I am washing, she needs a tire and sure as **** it had an end changed and the knob did it can't get within an inch and sends her off for alignment instead of doing it right.
I do it by eye and a tape and can tell from doing it that it would be green on the machine.
It's not about being a hack or being slipshod, it's actually kind of the opposite. The biggest thing I find about good work is the willingness to do it if needed, the willingness to do it a second time and not get the fukkits if it's not good enough or correct.
My neighbor is a master,, he says,, you are one of the guys I would let wire my house and that's not cause I am a genius but cause I fix it, I don't hide fukkits. I will pull a wire and run it again if I am not satisfied.
My interest is utilities mostly, do I have the tools, which include air electric and water when and where they meet the demand and duty. It's easy to get wrapped up in the best, no loss etc but that is often really counter productive, adequate is good, different than being insufficient, etc. If 1/2 does all the work does inch really help. Skip right over 3/4,, ha
 
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I lot of the stuff I yak about are things I have done several times, some dozens, a few hundreds and a few thousands. I can remember the first, took days, hours of weld and finish etc and one of the last benches I build in a job shop took a day instead of a week and not the 2 weeks the last guy did it. Had most of it done when wh pick up the steel and assembled it as we pulled it out of the truck. 15 pieces, all simple cut, hidden joints require no finish etc.
I am not a fussy prototype guy, all the test and refinement is too tedious, I really have become better at shoestring first vs buying every fitting I can find right off. I am constantly surprised at how it turns out as good or better than the first plans, it seems to get tailored vs the filling of a grand plan, sometimes the proto works well enough it never does get an upgrade or replaced, same for some tools. That's how some cheaper stuff worked in, was a trial or intended to be temporary and 20 yrs later still using those same bits we bought on Sunday from Wal-Mart.
 

matt_i

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
10,723
Location
SE Michigan
Wait you sanded or dressed the thickness of that sealing washer instead of getting a new one? Does that part go between the halves of the tractor cases? Is it part of a banjo bolt setup?
 
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
No matter how cheap it is it's got to work correctly or it's not good enough. Stamped India wrench, the cheapest, not good enough, a step up and they are for general work. Some power tools and now even welding machines have hit that threshold.
I didn't start out with the same opinion about all this I have today. It has been an evolution.
I try to bring some of the end around to the beginning especially for guys starting out. It appears Blake is getting a good grasp. Hunti g for things that work is a bit of a different quest than getting the "best". Difference between some of these points has changed drastically, not just margins but often multiples.
Give me the truck tools for free then it's great, if I got to buy them to change a starter or even 10 and it's Stanley in todays world. A Proto is great, i got them, would pick it at a flea at the right price but it isn't the wrench I would buy today to get some work done.
 
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I try to that but others lose interest as do I.
But I was just thinking about load calc for something and then pontificatef about how some of it pertained to this board and how accurate the estimation is compared to the real use.
If we ask a question,,, how much for a 12 or 13A load,,, if we ask about a specific tool or even task it varies but it almost defaults to going down to the supply store, buying some 20 ends and 100 ft of SO in 12 and even better 10 so the MIL can run the weed whacker of air blower in the flower bed,,, or in case you want to zing a 2x4 off with a circ saw.
I got to wonder how it is I rarely pull out a 12 cord and a guy in a 2 car on a city lot needs it for everything he plugs in? I got to wonder how my same circ saw has ever made it and not really sure it has ever been on a 12 cord. How come it never burn up or need brushes?
I should have paid a bit more attn to some better schooled old timers when I was a kid, learned to estimate better. I am math delinquent but I am a really good estimator so I can get by, I am a way better copier than I was and less an engineer wanna be and every once in a while I still miss one even when I am looking right at it.
I really dont fancy puzzels, I have done a lot of rebuild but really rather do service or installer type projects. I can remember,,,, I was a smart *** but when I look back and compare to other journeyman I was on the upside of a lot of it, can do some harder stuff gives others a fit. Seen my share of old timers couldnt read a basic print and they retire with a pension. I saw a *********** the other day, a guy with a licence in his pocket got to call the inspector to add a single 120v circuit to a garage about 10 ft away and fail that, wouldnt a guy bury a wire deep enough in the fukkin sand if he knew he gonna call the man.
I saw another recent I should have got a pic of, they used the wrong wire to a panel they didnt need and they wired wrong in a shower house. Guy that sposed to have been thru a program.
 
OP
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
Wait you sanded or dressed the thickness of that sealing washer instead of getting a new one? Does that part go between the halves of the tractor cases? Is it part of a banjo bolt setup?
I dressed some banjo earlier, this was actually a case drain was dripping, a weep wouldnt stop. No, it wasnt a sensitive part in the split but I did fix the problem without replacing every piece I could find. So far all parts accounted for cept I see 2 tiny o rings I aint quite sure,,, ha,,, we will see shortly.
As I mention, this is a fix rather than a reman. If its not worn enough to not work today,,, what some better words,,, if it works today it will probably work tomorrow or next week. Something else might break but we are not going to "wear" it out. Different than a feedlot skid steer gonna hot seat 2 or 3 shifts around the clock. Its gonna see light utility, its just got to move right.
Had a front ujoint with end play from lack of grease. So far I have had half this machine in pieces and havnt bought a single part other than a couple stock o rings I had and a 1/8 roll pin out of the bin. So,,, I was going to order a joint with other parts but I repair or fashion it all and finally grease it and put it back together.
I gonna replace it several years from now if they could manage to wear it enough to notice when I am looking for more work. It should be rewired but I cut some bad off and put a few new ends on it, I tie it up a little, it should work but it aint gotta be the space shuttle. It can be serviced. Not full of stripped boogers. I gotta figure out a way to charge for 500$ worth of cleaning it really needed and its not going to the field, I felt it worth it for future service, aint a bunch of hidden dirt packed a seized linkage I cant get to.
I fix the fuel ga sending unit, I tell him, I fix it, had a broken solder joint, new one made the same way and they want north of a hunderd bucks I gotta order,,,, if it really dont work we can fix it again or replace and its all been apart, I aint throwing a wad at it unless I got to and the change is 10 minutes, its worth a little risk and the repair I made seems as good as it was new.
 
Last edited:
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom