Show your tools.

[Kevinb71]

4 hours ago, Wiggo said:

Ah, that reminds me of trying to get the rear drum off an old CJ3. A half inch thick hub puller was bending under the strain. I had an impact socket on the puller, a 3' breaker bar on the socket and a 6' length of scaffolding pole over the breaker bar, and me bouncing on the end of the pole. When it finally let go, it sounded like a grenade going off, and the drum ended up 10 feet away on the other side of the drive...

And at that point you were so happy that you were on the end of the 6' pipe to keep you away from the destruction. LOL

[Wiggo]

1 hour ago, Kevinb71 said:

And at that point you were so happy that you were on the end of the 6' pipe to keep you away from the destruction. LOL

Yup! It scared the bejesus out of me...

Edited April 25, 2018 by Wiggo

[Young Ed]

 

Wife scored me some great stuff today! $22.50 for the entire pile. All old made in USA stuff except maybe the puller I didn't find any markings on it

 

[Brent B3B]

1 hour ago, Young Ed said:

 

Wife scored me some great stuff today! $22.50 for the entire pile. All old made in USA stuff except maybe the puller I didn't find any markings on it

 

Now THAT, is true love! 

[HughForrest]

Think small:

 

[Jerry Roberts]

Here is a set of ignition wrenches size 5/32 to 3/8 by Craftsman  . I have had this set for 54 years and have never used some of them but others have come in handy . 

[Young Ed]

38 minutes ago, Jerry Roberts said:

Here is a set of ignition wrenches size 5/32 to 3/8 by Craftsman  . I have had this set for 54 years and have never used some of them but others have come in handy . 

I've got a set like that-came in a little plastic pouch. 

[JBNeal]

TOOLBOX ARSENAL: 

After 10 years of stewing on it, I finally figured out how to utilize the caddy for a long-gone pressure washer with some scrap lumber and PVC pipe...it's a gravity feed driveway painter...since the local used oil collection places decided they didn't want my used oil any more, I worked on a special formulation to convert the used oil into driveway paint...the only color I can make is black, but it works well...much faster then when I was painting the driveway by hand 

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by JBNeal
revised picture

[Desotodav]

I was sorting through some more old tools down at my shed this morning and thought I'd bring a few more home to clean up.

The little set squares and bike wrenches cleaned up well. It turns out that the brass tool at the bottom of (attached) photo is a saw tooth setter - Eclipse No. 77, Made in England.

I'm thinking about storing all of these old tools in a tool box in my truck as I reckon they would be a good conversation point at some of the cars shows which I attend.

 

[linus6948]

Don`t know if anyone services their car`s AC but I have found something I have wanted for sometime now, a freon scale to accurately measure the amount of refrigerant going in. I had been doing it with an electronic bathroom scale but that left a lot to be desired accuracy wise. This is actually a Postal scale but it works just fine with a 30lb tank of freon. It is surprising accurate and well made for the money it costs and I am quite pleased with it.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Accuteck-ShipPro-W-8580-110lbs-x-0-1-oz-Black-Digital-shipping-postal-scale/390765537903?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by linus6948

[Dodgeb4ya]

Recent purchases....Fluke Amp Inductive PU/ Fluke Digital meter.... Engine Pre-Lube tank and a chassis remote  noise/ sound locator tool set...

[Don Coatney]

This one is news to me. Apparently not all rulers have this feature. At least the two I checked so far do not. I have several more to check.

 

I am guessing that you already knew what the black diamonds on 

measuring tapes are for, i.e., they occur every 19 3/16" and are for

truss measurements. Trusses are more commonly seen in commercial

buildings and not used a lot in residential construction, because they 

do not allow for much or any attic space. The 19 3/16" increments will

let you mark and equally space 5 trusses per 8' sheet of plywood.

[MackTheFinger]

Must be something they do further north where snow loads are higher. I actually built houses for several years and don't recall ever seeing anyone use 5 trusses over 8'. Around here in home construction trusses are generally set on 2' centers. In pole barn construction trusses are set on 8' centers or more according to builder and truss construction. And this statement?

 

"Trusses are more commonly seen in commercial

buildings and not used a lot in residential construction because they do not allow for much or any attic space."
 

Whoever wrote the article may have known what a black diamond on a tape measure is for but they apparently never built anything. Everybody uses trusses wherever they can. You can buy trusses in almost any configuration, including attic storage or "bonus room" trusses.

[Plymouthy Adams]

if you set on 24" you still setting 5 on 8'.....most folks forget that you have to start at zero...which is the first truss

[Eneto-55]

42 minutes ago, MackTheFinger said:

Must be something they do further north where snow loads are higher. I actually built houses for several years and don't recall ever seeing anyone use 5 trusses over 8'. Around here in home construction trusses are generally set on 2' centers. In pole barn construction trusses are set on 8' centers or more according to builder and truss construction. And this statement?

 

"Trusses are more commonly seen in commercial

buildings and not used a lot in residential construction because they do not allow for much or any attic space."
 

Whoever wrote the article may have known what a black diamond on a tape measure is for but they apparently never built anything. Everybody uses trusses wherever they can. You can buy trusses in almost any configuration, including attic storage or "bonus room" trusses.

Me too. I've worked on construction crews in 3 states (Oklahoma, Texas, & Ohio), and have never heard of setting trusses (or rafters) at 19.2" center. (Maybe that's what Noah used in building the ark, since a cubit is around 18", and the Bible sometimes mentions a long cubit.)  I was never involved in pole building much, but what I see here in Ohio has trusses set at 4' center.  In Texas I got to know a builder from California who had built houses up in the Lake Tahoe area.  He told me how one place they built was set into a mountain side, and the rafters were 2x6's solid all the way across the roof, each one nailed right against the one before it (to deal with the snow load coming down off of the mountain above the house).

[MackTheFinger]

 

54 minutes ago, Eneto-55 said:

2x6's solid all the way across the roof, each one nailed right against the one before it

 

Wow!! That's a heckuva way to build a roof!! Pre-stressed concrete panels wouldn't have been much heavier! ?

[Don Coatney]

I just checked two more tapes and both have the black diamond.

 

[kencombs]

Every name brand tape I've owned (and that's a lot over 60 working years) has had that mark.

[MackTheFinger]

6 hours ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

if you set on 24" you still setting 5 on 8'.....most folks forget that you have to start at zero...which is the first truss

 

Don't try to be confusing. Measuring 19 and change won't put you on 24" centers if you measured a hundred years. And the second sheet of plywood on your building would only take 4 trusses. You're right, you have to start at zero. Maybe that black diamond is for using 6 trusses in your example and 5 afterward. Seems weird but who knows with this new math and all..

 

I dug out one of my old Stanley tape measures and that black diamond is nowhere on it. And this tape isn't much over 25 or 30 years old. I don't know what the diamond is really for but I darn sure never used it..

[Los_Control]

Look further down the tape and you will see it repeated every 19+ inches, always at some imprecise measurement, not really a multiple of 3/16 of an inch. Finally when you get to 8 feet it is dead on.

In fact if you divide 96 inches by 5 you will get 19.2 inches, a decimal measurement on a fractions tape.

These marks are for laying out 5 engineered flooring trusses per 8 feet, like those wooden I beams.

Floors are usually laid out on the 8 foot run -- 24 inch centers will give you 4 spans in 8 feet -- but engineered floor truses are lighter and less expensive than solid wood, but require one more support in that 8 foot span, giving 5 spans in 8 feet.  That means that you have to install floor trusses on 19.2" centers -- which is exactly what those diamond marks are for.

 

I very seldom work with engineered trusses, and my whole working career never used the diamonds.

[MackTheFinger]

38 minutes ago, Los_Control said:

Look further down the tape and you will see it repeated every 19+ inches, always at some imprecise measurement, not really a multiple of 3/16 of an inch. Finally when you get to 8 feet it is dead on.

In fact if you divide 96 inches by 5 you will get 19.2 inches, a decimal measurement on a fractions tape.

These marks are for laying out 5 engineered flooring trusses per 8 feet, like those wooden I beams.

Floors are usually laid out on the 8 foot run -- 24 inch centers will give you 4 spans in 8 feet -- but engineered floor truses are lighter and less expensive than solid wood, but require one more support in that 8 foot span, giving 5 spans in 8 feet.  That means that you have to install floor trusses on 19.2" centers -- which is exactly what those diamond marks are for.

 

I very seldom work with engineered trusses, and my whole working career never used the diamonds.

 

Thanks for that info. I haven't been professionally involved in carpentry since engineered lumber came around and I was unaware of the change. I checked 4 of my old tapes, from 12 footers to 30 footers, 3 Stanley and one Lufkin; and none of them have that diamond marking. At a guess I'd say those tapes are all at least 40 years old. I carry a newer tape in my van that has the marks but I'd never noticed them until today. Hopefully at this stage of my life I won't have a need to use them but never say never!!

 

SInce one poster says his tapes going back 60 years have all had that marking I may be even older than I thought!! ?

[Eneto-55]

We always set (wood) floor joists at 16" center.  I was involved in one commercial building where steel floor trusses were used on the commercial floors, then wood floor trusses on the upper floors, which were condos.  But I don't remember how they were spaced.  There was concrete over the steel floor trusses, so maybe they were even 12" center.  I just don't recall.

[MackTheFinger]

On 2/18/2019 at 5:35 PM, Eneto-55 said:

We always set (wood) floor joists at 16" center.  I was involved in one commercial building where steel floor trusses were used on the commercial floors, then wood floor trusses on the upper floors, which were condos.  But I don't remember how they were spaced.  There was concrete over the steel floor trusses, so maybe they were even 12" center.  I just don't recall.

 

Yeah, 2x10 floor joists on 16" centers with plywood decking and particle board subfloor was pretty normal for home construction when I was involved. I've seen some newer houses with longer spans using engineered floor joists and it seems like 1" or better tongue and groove plywood decking/subfloor is pretty standard now. OSB wasn't even being used when I was driving nails. I spent most of my years in the trades either as a cement finisher or as a bricklayer. Everything else is a day at the beach compared to the construction trades and that's the voice of experience talking.   

Edited February 25, 2019 by MackTheFinger

[PT81Jan]

Does anyone of you know a Sirometer ?

I always wanted to know the rpm of the engine when traffic forces to rush a bit on the main roads. Sure, I did calculate the rpm inr elation to a specific speed, but I always felt uncomfortable at main road speed where the engine starts to sound like a circular saw.

So I was looking for a 6V 6 cyl. rev counter which I finally found and installed some days ago.
But after a first test I was very disappointed. With just a bit throttle it indicated about 3.000 rpm.
Then I found a tiny screw on the backside of the instrument, which allows to adjust the indication over a fairly wide range.

But how to adjust it when you don`t know the real rpm ???

Here comes the Sirometer ! This mechanical rpm measuring device has been my Dad`s pride and joy since he was a young man. He did RC model plane stuff and took the Sirometer to tune his model engines.

I went to him but he mentioned that he unfortunately lost it some years ago (he still mourns after it).

So I did a www. search and to my surprise the company who made it still exists ! I ordered two (one he will get to his 79th birthday this year ?

How does it work ? It simply analyses the revolutions through the vibration of the engine which are led to an adjustable wire. When it swings it has picked up the exact rpms and shows it on a scale. Super simple in application but certainly not simple to invite and develop such a thing ! 

If of interest -> http://www.treysit.com/english/

 

[Dodgeb4ya]

Lawn mower and small engine shops use that Sirometer  tool. 

That's how I ended up with one.