What's made you smile today?

[DaveMcT]

Finding a body already there..

My house built in 1970 had a huge weeping willow tree at the bottom end. I had it pollarded and was surprised how fast the crown grew back. I always wondered what might be underneath.

 

[SB1500]

What I smiled about this week... McDonald’s has reopened. “Such a little thing, oh a little thing, but the difference ... that it makes ...” ;-)

The lockdown could have been worse. But to me personally, it’s mad how much had to close / shut down in order to just slow the world down.

Now, something as simple as spending a day driving to some old point of interest with petrol station coffee (a very simple thing) seems much more enjoyable. In place of shops, paid / modern experiences, etc).

To quote another song, “I would like you to know, when you see the simple things, to appreciate this life it’s not to late to learn” (Iron Maiden, actually!) lol

 

[StevenRB45]

Local national trust place has re-opened...it's a bit wild currently as the bloke who mows the lawn wasn't on the essential workers list but nice nonetheless.








Never know littleman may sleep tonight walked his legs off.

 

[Eklipze3k]

Must've been hard for him, walking sideways everywhere

 

[StevenRB45]

Must've been hard for him, walking sideways everywhere

That's what happens when there aren't any volunteers to keep it from falling into a different plain of reference.

 

[SB1500]

Spent five hours yesterday from 7pm until midnight washing the Panda, taking it into the garage, drying, scrubbing ever panel with AutoSmart Tardis, touching up all stone chips and then re-Turtle Waxing it and using glass polish on the glass. Still haven't went outside today yet to see the result in daylight, hoping it's as good as it felt painful to do!!

 

[varesecrazy]

2 days polishing..

I spent 20 mins working on a Renault Cl10 this morning.. (covid related flat battery)

Makes my ancient grande seem a much better car

 

[The Panda Nut]

Spent five hours yesterday from 7pm until midnight washing the Panda, taking it into the garage, drying, scrubbing ever panel with AutoSmart Tardis, touching up all stone chips and then re-Turtle Waxing it and using glass polish on the glass. Still haven't went outside today yet to see the result in daylight, hoping it's as good as it felt painful to do!!

Good job. I have three pandas, all clay blocked with Autobrite cleaner and then sealed with Autoglym gold sealant. They all look like new but its a killer on the arms at my age. Both these products are easy to use and give a great result

I am sure you will be pleased with your work and it will push its value up a bit too. I wonder how long it will be before they are all dirty again. Hopefully not too long.

 

[jimboy]

Pottering in my shed today making longer extensions for my car ramps, my Coupe is quite low and the extensions need to be quite long. Spent some time cutting some spare wood and reinforcing. Quite happy with my work, if truth be told, it was a nice wee project to do. Here is the part that maybe me smile. You know how it is when you get engrossed and you just lay things down, well I’ve just spent the last half hour looking for my trusted handsaw

I eventually found the damn thing, it had somehow slipped under a plastic box in the corner of my shed, I’m still puzzled how it got there.

 

[jackwhoo]

Pottering in my shed today making longer extensions for my car ramps, my Coupe is quite low and the extensions need to be quite long. Spent some time cutting some spare wood and reinforcing. Quite happy with my work, if truth be told, it was a nice wee project to do. Here is the part that maybe me smile. You know how it is when you get engrossed and you just lay things down, well I’ve just spent the last half hour looking for my trusted handsaw

I eventually found the damn thing, it had somehow slipped under a plastic box in the corner of my shed, I’m still puzzled how it got there.

Hi Jim ,
That sounds awesome.
I left my ramp extensions behind when looking at a bmw mini convertible ages ago. Thought oh it's alright I'll find some timber and knock up some more, no luck looking in skips so far!
Only half hour looking for saw, that's a win.

Cheers Jack

 

[DaveMcT]

I'm always putting tools down and losing them so I end up with everything scattered about me. So annoying but I never learn.

The most useful thing I bought recently was a cheap battery angle grinder from Lidl. All up £50 and it gets far more use than the "professional" corded Makita that lasted 2 years when the splndle lock fell apart and chewed the gears. The Lidl works with a 2AH battery but needs the bigger 4AH for cutting proper stuff.

One of these is very handy. Three teeth cut smoothly because grinder discs spin so fast -
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Saw-Blade-Disc-for-Angle-Grinder-125mm-3T-Wood-Circular-Cutting-Disc-Rotary-Tool/223849942849?hash=item341e7f0f41:g:GJYAAOSwfJheHDTa
You can get discs with 40 teeth rated to 11000 rpm as with anything angle grinder be VERY careful.

These are really handy when you have a lot of screws to fit
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SabreCut-Professional-60mm-305mm-Impact-Bit-Holders-Milwaukee-DeWalt/153549398292?hash=item23c041e114:g:FesAAOSwp-9dGya1

 

[Eklipze3k]

Since I've been building some pretty chunky cabinetry recently, my favourite tool that I've bought recently is a table saw. £150 - it's not the most accurate thing but for what I've been using it for it's made my life so much easier, and with some of the scraps I've had laying around I was able to build a couple of planters in a weekend.

 

[dave]

This in Varberg, Sweden commemorates the day of 13 April 85 when local housewife Danuta Danielsson whopped Neo Nazi Seppo Seluska with her handbag. She became a local hero.
​

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I'm always misplacing tools especially when working on the cars. Joinery, plumbing etc I don't find such a problem and I think it's because the tools are often physically bigger and you don't have so many on the go at any one time. Quite a few years ago I disciplined myself into never leaving a tool lying in or on a vehicle when doing a bigger/longer lasting job. So I would never leave a spanner/screwdriver etc lying on an inner wing/scuttle/cam cover etc when doing something like a cam belt. Instead I have a "tote" tray which came with my top box and, for maybe 90% of the time, I keep tools I am currently using in it. Does slow you down a little but once you get into the way of it you always know where "that wee screwdriver" is going to be. I also have an old roasting tin which I find easier to use when working under the car because it doesn't have a handle to get in the way.

Reminds me of an incident involving my father. He loved big fast cars, especially Jags, but although he loved his cars he knew almost nothing about how they worked, he just liked driving them. One of the more special ones he had was a 3.8 MK2 - a very rapid vehicle for it's day (1960's). It had just been into the garage for a service and he wasn't happy with how the engine was running when he drove it home. I was already deeply into cars by then, although still quite technically ignorant, and he asked me to have a quick look before he took it back to the garage. The top of these engines was all polished alloy cam covers with a deep valley between where the plugs lived. There was a wee half AF spanner merrily dancing around in the V with the plugs and HT leads probably causing intermittent shorts? Anyway when I removed it Dad was happy with how it ran. I've still got it somewhere, haven't used it in years because it's imperial size.

 

[jackwhoo]

I'm always misplacing tools especially when working on the cars. Joinery, plumbing etc I don't find such a problem and I think it's because the tools are often physically bigger and you don't have so many on the go at any one time. Quite a few years ago I disciplined myself into never leaving a tool lying in or on a vehicle when doing a bigger/longer lasting job. So I would never leave a spanner/screwdriver etc lying on an inner wing/scuttle/cam cover etc when doing something like a cam belt. Instead I have a "tote" tray which came with my top box and, for maybe 90% of the time, I keep tools I am currently using in it. Does slow you down a little but once you get into the way of it you always know where "that wee screwdriver" is going to be. I also have an old roasting tin which I find easier to use when working under the car because it doesn't have a handle to get in the way.

Reminds me of an incident involving my father. He loved big fast cars, especially Jags, but although he loved his cars he knew almost nothing about how they worked, he just liked driving them. One of the more special ones he had was a 3.8 MK2 - a very rapid vehicle for it's day (1960's). It had just been into the garage for a service and he wasn't happy with how the engine was running when he drove it home. I was already deeply into cars by then, although still quite technically ignorant, and he asked me to have a quick look before he took it back to the garage. The top of these engines was all polished alloy cam covers with a deep valley between where the plugs lived. There was a wee half AF spanner merrily dancing around in the V with the plugs and HT leads probably causing intermittent shorts? Anyway when I removed it Dad was happy with how it ran. I've still got it somewhere, haven't used it in years because it's imperial size.

Hi Jock,

Oh dig it out and use it on 13mm af nuts and bolts, is it a Williams super slim by any chance? For the kids on here no that's not a cigarette or vape machine!

Jack

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Hi Jock,

Oh dig it out and use it on 13mm af nuts and bolts, is it a Williams super slim by any chance? For the kids on here no that's not a cigarette or vape machine!

Jack

Ok, Mrs J is watching people being murdered on the TV again so I wondered if I could find it and there it was, top spanner in my "miscellaneous orphans" drawer. No it's not a Superslim, even better, it's a "proper" Britool! At the time, and for a few years after, probably the highest quality tool in my old cantilever box! Here it is:



Actually I find an imperial spanner, especially a ring spanner or socket, is often a useful fit on a corroded or damaged metric one of similar size as it's actually just a tad smaller. I set it up on an 8mm bolt - so 13mm hex head just to illustrate. Imperial spanner on the left:



However just to educate our younger brethren, Here, below, is the first brake spanner set I bought - probably late 60's? You'll notice they are Williams Superslims. Great tools in my opinion, they've taken a lot of abuse over the years and still work almost like when they were new:



There's two flare (tube) nut spanners at the top then a spanner for turning the square manual adjusters that were so prevalent on drum front brakes and before auto adjusters became standard on rear drums. The bottom one was a special spanner for Minis. The top adjuster on the front brakes was difficult to access with a standard tool like the one above it so they made a special open ender. It wasn't always the perfect solution because they suffered badly from corrosion which seized them up and then people would round them off. Many other common vehicles suffered the same problem and there was a whole industry based around replacement adjuster sets which bolted into place - if you could get the old one out without damaging the back plate. The small hex on the other end fitted the bleed nipples. As you can see they too were "mini sized" - about half the diameter of current types - and were notorious for snapping off!

Stay safe all
Jock

 

[jackwhoo]

Ok, Mrs J is watching people being murdered on the TV again so I wondered if I could find it and there it was, top spanner in my "miscellaneous orphans" drawer. No it's not a Superslim, even better, it's a "proper" Britool! At the time, and for a few years after, probably the highest quality tool in my old cantilever box! Here it is:

View attachment 209904

Actually I find an imperial spanner, especially a ring spanner or socket, is often a useful fit on a corroded or damaged metric one of similar size as it's actually just a tad smaller. I set it up on an 8mm bolt - so 13mm hex head just to illustrate. Imperial spanner on the left:

View attachment 209906

However just to educate our younger brethren, Here, below, is the first brake spanner set I bought - probably late 60's? You'll notice they are Williams Superslims. Great tools in my opinion, they've taken a lot of abuse over the years and still work almost like when they were new:

View attachment 209905

There's two flare (tube) nut spanners at the top then a spanner for turning the square manual adjusters that were so prevalent on drum front brakes and before auto adjusters became standard on rear drums. The bottom one was a special spanner for Minis. The top adjuster on the front brakes was difficult to access with a standard tool like the one above it so they made a special open ender. It wasn't always the perfect solution because they suffered badly from corrosion which seized them up and then people would round them off. Many other common vehicles suffered the same problem and there was a whole industry based around replacement adjuster sets which bolted into place - if you could get the old one out without damaging the back plate. The small hex on the other end fitted the bleed nipples. As you can see they too were "mini sized" - about half the diameter of current types - and were notorious for snapping off!

Stay safe all
Jock

That has mde me smile.

It is amazing that you have not had problems updating the software on those spanners considering how old they are plus they are not manufacturer specific!


Ha ha

Jack
Ps can see you have looked after those tools (-:

 

[portland_bill]

Misplacing tools is a real pain.
I can get lazy, and leave the tools I've used in a heap once a job is finished, as I've had enough by then and just wish to go in and rest. Next job is delayed as all the heap needs wiping and putting bak inot the toolbox before the next job starts.
This should mean that everything is findable, as it will be either in the box, or the heap, works mostly.

Then occasionally, a tool is not in the box, but not in the heap either. Then the frantic search begins, occasionally cancelling the job on that occasion. Next day, there is the required tool, sitting where it should be, hiding in plain sight.

A long time ago, I bought a really good Sykes Pickavant ball joint splitter. Last year, needing to remove the track rod ends to replace the front struts, the ball joint splitter was nowhere to be found. Frantic searching in all the right places, and then all the wrong places. Eventually went off to get a replacement. Had to settle for a similar, but cheaper and weaker Laser model. Got home, used it, put it back inot the box, on top of the Sykes one. How does that happen?

 

[andydiver]

I grew up on a modest farm, all arable, below the size considered viable by the experts and when interest rates were in the 10s of %. Dad did everything, with help from us as we grew up, using the minimum of machinery. Anyway I now have fond memories of being sent across the yard to fetch an item from the workshop which was an old wartime nissen hut without windows. Into the oily murk from bright sunlight, a 60w bulb failing to compensate, looking for said tool (which might have been nearly as big as me at that time) only to walk back 5mins later to say I can't find it. Dad would go straight over and come back with it.... Not saying a word. In hindsight everything could have been organised better, and as teenagers we tried. He was very uses to working alone and then you know where everything is....

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

That has mde me smile.

It is amazing that you have not had problems updating the software on those spanners considering how old they are plus they are not manufacturer specific!

Thanks for that Jack, made me smile too.

Ah, but you see that's because the "hardware" is so old the software will no longer support it??!!

And don't mention manufacturer specific. These days you're lucky if a, more specialized, tool's application is even that wide - more likely to be "Model specific"