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The harbor freight class action lawsuit actually panned out! Holy crap, it really happened, I just got a check for 284$ in the mail this morning!  I submitted my form at like 11:49pm on the eve of the deadline too, I can't believe it actually happened! The excitement is somewhat tampered though by the realization that I've spent nearly three thousand dollars at HF in the last sevenish years 
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May 4, 2018 15:55
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drat I wish I knew about that! I could have gotten $10 from the multiple yellow bee rc planes I've bought from them over the years! Crappy but amazing little things
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May 4, 2018 16:48
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I got $173. Not too shabby for a couple hours of work digging through credit card receipts.
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May 4, 2018 19:47
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I rescued a 24v Makita miter saw that was being tossed because the batteries were not holding a charge anymore. Anyone ever tried using a 12v-to24v converter to run something like this from a car/leisure battery? Too good to throw away without giving it a go i’m thinking. Rapulum_Dei fucked around with this message at 11:46 on May 5, 2018 |
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May 5, 2018 09:18
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Rapulum_Dei posted:I rescued a 24v Makita miter saw that was being tossed because the batteries were not holding a charge anymore. A DC–DC converter with enough current capability to run it would be more expensive than a second battery. I would use a couple of old UPS batteries.
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May 5, 2018 10:14
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Can somebody recommend me a transfer/siphon pump that isn't one of these cheap and lovely ones that leak after no time at all? https://www.homedepot.com/p/Arnold-Siphon-Pump-Kit-490-850-0008/203051321 I'm just looking for something that I could use to suck gas out of my snowblower/lawnmower at the end of seasons. Being able to pump gear oil from bottles to transmissions would be a plus (only thing I've ever used these things for  ).
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May 6, 2018 00:13
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Larrymer posted:Can somebody recommend me a transfer/siphon pump that isn't one of these cheap and lovely ones that leak after no time at all? https://www.homedepot.com/p/Arnold-Siphon-Pump-Kit-490-850-0008/203051321 I always used the syringe type pumps for that.
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May 6, 2018 05:36
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My brother has a little pancake air compressor, and insists on completely emptying it every time he's done using it, and leaving the drain open. So when I'm at my parents' house (he lives with them while saving up for a nice place as his first house, not a bad idea) and go to air up my tires or whatever, I turn on the compressor and walk away while I wait for it to build pressure, and when I come back there's nothing because he left the drain valve open. That's something you only have to do once a year or so, right? And given that it's a cheapass Craftsman, it'll die long before rusting from within even begins to become an issue?
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May 6, 2018 19:58
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Bad Angus! Bad!
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Chillbro Baggins posted:My brother has a little pancake air compressor, and insists on completely emptying it every time he's done using it, and leaving the drain open. So when I'm at my parents' house (he lives with them while saving up for a nice place as his first house, not a bad idea) and go to air up my tires or whatever, I turn on the compressor and walk away while I wait for it to build pressure, and when I come back there's nothing because he left the drain valve open. Depending on use, I empty mine every few days if I'm using it. Otherwise its empty. What do you mean die? They stop working as well because people are lazy and don't empty them out regularly..
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May 6, 2018 21:03
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My compressor instructions were very adamant that you must empty the compressor of air via the drain plug after each use.
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May 6, 2018 21:08
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Water in the compressor encourages rust. Why wouldn't you want to empty it out and let it dry out as much as possible? If you just get used to doing that, and then closing the valve whenever you want to use it, it costs you like an extra two minutes of time each time you use the compressor, and it should last longer.
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May 6, 2018 21:54
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Fair play, but at least close the drat drain plug when you're done blowing it down. Also said brother bought his son a 50-piece metric and SAE combination-wrench set for his birthday the other day, and so I thought "hey, I'll get my last bicycle running again, ride bikes with lil' nephew, be a cool uncle." Not a single loving one of them fits the hub nuts. Aren't bicycles a universal (metric) standard when it comes to fastener sizes? How are there bigger and smaller but not THAT ONE in the set? 
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May 6, 2018 23:57
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Got the bike all but working -- tubes hold air(amazingly, it's beem sitting for 20+ years), tires are dry-rotter all to hell but will do for the evening, it just keeps throwing the chain, possibly because SOMEBOBY kept twisting the shifter like he was revving a motorcycle the entire time I was dragging it out of the shed, despite being told to stop that at least five times. It's a good thing for him I'm the cool uncle and not his dad. Oh boy, I get to adjust derailleurs again! 
Chillbro Baggins fucked around with this message at 00:32 on May 7, 2018 |
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May 7, 2018 00:30
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My Bosch router table has developed some kind of electrical fault; its switch no longer functions. The router itself is fine, but when plugged into the router table, the switch on the table doesn't turn the router on. Rarely it will briefly power up the router and then shut off. Any recommendations for getting a better diagnosis / fix, or should I just start disassembling the thing and hoping to find a busted wire? Or, y'know, just leave the router in the table, but plug the router into the wall instead of into the table's power strip.
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May 7, 2018 05:17
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Start taking it apart, it's already broken and your second option is still your backup option regardless of outcome. Basically you're not going to make it worse.
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May 7, 2018 05:22
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Chillbro Baggins posted:Got the bike all but working -- tubes hold air(amazingly, it's beem sitting for 20+ years), tires are dry-rotter all to hell but will do for the evening, it just keeps throwing the chain, possibly because SOMEBOBY kept twisting the shifter like he was revving a motorcycle the entire time I was dragging it out of the shed, despite being told to stop that at least five times. Derailers usually have little set screws to limit the high and lower travel so that you can't throw the chain off the lowest or highest rear gears. When they're not properly set, that's when they allow the chain to come off the gears. I believe most front derailleurs also have a high and low limit but it depends on what kind of bike and what quality of components are on it. Some cheaper stuff might not have those limit screws. Most Shimano stuff should though. https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/rear-derailleur-adjustment For the hub nuts, most bikes are made overseas which use metric and are typically 15mm. Some kids bikes might run smaller but I can't fathom anything smaller than 12-13mm. When I assembled bikes, literally everything that wasn't a quick release was 15mm from kids to cruisers, mountain bikes to bmx bikes. Some BMX bikes run thicker axles to prevent bending the axle while grinding on pegs and those are 17mm. Some older American bikes like pre 1980s schwinn (known as Chicago schwinns) used standard size fasteners (1/2 - 9/16) and 27" tires instead of 700c.
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May 7, 2018 08:05
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:My Bosch router table has developed some kind of electrical fault; its switch no longer functions. The router itself is fine, but when plugged into the router table, the switch on the table doesn't turn the router on. Rarely it will briefly power up the router and then shut off. The off switch is possibly full of dust/gunge and isn't disengaging.
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May 7, 2018 08:39
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I used my new Ryobi Brushless Reciprocating Saw this weekend to break down a junk wood pile that the previous owners had left in a corner of the yard and to build a carpenter bee trap and it was great. Now I want to destroy everything.
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May 7, 2018 12:59
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Chillbro Baggins posted:My brother has a little pancake air compressor, and insists on completely emptying it every time he's done using it, and leaving the drain open. So when I'm at my parents' house (he lives with them while saving up for a nice place as his first house, not a bad idea) and go to air up my tires or whatever, I turn on the compressor and walk away while I wait for it to build pressure, and when I come back there's nothing because he left the drain valve open. Around here, the air is humid enough to accumulate a couple tablespoons of water just from using it to air up the tires on my truck in my 8 gallon compressor. I make it a point to blow that water out of my compressor at every opportunity.
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May 7, 2018 14:35
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kid sinister posted:I always used the syringe type pumps for that. Can you link an example? Still not having much luck finding something that looks decent. Edit: looking at extractor pumps since I could use this for oil changes too. Anybody have a brand or type that they like better than others? Eyeing this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001445IZ8 Suburban Dad fucked around with this message at 17:19 on May 7, 2018 |
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May 7, 2018 16:31
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Verman posted:Derailers usually have little set screws to limit the high and lower travel so that you can't throw the chain off the lowest or highest rear gears. When they're not properly set, that's when they allow the chain to come off the gears. I believe most front derailleurs also have a high and low limit but it depends on what kind of bike and what quality of components are on it. Some cheaper stuff might not have those limit screws. Most Shimano stuff should though. Yeah, I vaguely remember how to adjust them, they're just a pain to get dialed in. Also it's a mid-'90s WalMart Huffy mountain bike, so ... it at least has a  paintjob with silver frame and purple ankdized wheels.15mm sounds about right for the axle nut. The tires are in inches, I forget if they're 24 or 26, will have to look. 700C is a fairly recent thing in the US, innit? And by "recent" I mean "less than 25 years". Front tire is still hard as a rock, rear has gone flat. Guess I'm buying tubes and tires tomorrow. Edit: if nothing else, there's a local bike shop nearby that I can take it to and say "fix this, for sentimental reasons", and they'd probably not charge me $bikes, because sentimental reasons. But I'll have a go at it tomorrow, thanks for the link. Chillbro Baggins fucked around with this message at 06:43 on May 8, 2018 |
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May 8, 2018 06:36
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Ahh. If its an older mountain bike, the tires are definitely 26". In the last few years, mountain bikes have gone crazy with experimenting with different wheel sizes and 26" is now considered "old school" but 26" tubes should still be available everywhere.
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May 8, 2018 07:06
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For the Milwaukee people, they just announced a new 'High Output' (6 or 12 Ah) battery designed to compete with the FlexVolt stuff. It's backwards compatible with all M18 gear, at least if the larger 12Ah battery physically fits. The bigger news is some new tools that take advantage of it. There's a new chainsaw, large angle grinder, and table (jobsite 8.25") saw. Home Depot has the new 12Ah battery listed at $199, the chainsaw (w/ 12Ah battery and charger) for $399, and table saw (also with b&c) for $549. I have some new needs for a chainsaw, but I'm not sure paying $400 makes sense when I can pick up a comparable Ryobi gas model for $130 that's warrantied for 3 years. When it becomes a PITA, I can throw it out and buy another and do that once more before hitting the $400 price of the electric. Granted, the battery works in other tools I have, but it's not like batteries last forever either.
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May 8, 2018 15:22
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I bought one of those Ryobi One+ 3 gallon shopvacs It’s not the best shopvac in the world by any means But it was pretty nice to have on site while I was drilling pocketholes and routing acrylic and stuff Worth $90? Probably not. If you could catch one on sale for like, I dunno, $70? Maybe worth it.
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May 8, 2018 15:28
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Yeah the big cordless one and the 3 gallon one being only having a price diffence of 10 bucks seems weird.
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May 8, 2018 16:34
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Alright so I am a loving idiot and let myself get distracted in the second between letting go of the chainsaw trigger and having the blade spin down, and bounced it off my leg. The good news is that I was wearing proper gear, and can report that kevlar stops electric chainsaw blades. At least, they do when the blade is already spinning down. I am not about to try it at rev, but it made enough of a fuss of some of the apron's fibers, that I'm pretty sure I would have been looking at a trip to the doctors and at minimum a bunch of antibiotics, if not stitches. Christ, that was terrifyingly easy to do. This thing is super useful and has probably already paid itself off in terms of what I've cleared vs what I'd have paid someone to do that clearing, but, if I kill myself that's not going to be very helpful. This was broad daylight, good footing, clear and focused headspace. Also, y'all were correct in your assertion that I probably wouldn't have much luck straight pulling that busted tree down with a chain winch. I've got it under tension so that it'll go in one direction if it does go, and I started delimbing some of it, but I'm going to hit a point where the stuff that needs to be sectioned and dropped is over waist level, and I'm just not feeling that (especially in light of my little mini mishap today), so I've got a posting out for a professional. Around here that probably just means some half drunk dude with a tractor, but, gently caress, better him than me. It took me almost three months of motorcycle ownership before I had any kind of close call, so I'm going to go out on a limb (har har) and say this stupid thing is the most dangerous object in my house. Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 22:05 on May 9, 2018 |
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May 9, 2018 22:02
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How dangerous are pole saws then? I have a hankering to destroy a tree in my yard and kinda want to de-limb it first, or is that a dumb idea?
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May 9, 2018 22:14
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Tres Burritos posted:How dangerous are pole saws then? I have a hankering to destroy a tree in my yard and kinda want to de-limb it first, or is that a dumb idea? Pole saws look awesome to me; seems like a slightly different set of concerns. I would be very worried about dropping stuff on my head; having just started to do some of this work, I've been very careful to cut things into very small, manageable pieces. That (combined with being on the ground at all times) has kept it from being too scary when things drop in a different way that I was expecting, but... stuff falls slightly differently than I'm expecting it to all the time. Depending on the size of the tree, if I needed something cut down I'd probably just pay a guy. I'm going to take a class on how to fell trees, but in the meantime I'm not messing with anything that's not already down. Makita makes a pole saw that's 25cc and extends to thirteen feet despite only weighing 16lbs. I admit that I get sexually aroused whenever I see tools that are Makita Teal Blue in color.
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May 9, 2018 22:36
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My gut instinct is to say "the pole saw should be fine, as long as you're wearing an appropriate helmet and don't stand in stupid locations." But I admit to not doing any research on this.
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May 9, 2018 23:00
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You know to replace your chaps, now that they've saved your leg, right? They're one time use.
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May 9, 2018 23:18
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Tres Burritos posted:How dangerous are pole saws then? I have a hankering to destroy a tree in my yard and kinda want to de-limb it first, or is that a dumb idea? Pole saws are great, both manual and powered, you just have to think about what you're doing and learn from how the branches fall. There are practical limits to how big a branch you can do as much because of how long you have to hold the saw as from the fact that it will fall near you. Powered saws get unwieldy at max extension and manual saws can be substantial effort (core workout!) if you're reaching.
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May 9, 2018 23:18
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The big danger of polesaws beyond things falling completely vertically onto your head is dropping larger branches that fall tip-down, compress the branches and then spring the butt end into your face. It's a small version of the same reason you don't do tree work from ladders.
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May 10, 2018 00:21
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Bike discussion has been taken to the appropriate YLLS thread, but I just wanted to mention that I read the fine print on lil' nephew's wrench kit that failed me, and yep, it has 9-13 and then 17mm. Also the reason I've always had so much trouble with derailleurs is because each of them was missing one of the two adjustment screws. Dunno if they fell out or were absent from the factory, but yeah. I did manage to get it to stay in one middle gear with what I have, at least, and replaced the dead tube.
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May 10, 2018 00:27
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I work with chainsaws professionally and the following is some of our guidelines: Chainsaws should be handled with the chain brake engaged until you are ready to cut, likewise use the chain brake to stop your chain as soon as you are finished cutting. Also, keep one hand grabbing the handle behind the chain brake at all times when cutting. That way if there is kickback, your hand will hit the chain brake lever and stop the spinning metal from killing you. Also, try to avoid placing your body in such a way that the chainsaw can cut through the material and then fall onto you. We also have to train to avoid doing this, so I know cutting to the side makes the work harder.
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May 10, 2018 06:34
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^^^I meannnn if he doesn't know that he should put the saw away until he gets proper training Tim Raines IRL posted:Alright so I am a loving idiot and let myself get distracted in the second between letting go of the chainsaw trigger and having the blade spin down, and bounced it off my leg. holy poo poo. You need some chainsaw training. You're going to hurt yourself. I don't think you should be so sure of yourself sharkytm posted:You know to replace your chaps, now that they've saved your leg, right? They're one time use. Listen to this guy above too Harry Potter on Ice posted:Always look up and watch for widowmakers. Chainsaws don't mess around. Like you at least have chaps right? :/ Don't forget about widowmakers. You should be comfortable enough to be looking up while sawing so you don't accidentally knock something loose. This is usually how experienced people die every year
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May 10, 2018 06:36
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:holy poo poo. You need some chainsaw training. quote:Don't forget about widowmakers. You should be comfortable enough to be looking up while sawing so you don't accidentally knock something loose. This is usually how experienced people die every year I also got a text message from someone who claimed they'd do it for $50-100, which seems too good to be true. I assume that anyone I hire to do this should have specific insurance for doing this kind of work, and lack of that would be a big red flag, right? This tree must be at least 2,000 lbs. (To phrase that question slightly differently: if some dunderhead claims they can do it and kills themselves, and they don't have specific insurance, I have liability, right?)
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May 10, 2018 16:12
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If they're on your property and they don't have insurance, then you're liable for anything that happens to them while working on a job you're paying them for. Size estimation is hard; 2000 pounds doesn't sound like that big a tree to me. Any reason you couldn't fell it with a handsaw or an axe and then delimb it when it's on the ground? It's more sweat and toil but substantially less chance of accidentally cutting your leg off.
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May 10, 2018 16:20
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Size estimation is hard; 2000 pounds doesn't sound like that big a tree to me. Any reason you couldn't fell it with a handsaw or an axe and then delimb it when it's on the ground? It's more sweat and toil but substantially less chance of accidentally cutting your leg off.  Scale is kind of tough to see here but believe it or not, the point where it's broken is ~22" thick and the edge of the break is 9' in the air or so. If I was standing right next to it I wouldn't be able to reach the broken part, and I'm 6'1. If it was on the ground I would not be too worried about it at all, the problem is getting it there. It also broke two other trees on the way down, so the other side of it is just a total tangle. I suppose I could build a platform on that side of the trunk, and then get up there with an axe, but the LoE to do that in a way I'd consider is much higher than just paying someone to come deal with it. I'm curious to see how a professional approaches it; a couple people with some decades of homeowner chainsaw and trail maintenance experience have looked at it and expressed anxiety. TooMuchAbstraction posted:If they're on your property and they don't have insurance, then you're liable for anything that happens to them while working on a job you're paying them for. Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 16:50 on May 10, 2018 |
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May 10, 2018 16:44
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:If they're on your property and they don't have insurance, then you're liable for anything that happens to them while working on a job you're paying them for. A ton of random, broken trunk lumber sounds like that big a tree to me. Edit: if a guy could rig a heavy duty scaffolding beneath the broken area and jack that up, it might make it safer to separate the broken trunk.....or it might make it worse. Mr. Mambold fucked around with this message at 16:53 on May 10, 2018 |
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May 10, 2018 16:48
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Tim Raines IRL posted:
Okay, yeah, that's a lot bigger than I was imagining. Thing is, I'd also expect it to weigh far more than 2k pounds. Like I said though, size estimation is hard, so very likely we're both way off. Mr. Mambold posted:A ton of random, broken trunk lumber sounds like that big a tree to me. I more meant "not so big that felling it by hand is out of the question". Though with the way that trunk's snapped off partway up, I wouldn't care to try doing anything to it. And of course it's a lot bigger than I was imagining.
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May 10, 2018 16:52
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