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KozmoNaut posted:I got a POWER FIST infrared thermometer from my AI secret santa last year and it seems to work pretty well for basic stuff. You can't set the emissivity, so it's probably not very precise for shiny objects, but that can be handled with a bit of black tape. Google says it's ~$20. Ignore anybody that brings up emissivity when talking about IR thermometers because unless you're working in a lab it hardly ever matters. "Let me just look up spaghetti sauce on my emissivity chart so I can properly calibrate my IR thermometer. I wouldn't want it to read my 140 degree sauce as 142 degrees!"  Distance-to-spot ratio is about the only thing you need to compare unless you're preparing something to go to the moon.
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Nov 19, 2014 11:09
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BXCX posted:I'm picking up a third car and I want to to garage it over the winter by turning it sideways and pushing it back against the wall since my garage is deep enough to accommodate it. To do this I'll need to pick up auto dollies and a floor jack and I'd like to do it for under $300 if possible. For the dollies, I'm looking at two sets of these or this set of four, it looks like with either option I'd need to grease the casters to make sure they move. I'd prefer to get the cheaper set of four but I'm not sure if the casters on those ones would be able to get over the groove that runs across the midpoint of the garage floor. Ideally, I'd like to leave the car on the dollies for the duration of the winter for maximum garage space/less effort, but is that a bad idea? It would be sitting on them from the near future through March minimum and I'd hate for the tires or dollies to get messed up in the interim and have a logistical nightmare once the spring thaw rolls around. As far as the floor jack goes, I think I need at least a 3 ton jack since the Buick I'm getting weighs ~3600lbs and My wife's SUV weighs ~4000lbs. Am I going to hate myself for buying a sub $100 3 ton jack from Harbor Freight or should I just suck it up and get one of the better reviewed $150 ones from Amazon? Having done this with a dual-axle boat trailer (w/ boat) every season for a decade, a running start will clear most expansion joints in the floor, but get the vehicle as close as possible before putting it on dollies so you have less things to roll over with tiny wheels. Ideally you would put the car on jack-stands to not get flat spots on the tires, but in practice you'll probably be under the car trying to jack it up to remove the dollies once its in place and I've never had flat spots after one season (granted, trailer tires are at over twice the pressure of car tires and built differently. YMMV). Also, the when I first started reading your post, I thought you were planning on putting it on a tilt trailer   Preoptopus posted:Ya its a myth with modern wrenches. Not even being sarcastic. We should probably all just do what our individual wrench manufacturers suggest in the manual.
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Nov 21, 2014 07:39
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I would use grade 8 and Loctite myself. I'm guessing either the previous bolts were only shaped like ASTM A574 Socket Head Cap Screws but were actually made of cheaper metal or someone severely overtightened them to keep them from rattling loose from vibration. I remember some video from years ago demonstrating that lock-washers and nylon-insert stop nuts fail before threadlocker. Pictures of the subwoofer and/or the failed bolts would probably help this conversation. CarForumPoster posted:I don't think this part is good advice. The fatigue life of a higher tensile strength bolt should be higher. [Source:http://www.asminternational.org/documents/10192/1849892/06181G_Sample.pdf/d408b01c-8497-46a3-9845-3af305feba89] Yes the strain before fracture is less but by that logic plastic would make a better bolt, or aluminum. If you're at the stress limit when torquing you're over torquing...don't do that. If youre snapping bolts under heavy vibration, you didn't put enough bolts and no a lower strength bolt wouldn't last longer. When providing a citation, could you specify which part of the 16 page technical document you're referring to? I didn't see the part that indicates that different alloys behave the same with regards to fatigue vs tensile strength but I was skimming pretty heavily.
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Dec 1, 2014 19:58
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SouthsideSaint posted:Only if you don't like having multiple layers of skin on the top of your hand. Otherwise waiting a few extra minutes for cold oil to drain is totally worth it. I now pull my oil drain plug wearing a Mechanix glove with a nitrile glove over top (its easier to put on than it sounds). The work glove keeps the heat away from my fingertips and the nitrile glove keeps the other glove from getting soaked with oil if I'm not quick enough. I started doing this after dropping the hot plug into an oil pan and having to fish it out bare handed, which was messy and uncomfortable but didn't injure me but I acknowledge that some engines (especially with turbochargers) can produce hotter oil. My high school auto shop teacher told us, among other reasons, that oil has detergents that keep crud in suspension but are designed to work best at operating temperature. Don't know if thats true but I've never changed cold oil because of it (and the better flow thing).
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Dec 8, 2014 22:00
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InitialDave posted:Why on earth would you do it like this? Socket on an extension to remove the sump plug, fish it out the drain tub with a magnet if you drop it. No need to get your hands anywhere near it. Because its easier/faster to unscrew it with my fingers than with a socket, if my (ungloved at the time) fingers aren't overcome with heat at the exact moment I run out of threads then I'm less likely to drop it than having it on a socket, and I didn't have a magnet at the time (also, it sounds like Jeep Cherokees don't have as hot of oil as other cars). Now I do the double glove thing which keeps me from brushing against the exhaust that runs right behind the oil plug, insulates me from the plug itself, and keeps my hand cool when removing the nearly as hot oil filter. Also, I haven't used an open-top oil drain pan in over 5 years.
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Dec 9, 2014 19:55
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InitialDave posted:I use a length of garden hose and a funnel. The hose is just right to go into most fill plugs, so stuff it in, run the hose up/out to where you have room to pour, jam a funnel in it and cable tie it to something. Then you can just pour down the funnel from a comfortable position rather than loving about under the car. I just got back from buying 5 feet of clear tubing from Lowe's (<$3) to do exactly this. I bought the smallest diameter hose that would fit my smallest funnel so that there is less still in the hose once the diff starts overflowing.
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Jan 8, 2015 01:42
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Oh god, now I have the Alumaloy Lady's dispassionate  voice running through my head. I saw this infomercial so many times as a kid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ5sD9hQTyw
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Jan 14, 2015 09:48
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Sadi posted:Id take advance over o'reillys. Oreillys only rents them for 48 hours before you have to buy the tool. I think advance gives you a month. Advance gives you a month before they order a new tool into the store, you can still return it after a practically limitless amount of time and they'll just have an extra. The last time I was in an O'Reilly's they made me record the amounts and viscosities of the used oil I was giving them to recycle so I've never bothered to go back. Cat Hatter fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Feb 28, 2015 |
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Feb 28, 2015 17:01
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I'm looking for a vise I can buy from a store for under $100. I've given up on finding a craigslist vise in my price range that isn't just a chinese vise I could buy in a store. How are Irwin's vises? I played around with the 5-in. multipurpose vise at Lowe's and the mechanism was remarkably smooth. Does Harbor Freight replace broken vises the way they do hand tools? I'm not planning on becoming a blacksmith, I just want to be able to stop securing things with a C-clamp.
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Mar 3, 2015 20:43
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BrokenKnucklez posted:I have kicked around the idea of buying a metal lathe. I know there is things I could do with it, but I am completely lost as to what kind of projects I could do with one. If I had a lathe, this is the first project I would complete with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIxgPEVjxiA
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Apr 21, 2015 05:56
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I can't help with the welding but when you're done I know Lowe's has John Deere yellow in the spray paint aisle (I used it to put a flame job on my Snapper so the Deere seat I put on it wouldn't look as out of place).
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Apr 28, 2015 00:26
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I use my HF creeper almost every time I go under my car and don't get why goons hate creepers so much, but to each their own. As far as that Depot creeper is concerned, I don't like that design. Without recessing the wheels like Dogbone creepers or the HF design it will either have wheels too small to easily roll over things (dropcords, cracks, the rug I keep under my Jeep for some stupid reason) or will raise the creeper too high to be useful. I also don't see any trays for temporary tool storage, but that might be a feature because the wheels are too far from the corners so if, like me, you sit on the edge to get off it will flip up like Marty McFly's skateboard and fling your sockets all over the floor.
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May 11, 2015 18:51
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Geoj posted:Hook up your hose to a tankless water heater. Or the drain on a regular water heater. Just make sure you flush any sediment out first. Also, make sure both hoses are rated for hot water. Even then the seals in the pump may not like the temperature. You might want to try this with someone else's pressure washer first.
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Jun 5, 2015 07:50
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Tommychu posted:Are the $15 eBay IR thermometers worth half a drat or should I spend some money? Used one (a fluke, mind you) at work the other day to diagnose a bad thermostat and realized how handy they are. Yes, but try to get one in your price range with the best distance-to-spot ratio you can because a few ultra cheap ones have ratios like 1:1 (standing one foot from the target reads an area about a foot across). Edit: Tommychu posted:Yeah FLIRs are the tits but also way rich for my taste. I've been thinking about picking up a lovely camera and removing the IR filter for stuff like that. That should be fine.
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Jul 20, 2015 04:07
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Safety Dance posted:They should really be using crimps over solders for vehicle wiring harnesses. You should really stop leaving wires under enough tension to transmit vibrations into the soldered joint.
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Sep 18, 2015 17:49
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EightBit posted:Wires don't have to be under tension to transmit vibration, the copper will take care of that. What do you have going on in your car that there is so much vibration that soldered joints are cracking on slack stranded wire? I understand why NASA doesn't use solder, but I don't need to visually verify the integrity of my stereo wiring before I leave every morning and I've never been in a car that generates as much vibration as a pair of SRBs.
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Sep 19, 2015 20:08
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EightBit posted:You don't need much vibration to weaken a solder joint over thousands of miles. The slack wire is part of the problem. Soldered joints in the ECU/radio/etc. don't crack easily because they are usually a bit insulated and because they can't move much. That slack wire moves around more, which speeds up the solder failure. I mean that you would need a lot of vibration just to get any to the joint in the first place. Rope, chain, wire etc don't transfer vibration very well unless they are tight.
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Sep 20, 2015 19:36
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EightBit posted:Copper in the cables is solid enough to transmit vibration without tension. If the wiring harness I made in high school for the Jeep I still use as a daily driver ten years later ever fails, I'll be sure to post about it. Until then I'll continue to think the anti-solder crowd is making mountains out of molehills.
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Sep 20, 2015 22:10
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kastein posted:Given quality crimps and a quality crimper I trust 99% of automotive enthusiasts with a crimper more than I trust them with a soldering iron. Does anybody know a good place to get this? I used some that came with a connector I bought, but I've never seen it in a store.
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Sep 25, 2015 16:51
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Fo3 posted:Under 1mm. Or just have the guys at Home Depot cut it for you for free.
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Sep 30, 2015 05:17
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Seriously, both Home Depot and Lowe's cut (and thread) pipe for free (unless you're getting a ton of cuts, then they'll either charge a small fee or say the machine is broken to discourage plumbers from getting a whole house's worth of plumbing cut for them). They have a big motorized pipe cutter that makes perfectly straight cuts in galvanized or black iron pipe in a couple seconds. Just try to go early in the day so they'll be less busy. If they do say the machine is broken, specify that you only need the pipe cut because threading takes longer (so they're more likely to lie about it) and the threader is more commonly broken (sometimes the dies fall out and get lost) than the motor or cutting wheel.
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Sep 30, 2015 20:10
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PBCrunch posted:When I encounter rotor retaining screws, I don't even bother with a screwdriver. I get my air hammer and a chisel tip and spin it out like so: I had to do this to two screws that had philips heads broken off in them, but the two hammer trick at 1:40 is what got the other 6 screws loosened up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxQk7Pz_vfc&t=100s for the lazy.
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Dec 3, 2015 20:43
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OSU_Matthew posted:Anyone here used the Solar brand battery capacitance testers? I can't speak on that particular model, but how often do you plan on using it? My Jeep eats batteries, but I'd still rather take the battery (attached to the vehicle, if it'll still start) to the auto parts store and have them use their bigger/nicer unit to test my battery/starting/charging system for me once every couple years.
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Feb 15, 2016 06:52
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OSU_Matthew posted:Probably once or twice a year, maybe more it seems? Between a motorcycle, jump pack, and four cars (two of which don't get driven much), it seems like I'm always dealing with dead or lovely batteries. In fact, I've got a battery that's barely over a year old and won't take a charge after being jumped and driven around for an hour. I'm getting 14v at the generator, and my "smart charger" won't charge it, so it'd be nice to have some quantitative confirmation it's poo poo before I take it back to the auto parts store Personally I'd rather spend the money on (smart) battery tenders so the batteries don't die in the first place. The thing is, if a battery is still under warranty they're going to require that you leave it with them while they try and charge it for a few hours and then test it with their own meter. If it isn't under warranty and you can't charge it (might need a dumb charger to get it going if its stone-dead) then you're screwed and need a new battery anyway. I understand wanting to be absolutely sure of whats wrong before going shopping because I do it too, but in my opinion $70 is a bit much for a device that tells you that the battery you were 80% sure was dead is actually dead. If it was me, I'd get three decent float chargers (http://amzn.com/B0009IBJAS), hook one to the motorcycle, two to the cars I don't drive, and pocket the $2.50 I saved and then not have to keep replacing batteries in the first place.
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Feb 16, 2016 00:11
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Krakkles posted:What multi-tools are good? I've heard good things about the Leatherman crunch, but it's pricey, figured I'd ask before spending a bunch. I got a Gerber Crucial F.A.S.T. (http://amzn.com/B001R93IQQ) after is was recommended by...someone on SA a few years ago. The pliers are ergonomic to use one-handed and close tightly enough to use as tweezers, the screwdrivers are as acceptable as you would expect from a multi-tool, and the assisted opening knife is sharp as gently caress and can be easily opened/closed one handed. Edit: I know this is very faint praise, but I bring it to Christmas every year and its become a thing for everyone to ask to borrow it after seeing how easily it goes through blister packs. Cat Hatter fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Mar 11, 2016 |
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Mar 11, 2016 08:08
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Safety Dance posted:I own this compressor, and am entirely pleased with it's performance: I can also vouch for this compressor. Unless you want to run a die grinder or are on a pit crew (the compressor should be caught up by the time you've removed a wheel and moved to the next one) most shadetree mechanics don't need anything bigger. However, this is the Tools thread in the automotive forums so many people in here aren't normal shadetree mechanics. Couple this with how air compressors are like dicks (most guys are happy with what they have, but wish it was just a little bit bigger) and you end up with a bunch of recommendations that you can hardly fill your tires with anything less than a 3-phase 100+ gallon shop compressor. edit: Is there such a thing as a crew served NERF gun, because now I want one.
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Mar 21, 2016 19:13
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Anybody have experience with the Harbor Freight Marine Heatshrink (http://www.harborfreight.com/42-piece-marine-heat-shrink-tubing-67598.html)? Its supposed to have the waterproofing...stuff on the inside and is fairly well reviewed. Perhaps most importantly, its available locally and doesn't cost $texas because the only other dual wall heatshrink I've been able to find in a store is in a marina. On the other hand, I don't have my heat gun so I'd like to not get through the project with a zippo only to have to redo it.
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Apr 7, 2016 22:05
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sharkytm posted:Eh... kinda? It's gonna be painful to navigate the interface, it has basically zero bandwidth or sampling rate, and those sort of scopes are universally panned, but for an automotive application (I'm talking TPS signals and the like, not high-speed CAN-BUS sniffing), you might get by with it. 200kHz bandwidth is basically 50-100kHz usable, and 1MS/sec is bad. Also, the case is tied to the ground, so that rules out any ignition stuff. Also the USB is tied to ground, so you could easily fry a laptop if you swap polarity. I was shopping it against similar sets on Amazon which, when I was looking, were all $20+. Now I'm seeing several for a bit cheaper, but they're still 3-4x as expensive as HF. And when looking locally, marinas (because they're for watertight connections) charge through the nose for anything. I'll try to find a new electrical supplier. And I know exactly how much it sucks to use a zippo on heatshrink, since it was my only means for several years until I inherited a heat gun...thats currently in storage until I get a new house  . Maybe I'll see if I can borrow one.
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Apr 8, 2016 00:33
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Preoptopus posted:Dont you guys who do your own oil changes buy the 5 quart bottles? Why dont you just dump the oil back into those. Im confused. Also as for finding drain plugs in the oil pan, magnets work wonderfully. A while back I actually did an in depth review of my current pan that I got from Advance Auto (also available at Northern Tool for more money): Cat Hatter posted:The first thing to note is that this thing is loving enormous:
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Apr 21, 2016 23:34
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Preoptopus posted:Everyone's got their thing man. Im not knockin anyone and if it makes you happy then hey, you do you. I just dont buy the argument that "I do all my own work because mechanics are all crooks who gently caress poo poo up." People in this thread get weird about oil changes. Everything else is like "I find it worthwhile to *perform X procedure*, but to each their own" but if someone mentions how they change their oil it turns into  "Why would anyone change their own oil?" "I use a baking pan and a milk jug and can't imagine doing it any other way!" "Why don't you just get a hose and mouth-syphon it into a 55 gallon drum and then use your forklift to load it into your milsurp 5-ton when its full like I do?"
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Apr 22, 2016 02:48
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I think of it like how some people wash their car so they'll notice any new dents/scratches; changing your oil gives you a reason to go under your car and see if anything has obviously gone wrong since last time.
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Apr 22, 2016 03:51
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Preoptopus posted:Do you eat at restaurants? Cause they if they drop your steak on the floor, they just wash it, and throw it back on the grill guaranteed. TRUST NOONE! If I'm going to eat a floor-steak, I'd prefer to know the conditions of the floor it was dropped on and how well it was washed off  .
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Apr 22, 2016 04:24
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Colonel K posted:There's a fairly big difference between a hammer drill and a rotary hammer. The former aren't really much good for drilling masonary but will work at a push. The latter is where it's at. SDS Plus is usually the giveaway. Roto stop for chiselling is also really handy. This. A hammer drill is fine if you only have a few holes to drill in brick/concrete, at least until you hit a piece of aggregate. Then you're leaning all your weight into a vibrating drill (probably giving yourself carpal tunnel) while whacking it with a hammer just to try to get through a stupid pebble. Ask me how I know this.
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Apr 25, 2016 19:02
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Siochain posted:Wasn't going to get a Mastercraft, don't worry :P Cdn Tire carries some of the decent brands, as does Lowes, Home Depot, Amazon, etc. I don't need anything fancy/much selection, just a combo is fine. Might grab the Bosch that's on sale at Lowes (https://www.lowes.ca/combo-kits/bosch-clpk26-181-2-tool-18-volt-lithium-ion-cordless-combo-kit_g2491955.html) since it looks decent, and isn't any pricier than a Dewalt set atm. I have that kit and am very pleased with it.
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Jun 14, 2016 17:29
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eddiewalker posted:I faked a Motiv with a garden pump sprayer, screw-on hose barb and a junkyard MC lid. It's totally awesome. I'm Cat Hatter, and I support this message. If you go this route, the cheapest sprayer at Lowe's will let you screw the quick disconnect from an air hose directly to the locking trigger assembly so you can easily change out MC lids and start/stop the pressure flow.
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Jul 10, 2016 23:55
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wormil posted:I have this one, no complaints. This is the one I have, but I got it back when it was blue. Most of the cheap ones are knockoffs of this thing that aren't as good. The first one I got was a knockoff that would lock up on my '98 Jeep Cherokee, but works fine with my wife's '09 Patriot (they didn't bother having me ship it back when I returned it). Haven't had any trouble with the BAFX in the four years I've had it.
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Aug 2, 2016 06:41
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Just about anything a tablesaw can do can be done with a $30 circular saw. I love having a table saw, but I wouldn't get one before a miter and/or circular saw. I'd recommend a miter saw first because its the easiest/fastest tool for probably 80% of the cuts most people will be making. Close second* would be a circular saw because it can do almost anything and is really cheap and portable (if you only have one rip cut to make it isn't really worth hauling out the table saw unless you have room to leave it set up all the time). Third would be the table saw because its a lot faster/easier to do rip cuts than with a circular but its much more expensive and cumbersome to store/set up. Miter cuts on a table saw are easier than with the circular saw but not as easy as the miter saw. *If you know you'll need it or its a small job, get the circular saw first. Who cares if its a pain in the rear end to set up a miter cut with a speed square if you only have to do it once or twice and it saves you from needing a more expensive saw?
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Sep 13, 2016 08:59
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How stupid am I for considering using an 8 gallon air compressor without a regulator? I know I should just spend the  to replace the cracked regulator, but its only ever going to be used for filling tires and the hose/chuck are rated for higher than the max tank pressure so I'm considering being cheap. Someone talk me out of being an idiot.
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Oct 4, 2016 09:06
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Unsane posted:You'll be fine. What's the cutoff on that compressor? 120? Roughly. I can't think of any reason it wouldn't work, but that's also the line of thinking that leads to winning a Darwin Award because you wanted to preheat your Lava Lamp on the stove or something.
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Oct 5, 2016 01:34
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puberty worked me over posted:All non-vented propane heaters have condensation issues rendering them largely useless. Propane/natural gas are still going to have more btus available and cheaper to run. Personally, if I had to run a line anyway, I'd run a NG line and either get a dehumidifier or crack the door every once in a while. Although if you want 240v run anyway for other reasons, that's different.
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Nov 27, 2016 17:45
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