What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Tips & tricks, uses for non tool items. Re-purposing, and home made tools

Here's one I know you guys will love. I've had a old plastic Craftsman hand carry cheap little tool box for close to 25 years. Its THE most basic of hand cary tool boxes. It has just the single plastic tool tray tote with a center handle inside the box and thats it.

For years I've stored deburing/polishing stone in just the box part itself for my vibratory tumbler for deburing parts. The tool tray itself has been used as just a utility tool try for years. Now it has a different purpose.

I re-purposed it into my counter sink holding tray. It hold ALLLL my C'sinks and has room for more if I need to add more to my collection. All I did was cut off the handle flush to the top of the try, so when I flipped it over it also has two center supports to help support the c'sink weight.

I layed out a pattern taking into acount the C'sinks I had and made this tray. I drilled all the holes just slightly undersized and reamed all the holes to their correct size to hold all the c'sinks slightly snugly so they would not flop around or rattle. Stoked with the new holder tray and it didn't cost a dime as this tool box was actually a Christmas gift. I just came across the pictures the other day, from like 87', Christmas pictures. So just re-purposed an item. These are sitting on the new shop shelving I built.

DSCN2543.JPG

DSCN2662.jpg

DSCN2663.jpg
 
And remember, I've been doing all this work with a swolen brain and a brain tumor, and fighting like hell to keep weight on my bony ass, and with half the strength and stamina I used to have. So If I can get out in the garage and make progress on my projects, so can YOU! :D. Post up some cool pics of your cool stuff :waytogo:. Don't be a slacker! :haha:j/k
 
Old junk U bolts work great as wheel chalks for about 6" casters in both directions, allowinf almost zero moverment because they fit nicely under the wheel. I need to cut these down to length still. It's on the project list of things to do. Just one of an endless list :doah: :haha:



And don't he a hero, use a punch handle for heavy punch hammering. If you've ever slammed a big ball peen on your hand you will know you NEED this. I never have too bad, but I'm not stupid either. It's only a matter of time after a beer or not wearing your glasses, and SLAM!!! %@#(#%^ < You WILL be cussing like a MoFo for damn sure. Buy one and use it. You will not regret using one. On the other hand NOT using one......Oh the PAIN! :D :haha:

DSCN2542.JPG

DSCN2535.JPG

DSCN2534.JPG
 
Use a wider then typical straight edge when making a long cut in plywood or whatever. You can never clamp the center of a straight edge in the center of a wide piece of wood of course, and sometimes a thinner Aluminum straight edge will flex as your skill saw gradually works toward the middle of the work.

Kind of hard to follow a line down the center of a piece of 48" wide plywood if you're cutting on center. So I use this piece of 8" wide X 8' + long X 3/16 flat steel sheet for long cuts. It's wide enough not to flex in the center when I'm skill saw cutting a sheet of wood.

Of course if you have another sheet of ply the same length thats wide enough not to flex you could lay it on the cutting sheet and it would be stout, but if you don't have another wide sheet or a 2 X 6 this works. Even a 2x4 will flex off a straight line sometimes. A wide enough flat straight edge won't at all.

DSCN2538.JPG
 
Sometimes just the right clamp works for holding your vacume home to a stud so you can drill and collect the dust at the same time. I hate dusty shops.

Also, if you need a flush mounted bolt because you need to lay another board over top use a Counter Bore tool to bore a flat bottomed C'Bore hole to accept a lag bolt with a washer. These are more machinist tools but I use what I got whenever I need it. I was NEEDED to c'bore these holes to mount a shelf and cabinet on this wall the way I did it. I used a c'bore with a replacable adjustable pilot. They make them with solid pilots too. Kind of pricy though. But a great tool and the easiest best tool to machine a c'bore with. Thats what they're made for. Pics of the cabinet installed will be posted in my machine shop thread soon.

DSCN2526.JPG

DSCN2530.JPG

DSCN2532.JPG

DSCN2527.JPG

DSCN2528.JPG
 
I was super stoked to FINALLY come up with an idea to use this mountable wall TV stand for, for a repurpose use. It was for the tv we allowed in his room when he was younger. It didn't last long as he didn't watch it most the time anyways, so we pulled the tv back out of his room, so it left the stand available to do whatever with.

I kept it for the last god 5 or 6 years cause I knew I'd find a cool use for it at some point. So with the garage reorg. I've moved my top tool box down under my parts washer for and empied it for machine shop items right next to the mill. All my collet sets fit into this top box except for the larg set. Needed a good place easily accessible, but yet totally out of the way.

I decided I wanted it under the new shelves I put up in the garage, yet kind of hidden. I had to disassemble the thing, invert the tv plate and saddle and hardware 180 degree's. I just had to file the the round hole square to accommodate the carriage bolt with the square under the head the same as the original side it was mounted to. It worked great.



Then I just needed to redrill a new support hole since it was meant to be used in the pivot tube support bracket that mounts to the wall in the pointing upward position. I'm using it in the pointed down position so I didn't have to drill a hole on my shelf. Also, the tv plate once disassembled had three adjustment holes to give you a flat tv or a tilted to with two angle positions. I set it to flat and bolted it together. Here's how it came out. So if you have one, don't throw it away, find a good use for it. I'll be posting a couple posts with pics of this shelf build. Here's the first of them.

DSCN2578.JPG

DSCN2579.JPG

DSCN2580.JPG

DSCN2581.JPG

DSCN2582.JPG
 
Disassembly. And check fit of the case of collets to the plate. Fits good. Will need to make some brackets to keep the case on the tray securely. Already have that figured out, just need to fab them up still.

DSCN2583.JPG

DSCN2584.JPG

DSCN2585.JPG

DSCN2586.JPG
 
So with the way this is suposed to work as far as holding the tube into the pivot, it accepts a pin through a hole and ity basically hangs and pivots. Thats why I had to drill a new hole since I was using it up side dowen basically.

So with the new hole and pin location I had to come up with a method for securing the pin in place and from working out over time and allowing the tray to fall. I used an old black pvc pipe plug I've had for a decade at least. I cut off the square flush to the top surface in the mill.

I bored the ID to just about .015 smaller then the 2.000 pin length and just a few thousands larger then the flange the pin rides on when it pivots. The outside threads on the cap make for excellent traction for my fingers to pull up to remove the pin if necessary. It snaps over the guide flange too, hell it looks like it was made for it. It works great to capture the pin too. What a quick and easy solution to this problem. Took me about 15 minutes to machine it up.

DSCN2587.JPG

DSCN2588.JPG

DSCN2589.JPG

DSCN2590.JPG

DSCN2591.JPG
 
Here's the lock collar in place and the tray and collet case.

DSCN2592.JPG

DSCN2593.JPG

DSCN2594.JPG

DSCN2595.JPG

DSCN2596.JPG
 
And the lst of them. I still want to level the case. I had leveled the tray but in bolting it up it moved. It works flawlessly though. But the out of level bugs the crap out of me. I made aluminum brackets to mount it to the wall studs.

DSCN2597.JPG

DSCN2598.JPG

DSCN2599.JPG
 
Man I've been saving a lot of pictures for a looong time to post up. Been too busy to do it. Today I needed a break from the garage :D. Hope you get use out of some of this, at least some enjoyment :waytogo:.
 
rdn2blazer said:
Ink pen rubber grips work on 1/4 extentions too, makes for a good grip like knurling and if you use a bright color it makes it easier to see in your tool box too. You may have to find just the right size. Some are tighter then others. When they are tight to get on they work great.
Click to expand...

Great one:thumb:

We use pool noodles at work for that kind of thing as well. At L-M we used to use them to protect prop blades. I do the velcro thing, too. I have a bunch of 2" wide bulk pieces that are perfect.
 
rdn2blazer said:
Since I've been cleaning and re-organizing my shop/garage I though I'd post up some more things I've used to re-purpose or custom make into something else. Its a sickness. I get rid of nothing that can be used for something else....within reason. No, I am not a horder by any means :haha:.

Here is my 50ft airhose I coil and hang. It gets used but not like my 25ft hose. So one day my son tosses his old and too small roller blade skates in the junk get rid of pile. I grabbed them and pulled the wheels off which had plenty of life in them. I used two to replace two worn out wheels on another riding toy he has.

I'm saving the other wheels if I need a roller wheel in the garage for some reason. But I also cut off the Velcro straps on the skates themselves. This is what I wrap my hose with now. It's adjustable since it's two pieces. I've used it for other purposes too, but now this will be it's home.

I like to wrap my air hoses because if you hang more then one together, and quickly try and remove just one, you inevitably grab a coil or two of the hose you DO NOT want and it becomes a tangled pita sometimes, so, I wrap all my hoses. Not electrical cords though. They hang indivually on their own hooks.
Click to expand...

Husky makes some of these called Hangalls in a variety of sizes, they have a carabiner on them with the velcro strap. I have a dozen or so for my cords and air hoses.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-100-lb-18-in-Zinc-Plated-Steel-Hang-All-18388/202305501
 
skunked said:
Husky makes some of these called Hangalls in a variety of sizes, they have a carabiner on them with the velcro strap. I have a dozen or so for my cords and air hoses.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-100-lb-18-in-Zinc-Plated-Steel-Hang-All-18388/202305501
Click to expand...

I took the carbiner off a set of them and and screwed the metal bracket to a wood beam & used them to hang a pair of extension ladders. I could not fit a normal ladder bracket between the beam and the garage door track.

I used the ladders about 4 times a year and they've been there for 6 years. Best Velcro I've ever seen.
 
bigjbear said:
I took the carbiner off a set of them and and screwed the metal bracket to a wood beam & used them to hang a pair of extension ladders. I could not fit a normal ladder bracket between the beam and the garage door track.

I used the ladders about 4 times a year and they've been there for 6 years. Best Velcro I've ever seen.
Click to expand...

they are pretty versatile and I agree the velcro is really strong. One could hold a bicycle no problem.
 
Here's another idea I actually figured out just last night. I was going thru my file drawer and organizing and cleaning them and ended up moving them to another tool box into a bigger drawer now all layed out flat.

But I identified them by style, cut, and size with a blunt somewhat used Sharpie. I cleaned the files first with a file card so I wouldn't be writing in file cuttings. Basically a cleaning brush for files, but it's called a "file card". Google it. I have no idea why this is called a file card, freakin stupid name but whatever lol. After writing on one I filed some steel with it. Not even any visible ink removed. Bad ass idea success :waytogo: :haha:.

DSCN2683.JPG

DSCN2684.JPG
 
I used aluminum angle (1" x 1/8") and cut slots in one side. Just wider than the files (a range of widths), and shallower on one side to support level by the tang. Keeps them organized and easily accessible, tightly packed but not rubbing together. I think I have nearly 100 in one Vidmar drawer, and the angle pieces lock into the tab-slots on the side of the drawer so everything stays in place.
 
I cleaned the files first with a file card so I wouldn't be writing in file cuttings. Basically a cleaning brush for files, but it's called a "file card". Google it. I have no idea why this is called a file card, freakin stupid name but whatever lol.
Click to expand...

The name comes from the wool industry. After sheep are shorn, the wool is "carded". The cards are constructed similar to a file card, just larger, and sometimes with a strap rather than a handle. Also, if it used a handle, it is mounted to the long end, rather than the short end. So a file card is a smaller card than a wool card.

Why I remember this, I don't know, but I remember seeing it done as a kid.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom