Redneck/SF Engineering

[The Reaper]

Let's light a fire on this forum.

I would like to see a post from anyone who has a way to "do almost anything, with absolutely nothing".

Catastrophic failures should be relegated to a Darwin Award thread.

As an example, I was in the 25th ID in Hawaii during a pretty bad hurricane. It took a couple of days to clear enough streets to get to post 10 miles from my house.

When I got in, lots of people were milling around the motor pool unable to operate their vehicles due to a lack of fuel. Most had run out, the deadlined vehicles had already been siphoned dry.

We had almost 20,000 gallons in the ground in tanks, but the power was out.

I took a quick look around the motor pool, found a 1.5KW generator, a Light Set, a pair of lineman pliers, and a 5 gallon can of waste fuel.

I set up the generator as far from the pumps as the extension cords from the Light Set would reach, cut off the plug end of the cord, pulled the pump breaker, took the cover off the pump, and hot wired the drop cord directly to the pump motor, taping everything up well.

I fueled up the gen set with the waste fuel strained through a screen, and it started. I plugged in the cord, and five minutes later, we were operating the only operational fuel point on Schofield Barracks for the next three days.


Second story. Old one. Inherently dangerous, do not attempt at home. OTOH, if your vehicle is dead in Afghanistan and you are being being shot at, you have to make your decision and live with the consequences.

I saw a guy with a dead battery in a 7-11 parking lot. No one had any jumper cables.

One of his buddies pulled up in front of him till the front bumpers touched.

He then took the tire tools out of both vehicles. This appeared to be an unconventional approach, so I had to see what happened next. :munchin

He placed the socket ends of the tire tools on the positive terminals of the batteries, and slapped the other ends together with a little sparking.

The owner of the dead car was able to crank it right up.

Adaptive thinking. THAT is what we are looking for.

Anyone else?

TR

[Air.177]

I once saw a Broken Case extractor for a 1919 made from a Bolt that happened to fit the 30-06 case. A few slots were cut in the bolt with a file to make it vaguely resemble a tap. It worked after a few attempts.

[The Reaper]

I once saw a Broken Case extractor for a 1919 made from a Bolt that happened to fit the 30-06 case. A few slots were cut in the bolt with a file to make it vaguely resemble a tap. It worked after a few attempts.

Excellent!

Where is Mr. Harsey and his vast wealth of RE knowledge?

TR

[Air.177]

Let's light a fire on this forum.

I would like to see a post from anyone who has a way to "do almost anything, with absolutely nothing".

Catastrophic failures should be relegated to a Darwin Award thread.

As an example, I was in the 25th ID in Hawaii during a pretty bad hurricane. It took a couple of days to clear enough streets to get to post 10 miles from my house.

When I got in, lots of people were milling around the motor pool unable to operate their vehicles due to a lack of fuel. Most had run out, the deadlined vehicles had already been siphoned dry.

We had almost 20,000 gallons in the ground in tanks, but the power was out.

I took a quick look around the motor pool, found a 1.5KW generator, a Light Set, a pair of lineman pliers, and a 5 gallon can of waste fuel.

I set up the generator as far from the pumps as the extension cords from the Light Set would reach, cut off the plug end of the cord, pulled the pump breaker, took the cover off the pump, and hot wired the drop cord directly to the pump motor, taping everything up well.

I fueled up the gen set with the waste fuel strained through a screen, and it started. I plugged in the cord, and five minutes later, we were operating the only operational fuel point on Schofield Barracks for the next three days.


Second story. Old one. Inherently dangerous, do not attempt at home. OTOH, if your vehicle is dead in Afghanistan and you are being being shot at, you have to make your decision and live with the consequences.

I saw a guy with a dead battery in a 7-11 parking lot. No one had any jumper cables.

One of his buddies pulled up in front of him till the front bumpers touched.

He then took the tire tools out of both vehicles. This appeared to be an unconventional approach, so I had to see what happened next. :munchin

He placed the socket ends of the tire tools on the positive terminals of the batteries, and slapped the other ends together with a little sparking.

The owner of the dead car was able to crank it right up.

Adaptive thinking. THAT is what we are looking for.

Anyone else?

TR

I like it

The Tire Iron in my jeep has been used for MANY things, but not that. Hammer, jack handle, lug nut wrench, pick/shovel, and Improvised Weapon in a real pinch. Never jumper cable though.

[The Reaper]

I like it

The Tire Iron in my jeep has been used for MANY things, but not that. Hammer, jack handle, lug nut wrench, pick/shovel, and Improvised Weapon in a real pinch. Never jumper cable though.

Remember that you have to have the two vehicles in solid metal to metal contact (common ground) for it to work.

TR

[Air.177]

I'll keep that in Mind.

Not sure if this qualifies for the purposes of this thread, but you can do damn near anything with a Forklift. (As if you folks didn't already know that)



Come on Guys, This isn't the TR and Some Punk Kid Show!!! :munchin

Lets see some of those Off the Wall "Southern Engineering Stories"

[Ambush Master]

I once saw a Broken Case extractor for a 1919 made from a Bolt that happened to fit the 30-06 case. A few slots were cut in the bolt with a file to make it vaguely resemble a tap. It worked after a few attempts.

Yes, I did do that !! :D

[Bill Harsey]

Excellent!

Where is Mr. Harsey and his vast wealth of RE knowledge?

TR
I'm getting there, got to finish up the day work first! Been keeping notes in the shop on this, got some good ones!

[Bill Harsey]

Here's a simple but very effective one, Ever had an end wrench on a nut or bolt and can't move it? Two things, if it's a bolt, hit the head with hammer first. This may break the bind free, don't do this on a nut because you will probably mushroom the threads the nut needs to twist off over. Then if the typical end wrench your using (one box or closed end, the other end open) can't turn the bolt, get another end wrench about equal size. Put the box end of the first wrench over the bolt. Then place the box end of wrench no.2 over the fork of the first wrenches open end so you can double the length of the wrench therefore increasing greatly the leverage. Reef on the second wrench. Something will give. Do not let the owner of the wrenches see what your doing because he may not let you borrow them again. Aircraft mechanics go away, this will get you in deep doo-doo.

[Bill Harsey]

Most folks here know I grew up logging, spent years at it. Any of you guys have to handle cable? Sometimes we need to put an eye in one end to attach to other rigging so we can pull on stuff, this is what cable does, it pulls on stuff. Most wire rope is 6 strands over a core. To do a proper spliced eye takes the right tools and some learned skills. What I'm going to describe takes almost no skills, is fast and will work with anything from 1/8th inch to 2 inch or bigger if you have the personal horsepower to bend it. If you have say 3/4 inch cable, unravel the six strands of cable completely, go back about three feet. Ignore the core. Use a screwdriver or similar tool to pry them apart to get started if you have to. Take three strands to each side. Grab one strand from each side and point them toward each other until they cross about midpoint. Wrap them back together, just like they came apart. Do this with each strand from each side until you've put the cable back together in a loop. It'll look just like it was made that way. Ignore the free ends hanging past this fast eye we call a "Farmers Splice" It's as strong as the entire cable for a little while but it lacks the long term durability of a true spliced eye. I should charge for this, it's that good.

[Bill Harsey]

Wear gloves if you can when handling cable. Older or worn line will get cracks in what is called the crown of the cable. This crown is the outermost surface at any point in a length of line. Run your closed hand over a cable and all you'll feel are the crowns. When the cracked crowns get longer they are called jaggers. Jaggers will make red stuff come out of your hands or other body parts. They also cause language that is not acceptable in some circles. Look at what your grabbing! Anyone here want to know how to cut steel cable with an axe? fast?

[The Reaper]

Wear gloves if you can when handling cable. Older or worn line will get cracks in what is called the crown of the cable. This crown is the outermost surface at any point in a length of line. Run your closed hand over a cable and all you'll feel are the crowns. When the cracked crowns get longer they are called jaggers. Jaggers will make red stuff come out of your hands or other body parts. They also cause language that is not acceptable in some circles. Look at what your grabbing! Anyone here want to know how to cut steel cable with an axe? fast?

Bill:

Great tips, will have to try the splice technique sometime.

Your axe or mine?

TR

[Bill Harsey]

Your axe of course. The axe used on a logging side for cutting cable is called a rigging axe, the cable cutting side is so trashed that it will probably never cut wood again. Here's how the rigging axe is used to cut cable so adapt the best you can at your location if you have to do this. A normal use of the rigging axe would be the drum (winch) line on the D-7 Cat. This is one inch diameter steel cable. The end of this is a spliced eye to hold the shackle from which the Bull Hook is hung. After months of hard use the eye of the splice may be frayed or break so the cat is backed up near a stump and some slack is pulled from the drum. We take the double bit axe and stick the sharp side hard in the stump. Two men are best used for this job. One holds the cable over the axe and the other hits it with a big hammer on top, Lay the cable over the exposed edge of the axe where you want to cut it, hold on AND LOOK DOWN! Short sharp wires may break off and hit you. We always put our hardhats to the cut. The best hammer is at least a 6-8 lb. sledge but it could be done with a 4 lb. hammer if needed. The cut shouldn't take a whole minute from the time you stick the axe in the stump and wrestle the line up to having a pretty clean fresh end to work with. You then use the rigging axe to cut the loose ends of the finished splice after your done with that too.

[Bill Harsey]

FrontSight, Ma'am, Your UTB Design counts. This is a very finesse piece of engineering. This is a working example of FrontSights skills, adapting a holster to an unusual hideout carry. UTB stands for "Under The Bra" or "Under The Breast" carry. The value in this, for the guys, is learning to think like a designer, that is not being afarid to try unusual solutions to a problem no matter what all the knuckleheads around you say or think. How do you think I do what I do? It didn't come from listening to the naysayers. If my memory serves, General Yarborough himself was responsible for several design inovations used by Special Forces Operators to this day. Your thinking can have merit and just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean it isn't valid. FrontSight Ma'am, this thread was for the down in the dirt technology and your work is too good for here but let's figure out where to put it. Let me think for a bit. I also think design is an important overlooked component to field craft.

[alphamale]

Okay.

I've used a paper clip (binder clip) and some skills from the School of Lockpicking to get out of a bathroom stall in Italy when the locking mechanism broke.

Since then, I never lock the bathroom door when traveling across the pond if the locking mechanism is not exposed and if the door goes all the way to the ground.

FrontSight

[The Reaper]

FS:

An grad, contributing on a Redneck Engineering thread?

Please, feel free....

TR

[alphamale]

Sir TR you perplex me so. I can never tell if you are serious or kidding. ::sniff::

Besides, I picked EE because it was supposed to be the hardest, not something useful like ME or (oh my god I wish I had picked...) Materials Science. So when I figure out anything mechanical and practical I feel like a genius.

EE even leaves one hazardous at doing home wiring. In all EE labs, black = ground. My muscle memory is hardwired for black = ground. In home wiring.... ZZZZZZ!

FrontSight

(who spent a week trying to grind my little knife and only had a really ugly grind and messed up fingernails and lots of swear words to show for it)

[Bill Harsey]

Grad? :eek:

[The Reaper]

MIT Grad? :eek:

With a EE degree.

Try to keep up, Sir.

I knew my two years in Materials Engineering and a scholarship from the Latrobe Steel Corp. would come in handy some day.

TR

[Bill Harsey]

With a EE degree.

Try to keep up, Sir.

I knew my two years in Materials Engineering and a scholarship from the Latrobe Steel Corp. would come in handy some day.

TR
Very interesting schooling TR, well done. No wonder I haven't been able to sneak anything by you. EE?

[Bill Harsey]

Back to work here! SUPER GLUE! Cyanoacrylate in a liquid form. Some things to know about it, *No. 1,* this stuff glues skin real good and acetone doesn't feel good to soak your eyes in so don't get it there. * No.2,* if you can use a rapid evaporating cleaner on metal parts, do it to remove any oils then blow on parts to be glued before using the glue. Super Glue needs some humidity to start setting up. This really works *No 3.* Super glue needs 24 hours to achieve full strength even though it seems full strong in moments. *No. 4* If you need to unglue Super glue on metal to metal parts, you can use heat from a torch. You don't need to go much above 300 degrees F and don't breath the smoke, it contains CYANIDE GAS. I've heard some people are allergic to that.

[The Reaper]

Ahem...thanks, Bill.

In keeping with this thread, you might note that you can use Superglue (Dermabond) medically for closing minor cuts, particularly clean ones. I have discovered that it is pretty good for MINOR edged implement injuries, though I am thus far prohibited from using it on the small people here.

TR

[Bill Harsey]

Ahem...thanks, Bill.

In keeping with this thread, you might note that you can use Superglue (Dermabond) medically for closing minor cuts, particularly clean ones. I have discovered that it is pretty good for MINOR edged implement injuries, though I am thus far prohibited from using it on the small people here.

TR
Good point, done that here before. If the super glue won't hold it closed, that's a pretty good clue one may want to consider more help. Understand the limitations on your medical practise. Same ones imposed here.

[Maas]

Here's a couple, not as good as others.

1. I've seen coat hangers used as makeshift brazing rods.

2. Ever stripped out a socket head cap screw? Keep a metric set of allen wrenches handy, get the next size larger and usually you can tap it in with a hammer and remove the offending bolt.

3. This one for Frontsight ... try using a Lansky type kit to sharpen your knives. Or if you set on doing it by yourself, try making a line on the blade running parallel with the edge. A pencil will do, but a fine tipped marker or using a carbide tip scribe is better. It gives you a good point of reference.

[Bill Harsey]

Here's a couple, not as good as others.



2. Ever stripped out a socket head cap screw? Keep a metric set of allen wrenches handy, get the next size larger and usually you can tap it in with a hammer and remove the offending bolt.


Good example, same can sometimes work with wrenches and socket wrench sets. Never quit trying. If the steel wrenches fail, reach for the hot wrench.

[Razor]

FS, when picking your lock, what did you use for a tension rod?

TR, I'm sorry I never heard of the Latrobe Steel Corp. I guess I focused too closely on the other well-known Latrobe (PA) industry. ;)

[The Reaper]

Good example, same can sometimes work with wrenches and socket wrench sets. Never quit trying. If the steel wrenches fail, reach for the hot wrench.

My brother has one of those, and the opposing force he calls a "Lincoln Locker".

Any idea what that is, to keep nuts attached forever?

TR

[CommoGeek]

Using AOL to email OPORD's to the B Team because the SOCA wasn't working. Does that count? :munchin

My old Det SGT used some spare wire and a soldering iron to make a harness to power PRC-70's and PSC-3's from a HUMV battery. It seems the 24v current was excellent for those older radios and we didn't have to use our supply of 5590's.

A slinky as an antenna for a PRC-127. I've since used a slinky as a field expedient antenna for civvie radios to receive as well.

Before CamelBaks were the rage, we'd take surgical tubing and attach it to the NBC caps on our 2 Qt. canteens.

For batteries (I used this for R/C cars, but the principle is the same) you can build a dissipater from car tail lights and wire. Batteries have a memory, so you want to discharge them at the rate they are used. Tail lights are cheap and have the amperage drain needed.

[The Reaper]

Using AOL to email OPORD's to the B Team because the SOCA wasn't working. Does that count? :munchin

My old Det SGT used some spare wire and a soldering iron to make a harness to power PRC-70's and PSC-3's from a HUMV battery. It seems the 24v current was excellent for those older radios and we didn't have to use our supply of 5590's.


IIRC, the AN/PRC-70 was initially designed as a vehicle radio for the Marines and was only modified to be battery powered in order to sell it to SF.

TR

[Bill Harsey]

FS, when picking your lock, what did you use for a tension rod?

TR, I'm sorry I never heard of the Latrobe Steel Corp. I guess I focused too closely on the other well-known Latrobe (PA) industry. ;)
Can't answer for Ms. FrontSight but Sir, the full name to that steel company is Timken Latrobe. About everything you've ever rode in that goes fast uses bearings made from their steel. This would include any elevation you've enjoyed "above ground".

[Razor]

I've done some high flying with the other Latrobe product as well. :)

[The Reaper]

I've done some high flying with the other Latrobe product as well. :)

I got it, Razor. :D

TR

[Bill Harsey]

I've done some high flying with the other Latrobe product as well. :)
Fully understood and only one question to follow. Does "Rolling Rock Extra Pale" count? Have some of those empties within 100 ft. of here.

[Bill Harsey]

No way I can top The Reapers opening story here, that's just plain brilliant. Along that line here is one I've personally done. I was driving the shop truck up to the logging side one morning and the truck died when I'd stopped to get on the Mt. Hood highway. Engine wouldn't re-start due to now dead battery and we had a logging crew waiting for me to get there. I opened the back of the truck, started the portable welder, made damn sure it was switched to DC power and ran the welding leads forward to the battery. I also turned the amperage way down at the welder first. About this time a guy in a pickup stopped to ask if I needed help, I said thanks but I've got it. He stayed where he was to see what would happen. I put the welder ground lead on the battery ground post and clamped the welders stinger to the positive post, just like jumper cables. The truck started fine and made it all the way to work. Yes I turned off the welder and wrapped up the leads before driving off. That other guy drove off shaking his head. *****DISCLAIMER*****EMERGENCY USE ONLY*****THIS MAY NOT TURN OUT WELL*****DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!

[Bill Harsey]

Brief word about welders, electric arc welders (stick welders) have differant available power outputs to the welding leads. Some are Alternating Current (AC), others are Direct Current (DC), some welders have both outputs that can be changed by where you plug in the leads or turn the switch. If you ever use the welder for a battery charger IT HAS TO BE DC CAPABLE!!! , make sure you know what the leads are plugged into. Ground clamp needs to be plugged into the ground (negative) at the welder and the stinger is Positive. Operators of welders may change these back and forth in DC welding depending on what type of rod they are welding with. Some welding rods are run with the stinger negative and the ground clamp positive. "DC Reverse Polarity" is a common welding term and refers exactly to what I've already described, ground lead is negative, stinger that holds the welding rod is positive. This is what you want. Be sure of this before you try to make a welder work as an emergency battery charger. *****DISCLAIMER! *****Emergency Use only***** HIGH RISK of this not working out well. DO NOY TRY THIS AT HOME!

[Razor]

When you said, " He stayed where he was to see what would happen," is it safe to assume 'where he was' means at least 100ft away from you and the truck? :)

[Bill Harsey]

When you said, " He stayed where he was to see what would happen," is it safe to assume 'where he was' means at least 100ft away from you and the truck? :)
LOL! He wasn't that smart, but he did stay in his rig with the window up.

[The Reaper]

First, I want to reiterate that these are emergency techniques and should not be attempted by personnel without extensive training and experience.

We need a legal disclaimer here, AL & RL, Esqs.

Having said that, here is my next RE solution.

You can make a decent hidden blank adapter for the M-16/M-4 in an emergency by cutting a 5.56 case off just above the base, and punching out the primer. Then you remove the flash suppressor and install the cutdown case, centered, concave side toward the barrel, retightening the flash suppressor.

Two problems with this are that the adapter will not blow off, but will blow the weapon up if a live round is fired, and on a lesser note, the flash suppressor may unscrew itself if not properly tightened.

I also understand that clear fingernail polish (good for chigger bites) makes a decent RE substitute for Loc-Tite. Hopefully, married guys have a better access to nail polish than single gents. FS probably has the market cornered.

TR

[Polar Bear 4/31]

This is way more redneck than S/F engeneering, but here it goes. We had a hole digger die in the hole (Ford engine), and the gear that engaged the flywheel from the starter was stripped. We removed the stripped gear and turned it around, so the "good" side engaged the flywheel. It started and got us stacked out, it even lasted untill I left that company.

[Bill Harsey]

This is way more redneck than S/F engeneering, but here it goes. We had a hole digger die in the hole (Ford engine), and the gear that engaged the flywheel from the starter was stripped. We removed the stripped gear and turned it around, so the "good" side engaged the flywheel. It started and got us stacked out, it even lasted untill I left that company.
Polar Bear, Don't tell anyone this but I have an old metal cutting bandsaw in the shop that's still running today after doing the exact same thing to the spur gear in the transmission drive box about 10 years ago. I also have a back up bandsaw just like it and use both all the time. Good thinking!

[Ambush Master]

Hard to start, common problem. On a Drop Zone we ran both of the Batteries down on the DC-3. My uncle had been an old '3 Pilot and Mechanic and had told me a tale that I really had not believed, but it worked. I took a long piece of tubular nylon, folded it in half and hooked the V around one of the prop blades. After making about 4 wraps around the Prop Dome, I attached the free ends to the bumper of a truck. After having the pilot prime it and with a GOOD shot of ether in the intake, I took off with the truck ! It took 2 tries, but I got it started. We refueled "hot" all day and only shut it down that evening. Made a bunch of jumps that day.

[Bill Harsey]

One day logging up the Clackamas River in the Mt. Hood National Forest, the batteries went dead on the Caterpillar D-7, and it couldn't be restarted. When I shut down for lunch I parked the D-7 in third gear, with the blade up, on a hill so steep I almost couldn't get off of the machine and had little confidence of the Cat still being there when I was done eating but damnit, I was hungry. After lunch I managed to get the brake dogs released and pushed the clutch in, that sumbitch took off down the hill and I pulled full force back on the clutch lever, she turned over a few times and caught fire. I logged the rest of the day. Roll starting a cat takes a pretty good slope but it can be done.

[Razor]

Good thing Mr. D9 wasn't there; he would have simply put the poor 'dozer out of its misery. :)

[Peregrino]

This thread has a lot of potential! To add my two bits - I spent a lot of time on SF dive teams where we had to do a fair amount of maintenance and construction. To make it easier we "acquired" a few air tools and nailguns because they made it more efficient for a couple of guys to do the construction while the rest of the team did other work. (We usually had more OPFUND than bodies and the work always had to get done.) Unfortunately the TO&E and a couple commanders without a sense of humor wouldn't support us acquiring and keeping a low pressure compressor to run the tools. Since we always had plenty of compressors producing high-pressure air for diving we used the dive tanks and dedicated an "unserviceable" diving regulator to run the tools/nailguns. It requires an investment in the equipment and a little pre-planning but its highly portable, doesn't require electricity, and saves a lot of effort when something has to be done right now. The only caution is to make sure the regulator's intermediate pressure is adjusted low enough that it won't damage the tools. Normal intermediate pressure is 135 +/- 5 psi. Most tools prefer something below 90 psi. The Conshelf XII/XIV made/makes an excellent regulator for this use because it's cheap, readilly available in pawn shops (you didn't think I was going to use my breathing regulator for this?), and the pressure can be adjusted without opening it up. There are some inexpensive adapters required to hook a 1/4" airline to the regulator but any dive shop can get them for you (got to love the IMPACT credit card!). We discovered that keeping the regulator set at factory specs with at least a 25' air hose and a mini "in-line" regulator next to the tool made for better flow rates (tools are bigger "air-hogs" than most military divers - especially if they're in continuous use). We've built a few SOCEPs in the middle of nowhere with some battery operated saws/drills and the nailgun hooked up to a SCUBA tank. Because I'm still into diving and have access to the HP air I've set up a similar system for my personal use that includes an air chuck and impact wrench for changing tires on the road. I've also used it on small carpentry jobs to run my finish nailer when I didn't want to lug around a full size compressor. The tanks support a surprising amount of work. FWIW - Peregrino

[Bill Harsey]

Good thing Mr. D9 wasn't there; he would have simply put the poor 'dozer out of its misery. :)
Razor, Your right, he'd be a little expensive to have around the logging outfit. Peregrino! That's some tricky rigging you did there, I noted the length of airhose you use to act as a buffer for the tools. Good Lessons in there guys and girls.

[Bill Harsey]

My brother has one of those, and the opposing force he calls a "Lincoln Locker".

Any idea what that is, to keep nuts attached forever?

TR
Yes, Don't do something stupid and let your wife find out. Sir Reaper, I believe the "Lincoln Locker" refers to using an electric arc welder to weld either the top or the base of the nut to whatever it's threaded to. This is pretty permanent but works. Also, do you folks know that you can use a cutting torch to remove a nut from a bolt without cutting or damaging the threads the nut was on? The bigger the nut and bolt, the easier this is to do. Anyone know why?

[The Reaper]

Yes, Don't do something stupid and let your wife find out. Sir Reaper, I believe the "Lincoln Locker" refers to using an electric arc welder to weld either the top or the base of the nut to whatever it's threaded to. This is pretty permanent but works. Also, do you folks know that you can use a cutting torch to remove a nut from a bolt without cutting or damaging the threads the nut was on? The bigger the nut and bolt, the easier this is to do. Anyone know why?

Exactly. A little birdie must have told you that.

Heat transfer and metal expansion rates would be the explanation for your question, IIRC.

TR

[Bill Harsey]

Exactly. A little birdie must have told you that.

Heat transfer and metal expansion rates would be the explanation for your question, IIRC.

TR
Yes, Little birdie whispered the term "Lincoln Locker" but I had practised the technique for near thirty years as needed. "Lincoln" refers to the great American welding machine and related equipment manufacturer. Heat transfer, or actually the lack of is correct. If you stack two steel plates together and try to cut them at the same time with an oxy-acetylene torch, you can't do it. The oxygen stream depends on a red hot pre-heat to get the steel to actually burn. The red hot pre-heat will not carry from one plate to the next in a continual heat so the oxygen won't cut the second plate of steel. Same applies to the nut, you can cut the nut off while it's on the bolt. The trick here is to work fast and do not overheat the bolt threads because you are very close to heating them up and cutting them also. I make two vertical cuts down the nut, 180 degrees apart and then gently tap it off with a hammer.

[geronimo]

For screws that are stripped out use some abrasive cleanser on the tip of the screwdriver. ie:comet, ajax, etc.

Thin nuts can be cut with a chisel the same way as noted above with the blue wrench.

For bolts that get stuck partially out:
Get a wrench small enough to fit over the shank of the bolt and put it against the head,this will be your "master wrench." Then get some other larger wrenches and stack them between the master wrench and the piece the bolt is stuck in, make a wedge with the wrenches and pry. This keeps the shank from being scored up and allows you to use lots of leverage without spinning the bolt. (spinning the bolt is very bad in close tolerance fits)

[Bill Harsey]

Geronimo, Not going too far out on a limb here, you work for a living don't you? Good ideas!

[BMT (RIP)]

Well it looks like it's time to breakout my REDNECK RAIN GUAGE. A 5 gal. plastic bucket works real good. Measyred 10" during the last storm. Forecast for the next blow is 5-10 inches.

BMT

[Bill Harsey]

BMT, How does your rain guage compare to what the local weather says you get? This is out of interest, not doubt.

[BMT (RIP)]

Bill my bucket was just about on the money. Here in Fl. the amount of rainfall can vary from oneside of town to the otherside.

BMT

[Bill Harsey]

BMT, I'm going to have to set out a bucket. We have one of those "fancy" calibrated rain guages. I've never been sure about that. We keep track of all precipitation daily on the calender. I've seen rain in Florida, you can have a wall of water coming down and take three steps over and be out of it. Little different here in Oregon.

[Ambush Master]

For screws that are stripped out use some abrasive cleanser on the tip of the screwdriver. ie:comet, ajax, etc.

Also dipping the tip of your screwdriver into some good old Clover Brand Valve Lapping Compound works good.

Now, back to the "Hard to start" topic. You hit the ignition switch and only get solenoid chatter. Voltage is good, battery fully charged, but only chatters, even when "jumpered". Get a hammer, chock, brick,etc. and give the Starter Motor a couple of good "Raps" close to the brush end. This will usually allow the worn out brushes to get better seated against the commutator and is good for at least one more good start.

This procedure was actually spelled out in the Shorts-330 Aircraft Maintenance Manual. The Irishmen referred to it as "Malletizing" the Starter.

Later
Martin

[Bill Harsey]

AM, that works. Also works on electric motors that are hard starting (like my monster compressor in the shop when it's cold...boy do I hate admitting that...bracing for incoming comments now)

[mumbleypeg]

Blademaster,I hope you have found a hammer without a claw on the end. I seem to recall horror stories involving claw hammers and your leg.

[Bill Harsey]

Blademaster,I hope you have found a hammer without a claw on the end. I seem to recall horror stories involving claw hammers and your leg.
That healed up pretty good after the plastic reconstructive doc did his work. I ground off the sharp ends of all hammers around here after that.

[Razor]

The heck with hammers. After all his years chucking wood, I want to hear Mr. Harsey's stories concerns birch hooks, cant dogs, twitcher skidders and chainsaws. :)

[Bill Harsey]

The heck with hammers. After all his years chucking wood, I want to hear Mr. Harsey's stories concerns birch hooks, cant dogs, twitcher skidders and chainsaws. :)
Razor, the wood we logged was too big for for cant hooks (refined by the Stillwater Maine Blacksmith Joseph Peavey in the late 1850's into the famous "Peavey" named for him) This tool was also known as a log wrench and was used to turn logs and break loose whole decks of logs into the water for running downstream to the mill. They are still used by the men in the mills and big rivers to position logs for the chain feed or make into a raft for loading onto ships. I've probably got too many stories about logging here in Oregon. I worked on High Lead logging sides, Skyline sides and worked logging with cats and skidders. Among the jobs I worked, setting chokers, rigging slinger, high climber and chaser. When I was trusted enough to run a cat around other men I got many hours building road, fire trailing and logging with several types of those machines. I spent quite a bit of time with a saw in my hands, used 2.5 gallon of saw gas per day on the last show I worked. For reference, that's a lot of cutting. We fell, bucked, yarded, sorted and loaded over 12 million board feet per year with an 11 man crew, not counting the truck drivers. This was done on most unfavorable ground and very long reaches. We did it because it was an old school oufit made of men who believed in pretty hard work. All this time I did all the welding I could and ran over two ton of welding rod for the logging side. This is how my interest in working steel started.

[Bravo1-3]

For removing screws with stripped heads, I use old broken drill bits. Whenever I snap a drill bit, I sand the snapped end flat on the belt sander. Put it in the drill, set the drill to reverse, and 9 out of 10 times the screw comes out.

If the piece is small enough that I can put it on the drill press, I just drill off the head of the screw. Don't do this if you need the piece attached with the threaded section, unless you don't mind the threaded portion of the screw being permanently stuck inside the piece.

[Bill Harsey]

Good thinking on the drills, I'll start saving them.

[geronimo]

Geronimo, Not going too far out on a limb here, you work for a living don't you? Good ideas!


I am well versed in the fine arts of aircraft maintenance and little else...

As for the drill bits for screws that works great and has the added benefit of not really screwing the screw up any worse should you need to use and ez--out on it.

you can also drill the screw head off and use vice grips to pull the shank once you've removed the material that the screw or bolt was holding in place.

[The Reaper]

With a buggered screw head, I prefer to recut a new slot across the head with a hacksaw or Dremel tool, then remove it with the correct screw driver.

TR

[BMT (RIP)]

With a buggered screw head

Damn TR you been letting some Afgan use your tools. :munchin

BMT

[Bill Harsey]

That works good, if you can reach the screw head. Check your Brownells Gunsmithing catalog for slotting files designed to make screw heads, they really make 'em. If said screw is in a counterbored hole things get tougher.

[The Reaper]

That works good, if you can reach the screw head. Check your Brownells Gunsmithing catalog for slotting files designed to make screw heads, they really make 'em. If said screw is in a counterbored hole things get tougher.

Dremel tool with a small diamond cut-off wheel will do it well, especially if you do not mind cutting the surrounding material a bit.

Thanks for the tip on the slotting files.

BMT, I was wondering who would be interested in that term. :munchin

TR

[Bill Harsey]

Dremel tool with a small diamond cut-off wheel will do it well, especially if you do not mind cutting the surrounding material a bit.
:munchin

TR
I'll bet that never happens on that bicycle with the V-Twin engine.

[The Reaper]

I'll bet that never happens on that bicycle with the V-Twin engine.

Bill:

Very few slotted screws on that bike.

Mostly 3/8"-5/8" bolts/nuts, Allen, hex head, Torx and cap screws. Entire tool roll is about the size of a small coffee can.

Good thing that the post-AMF ones are so reliable, I tend to get mad when objects do not repond to my will and resort to impact and increasingly longer cheater bars. If it doesn't move, get a bigger hammer. I recently acquired a small torch and find it helpful as well, particularly on Loc-Tited fasteners.

TR

[geronimo]

TR,
I'd get a heat gun before I went to the torch. Less chance of burning/melting the paint or metal around the screw.

[Bill Harsey]

TR,
I'd get a heat gun before I went to the torch. Less chance of burning/melting the paint or metal around the screw.
Guys, You might find this useful. When I have to take apart a high value screw that's been chemically locked into place and flame heat would ruin or discolor the surrounding material. I take some 1/4 inch brass rod, taper one end on the lathe to fit the screw head, hold the rod with vice grips and heat up one end of it with the torch. In a semi-dark room this temp is judged by the beginning of incandescent color (glowing red) in the brass rod. I then place this rod directly on the end of the screw to be undone and wait a moment. Then I remove the screw with whatever wrench or driver it calls for.

[geronimo]

Have had to do the same thing on helos to get some stubborn bolts out.

Works great. Where were you about ten years ago when I was trying to figure all of this stuff out the hard way?

[Bill Harsey]

Have had to do the same thing on helos to get some stubborn bolts out.

Works great. Where were you about ten years ago when I was trying to figure all of this stuff out the hard way?
Figuring it out the hard way myself.

[geronimo]

I guess nothing is ever free!

[alphamale]

OK, here's a duct tape redneck engineering (or something like that) story.

This was date # 2.5 and with someone I really liked, my first time in his car, and we hit this huge pothole a little with the front tire and a lot with a back tire.

I said, "Hey stop." He pulls over and stops. I definitely had heard something not right.

He stops. I said "That just punctured a tailpipe or something." He said, "No it didn't". I said, "Yes it did."

Realized he was more wanting it to not have happened rather than really evaluating whether it did or did not happen. Decided instead of debating it further, to simply say, "I'll check". Before he could protest, I grabbed my light from my purse and his jacket from the back seat. Put his jacket on the ground and used it to slide on. He quickly became not at all happy that I was under his car. I told him 30 more seconds and if he could put something over my legs that would help.

The puncture wasn't exactly on the end tailpipe, but close enough. (manifold?) Thankfully he had ducttape. We had a brief debate over who should put the ducttape on the puncture. I told him that if he would hand me the tape and a knife that I could be out in less than 30 seconds. I've seen on TV where the guy always cuts the duct tape with his teeth, but that seemed too guy-ish and kind of ick, so I asked for a knife :). And yes, I could have used my knife, but decided he could supply the knife which would also keep him busy for a sec while I checked to see if anything else was damaged.

All was fine except for the back of my blouse because I had to scooch further than I thought I would. Luckily, he had a shirt I could change into, but this presented its own dilemma for a couple reasons, including that I didn't want him to see the UtB. I told him he had to close his eyes. He actually said something like, "Unless you have 3 breasts, it's nothing I haven't seen before..." It took a lot of restraint to not respond to that, but I didn't... I didn't think he was into guns at all, and that would not have been the right moment. I told him since the shirt clashed with the skirt, he had to think of Plan B for where to go. Anyway, that funny noise went away.


Unfortunately the TO&E and a couple commanders without a sense of humor wouldn't support us acquiring and keeping a low pressure compressor to run the tools. Since we always had plenty of compressors producing high-pressure air for diving we used the dive tanks and dedicated an "unserviceable" diving regulator to run the tools/nailguns. It requires an investment in the equipment and a little pre-planning but its highly portable, doesn't require electricity, and saves a lot of effort when something has to be done right now. The only caution is to make sure the regulator's intermediate pressure is adjusted low enough that it won't damage the tools. Normal intermediate pressure is 135 +/- 5 psi. Most tools prefer something below 90 psi. The Conshelf XII/XIV made/makes an excellent regulator for this use because it's cheap, readilly available in pawn shops (you didn't think I was going to use my breathing regulator for this?), and the pressure can be adjusted without opening it up. There are some inexpensive adapters required to hook a 1/4" airline to the regulator but any dive shop can get them for you (got to love the IMPACT credit card!). We discovered that keeping the regulator set at factory specs with at least a 25' air hose and a mini "in-line" regulator next to the tool made for better flow rates (tools are bigger "air-hogs" than most military divers - especially if they're in continuous use)Too clever!

We've built a few SOCEPs in the middle of nowhere with some battery operated saws/drills and the nailgun hooked up to a SCUBA tank. Because I'm still into diving and have access to the HP air I've set up a similar system for my personal use that includes an air chuck and impact wrench for changing tires on the road. I've also used it on small carpentry jobs to run my finish nailer when I didn't want to lug around a full size compressor. The tanks support a surprising amount of work. FWIW - PeregrinoWhat is a SOCEP? I love the portability that solution brings. Seems like a very useful thing to keep in the trunk.


FS, when picking your lock, what did you use for a tension rod?Hi Razor, in the bathroom stall with a broken lock / closer thing, it was less like picking a formal lock ( finding the right pins ) and more like disassembling a free-spinning handle and using the binder clip back to wedge a part inside.

I always thought lock-picking was a snails-and-puppy-dog-tails thing that really wasn't right ethically, and that the guys who were into it allegedly as a sport probably didn't always abide by the code (never take anything, leave it the same or better, etc.) However, from what I did learn about, it was still helpful to picture what was probably going on with the mechanism, and it also just helped me not have to wait forever for someone else. I do have a kgb lockpicking set somewhere in my moving boxes.


I also understand that clear fingernail polish (good for chigger bites) makes a decent RE substitute for Loc-Tite. Hopefully, married guys have a better access to nail polish than single gents. FS probably has the market cornered.Hey I heard that!! I'm still trying to figure out why red fingernail polish chips faster than pink.

FrontSight

[Bill Harsey]

Hey Kid, You need to date guys that'll get dirty without thinking twice! How many of you guys would let your date crawl under your car to fix something, especially on Date No. 2.5? Ok, after 20 some dates, I'd probably let her do it, but not on dates 1-19. The reason the red fingernail war paint chips easy is because your wearing it while crawling under your dates cars. You should switch to aircraft paint with flex additive.

[Razor]

FS, to put your mind at ease, my dad was a bonded locksmith for a period of time, so being a pre-teen (and future mechanical engineer), I was drawn to the skill.

That being said, I don't see anything wrong with possessing a skill that may come in handy some day. In that light, its not that unlike practicing how and where to incapacitate someone trying to harm you. ;)

[alphamale]

Ok, after 20 some dates, I'd probably let her do it, but not on dates 1-19. Brat!


The reason the red fingernail war paint chips easy is because your wearing it while crawling under your dates cars. You should switch to aircraft paint with flex additive.Total brat!

You could be in trouble Mr. Harsey! :p

[alphamale]

That being said, I don't see anything wrong with possessing a skill that may come in handy some day. In that light, its not that unlike practicing how and where to incapacitate someone trying to harm you. ;)Razor I totally agree with that now. I just didn't then. Given same context / opportunity, I would be completely into it now.

FrontSight

[Bill Harsey]

Now that FrontSight has me thinking about crawling under stuff...Way back a long time ago I was logging one summer down out of Coos Bay Oregon, a steep ground skyline show, big timber and hot when the sun was out. I was the rigging slinger (boss of the choker setters) on that one and had a big log tight to the ground, nowhere to wrap the one inch dia. cable choker under the log to hook it up and send it to the landing. Being the highly trained old school logger I was supposed to be then, I knew the solution. I squeezed around and under the end cut of the log to put a "face holdt" set on it (logging rigging term for a particular wrap used to break a log out of a bad place). What I hadn't seen was all the pitch coming out of the end of that Doug Fir and now it was on my face and in my beard. Boy was I smart back then, wearing a beard, logging in 90 degree weather. Now I had a big wad of pitch stuck to my chin and most of the day left logging. This sucked. I thought about using saw gas but remembered how much that burnt after having a gas cap come off a saw while bucking and having a whole tank spill down the the front of my pants. Yes, all that rigging guys don't want gas on got soaked and we never repeated that exercise. On the way to town we stopped in a small country store for soda pops and the women behind the counter saw my face and told me to get some butter and rub on, it would take all the pitch off, then you just wash the butter out. I did, it worked perfect. We use this solution around here to this day.

[Peregrino]

FrontSight - A SOCEP is a "Special Operations Combat Expendable Platform" (a fancy name for an equipment pallet). It's something the guys came up with to load one (or two) Zodiac F-470(s) (an inflatable rubber boat) on and rig them for paradrop. (So I guess that counts for "Redneck Engineering" too [except it has now been standardized and put in a manual].) With hand tools it takes 5-6 hours to do correctly; power tools reduce that by 2/3rds. It's the length and width (+) of a F-470 and constructed of 4x4s, 2x6s, and lots of plywood. It has to be sturdy enough to kick out the back of a C-130 and withstand the opening shock of +/- 4000 lbs (double duck) suspended from two G-12 (big) parachutes. To add insult to injury there's always some penny pinching quartermaster type who insists they "didn't really mean expendable" (except in combat) when they named it SOCEP. So now it has to be rugged enough to reuse (so the second time with a full load it can fail spectacularly, puncture the boats, and dump equipment and sandbags from 1000 ft altitude onto the poor bastards pulling safety duties on the DZ). Great concept that works really well to deliver an infiltrating team quickly (by air) from "home station" to a point outside the "bad guy's" detection range (over their horizon) where the detachment can use their own assets (the boats) to complete a clandestine infiltration. Sort of like ***ggling with government assistance. NOTE: For those of you "lurking" DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! There's a lot of pros and cons, it's not foolproof. Just ask the SEALs about Greneda - bad things do happen despite best intentions! Hope this answered the mail, YIS - Peregrino

[alphamale]

Now that FrontSight has me thinking about crawling under stuff... :lifter


I squeezed around and under the end cut of the log to put a "face holdt" set on it (logging rigging term for a particular wrap used to break a log out of a bad place). What I hadn't seen was all the pitch coming out of the end of that Doug Fir and now it was on my face and in my beard.Not knowing what Pitch was, I googled' it and have some good news for you Mr. Harsey: http://web.reed.edu/trees/TreePages/PSME.html
Apparently Douglas Fir Pitch was used by Native Americans for alllll sorts of ailments. So it's probably kept you in good health to this day.


FrontSight - A SOCEP is a "Special Operations Combat Expendable Platform" (a fancy name for an equipment pallet). It's something the guys came up with to load one (or two) Zodiac F-470(s) (an inflatable rubber boat) on and rig them for paradrop. HOly smokes! What mechanical shape is the platform in when it's ejected? I can picture the end-result from what you said, but am not sure if it starts out that way.


By the way, Mr. Harsey, did you know that I now understand the basic concept behind a Claymore?

I've decided the next cool thing to work on for my defensive suite should be named: my Personal Claymore

Alas, ideas are cheap. Ability to execute is the mindnumbingly difficult part :) .


FrontSight

[Bill Harsey]

Which one of you guys told her about claymores? :eek:

[Air.177]

Why Does it have to be one of Us? Those Strider Guys could've done it too. :lifter

[alphamale]

Sirrrrrs, I *can* read too, ya know!

FrontSight

[Air.177]

Sirrrrrs, I *can* read too, ya know!

FrontSight


Ahh Hell, She's on to Us :D

[Razor]

FS, you hadn't ever heard of pitch from an evergreen tree? :eek:

[Bill Harsey]

Yes Air.177, I'm afraid Ms. FrontSight might be able to read. Speaking of words like that, the link she sent on "pitch" came from Reed College in Portland Oregon. They couldn't be bothered to post a picture of a real tree, just some shrub growing in town. Reed College is full of white kids with dreadlocks, I was there last year for a day. No one honored my diversity, couldn't find the Redneck Engineering section in the library.

[alphamale]

Razor: What it covered on The Math Network?

Nope. New noun!

Had a sheltered childhood in lots of ways. Am making up for it now though! :lifter

FrontSight

[Air.177]

On a Seperate note, Anybody heard from TR? Haven't seen him on lately.

That is All

[Razor]

He's busy, but will return soon.

[Air.177]

He's busy, but will return soon.

Understood

[Bill Harsey]

Hey we gotta get back to work here, If any of you guys are involved in any electric arc welding, especially in the field under emergency conditions on equipment that you can't take apart as far as you would in the shop, PAY ATTENTION: Keep your ground clamp as close to the work as possible, best placement is either directly in front of or behind the weld. DO NOT ground a machine that has motors and bearings on one side and start welding on the other. There is a risk of an arc thru the bearings causing premature failure. This is proven fact. The welding manuals say to keep your ground within 6 inches of the arc to keep from arcing thru a bearing. Magnetic ground ends are easy to find and work good because you can place them many places much easier than the common spring clamps. As the old bumper sticker says, "Welders Do It Hotter!"

[The Reaper]

FS:

Do you have an extra chromosone, or did you miss the Boys-Girls differences briefings? :D

In 20 plus years of dating, I never had a date express an urge to climb under my car. Out of the car, or into the back seat, yes. You must be a heck of a looker to be able to continue with the date after that. If you did that to me and my jacket, we would have probably just taken you back to your place, cut and run to end the weird dating experience before date #3 or why you had a pistol in your bra came up. #2.5 and he still didn't know? Hmm. :rolleyes:

That is a good use of 100mph tape, but that really needs either the aluminized version or a muffler bandage for even a decent temporary repair. Carbon monoxide, anyone?

It also makes an excellent radiator hose repair as well, though some extra hose clamps in the kit help with that one as well.

If he broke the manifold, or you could climb under far enough to see it, you must be dating guys with jacked up 4x4s or you can limbo under a 6" bar. The manifold is attached to the heads.

Great story.

TR

[Bill Harsey]

**** :munchin *****

[Sacamuelas]

LOL Talk about a ..... "I'm Back!" statement.

I'm with you Bill... :munchin

[alphamale]

Sir, welcome back. Without you, the Team Sergeant, and Ambush Master around to keep us in line, we have all just been running amok! :D


or did you miss the Boys-Girls differences briefings?::squint:: Gleefully, yes. I relied on the Cliff-Notes version which was certainly of biological interest.

TR, I enjoy being a femme type, except for the fundamentally completely unfair fact that (most) women are physically weaker than (most) men. I definitely am. I used to not even think about it, but now that really torques me. It certainly requires some redneck engineering and a Commando Training Center (i.e., my living room w/ weight bench and Spar Pro Man) to not be totally lame in strength.

The benefit of being female that I see is that when I travel, people seem to be extra nice to me; I think just because I'm female.


You must be a heck of a looker to be able to continue with the date after that.No. I am a completely average looking female.


He (the date) was miffed though. I believe, "What the h*ll are you doing?" was the first thing he said after he came around to the passenger side and saw that I was actually under the car. He even tried, "I can see your panties." to get me out. I laughed but missed the 3-second rule in delivering a good comeback.

Now I bet you would have done the same thing if you had been me!

After one exchange of "the tailpipe is broken", "no it's not"..."yes it is"... I just figured what was the point of debating if something was broken when I could just look and see! I didn't want to get into point-counterpoint on Date #2.5. He might think I was strong-willed or something! :)

And, we were about to get on the highway for a 20 minute drive. I was mentally fast-forwarding to this disaster scenario where the bottom of the car drops out.



If you did that to me and my jacketIt was just a denim jacket!! Very washable!


we would have probably just taken you back to your placeHe didn't know about the Batcave.


cut and run to end the weird dating experience before date #3 or why you had a pistol in your bra came up. #2.5 and he still didn't know? Hmm. Sirrr, you don't actually think I'd be easy? Puhhlease! Dating these days is very different! Many things to worry about and counter-surveillance measures must be taken!

I've only had 1 completely un-planned discovery of the UtB - in a movie theater.
"What is *that*?"
I'm thinkin' geez, it is soooo high-school to try this in a movie theater! I whispered back,
"It's just a little gun." (I said 'gun' too quietly)
"A little what?"
"g-u-n"
The look on this face was priceless....silence...
"Which way is it pointed?
He was sitting to my left. I had to be honest or I'd develop Catholic school guilt immediately.
"Perhaps in your general direction."

He got up, moved to my right, and was quiet for several minutes. I actually thought that was very clever. At that point of course I knew he was non-gun. Yet, in the absence of knowledge, he moved to avoid the muzzle. Pretty good!

I mean, I would have preferred his response to have been, "Really, why only a .38? Why not a 9mm"? But hey...


If he broke the manifold, or you could climb under far enough to see it, you must be dating guys with jacked up 4x4s or you can limbo under a 6" bar. The manifold is attached to the heads.The puncture was in the thing connected to the tailpipe which was sticking out the back of the car. Isn't that the manifold?

(I'm having a deja-vu moment to when the person repairing my roof was asking me about a very detailed question about how the house was framed. "Do I look like a roofer to you?" was my answer.)



Sir TR, consider Mr. Harsey as the role model here. Obviously a man of the 21st century, he says:

How many of you guys would let your date crawl under your car to fix something, especially on Date No. 2.5? Ok, after 20 some dates, I'd probably let her do it, but not on dates 1-19..

That ruleset does show progress! :)

FrontSight

[Team Sergeant]

bump

[STR8SHTR]

I know this isn't as good as some of the other stories that are posted but I was proud of myself at the time.

After I fired my first wife I had to buy another washer and dryer because she confiscated the others. So I purchased a set from another trooper who had them in storage for a long period of time. Well I got them home, hooked them up and was running the washer through the cycles to check it. The washer was filling when I heard water hitting the floor. I ran into the wash room to find water overflowing from the washer. I turned the washer off. I thought about it for a few minutes, then removed the control panel only to find a mouse nest in it. THey had chewed the vacuum hose into that controled the water level. Well I needed to wash clothes and the stores were closed. So I disassembled a bic ink pen and used it with some electrical tape to splice the hose back together. It worked for the next five years I had it until it was sold.

[The Reaper]

Funny how when you use an emergency Redneck Engineering fix like that and it works, the regular repair gets put on terminal hold till it fails again. :D

TR

[Bill Harsey]

Heard a good one yesterday, this is from a friend of mine who owns a logging operation and is a SEAL Veteran. The following could apply to many types of rigging.
He said it was a long hard job hand threading some large diameter wire rope thru a complex set of twists and turns to rig up some grapples that are hydraulic/cable operated. This needed to be done whenever the cable wore out.

These grapples are for grabbing logs with a big skidder and bringing them into the landing to be loaded onto trucks bounds for the mill.

One of his hands said "Why don't you just weld the new cable onto the end of the old cable so when you pull out the old stuff, the new line is threaded right behind it?"

They did it and it worked. A rigging chain and another machine was used to pull the cable thru the groups of blocks.

A FOOT NOTE: Yes you can weld the ends of cable, I've done it numerous times. You could NEVER weld two lines together and work with them. That takes a long splice.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

"Welders Do It Hotter!"

Back when I was little and a midshipmen in the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY, we went thru arc and acetylene welding courses. I discovered several great additional values to both types of welding. Arc welding was a great way to melt the spit shine off an upper classmens shoes when you asked him to come over and check out your technique (I marched many hours for that). And, for all you demo guys, wiping down the nozzel on an O2 tank with a greasy rag makes a terrific field expedient rocket and will go thru a door like crap thru a goose. ( I marched days for that one).

Jack Moroney-record setter for hours marched around the world's highest unguyed flag pole for sharing my field expedient techniques.

[boat guy]

Just a little foray into the world of the SWCC for those that care to see how the other side lives.

RE Story 1
On a boondoggle cruise which took our boats from Little Creek around Fla, and up the Mighty Miss for an ultimate destination of Thunder Over Louisville (where we played with the boys from 20th Gp), our boats began to show some significant wear and tear. Specifically the Rubberized Cork nonskid on the CRRC landing was peeling up in 2x2 sections. After a very brief converstaion with our Skipper, I decided that the best option was to replace the whole landing area with LINEX. A good ole boy from Nawleans (who currently holds the world record in the Raw Oyster Eating event) was more than happy to mix and apply an industrial strength coat of deck gray non skid. The stuff is amazing and more than met our needs. Immediate end result was less than gratifying however... a Letter of reprimand for unauthorized Boat Alteration from the Commodore. Long term result. With over 15,000 nm and two full CENTCOM deployments, the back deck is still defect free and has not been replaced. (Other boats have had the Navy Issue stuff replaced three times in the same period.)

RE Story 2
The same Skipper from above (a real idea man...one of the best) asked me to test and evaluate the validity of the Jet Ski for tactical use ISR, INFIL, RA etc. We went to the show with two Sea Doo 1100s in tow. The big ones. After some paint, fiberglass and a little ingenuity, we had them outfitted with a 5D and a 117, and the look to match the mission. We did not however have a way to launch and recover. Solution...some 2in Aluminum square bar, some boat trailer rollers on the base and boat skids for a cradle all welded together by some the best non HT welders out there. The finishing touch was a remote controlled WARN 5000 lb winch. Voile. The end result: Proof of Concept for SWCC use of a Jetski Like Vehicle. They were promptly hijacked by our Frogman counterparts for use elsewhere.

RE Story 3
One of my favorite Gunners Mate Chiefs, never satisfied with Crane provided configurations came up with this one. He cut a MK 19 tripod mount in half and welded each side to a ball bearing disc. Above the disc and inside the frame of the tripod, he hard mounted an ammo can capable of holding 96 40mm rds. The can and weapons spin simultaneously and are connected with a 3ft feed chute.
End result. A lot of devastation for a long time. He calls it Godzilla. The mount was being evaluated for possible implementation by the Navy.

We love to rig and alter the toys we have. Its never good enough until it has been cut and rewelded and incorporates a 5000lb cargo strap.

[Bill Harsey]

Back when I was little and a midshipmen in the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY, we went thru arc and acetylene welding courses. I discovered several great additional values to both types of welding. Arc welding was a great way to melt the spit shine off an upper classmens shoes when you asked him to come over and check out your technique (I marched many hours for that). And, for all you demo guys, wiping down the nozzel on an O2 tank with a greasy rag makes a terrific field expedient rocket and will go thru a door like crap thru a goose. ( I marched days for that one).

Jack Moroney-record setter for hours marched around the world's highest unguyed flag pole for sharing my field expedient techniques.

I'm proud of you Sir.

[Roguish Lawyer]

They were promptly hijacked by our Frogman counterparts for use elsewhere.

Havasu? LOL

[lksteve]

Havasu? LOL

or Mead...or Powell...

[ktek01]

Now, back to the "Hard to start" topic. You hit the ignition switch and only get solenoid chatter. Voltage is good, battery fully charged, but only chatters, even when "jumpered". Get a hammer, chock, brick,etc. and give the Starter Motor a couple of good "Raps" close to the brush end. This will usually allow the worn out brushes to get better seated against the commutator and is good for at least one more good start.

This procedure was actually spelled out in the Shorts-330 Aircraft Maintenance Manual. The Irishmen referred to it as "Malletizing" the Starter.

Later
Martin

Works for stuck electric power window motors too. Give the inside door panel a good slap near the motor with the palm of your hand.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

About the "hard to start" topic. While I hate to admit this, most times when dealing with things other than automobiles like snow blowers, chain saws, lawn tractors and the like, the best thing that works for me is when my wife brings me my glasses and the instruction booklet. If you don't have a Team Sergeant to keep you straight, got to have a wife. :D

Jack Moroney

[Gypsy]

Works for stuck electric power window motors too. Give the inside door panel a good slap near the motor with the palm of your hand.

Until you have to replace the switch. Of course that always occurrs at the most *opportune* time. You know, while it is pouring rain/sleeting and the damn thing is stuck in the "down" postion. :boohoo

[Bill Harsey]

About the "hard to start" topic. While I hate to admit this, most times when dealing with things other than automobiles like snow blowers, chain saws, lawn tractors and the like, the best thing that works for me is when my wife brings me my glasses and the instruction booklet. If you don't have a Team Sergeant to keep you straight, got to have a wife. :D

Jack Moroney

We can get instruction booklets for stuff?

[lksteve]

We can get instruction booklets for stuff?

no...but your wife will remember where she put them...

[The Reaper]

About the "hard to start" topic. While I hate to admit this, most times when dealing with things other than automobiles like snow blowers, chain saws, lawn tractors and the like, the best thing that works for me is when my wife brings me my glasses and the instruction booklet. If you don't have a Team Sergeant to keep you straight, got to have a wife. :D

Jack Moroney


I thought you were going to mention the can of ether starting fluid.

Any spark at all and that thing will turn over a couple of times before dying.

TR

[Pete]

I thought you were going to mention the can of ether starting fluid.

Ahhh, fond memories of cold winter mornings on Ft Bragg. Up at TMP with a cold-hearted 45 Pax bus. Spraying the ether into the air intake and running like hell to the front, jump inside to the driver's seat and hit the start button. Keep repeating until the dog fired up.

Pete

[lksteve]

Ahhh, fond memories of cold winter mornings on Ft Bragg. ..Spraying the ether into the air intake and running like hell to the front, jump inside to the driver's seat and hit the start button.

#1...having been stationed at Devens, Bad Toelz and Fort Wainwright, we could argue the 'cold' winter mornings....but i won't....

#2...i once owned a small ranch in SW Colorado with no water, but two 1500 gallon cisterns and a 2 1/2 ton truck with a 750 gallon tank...winter temperatures on the Colorado plateau are commonly in the single digits at water hauling time (the truck was not legally registered, so the sheriff preferred it if folks did their water hauling in the AM....he was looking for deniability)...the trick is to spray alot of ether into the air intake...to the point that you get droplets of ether...then you casually hop in the truck (leaving the door part way open for escape) and fire that mother up....it is a good idea to leave the hood up, too....confined explosions and all that, you know...
i averaged one can per week and it always fired by the second time....

a side note, i was glad to spend $3K for a water tap and another $1.5K to dig a trench 600' long and not have to do that every week....

[vsvo]

...leaving the door part way open for escape...it is a good idea to leave the hood up, too....confined explosions and all that, you know...Damn! I had a U-Haul diesel fail to restart after a fillup once (no, I didn't put gas in it :) ). After calling U-Haul "emergency roadside service," I sat and waited and waited. A tanker truck was refilling the station's pumps. After the driver was done he came over and asked what was wrong. I told him the truck wouldn't start. He walked back to his truck without a word, came back with a can of ether, pulled off the intake hose, and gave it a good long shot. Obviously he knew what he was doing because I stood by the fookin' hood while he jumped in the cab to crank that bad boy up. It started immediately.

[Bill Harsey]

Ether can be very bad on the life of an engine.
When you use it, it "cuts" the oil off the rings and causes wear.

I don't think the modern spray starting fluids contain ether anymore.

In the old days once in a while, someone would get in the logging crew bus at O-dark thirty and step on something with a caulked (spiked) boot. When you heard the hissing sound of the punctured ether can it was time to throw that sucker out the window before the good stuff reached the guy with the lit cigarette.

[The Reaper]

In the old days once in a while, someone would get in the logging crew bus at O-dark thirty and step on something with a caulked (spiked) boot. When you heard the hissing sound of the punctured ether can it was time to throw that sucker out the window before the good stuff reached the guy with the lit cigarette.

Or you could throw the cigarette out, roll up the windows, and see what happens with large men in a closely packed truck full of ether.

Sounds like a great HST story to me. As your Samoan attorney, I recommend that you collect all of the firearms and lock them up first. :D

I have used WD-40 to start small engines the same way. Never tried it on a four-wheeled vehicle, but I suspect that it would work.

TR

[boat guy]

WD 40 is definitely and easy way to start a small engine. There is another way that I have found useful in the absence of anything aerosol, especially for chainsaws. Pop the spark plug out and dip the business end into the fuel tank, reinsert and give it a pull.

[Bill Harsey]

Good posts with the WD-40.
Boat Guy, I like the simple method of just dipping the end of the spark plug in the fuel tank for the right amount of gas.

If there is no gas in the tank that could also be a clue to the starting problem.

Once I watched a friend of mine, a great mechanic, rebuild the carburator to his muscle car because of a fuel flow problem. Yep, you guessed it. He was simply out of gas.

[Spartan359]

Once upon a time on board the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk I was a lowly fireman (E-3) and was on sounding a security watch. A truly boring watch. About half way into my watch I recieved a call on my radio that there was a potable water pipe leaking in the VFA-27 berthing (a squadron). So I trot to the berthing to find this pipe spraying water everywhere. I looked for the valves to secure the water but alas couldn't find the damn things. Now I'm pissed off and soaked. The whole time the repair desk was asking the status of the leak and if he should call it away as a flood. I told him I could handle it. So I leave the berthing only to raid one of the local repair lockers for a soft patch kit. A soft patch consists of a piece of rubber material and marlin (string). All you do is place the piece of rubber over the crack/hole and then start wrapping the marlin around the rubber on the pipe. After ripping the locker apart for the kit I said to hell with it, grabbed some marlin and went back down to the berthing. After deciding to get wet again I pulled out a condom from my wallet and wraped it around the crack in the pipe and tied it off. Then proceeded to wrap the marlin firmly around the pipe. To my amazement it worked. To this day that condom is still wraped around that damn pipe. Did I mention it was a female berthing? :D

[TF Kilo]

Mission: provide gun mounts for SF non-swingarm capable hmmwv

My SL wanted some gun mounts for a vehicle borne joyride we were supposed to do. Easy cheese, give me a day and I'll get'er done. Secured a pintle from our armorer, he had a spare one lying around. Went to some friends living near me and found they had a vise, but nothing to mount the vise TO.

Enter the 10k forklift with adjustable forks. Narrow the forks all the way, wrap around a ratchet strap, and wrench on it like it's a coke machine that stole your money. Vise is set, now enters one of my favorite breach tools...

The quickie saw.

Everything related to any weapon is probably good steel, and good hard steel is an understatement for a M240 pintle. I took a good 5 minutes to cut through the pintle with a brand new blade... it just would not let me do the knife/butter thing like everything else.

Now I have a pintle with no "pin" to go into the tripod. Reclamp in the vise, get out the cordless drill, drill a hole and get a bolt, 4 washers and 2 nuts to counteract each other.

Wander around the ISB and find that the pickets used in this locale aren't the standard US stamped pot metal, these are actually angle iron.. Cut off some pieces, figure out the right height, trim to fit, box in the top, make a L for the bottom, and install in the rear of the hummer on the drivers side... Ugly as sin, bird dropping welds mostly.

If any picture or comment would have been funnier to have recorded, it would have been the "hey f**ker come hold this" hollered at multiple random joes walking by as I'm in dcu bottoms brown tshirt cigarette out of my mouth and a welding mask... using an arc welder plugged into the same hmmwv's power inverter apparently "randomly" causing sparks fire and general disarray.

[Bill Harsey]

Mission: provide gun mounts for SF non-swingarm capable hmmwv

My SL wanted some gun mounts for a vehicle borne joyride we were supposed to do. Easy cheese, give me a day and I'll get'er done. Secured a pintle from our armorer, he had a spare one lying around. Went to some friends living near me and found they had a vise, but nothing to mount the vise TO.

Enter the 10k forklift with adjustable forks. Narrow the forks all the way, wrap around a ratchet strap, and wrench on it like it's a coke machine that stole your money. Vise is set, now enters one of my favorite breach tools...

The quickie saw.

Everything related to any weapon is probably good steel, and good hard steel is an understatement for a M240 pintle. I took a good 5 minutes to cut through the pintle with a brand new blade... it just would not let me do the knife/butter thing like everything else.

Now I have a pintle with no "pin" to go into the tripod. Reclamp in the vise, get out the cordless drill, drill a hole and get a bolt, 4 washers and 2 nuts to counteract each other.

Wander around the ISB and find that the pickets used in this locale aren't the standard US stamped pot metal, these are actually angle iron.. Cut off some pieces, figure out the right height, trim to fit, box in the top, make a L for the bottom, and install in the rear of the hummer on the drivers side... Ugly as sin, bird dropping welds mostly.

If any picture or comment would have been funnier to have recorded, it would have been the "hey f**ker come hold this" hollered at multiple random joes walking by as I'm in dcu bottoms brown tshirt cigarette out of my mouth and a welding mask... using an arc welder plugged into the same hmmwv's power inverter apparently "randomly" causing sparks fire and general disarray.

TF Kilo, I admire your no quit mentality at steel work.
Can I offer some unasked for advice here?
Anytime you have hard steel it is because it has enough carbon in it to respond to heat treating, this means it has been. Heat treating done wrong results in cracked steel. So can welding steel that has enough carbon to be heat treatable.
You may already know all this but I will proceed if it is any help for others.

There are protocols for welding medium and high carbon steels with an arc welder. These include proper pre-heat, welding with correct rod and post heats of correct temp and times. Not following the protocols will result in, at the very least, a weld not as strong as it could be or simply complete failure of the welded zone.

Here is my "bare minimum Redneck Enginering" for hard steel welding in the field.

Pre-heat all parts to be welded with a torch to around 300 degrees F. This will not destroy temper in any steel.
Guess the heat, it's the best you can do.
Use 7018 Low hydrogen rod, DC Reverse polarity is best but this rod is made in an AC usable form too. It will be marked 7018AC.
Make the weld and keep welding until your done. If you have to stop and go do something else, don't weld again until you've re heated it all back up to 300 degrees F.
DO NOT COOL THE WELD! Do not spray water on the weld, let it cool in still air until you can handle it barehanded. Using water may/will cause cracking in the weld zone.

Here is my ***"less than bare minimum but it might work" *** weld on hard stuuf technique.

I've gotten away with this on the logging operation years ago when the parts "was" too big to pre-heat.

Lay all the steel to be welded out in the sun or turn the equipment around to the sun so the pieces are as warm as the sun will make them. This is a sunny summer day technique.
Assemble and make the welds. Let the parts sit in the sun for about 30 minutes. If you are running a small wire welder, run all the weld you possibly can to keep the weld zone HOT while your working.

***Small short welds will cool fast and help cause cracking.*** memorize this.

Again, DO NOT COOL WITH WATER! but you can use water if you have to isolate some part of your weld piece, like a part with bearings and rubber seals. You can have the part pre-configured to hang in a bucket of water so the heated part is above and never contacts the water while the sensitive area is masked under water. Same can be done with soaked rags. You will have sizzling at the water line. Ignore it, just keep working.

You can get good results in less than good conditions. TF Kilo has shown that.
He'd make a good logger.

[TF Kilo]

I appreciate the advice, Mr Harsey. I'm glad I didn't have to weld on the pintle. We even kept the mounts and they're still in use, I'd be willing to bet. Ugly welds on the outside, but I cut one apart when I was still figuring out how I was going to do it and I was getting good infiltration into the joint so I was happy with it.

Yesterday, I had an issue with my exhaust muffler having a leak, combined with the desire to straight pipe the truck. After much constarnation in my driveway in housing, I brought it to the on post shop and was able to remove the rearmost pipe and muffler. Sure enough, the circumfrential weld around the girth of the muffler had given and it was leaking exhaust. I had purchased 4" pipe for the truck and had enough to replace the muffler, however I had a big issue. The exhaust pipes on the truck and the purchased pipe were the same size. They didn't have an expander large enough to do my size pipe either.

In comes redneck engineering. They had a broken vise with an end shaped like a big bullet.. happened to be slightly larger and tapered to about 5" from a round point.... I took a sawzall and did 4 cuts at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions on each end, then set one end on the ground and picked up the loose vise jaws and dropped the pointy end into the pipe. Beat on it with the wife holding the tube with a deadblow hammer until I sized both ends to be able to fit around the existing pipe.

Everyone in the shop said I was SOL.. then when they saw this, they gave me a ration, jokingly, about "breaking" their vise.. which had been held onto the table with 2 c clamps.

[alphamale]

So last night at the gym, I'm doing sit-ups on the incline board and suddenly feel this sharp JAB on the upper side of delicate chest tissue.

Roll off the incline board and start trying to covertly feel what the h*ll is jabbing me.

Go to locker room and see (pic attached):

(yes, you observant ones will notice that this is the same bra as in UtB photo)

[The Reaper]

1. Repair with Leatherman tool and 100mph tape.

2. Get new underwear before they self-destruct. Consider something more appropriate for athletic events.

TR

[jatx]

Two words. Sports bra.

[Gypsy]

Two words. Sports bra.

Ditto. No jabbing underwire... :rolleyes:

[Peregrino]

There should be enough profit margin from the knives to enable you to purchase new "ropa interior" before it self destructs. :p

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Two suggestions: Wash the damn bra so it is returned to its original white and store that car window unlocking device in your belt lining rather than trying to disguise it as an underwire. Damn, if your going to play the part of a XX super-heroine you gotta look the part and have easier access to your cat burgler tools. It is a dead give away when you have to strip down to retrive the wire to pop open the door lock. Just a thought.

[Bill Harsey]

FS,
You should probably post an image of the wound in the TMC14 area here so it can be professionally treated.

[Razor]

For God's sakes, be careful! The last thing you want is to cause an explosive deflation, causing you to stagger around leaning to one side!

[alphamale]

You non-UTB carry-ers just don't understand!

Need underwires to clip the UtB alligator-clip fang around.

Don't want to get a non-UtB compatible bra in the laundry rotation. Else, this will give me an excuse to not wear the UtB gun.

My non-UtB-compatible bras and dresses (dresses are not, in general, UtB-compatible) are confined to my international suitcase.

1. Repair with Leatherman tool and 100mph tape.That might have worked! As it was I just left. When I rotated it back around, it would just rotate back out! :: ouch ::


Two suggestions: Wash the damn bra so it is returned to its original white Sir Jack, that *is* the original color. Cream / tan is more stealth then reflective WHITE.

Damn, if your going to play the part of a XX super-heroine you gotta look the part and have easier access to your cat burgler tools. It is a dead give away when you have to strip down to retrive the wire to pop open the door lock. Just a thought.Hmmm that *could* be a good point! :)


FS, You should probably post an image of the wound in the TMC14 area here so it can be professionally treated.Boogar !!!! What was that you were telling to 12B about staying out of trouble !?!

For God's sakes, be careful! The last thing you want is to cause an explosive deflation, causing you to stagger around leaning to one side!Oh please. Double boogar!

Seee, you XY's (ok maybe except for The Reaper) are completely unprepared to deal with the special needs of certain XX's. :p

FrontSight

[jatx]

You can use the 100 mph tape in place of a sports bra. Trust me, my ex-wife was a pageant girl, I know things. Plus, your BF will enjoy removing it for you. :D

[Bill Harsey]

Ms. FS,
All posts relating to your wardrobe malfunction have nothing but your personal welfare and safety in mind.

[CPTAUSRET]

Ms. FS,
All posts relating to your wardrobe malfunction have nothing but your personal welfare and safety in mind.

Ditto, what he said!

Terry

[The Reaper]

You can use the 100 mph tape in place of a sports bra. Trust me, my ex-wife was a pageant girl, I know things. Plus, your BF will enjoy removing it for you. :D

I like the way this man thinks.

Support, and exfoliation at the same time!

TR

[Razor]

::sigh:: Since your Google-fu is particularly weak today:

Support the "troops" (http://www.title9sports.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=479)

[Bill Harsey]

Razor,
Good tactical gear.

[mumbleypeg]

The survival Sheath holster is also mentioned on pg 113 of May/June 2005 AH. It might look hot with a P7 in it.

Does any body remember the scene in Woody Allens "Bananas" where the female guerilla is running through camp yelling "snake bite", "snake bite" and every one in the camp is chasing her to administer first aid. I am somehow reminded of that now.

[Bill Harsey]

The survival Sheath holster is also mentioned on pg 113 of May/June 2005 AH. It might look hot with a P7 in it.

Does any body remember the scene in Woody Allens "Bananas" where the female guerilla is running through camp yelling "snake bite", "snake bite" and every one in the camp is chasing her to administer first aid. I am somehow reminded of that now.
Mumbleypeg, Sir,
NO! You have it all wrong! This is a rare opportunity to design for a unique tactical carry option. Success with said design applications is always foremost on our minds.

Honest...

[mumbleypeg]

It is always good to have the help of such tactically minded professionals. :D

[Bill Harsey]

Back to the engineering problem, it was the hard wire of the bra that broke thru and punctured skin, not a knife.
This bra has an underwire to hold the weight of a handgun. This is the rig that carries the gun to and from the gym, but there is no handgun in it while working out.
Cool, I'm now an expert in bra's converted to gun rigs.
It's amazing what ya can learn around here.

[lksteve]

Back to the engineering problem, it was the hard wire of the bra that broke thru and punctured skin, not a knife.
i don't know that much about bras...once i learned how to unhook them, i quit studying... :D

[Bill Harsey]

i don't know that much about bras...once i learned how to unhook them, i quit studying... :D
Until recently, that had been my learning curve too.

[Cincinnatus]

Ya know FS, one of the delights of the last couple of years writing and talking to you has been being exposed to the way you think. :D

I had a boss who was an engineer and the way he tackled a problem was a real eye opener. I've worked with a lot of lawyers and contracting officers and learned to appreciate (I think that's the right word :) ) the way they approach problems, or in the case of the latter create them. I've worked with a lot of sales guys, highly intuitive thinkers and creative problem solvers.

Never have I met anyone who thinks the way you do. It's... fascinating, yeah fascinating pretty much sums it up, to observe. :D

I've known plenty of folks who were able to "think outside the box", but you're the only person I know who would concern herself with making certain that the wrapping paper, on the box she was thinking outside of, was color coordinated with the bow, calculate whether a floral pattern on the paper would adversely impact sales to XYs, determine the efficacy and cost effectiveness of various bow tying methodologies, and just for fun calculate the tensile strength of the ribbon from which the bow will be tied and test it for color fastness. :p

You are unique. Don't ever change.

(Edited cuz I thought it was funnier this way.)

[72_Wilderness]

I think this will work.
1. Buy a bra made out stronger material.
2. Add dead weight to other side or add a knife with a utb carry option, this should balance the weight and provide equal amounts of weight on each side and reduce stress on one side and distribute it to 2 sides.

OR

Take the utb and replace the fang with a ring and sew a piece of cloth to the ring and a second piece of cloth to the sports bra or a regular bra.

[Bill Harsey]

If FS talks to the right people, she can get a gunholder of any type made from chainmail.
This will solve the fabric failure problem.

[Bill Harsey]

OK, Here is the metal working solution to FS's previous design/engineering problem.
Who said craftsmanship is dead?

[lksteve]

OK, Here is the metal working solution to FS's previous design/engineering problem.

it'll rust if she wears it to work out in...

[Bill Harsey]

it'll rust if she wears it to work out in...
It's stainless.

[Gypsy]

OK, Here is the metal working solution to FS's previous design/engineering problem.
Who said craftsmanship is dead?

Talk about a heavy weight bearing load...interesting look though. ;)

[Cincinnatus]

Probably not the thing to wear on a cold day...

[lksteve]

well, the weight should help develop her abs...but what about those arms? :lifter :D

[Peregrino]

OK, Here is the metal working solution to FS's previous design/engineering problem.
Who said craftsmanship is dead?

The last time I saw one of these worn in public it was nicely set off by the rabbit fur bikini bottoms and the Greco-Roman laceup sandals. The really neat part was the "interesting" tan lines that resulted from wearing it as an outer garment. It leaves a mottled look similar the the finish on some of her knives. Fair warning though - the craftsmanship has to be impeccable (it requires considerable fitting by the artisan) and the ring size fairly small or it will abuse tender flesh and gap attrociously while failing to provide the requisite support. Not to mention wearing it in direct sun on a hot day can also be somewhat uncomfortable. But as an added benefit, it does provide some protection from a slashing attack. Just my .02 - Peregrino :D

[Bill Harsey]

The last time I saw one of these worn in public it was nicely set off by the rabbit fur bikini bottoms and the Greco-Roman laceup sandals. The really neat part was the "interesting" tan lines that resulted from wearing it as an outer garment. It leaves a mottled look similar the the finish on some of her knives. Fair warning though - the craftsmanship has to be impeccable (it requires considerable fitting by the artisan) and the ring size fairly small or it will abuse tender flesh and gap attrociously while failing to provide the requisite support. Not to mention wearing it in direct sun on a hot day can also be somewhat uncomfortable. But as an added benefit, it does provide some protection from a slashing attack. Just my .02 - Peregrino :D
Peregrino,
Your observations skills are quite remarkable.

Redneck Engineering is all about impeccable craftsmanship. :D

[lksteve]

Redneck Engineering is all about impeccable craftsmanship.
silly me...i thought it was about duct tape and bailing twine... :eek:

[jatx]

silly me...i thought it was about duct tape and bailing twine... :eek:

Yeah, but she already shot down the duct tape... :D

[Bill Harsey]

silly me...i thought it was about duct tape and bailing twine... :eek:
Impeccable craftsmanship with duct tape and bailing twine.
No problem.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Impeccable craftsmanship with duct tape and bailing twine.
No problem.
Don't forget 550 cord, old C-ration spoons and WD-1 :lifter

Jack Moroney-

[Squidly]

I don't know if this constitutes SF/redneck engineering but it did solve a problem. I saw this when I was a submariner in the Navy:

When a sub is on the surface the OOD (Officer Of the Deck) is stationed up in the Conning Tower in the sail. When the weather is bad they will want their coffee at pretty regular intervals so the Messenger of the Watch (usually an E-2/3) has to run down to the galley, grab some coffee, run back to the Control Room, then climb a ladder onehanded in rolling seas up to the OOD. This one OOD would bitch because half the coffee would have slopped out by the time the Messenger got to him. He was running the kid ragged. This guy solved the problem by taking a big swig of the coffee right before climbing the ladder, he'd then climb the ladder to the the OOD's feet then spit the coffee back into the cup and hand it up to the OOD. No more problems but it only worked at night.

This one does constitute redneck engineering:

A guy I work with told this story: When he was a teenager he had a truck that burned alot of oil. Couldn't afford an engine rebuild so he emptied his windshield washer reservoir and filled it with oil. Routed the pump discharge to his breather. When he saw oil pressure getting low he'd start "washing windows" until oil pressure started to climb. He said he went through alot of pumps but they were only a couple of bucks in the wrecking yards.

[Razor]

...so the Messenger of the Watch (usually an E-2/3) has to run down to the galley, grab some coffee, run back to the Control Room, then climb a ladder onehanded in rolling seas up to the OOD.

I guess using a small thermos to transport the coffee from galley to conn was out of the question.

[cszakolczai]

I know of a cop that re routed the windshield wiper fluid to the inside of his car through the dashboard, and instead of windshield wiper fluid he filled it with Jack Daniels. He made a holder for the shot glass, so every time he wanted a shot he would just hit the windshield wiper fluid and it would fill up.
Chris

[lksteve]

I guess using a small thermos to transport the coffee from galley to conn was out of the question.
probably not in keeping with the traditions of the Navy, ya know... ;)

[Squidly]

The boat was fresh out of the yards at Mare Island at the time and alot of the guys hadn't seen two weeks of sea duty yet. Didn't have many of the things that go with lessons learned. That and the fact that everyone, officers included, thought it was funny as hell since the officer was a bit of a dick. We ended up getting one of the insulated coffee carafes out of the wardroom and tying a line to the handle. When the OOD wanted more coffee he sent the carafe back down, got it refilled then pulled it back up.

[Bill Harsey]

I know of a cop that re routed the windshield wiper fluid to the inside of his car through the dashboard, and instead of windshield wiper fluid he filled it with Jack Daniels. He made a holder for the shot glass, so every time he wanted a shot he would just hit the windshield wiper fluid and it would fill up.
Chris
Now that's redneck. This has me looking at the windshield washer on my ol' pickup.

I've often thought (but would never, EVER, consider doing :D ) about routing a small diameter line out to the rear bumper of my rig and and have it hooked up to an electric fuel pump and small waste oil tank. The switch would be within reach of the operator while driving.

This might be for "helping" tailgaters.

[The Reaper]

Now that's redneck. This has me looking at the windshield washer on my ol' pickup.

I've often thought (but would never, EVER, consider doing :D ) about routing a small diameter line out to the rear bumper of my rig and and have it hooked up to an electric fuel pump and small waste oil tank. The switch would be within reach of the operator while driving.

This might be for "helping" tailgaters.

Mr. Harsey, you are a regular Redneck James Bond.

Maybe we will call you Jim Bob Bond?

TR

[BulletcatchR]

Frontsite,
Alittle bit of heat shrink tubing on the ends of your wires should handle low dryer heat.Leave it alittle long and throw a stitch thru the 'tab' when your sewing up.

Bill's BOI on welding carbon steel sounds alot like welding cast iron.

I've got a cold blooded CJ-5 and made a 'hatch' in my air cleaner cover to administer starting fluid.



Great thread.

bulletcatchR

[vsvo]

Most folks here know I grew up logging, spent years at it.

Mr. Harsey, we read a case last night about a fellerbuncher gone bad (it wasn't Torts class, so no freak, fatal injuries). I thought about you as soon as I read that it was a logging case. :) It also reminded me about this thread, namely for the apparent lack of such engineering. The logger was operating a fellerbuncher when it suddenly lost power. Unable to restart it, he went to his truck to radio for help. He returned to find the machine on fire.

[BMT (RIP)]

My first WAG about the fellerbuncher that caught on fire. Dirty air cleaner,they will catch on fire if dirty.

BMT

[vsvo]

My first WAG about the fellerbuncher that caught on fire. Dirty air cleaner,they will catch on fire if dirty.

BMT

Good tip BMT. In this particular case, the company argued that a short circuit caused the power failure and fire. The manufacturer disputed that, and claimed that the operator should have turned off the master switch before walking away. After an investigation, the manufacturer found worn insulation around the throttle cable, and suggested in an internal memo that it should send a letter advising customers to reroute the cable. The fight was over the admissibility of that memo in the trial.

[Squidly]

Many years ago I remember reading some short stories that were based on engineering solutions to some real life problems. They were written in a humorous fashion with dashing, intelligent characters (the engineers), beautiful ladies (the women that loved them) and so on. The collection was large and in several volumes dating back to at least the World War 2.

I remember one story where a jungle mining operation lost their source of compressed air and they solved the problem by diverting a stream into a cave. The air entrained in the stream water as it cascaded into the cave released and built up enough pressure in a cavity to operate the necessary equipment when the air was routed from the cavity with a hose.

There was another story where a merchant ship was torpedoed and the ship's de-gaussing equipment was modified to serve as a welder to make repairs.

These stories told you exactly how the problem was solved and were entertaining to boot. Has anybody heard of or seen these stories? I would like to get my hands on some if I could.

[Bill Harsey]

This may be the correct thread for this question.

Any of you have any experience with water dowsing?
Does this work?

Jack Moroney is excused from answering as I have already received his very clear opinion on this topic.

[The Reaper]

I watched my Grandfather do it, and there was water where he dug, but I would not bet on it working at any given place and time.

TR

[Peregrino]

This may be the correct thread for this question.

Any of you have any experience with water dowsing?
Does this work?

Jack Moroney is excused from answering as I have already received his very clear opinion on this topic.

Bill - It's a pretty solid folk tradition and still fairly common in parts of Appalachia. I've seen it work with water using everything from the traditional forked branch to pieces of coathanger. Some practicioners claim to be able to find minerals but I've never seen that. In the Illinois oil fields where my father grew up information provided by dowsers was considered reliable enough to drill with (looking for "sweet" water). I haven't even thought about it in years though. FWIW - Peregrino

[Air.177]

+1 to what TR said, I saw my grandfather do this multiple times and he always hit water, but I would not rely too heavily on it.

[longtab]

We had a family friend who was a missionary to Alaska before we lived in Alaska. He was hunting way up on the Koyakuk River about 400 NW of Fairbanks. When the pilot flew in to pick them up he had to leave the plane on the sand bar and hike in a few hundred meters to help the hunting party hump their kit back to the plane. When they got back to the sand bar they discovered a grizzly bear had decided to rip the wing skin off of the wing as a "joke" or something. To recover the bare wing they cut their canvas wall tent into strips, soaked it it the river, wrapped it around the wing frame, used liberal amounts of 100mph tape, and waited for the canvas to freeze. Once it "set" the pilot was able to fly the plane, but not the normal payload. They all got out after a couple trips and with the help of another airplane from the air service.

[Bill Harsey]

We had a family friend who was a missionary to Alaska before we lived in Alaska. He was hunting way up on the Koyakuk River about 400 NW of Fairbanks. When the pilot flew in to pick them up he had to leave the plane on the sand bar and hike in a few hundred meters to help the hunting party hump their kit back to the plane. When they got back to the sand bar they discovered a grizzly bear had decided to rip the wing skin off of the wing as a "joke" or something. To recover the bare wing they cut their canvas wall tent into strips, soaked it it the river, wrapped it around the wing frame, used liberal amounts of 100mph tape, and waited for the canvas to freeze. Once it "set" the pilot was able to fly the plane, but not the normal payload. They all got out after a couple trips and with the help of another airplane from the air service.
That's some impressive "outback" engineering!

[Sten]

We had a family friend who was a missionary to Alaska before we lived in Alaska. He was hunting way up on the Koyakuk River about 400 NW of Fairbanks. When the pilot flew in to pick them up he had to leave the plane on the sand bar and hike in a few hundred meters to help the hunting party hump their kit back to the plane. When they got back to the sand bar they discovered a grizzly bear had decided to rip the wing skin off of the wing as a "joke" or something. To recover the bare wing they cut their canvas wall tent into strips, soaked it it the river, wrapped it around the wing frame, used liberal amounts of 100mph tape, and waited for the canvas to freeze. Once it "set" the pilot was able to fly the plane, but not the normal payload. They all got out after a couple trips and with the help of another airplane from the air service.

I will bet he had a few converts after that day!:p

[Team Sergeant]

Bill - It's a pretty solid folk tradition and still fairly common in parts of Appalachia.

So is marrying ones sister and placing your hand in a bag of live rattle snakes...... :rolleyes:

I'd stick to real science.....

TS

[VelociMorte]

I used to be a sign erector/crane operator in my younger, pre-military days. I once had a sign that was to be mounted on an existing 75' pipe that was 24'' in diameter at the base and got progressively smaller until the top 20 feet or so was 12'' in diameter.There was a perpendicular 4’’ pipe running through the main pipe about 20’ from the top where another sign had hung. It was at an old strip-mall, and the 12’’ pipe had been open at the top for a number of years. Pigeons had filled the top 15 feet or so with hard-packed nests and their own carcasses. To meet code, the wire to power the sign had to run through the pipe. There was no way to run the wire through the pipe as long as it was blocked. Among other things, I tried forcing rigid conduit through the blockage, and I tried burning it out, without success. My four hour job was turning into an eight hour job. Finally, the light in my head came on. I like things that go "boom", so I had experimented with fuel-air explosions before. I thought this might be a good place for one. I cut a one inch hole at the base of the pipe, (edited by knifemaker for safety reasons) inserted the torch tip into the hole I had cut, and waited about ten minutes. I figured ten minutes would allow enough cutting gas to fill the base of the pipe. It must have filled most of the pipe. I removed the torch, lit it with a striker, and inserted it into the hole. The resulting explosion propelled a 15 to 20 foot long by 12 inch diameter column of hard-packed bird nests and carcasses about 250 feet into the air, driving through itself, disintegrating as it flew higher and higher. The explosion rattled windows, set off alarms, and scared the hell out of people for blocks. The debris rained down on the parking lot and the six lanes of traffic passing by. Not only did it clear the blockage, but it also cleaned all the rust scale and dirt out, and the inside of the pipe was spotless. Shortly afterward, numerous police officers pulled up and wanted to know the cause of the loud explosion. As I explained the entire sequence of events to the officers, they started laughing. One of them stated that he wished he’d been there to see my 75’ long cannon go off. They left, and an hour later, the sign was welded, the power run, and the job was done.

[The Reaper]

Ten minutes seems awfully long, as you discovered.:D

What kind of flashback did you get through the hole at the bottom?

TR

[CoLawman]

ROFL!

[VelociMorte]

Ten minutes seems awfully long, as you discovered.:D

What kind of flashback did you get through the hole at the bottom?

TR


I wasn't in a position to actually see the blast out of the "flash hole", because I positioned myself on the other side of the pipe, away from the seam. It did blow the torch out of my hand. I'd estimate, by the size and weight of all the crap in the pipe, and the distance and velocity it flew, there was at least 600psi pressure.

Edit by the Team Sergeant:
Reason, Stupid people do not need recipes.
VM, you should know better......
Edited one more time by the knifemaker because the big clue was still there. VM, you could work here anytime ;)

[BMT (RIP)]

Damn I wonder what VM does when he's BORED??

BMT

[VelociMorte]

Damn I wonder what VM does when he's BORED??

BMT

I try to find ways to get down range for a few weeks. Hanging out at little FOBs with you guys and taking incoming usually does the trick.


My apologies, TS.

[VelociMorte]

"VM, you could work here anytime "

Thanks Mr Harsey, but I've already got a really cool job that I love, and to me, job satisfaction is more important than money. Like you, I get paid to design, build, and integrate specialized equipment that is used by specialized people in interesting places. Most of what I build are one-of-a-kind, made to order, quick-reaction systems, and I do most of the fabrication myself. I am fortunate enough to work almost exclusively with Army SF and their MI guys. I also provide on-site support, no matter where the site, so occasionally I end up in some interesting situations. Most importantly, I can still serve my country and support the Soldiers, even though I'm now a civilian.

[CoLawman]

I wasn't in a position to actually see the blast out of the "flash hole", because I positioned myself on the other side of the pipe, away from the seam. It did blow the torch out of my hand. I'd estimate, by the size and weight of all the crap in the pipe, and the distance and velocity it flew, there was at least 600psi pressure.

Edit by the Team Sergeant:
Reason, Stupid people do not need recipes.
VM, you should know better......
Edited one more time by the knifemaker because the big clue was still there. VM, you could work here anytime ;)


Okay filled the bag with the approrpriate stuff............standing here with my lit match.........but someone took out the distance recommended..........I assume it was like 2 or 12 something........will get back and let you know if it worked.......

[VelociMorte]

A suitable firesuit negates the distance requirement.

[The Reaper]

A suitable firesuit negates the distance requirement.

Not if the yield strength of the pipe is less than the obstruction.

Then you need a blast suit with ballistic protection.

TR

[Bill Harsey]

I'm glad Velicimorte survived his danger close fusing experiment.

The reason I'd inquired about the water dowsing is that it looks like I'm getting new neighbors to the south of me. The first thing they have to do to get the bank loan to build is find potable water so they hired a water witcher to come out and show where to drill the well. They set up on the hill about 25 feet from my fence line and drilled to two hundred feet without finding water. I didn't think that was possible around here.
My hope was that the water witcher was right so when they capped the good well I could truthfully tell them I'd buried two horses just 50 feet up the hill from there.
Darn water witcher ruined all my fun.

[lksteve]

So is marrying ones sister and placing your hand in a bag of live rattle snakes...... that's rather harsh...i never so much as dated a girl i met at a family reunion...:p

as far as dowsing goes, i had a hydrology professor that swore by it and a groundwater professor that thought it was BS...so much for scientists...

[VelociMorte]

Does sewing a 3 inch ax gash in your leg up with fishing monofilliment and a canvas needle count as fieldcraft, or does that go under Darwin Awards?

[Bill Harsey]

Does sewing a 3 inch ax gash in your leg up with fishing monofilliment and a canvas needle count as fieldcraft, or does that go under Darwin Awards?
That's just a nick. :D
How it healed up determines which category this belongs in.

[jatx]

Does sewing a 3 inch ax gash in your leg up with fishing monofilliment and a canvas needle count as fieldcraft, or does that go under Darwin Awards?

After several unsuccessful treatments (freezing, chemicals, etc.) in college, I removed my own plantar warts from my left foot and treated thim this way. No canvas needle was available, so I used a sewing needle. :D

JAGeorgia likes to tell that story. Those warts have never come back!

[VelociMorte]

That's just a nick. :D
How it healed up determines which category this belongs in.

Damn Bill, I would've just used duct tape on a nick! Anytime I can see three inches of shin-bone, I try to make more permanent repairs though. I was able to continue splitting wood without an annoying and time-consuming trip to the hospital where they would have done the same thing I did, albeit under more sterile conditions. It did heal up nicely with no infection, but I do carry an assortment of sterile sutures in my kit now.

[VelociMorte]

After several unsuccessful treatments (freezing, chemicals, etc.) in college, I removed my own plantar warts from my left foot and treated thim this way. No canvas needle was available, so I used a sewing needle. :D

JAGeorgia likes to tell that story. Those warts have never come back!


Outstanding! I did the same thing to my ex-wife's plantar warts. She'd gone through all the same treatment repeatedly without result, so we decided to take more agressive measures. It sure was hard to hold her down though.

[jatx]

Outstanding! I did the same thing to my ex-wife's plantar warts. She'd gone through all the same treatment repeatedly without result, so we decided to take more agressive measures. It sure was hard to hold her down though.

I notice you said "ex-wife"! :D

[VelociMorte]

I notice you said "ex-wife"! :D

Yea, but cutting a chunk out of her foot didn't have anything to do with her decision to bang half of the Sailors on Diego Garcia!

[Bill Harsey]

Damn Bill, I would've just used duct tape on a nick! Anytime I can see three inches of shin-bone, I try to make more permanent repairs though. I was able to continue splitting wood without an annoying and time-consuming trip to the hospital where they would have done the same thing I did, albeit under more sterile conditions. It did heal up nicely with no infection, but I do carry an assortment of sterile sutures in my kit now.
Just reading your initial post on this topic brought back warm memories of sticking something in my shin bone. I wimped out and went to a surgeon.

I have been stitched up with nothing to numb the wound site. We are also going to try avoiding that exercise in the future.

[swatsurgeon]

Bill,
at least you have a REALLY BIG bandaid to hide the wound under..... with the types of instruments you work with, small wound just don't fit!!

[vsvo]

After several unsuccessful treatments (freezing, chemicals, etc.) in college, I removed my own plantar warts from my left foot and treated thim this way. No canvas needle was available, so I used a sewing needle. :D

JAGeorgia likes to tell that story. Those warts have never come back!
In college I had a wart on the back of my hand, and my doctor prescribed the chemical/acid. Upon application, it would form a white film, turn into a scab, and the scab would eventually fall off. But the wart would reappear.

One night my girlfriend and I were sitting around watching a movie. I had just applied the medicine, and it had started to form the white film. Apparently my girlfriend decided to examine my hand, but I was too engrossed in the movie to notice. Next thing I knew, I felt a flash of pain, a funny sound came out of my mouth, and I looked down to see blood quickly welling up where the wart had been. She had ripped off the wart with her fingernails, and sat there looking at me with a triumphant grin.

The wart never came back, and I don't even have a scar on my hand!

[aricbcool]

I had a plantar wart once on the edge of my foot. After a few months of unsuccessful wart patches and other BS, I ended up just peeling it off.

Lately my pet project has been my ingrown toenails. I had the edges cut out and then went through shock therapy (when the Doc tried to cauterize the roots). I had the chest plate to ground me and everything. Any time the Doc would leave the room, the nurse would tell me all about how he was using a cauterizing tool from the 70's and that nowadays they have much better stuff. Yeah, that made me feel much better. :rolleyes:

After that traumatic experience, the damned things grew back, worse than before.

So, I cut 'em out myself, along with the outer edges, and am now training them to fly right.

Beats going back to Igor and his lovely assistant. :D

--Aric

[ObliqueApproach]

Years ago I had a dozen or so small warts on both hands. As my PT regimen increased, I started eating 3-4 bananas and taking a potassium supplement. Don't know if it was the potassium, the bananas, or the PT, but all the warts disappeared in about 2 months with no blood or pain. I no longer eat bananas and the warts haven't returned. That was 5 years ago.:lifter

I have always had ingrown toenails and my medic solved the problem for me so try this. Let your nails grow so the white part extending beyond the skin is about an 1/8" long. Using small sharp nail scissors, start about 1/8" in from the inner edge of the nail and cut in and down at a 45 degree angle. You shouldn't be able to, but make sure you don't cut all the way to the bottom. Use a pair of small forceps or strong tweezers and grasp the cut part of the nail and pull it out. It will tear the remaining nail (no pain involved) out at the bottom including the hooked part that grows forward and causes the pain. You can see the hooked part on the nail when you remove it. Mine grow back every 2-3 months and I do this again. I haven't had any problems in the last 15 years by doing this. BTW I tried the training bit. It never worked and hurt like hell!

My wife would probably call this redneck medicine. :D

[Bill Harsey]

JEEEEEZ, You guys are dredging up ouchy memories here.
I've had both my big toenails surgically altered after minor logging accidents like when I got my foot under the track of a moving D-8 cat.

Anything else pleasant you guys want to talk about?

[Bill Harsey]

Speaking of that cat and why I got my foot under the track, you may or may not find this useful in the field.

KIDS DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!

The reason I was standing too close to a moving cat was to hold a short piece of log up against a good sized tree so the cat could back into it and straighten some steel out that got bent and was in the way of using the winch.

Sometimes you can use the strength of the machine to your advantage but watch your feet.

[aricbcool]

I have always had ingrown toenails and my medic solved the problem for me so try this. Let your nails grow so the white part extending beyond the skin is about an 1/8" long. Using small sharp nail scissors, start about 1/8" in from the inner edge of the nail and cut in and down at a 45 degree angle. You shouldn't be able to, but make sure you don't cut all the way to the bottom. Use a pair of small forceps or strong tweezers and grasp the cut part of the nail and pull it out. It will tear the remaining nail (no pain involved) out at the bottom including the hooked part that grows forward and causes the pain. You can see the hooked part on the nail when you remove it. Mine grow back every 2-3 months and I do this again. I haven't had any problems in the last 15 years by doing this. BTW I tried the training bit. It never worked and hurt like hell!

My wife would probably call this redneck medicine. :D

Good deal. Thanks for the advice. I've been doing something similar for the last year or so. Recently I've been trying to train them because I found out that you need a waiver for any toe problems to get into OCS. So, hopefully I can get them to grow back normal in order to get through MEPS.

Regards,
Aric

[Gordon]

Outstanding! I did the same thing to my ex-wife's plantar warts. She'd gone through all the same treatment repeatedly without result, so we decided to take more agressive measures. It sure was hard to hold her down though.

Duct tape gets rid of plantars warts too. Just cut a small peice out to cover it and replace as needed so it stays on. Three weeks and your good to go. Pain free, but if its someone you don't like you can always burn them off...

[Peregrino]

Instead of a solution, I have a solicitation. Sr. Harsey - HELP! I didn't properly store my chainsaw last year. :o All the usual excuses but I never got around to draining the fuel system and it had a half tank of bad gas sitting in it for most of a year. (I don't have much call to use a chainsaw so when I got it out to test for hurricane season I realized I'd screwed up when it wouldn't start.) I drained it, put in fresh fuel, and got it to start. It worked for a while but now it won't run unless it's on it's side (felling position). As soon as I turn it upright, it quits. I suspect fuel contaminants are clogging something. Is there a solution short of rebuilding the carburator? (Helpful) Suggestions would be most welcome. I really don't want to rebuild a carburator. Thanx - Peregrino

[Bill Harsey]

Instead of a solution, I have a solicitation. Sr. Harsey - HELP! I didn't properly store my chainsaw last year. :o All the usual excuses but I never got around to draining the fuel system and it had a half tank of bad gas sitting in it for most of a year. (I don't have much call to use a chainsaw so when I got it out to test for hurricane season I realized I'd screwed up when it wouldn't start.) I drained it, put in fresh fuel, and got it to start. It worked for a while but now it won't run unless it's on it's side (felling position). As soon as I turn it upright, it quits. I suspect fuel contaminants are clogging something. Is there a solution short of rebuilding the carborator? (Helpful) Suggestions would be most welcome. I really don't want to rebuild a carburetor. Thanx - Peregrino
I'm impressed, Chainsaw carbs are specially designed to run in any position and if you can start it, it should run in any position.
If I had failed to drain the fuel out of a saw around here, the method is to put in FRESH MIXED fuel (just like you did), try starting the saw and if that fails, let it sit over night and then try again.

My saw shop charges me 25 dollars extra if I admit to having tampered with the carb before bringing it in.
There are many fun little things you can unscrew and clean, like the air-fuel mixture adjustment needle screws. The problem might be in the seat of these needle screws too.
The problem with taking these screws out is getting the adjustment right to start the saw for further adjustment while running, then knowing where to stop so the saw runs good but you haven't leaned out the air-fuel mix to the point of burning up the engine. You want to run just a little on the oil rich side for engine preservation, this is judged by slightly more smoky exhaust and a slight crackle in the engine sound.
If your saw sounds like a Formula 1 race car, it isn't going to last very long.

Simple things first, can you see any fuel lines that can be taken off and blown out with compressed air?

[Peregrino]

Bill - Thanks, you've confirmed my fears. If a professional logger sends it to the shop, I have no business experimenting. The last time I played with the carb, it cost a lot more than $25. I learned enough from that experience to know my limits. I'll go get some high octane gas, make up a new batch of mix and let it sit (again). If that doesn't dissolve whatever's in there, it'll have to go in the shop. Later - Peregrino

[The Reaper]

Simple things first, can you see any fuel lines that can be taken off and blown out with compressed air?

Just a suggestion, but I would make sure that I was not putting 125psi into any lines that had diaphragms, check valves, etc., and that any air I was using was going in the right direction, lest I generate yet more revenue for the shop.

Just my .02, not a small engine mechanic, nor have I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express lately.

TR

[Bill Harsey]

Just a suggestion, but I would make sure that I was not putting 125psi into any lines that had diaphragms, check valves, etc., and that any air I was using was going in the right direction, lest I generate yet more revenue for the shop.

Just my .02, not a small engine mechanic, nor have I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express lately.

TR
Just 125 psi? Knowing he has scuba tanks I was hoping He'd use 250!:D
My comments "taken off" meant I hope the article in question was "removed on each end".

My saws have German engineering and this means I have no business servicing any thing attached to them beyond the air filter.

We never serviced our own saw carburetors for the logging outfit, that was always considered a truly arcane craft reserved for those who have dedicated an entire working career to getting it right.

[Aoresteen]

Living Pakistan causes you to think differently. The window crank on our '59 Hillman broke. Not being able to lower the window in a car without AC in Lahore in July is not fun. We tore the door apart and one of the connecting arms had broken in the middle. The arm was made of pot metal and you couldn't weld it. Of course no parts were available.

Solution: We made a wood box frame and filled it with fine damp sand. Tamped it down tight. Pressed the broken part into it as if we were making a mold. Leaving the broken part in the sand box "mold", we took the acetylene torch and heated the metal at the break point until it melted around the break area. It "re-cast" itself. Let it cool and re-installed it. Worked just fine.

[Ambush Master]

Bill - Thanks, you've confirmed my fears. If a professional logger sends it to the shop, I have no business experimenting. The last time I played with the carb, it cost a lot more than $25. I learned enough from that experience to know my limits. I'll go get some high octane gas, make up a new batch of mix and let it sit (again). If that doesn't dissolve whatever's in there, it'll have to go in the shop. Later - Peregrino

Add a little Berryman's B-12 Chemtool to the gas. I just resurrected a 1985 S-10 Blazer that has been parked for 3-4 years. This stuff really works!! Any questions, give a shout!!!

Later
Martin

[Peregrino]

Add a little Berryman's B-12 Chemtool to the gas. I just resurrected a 1985 S-10 Blazer that has been parked for 3-4 years. This stuff really works!! Any questions, give a shout!!!

Later
Martin

AM - Thanks for the tip. I just Googled it and I'll pick some up tomorrow and try it. At this point it can't hurt, the only place to go from here is the repair shop. Any problems with plastic parts? The CS is a Stihl but there are "still" plastic pieces. Peregrino

[Bill Harsey]

Living Pakistan causes you to think differently. The window crank on our '59 Hillman broke. Not being able to lower the window in a car without AC in Lahore in July is not fun. We tore the door apart and one of the connecting arms had broken in the middle. The arm was made of pot metal and you couldn't weld it. Of course no parts were available.

Solution: We made a wood box frame and filled it with fine damp sand. Tamped it down tight. Pressed the broken part into it as if we were making a mold. Leaving the broken part in the sand box "mold", we took the acetylene torch and heated the metal at the break point until it melted around the break area. It "re-cast" itself. Let it cool and re-installed it. Worked just fine.
OUTSTANDING JOB!
You did make a mold using a very traditional material, sand.

The hotter the metal your "sand casting" the coarser the sand you want to use to let the gasses escape. Also note that a traditional (read "old") binder for sand casting sand is molasses.

I'm impressed. Well done.

[x SF med]

JEEEEEZ, You guys are dredging up ouchy memories here.
I've had both my big toenails surgically altered after minor logging accidents like when I got my foot under the track of a moving D-8 cat.

Anything else pleasant you guys want to talk about?

hmmmm, you didn't perchance go by the name George Washington Hayduke, Doc Sarvis, or play a "jack Mormon" named Smith at the time did you? I see shades of Karo syrup in this picture. But, alas - you were on the 'other side', a logger, not an enviro-terrorist at the time. (name the book for the characters, and I'll find a copy and send it to you, bonus points if you can name GWH's former profession)

[Bill Harsey]

hmmmm, you didn't perchance go by the name George Washington Hayduke, Doc Sarvis, or play a "jack Mormon" named Smith at the time did you? I see shades of Karo syrup in this picture. But, alas - you were on the 'other side', a logger, not an enviro-terrorist at the time. (name the book for the characters, and I'll find a copy and send it to you, bonus points if you can name GWH's former profession)
According to some I was the ultimate eco-terorist.
Your very well read Sir.
If memory serves, Edward Abbey's George Washington Hayduke would be a welcome member here and given the title "Quiet Professional". :D

[x SF med]

Bravo, Sir Bladesmith!
GWH was a member of the MWG, and as so delicately put (after the initial refrain of "Chemicals, Chemicals, Chemicals, I need my Chemicals!!!") an ex SF medic and demolitions specialist, ostensibly with the 5th in RVN.

I take it then, that you spiked a few trees of your own? Or possibly:

"...figured out how to jump start that big Cat D-9, by jumping the starter with a large monkey wrench found under the driver's seat, since nobody in their right mind would try to steal one of those monsters..."

One of my favorite books. I now owe you a copy, if I can find one. And I stand corrected, it was eco, not enviro, terrorist.

Remind me never to let you near any motor vehicle after you've been to the grocery store for Karo syrup.

[Bill Harsey]

It's always the SF Medico's isn't it? :D

I have roll started the big cats when the battery is dead, you just have to know the battery isn't working and park it in the right place first.

[lksteve]

GWH was a member of the MWG, and as so delicately put (after the initial refrain of "Chemicals, Chemicals, Chemicals, I need my Chemicals!!!") an ex SF medic and demolitions specialist, ostensibly with the 5th in RVN.IIRC, he was also known for expressing the sentiment "What could be more American than violence...?"

[x SF med]

I do believe this post has been succesfully hijacked by an off shoot ofthe MWG. Who's gonna get the Houseboat? Can Gypsy play Bonnie, although she might not be radical enough....

[7624U]

I will add my most Redneck Engineer project here it is.

When I lived up north I owned a old CJ7 Jeep that had 33' inch mud tires on it
well I wanted to Change to skinner Snow tires for winter driving, But found out I also needed diffrent Rims, the Cheapest Jeep rims I could find was about $60 each, not having much money I went looking for something else.

Come to find out old Ford truck rims have 5 holes that match perfectly and would work for the tires I had, I got the rims for $40 for all 4, Of course I was happy cause I saved Money, got the tires mounted on the rims and aired, then put them on my Jeep thinking everything would work out smooth.
NOT.......

The Ford Rim's Unknown to me at the time had just a slight diffrent concave on the inside of the rim, and this caused the rim to push against my Jeeps Brake pads, locking up all 4 tires when the tires where bolted down tight.

I took off the tires and figured I could maybe grind down some metal on the inside that would make enuff room for the pad's so they wouldent lock up,
after about 2 hours of that mess I found it wasent going to work, So Flustered went over to my Friends house he had a plasma cutting torch and alot of scrap metal laying around, Asked him if I could use it and he had no problem, I brought one tire with me so i could trace the outline of the inside of the rim with paper.

Found some Flat Steel about 1/2 inch think and put my outline on it and started cutting made 4 all the same and then cut all the holes for the Lug's
took them home and placed the first metal spacer on the Lugs, It fit perfect and dident interfear with the Brake Pad's, next put the tire on, And found that a bit tuffer because now I was cutting it close on bolt lenth, but I managed to get it on the Lugs and Cranked the Nuts down as hard as I could, Got all 4 tires on and crossed my fingers.

Started Up the jeep and it moved YAY.......
Jeep had the spacers under the Tires for 2 years and I never had a problem with it.
I sold it like that also It's Only Jeep I know of that had Ford Rims on it LOL :lifter

[The Reaper]

Why not just put flat washers on the lugs before you put the wheels on?

You could even stack them up for the clearance you needed.

TR

[x SF med]

Why not just put flat washers on the lugs before you put the wheels on?

You could even stack them up for the clearance you needed.

TR


TR-
That defeats the purpose of redneck engineering / Rube Goldberg machining - it's simple easy and logical. Plus you don't get to use that cool plasma torch...:cool:

[Gypsy]

Can Gypsy play Bonnie, although she might not be radical enough....

Who might not be radical enough...me...or Bonnie? :D


I had also wondered why not use washers for spacers for the rims, now I know.

[Bill Harsey]

Who might not be radical enough...me...or Bonnie? :D


I had also wondered why not use washers for spacers for the rims, now I know.
One reason that washers may not work well is that if you select a handful of cut flat washers out of the bin they probably (almost certainly) will not all be the same thickness unless you are careful to find hardened washers which have better quality control.
yes you can take the time to sort out the 60 or so washers you will need and match them up in groups of five even stacks...

...but that plasma torch works so well:D

[Gypsy]

Mr. Harsey, you're the man! :D Makes sense actually.

[Bill Harsey]

For some reason last week I found myself at 6 AM stepping into an 18 foot motored driftboat pulled against a gravel bar on the Nehalem River, just inland from tidewater on the north Oregon coast.

My guide friend and I were chasing some unruly King Salmons that had decided to race upstream with the first rains. This time of year the river ranges from 35 ft. deep in places to ankle deep over the riffles with plenty of large rocks hiding just under the dark surface everywhere else.

Somehow we found a big rock that resulted in the motor coming off the mounts and hitting another big rock. After picking the Honda motor back up and drying out the parts that don't use water very well, it wouldn't start.

We went thru the standard drill, spark plug dried, fuel and spark was still good but no amount of pulling would get fire and my guide buddy figured he had just killed the motor for good and went to the oars.

Turns out the intake manifold was cracked open behind the carb mount and the air fuel mix wasn't being drawn into the cylinder to make fire. Now my friend knew he really had killed the motor and was doing the math on that repair. He wasn't having a very good day.

I asked him to hand me my pack with the first aid kit, his was closer and he handed me his roll of white athletic tape and I proceeded to tear short strips and build a "cast" around the crack about five layers thick. Then after a few pulls the motor fired, not perfectly but with careful choke control we had a motor that would run full revs and this lasted the rest of the day. There must have been a bit more crack on the underside that couldn't be seen or accessed but we had a motor again.

Oh yeah, thousands of Kings were migrating up the river in sizes ranging from 25 to over 50 lbs. They jumped and splashed all over the place and had zero interest in taking anything with a hook in it. We got to watch the rain go sideways past our face all day long while the salmon laughed at us but at least the motor got us back.

[Gypsy]

Oh yeah, thousands of Kings were migrating up the river in sizes ranging from 25 to over 50 lbs. They jumped and splashed all over the place and had zero interest in taking anything with a hook in it.

Maybe they were just celebrating your redneck engineering success Mr. H, :D


Though some fresh caught salmon would have been a just reward for your hard work....

[x SF med]

What? No 100mph tape, in the bellows pocket? The horror, the horror!!!

[Bill Harsey]

What? No 100mph tape, in the bellows pocket? The horror, the horror!!!
That's for you big city kids. :D

[x SF med]

That's for you big city kids. :D

Nah, real big city kids would have a tube of JB Weld in the boat, dontcha know.

[Bill Harsey]

Nah, real big city kids would have a tube of JB Weld in the boat, dontcha know.
We talked about wanting some JB Weld but I'd left it behind in the shop.
I also seriously considered using my friends 2 liter water bottle and lighting it on fire and use the dripping plastic as a "weld" material. He wasn't too enthusiastic about fire next to the carb even after telling him we'd find all the extra gas leaks.


"dontcha know" I think that's truck driving CB talk, we haven't evolved that far yet in the woods.

[The Reaper]

Instead of a solution, I have a solicitation. Sr. Harsey - HELP! I didn't properly store my chainsaw last year. :o All the usual excuses but I never got around to draining the fuel system and it had a half tank of bad gas sitting in it for most of a year. (I don't have much call to use a chainsaw so when I got it out to test for hurricane season I realized I'd screwed up when it wouldn't start.) I drained it, put in fresh fuel, and got it to start. It worked for a while but now it won't run unless it's on it's side (felling position). As soon as I turn it upright, it quits. I suspect fuel contaminants are clogging something. Is there a solution short of rebuilding the carburator? (Helpful) Suggestions would be most welcome. I really don't want to rebuild a carburator. Thanx - Peregrino

You made me want to find out if my Stihl would run after three years sitting with gas in it.

Since I finally worked my way back to where it was sitting in the garage yesterday, it seemed like a good time to find out.

I dumped the three year old gas (which had Sta-Bil added) and let it drain. I thought about pulling the spark plug, but decided to try it without dragging out any tools.

Then I added fresh gas, gave it a couple of squirts of fresh Sta-Bil, set the choke, and started pulling. Four pulls later, it fired up. Frankly, I was shocked.

Needless to say, I am a Stihl and Sta-Bil customer for life.

I did have an old edger that needed help starting, and we found that WD-40 can work as a starter fluid.

TR

[Peregrino]

TR - Mine had to go to the shop. $110 later (and a second trip to the shop) it runs like a top (again). My problem was compounded because the gas actually dissolved the rubber fuel line between the in-tank filter and the carb. Seems that should be replaced annually as routine maintenance - especially if gas has sat in the tank for an extended period. I'm in agreement about the Stihl saws though. This one has seen untold abuse (I bought it broken from a notorious "tool user" in 7th Gp who we won't name here) and with minor repairs it has served me well. Peregrino

[kachingchingpow]

Stihl rocks. I've got one in the garage that I've had for 16 years. Could be used as a boat anchor and it would still start on the 3rd pull.

On mine there's a small fuel filter on the gas pickup line inside the tank. Check it next time you have starting issues. Might save a trip to the shop. I have to use a pair of curved hemostats to get to mine.

[Bill Harsey]

Ok, I opened up this thread and then walked out back behind the shop where my Stihl 076 has been sitting in the rain for a week with nothing but the same untreated saw gas it's had since this summer.
It took nine pulls then it fired right up and and ran strong. No way would a saw motor start after Reapers three years using un-treated two cycle gas, at least not in my experience.

Jack, the saw has the 36 inch bar on it now but the 48 inch bar and chain are hanging up just inside of the shop door for when it's time to come out and help you finish clear cutting your place.

[Peregrino]

Ok, I opened up this thread and then walked out back behind the shop where my Stihl 076 has been sitting in the rain for a week with nothing but the same untreated saw gas it's had since this summer.
It took nine pulls then it fired right up and and ran strong. No way would a saw motor start after Reapers three years using un-treated two cycle gas, at least not in my experience.

Jack, the saw has the 36 inch bar on it now but the 48 inch bar and chain are hanging up just inside of the shop door for when it's time to come out and help you finish clear cutting your place.


I'll be sulking in a corner with my trusty 026 and its 16" bar. :rolleyes: Let me guess - that one's for feeding the sawmill you've got under a tarp behind the shop. Peregrino

[Bill Harsey]

Peregrino,
Many days went by when I would have killed for a smaller chainsaw while logging.

About the sawmill question, No I don't have a saw mill under a tarp BUT and this goes to the roots of this thread:

You can use a chainsaw to make timbers and lumber, even freehand which I have done.
The key here is, if you need to make a bunch of long ripping cuts is to use as big a displacement saw as you can get and the chain has to be sharpened different.
When we look down on top of a saw chain set up for normal bucking the cutting tooth sharpening angle will be something like 25 to 35 degrees from perpendicular to the bar it rides on.

For ripping, re-sharpen the chain to 10 to 0 degrees and make sure all the rakers are as even as possible in height and keep them HIGH so the saw runs faster using less power. This will produce a smoother cut.

[x SF med]

Bill-
So you basically make a whole bunch of little knives or chisels on a chain and run it off a motor? Damn, what'll they think of next?

[Bill Harsey]

Bill-
So you basically make a whole bunch of little knives or chisels on a chain and run it off a motor? Damn, what'll they think of next?
Correct, and we change the angle of all those little chisels so they cut a shorter chip which also tends to not plug up the clutch/drive sprocket area of the saw when making long ripping (with the grain) cuts.

Ripping chain is made by Oregon Chain and there is stuff called "Granberg" style. Some prefer "skip tooth" chain for making lumber too. It all works when correctly sharpened and enough horsepower is used.

[Bill Harsey]

This should be just enough horsepower in a chainsaw, http://guzer.com/videos/v8_chainsaw.php

[x SF med]

One little joke about chainsaws - and we get video of the chainsaw from hell!:eek: Ok Bill, you win, no more chainsaw jokes from me.

[Goat Bandit]

This came to me a couple of days ago...

If you are a tall guy like me, you might have a hard time fitting in the VC's seat with all of your kit on. So after a couple of months of trying to fabricate some sort of seat back extension for my chair a light bulb came on. The back rest has 4 inches of padding on it, but the bolt holes are in line with the back side of the seat back (behind the padding). I just took off the entire back rest off and bolted it back on, but now facing aft. And that gave me another 4 inches of leg room. Sure, all of the padding is now on the wrong side but now my seatbelt fits and my knees aren't burning up on the dash.

If anyone else has another solution, I'd like to hear about it.

[The Reaper]

Does the seat padding not have some sort of cushioning effect in the event of an IED?

Would injuries not be worse for an unpadded person, sort of why we changed dashes to padded ones in the 60s?

Just a question.

TR

[Goat Bandit]

There is a good post by SwatSurgeon that talks alot about blast injuries.
More specifically he stated this:
 Tertiary injuries – Blunt trauma.
– Physically thrown through the air and strike or impale themselves on objects.
– Collapsing structures.
– Other objects propelled through the air striking the victim

I think that the foam would qualify as a collpsing sructure. I do know that the bolts sometimes shear off in certain situations where the vehicle is hit hard enough or is involved in a serious wreck. It would make sense to have as much padding as practical to absorb the shock of being thrown around, but I have never experienced the concussion of an IED inside of my vehicle. Nor do I know someone that was wearing a seatbelt when they were. What we have experienced in the realm of IED's was mainly a lot of fragmentation for those that were effective. We have lost more men to vehicle wrecks than from enemy action, and it was determined that not using seat belts was one of the reasons why the injuries were so severe.
So I really don't know the answer. I'm sure the seats were tested in the standard configuration with a crash test dummy in a lab. I doubt if the test HMMWV had a Frag 5 kit on it and if the dummy was wearing body armor. I'd like to see more research on blast injuries inside of a HMMWV, and ways to mitigate. If anyone has links please post them on the proper forum. I'll do some more research on the seat and post what I can.

[Dieter]

Not sure if this qualifies as "Redneck/SF Engineering" but if you plan on going camping and know ahead of time that your gonna be limited on resrouces that you can bring, bring a thing of cotton balls, and petrolium jelly (not sure on spelling). If you coat the cotton balls with the jelly, and stick them together it acts as a wick, and slows down how fast the cotton balls burn away. We went on a camping trip in my Outdoor Education class, and it was wet and windy outside and trying to sustain the fire was getting hard. So our teacher taught us that little trick and made the whole procerss alot easier.

[G4dcards]

Wow Iim impressed by the level of intellegence that SF soldier have, and that was a complement not a degrading remark, im astonished.

[lksteve]

Wow Iim impressed by the level of intellegence that SF soldier have, and that was a complement not a degrading remark, im astonished.i am unimpressed with your ability to read the stickies and post a proper introduction...:rolleyes: