Tools! - Crimpin ain't easy but it is necessary.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Tools! - Crimpin ain't easy but it is necessary.

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

fatman1683 posted:

This thread is redundant because my grandfather taught me that any real man only ever needs two tools: duct tape and WD-40.

If it moves and it shouldn't, use the duct tape.

If it doesn't move and it should, use the WD-40.

I've always heard that as, "If it moves, and shouldn't, hit it with a hammer until it stops moving. If it should move, and doesn't, hit it with a hammer until it starts moving."

# ¿ Mar 17, 2009 06:11

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 05:45

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Pissingintowind posted:

Is there any air compressor worth buying at HF? Or is it better to stick to the more known brands?

It would be used for inflating tires, removing brake caliper pistons, and maybe one of these babies.

The first two things you list require pretty low air flow for a compressor, that impact wrench is a 22CFM beast that will be limited by basically anything less than a shop air system. What I'd do is get a cheap HF compressor and hook a spare tank into the line to keep psi up. You'll only get bursts at high CFM, but it will be a lot cheaper than a huge compressor.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2009 03:17

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

What do you do when autozone has already rented out their spring compressors and you're too cheap for harbor freight?

Click here for the full 480x640 image.

Click here for the full 640x480 image.

edit: Not mine.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2009 02:31

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Korwen posted:

seriouspost - I may have a line on a used Craftsman 25gallon 4hp compressor. Guy says it works, but you have to disable the safety valve. I imagine that's important.

Is there a way to replace/fix this valve, if so any idea how much? He said he'd sell it to me for $40. If I can get this valve fixed for $20 or so, $60 for a 25gal compressor would be

Get the model number for the compressor and call sears, they'll have the parts and can give you a quote to fix it too.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2009 22:57

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

The problem with those sets is they include a lot of duplicate sockets and the quality is always rock bottom to keep costs down. That set has 12 sockets to fit a 7/16" bolt.

Hit up harbor freight and grab a socket set, breaker bar, extension set(just toss the extras), screwdriver set, and a tool box. Total cost, $60.

oxbrain fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Apr 30, 2009

# ¿ Apr 30, 2009 20:55

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

EvilCrayon posted:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00937204000P?vName=Tools&cName=Mechanics+Tools&sName=Mechanics+Tool+Sets

Does anybody know if this is a good set to start out with for working on cars and motorcycles? I've been using a small portable ratchet set so far but one of my friends got 3 different toolsets(2 craftsman and 1 snap-on) for his birthday so he'll sell it to me $100 if I'm interested.

Look 8 posts above yours and you'd see someone already asked that exact question.

Carbocation posted:

How's this Craftsman 204 piece set for $100 (for a beginner with no tools)? Assuming the ratchets are junk, would it be worth it to get this set for the wrenches/sockets and just get better S-K ratchets separately?

oxbrain posted:

The problem with those sets is they include a lot of duplicate sockets and the quality is always rock bottom to keep costs down. That set has 12 sockets to fit a 7/16" bolt.

Hit up harbor freight and grab a socket set, breaker bar, extension set(just toss the extras), screwdriver set, and a tool box. Total cost, $60.

# ¿ May 5, 2009 18:37

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

How well do those rails hold up to dropping? My plastic clip set tends to send the sockets flying whenever it's dropped.

# ¿ May 5, 2009 18:50

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Use your torque wrench to torque a different bolt to the correct spec. Turn it slightly with a box wrench to get a feel for what the correct torque feels like. Torque with the box wrench.

What is the torque spec on those? I'd be willing to bet it's a huge spread that could easily be hit with a box wrench.

# ¿ May 7, 2009 01:50

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Even if you could manage to balance all 3000 lbs of car on one jackstand you still wouldn't be hitting the 4000 lb rating. They'll be fine.

Don't try to balance your whole car on any less than three jack stands.

# ¿ May 14, 2009 22:28

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

I think he's talking about a cable saw. It's a string you run around a tree branch and pull on the handles to saw. They make them that can handle metal.

A sawzall would work a lot better. That HF one is only 4amp though. this one would be much better for the price. If you can afford the extra, this would actually not stall on everything.

oxbrain fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Jun 17, 2009

# ¿ Jun 17, 2009 22:02

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

You might have ovaled out a sleeve bearing or pivot shaft. Go up too high and it binds and grinds, at some point coming down it will pop back.

I'd throw some oil in any pivot you can get to and wait for the jack to go on sale again. It's not a $400 serviceable jack, it's a $70 throwaway.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2009 00:12

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

I'm sure you could rent one for fairly cheap.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2009 22:13

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

mod sassinator posted:

How are HF spring compressors, a death trap or good for the occasional spring change?

They'll hold, but they need a poo poo ton of lube to be usable.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2009 04:47

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Keep in mind, your compressor doesn't need to actually do 20cfm to run a 20cfm tool, that's the whole reason for having an air tank in the first place.

A 60 gallon tank will take up the least amount of floor space and give you plenty of air to finish a single body panel with even a tiny compressor. It's also a common enough size that you can find them on craigslist all the time for pretty cheap. I would look for something with at least 50% of the rated CFM of whatever tool you're using.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2009 19:59

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

I'd be amazed if they didn't. I had one of their employees recommend and sell me a replacement plan for a meat grinder being used to grind up plastics. I went through four of them in under a week and they didn't mind one bit.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2009 23:00

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

scapulataf posted:

I'm not trying to diss what you're doing, but I've always heard that header wrap causes them to rust out, I guess poo poo like salt, grime, etc gets caught up in the wrap. You might be better off ceramic coating them if thats within your budget.

The wrap traps heat, higher heat means faster corrosion. Unless the ceramic coating is completely sealing off the metal it will do the same thing.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2009 20:23

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

1 minute of welding for 9 minutes rest isn't really that restricting for a novice/hobby welder.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2009 06:00

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

What's your budget?

Accuracy costs money. The HF wrench should be close enough to be within tolerances, you'll be spending $80-150 before you get much better. NAPA will sell you a wrench for ~$200 that will be plenty for any car related work.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2009 07:32

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Nerobro posted:

Speaking of tools. Have any of you built your own?

I used a hammer and vice grips to make my own 19mm socket out of a piece of intake manifold. I never go to the junkyard without a full toolbox now.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2009 00:16

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

BraveUlysses posted:

Interested in finally getting some air tools in the future...mostly light duty impact and air ratchet. Maybe some wire wheel or cutting wheel use. Definitely no paint or sand blasting.

Harbor freight have anything good that would meet these requirements? Or am I better off getting something from a pawn shop. Tank/compressor will indoors, 120v.

For light duty HF air tools are fine. They use more air for the power compared to more expensive tools, but the ones I've used have been durable enough. Keep them well oiled and they'll be fine.

A good compressor will run cheaper tools better than a lovely compressor will run expensive tools.

quote:

Shop/garage compressor buying guide.

1. Don't buy an oilless compressor. I put this first because it's really that important. They are worse than oiled compressors in every way that matters. An oiled compressor will outlast an oilless many times over, run quieter, use less electricity, and put less heat(condensation) into your air.

2. Shop tools use a LOT of air. Look up the cfm(AT LOAD) of tools you expect to use and size your tank/compressor based on that. As a general rule you want a compressor capable of at least half the cfm of your tools, more for tools that see extended use like grinders.

3. Don't focus on HP ratings, instead compare based on cfm@90psi. An inefficient 5HP compressor can be worse than an efficient 2HP compressor. The only thing HP is good for is to determine power usage.

4. Upright tanks drain better and take up less space, but have to be bolted down or strapped to a wall. A big tank filled with high pressure air is basically a bomb, if you can't secure a stand-up then don't get one.

5. If you can, run hard lines. They help dry the air, cut down on long air lines to trip over or sever, increase your effective tank capacity, and make you look like a pro. Black iron pipe is dirt cheap, easy to assemble, and very durable. Copper is better, but more complex and can be dangerous. Don't even think about using PVC.

6. The best bang for the buck is 60 gallons. At that size they are intended for shop use, almost always oiled, and capable of at least 10cfm@90psi. It's a common enough size you can find them used for $300-400 in decent enough shape. Larger than 60 gallons and the cost goes up faster than performance, under 60 gallons is generally poo poo.

7. When buying used, the drain valve is usually a good indicator of how well the unit was maintained and what condition the inside of the tank is in. If it's rusted shut, halve your offer. If you hear sloshing inside the tank, run away it's not worth the risk.

8. Name brands are good because you can find replacement parts easily. Don't rule out off-brands though, they're generally made by the same companies and often use the exact same parts.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2009 23:44

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Nerobro posted:

For all of my paintball stuff I use the female connectors on the hoses. Is there a standard? Is it all female going towards the air source?

Female connectors have valves that close when you decouple, so put those on the source side. So the tank gets a female, hose is male->female, tool is male. Otherwise when you disconnect a tool your hose goes flying around.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2009 07:28

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

I do all my air hoses male->female so I can join them end to end if I need the reach.

edit: For tools I highly recommend 45 degree swivel male plugs. They make it feel so much more mobile.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2009 20:41

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Cat Hatter posted:

Also, just to be sure, when Harbor Frieght compressors break, they just stop working right? Just don't want something that's going to blow up my garage one day.

I would be stunned if a HF compressor pump could hit high enough pressure to rupture a tank. Even if it could, there are burst discs that will blow long before the tank does. If it does manage to kerplode your garage, you've got a gigantic lawsuit against them.

I wouldn't buy HF compressors simply because a good, used compressor will be better for the cost. For the same 5hp their pump will do 13cfm@90psi, my 20 year old speedaire will do 16, and a newish quincy/CP/IR unit will do over 18. All that wasted energy goes to heating up your air, which means more condensation.

Used industrial brand>new consumer brand>used consumer brand>new HF>any oilless compressor.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2009 05:29

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Try running a 8hp air grinder off your pancake compressor. :smug:

edit: It takes 26cfm@90psi.

oxbrain fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Nov 8, 2009

# ¿ Nov 8, 2009 02:00

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Use the HF grinder, then pick up a 6-10 amp grinder and tell me again that the HF grinder works great.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2009 05:39

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

You can't hurt an air motor by overloading it, so turn all you want.

3/8" line is required for the airflow for max torque. It will run fine on 1/4", but you're giving up 10-25% of your power.

edit: 1/4" npt fittings can have an inner diameter of 3/8". NPT is a stupid standard.

oxbrain fucked around with this message at 18:28 on Nov 27, 2009

# ¿ Nov 27, 2009 18:24

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Oh, I thought you meant you had the air ratchet going and it wasn't quite enough to break the bolt free.

I've never noticed that before, but then I also rarely use air ratchets.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2009 19:12

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Is there such a thing as a tap to clean up the threads on a flare nut?

# ¿ Nov 28, 2009 22:35

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

But that would make perfect sense.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2009 23:02

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

I was, but whatever.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2009 01:43

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

You're clamping the discs on wrong. Either not tight enough, or the collar nut is backwards.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2009 07:52

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Two I would look at,

Home depot brand. Make sure the pump is oiled and it'll be good.
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/tls/1481429964.html

This would be really nice, but might be more of a project than you'd want.
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/tls/1481368816.html

Other brands to look for, Eaton, Quincy, Porter Cable, Campbell Hausfeld, Westward, Champion, and Industrial. In that price range I'd just look for oiled and not harbor freight.

edit: Might be a little underpowered, but that is the exact pump I have that is quieter than my fridge. It's only a couple CFM though, mine runs off a 1/2hp motor.
http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/tls/1490342630.html

oxbrain fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Dec 2, 2009

# ¿ Dec 2, 2009 01:52

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Did you turn it upside down to access the drain?

# ¿ Dec 3, 2009 20:51

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

I should just make an air compressor help thread. :sweatdrop:

A couple things,

1. My guess is that you have a cheapish(not $2000) compressor and are using the on tank regulator to set your pressure. These regulators are notoriously poo poo, give poor measurements, and don't flow for crap. On really lovely compressors it's common to have a 1/8" line running to the regulator and a 1/4" coming out. The simple solution you've already figured out, set the regulator for higher psi and the increased pressure will compensate some for the lack of flow. Don't go too high or you could damage the gun or the trigger mechanism.

The reason those huge impact guns work so well on a lovely compressor is that you get at least one good belt in before the line pressure drops. That first hit knocks the nut free, and it spins off easily with lower pressure. This is also why it sometimes works better to do several short bursts on a nut.

2. An impact wrench that's rated for 250ft-lbs can tighten a nut to 250ft-lbs under ideal circumstances if you let it hammer away for a couple minutes with all the air it could ever need. Or it can't and the advertising team just made up some bullshit number.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2009 00:28

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Better regulators aren't that expensive. $30 will get you a nice one. Metal body, built in gauge, +-3% psi, and plenty of flow for minimal pressure drop. These don't come on consumer air compressors because it would turn a $100 compressor into a $115 compressor and they'd lose some sales.

Consumer compressors make me angry.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2009 02:26

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

In place of. The stock regulator should be screwed onto a pipe coming out of the tank. Ideally that pipe should be 1/4" or 3/8" NPT, you can easily test this with some pipe fittings from the hardware store. If so, get some pipe sealant(don't use teflon tape) and screw the new regulator down just tight enough that it doesn't leak under pressure. There will be an arrow or something on the regulator to indicate flow direction. The other end gets a female quick disconnect and you're good to go.

Of course, the pipe coming from the tank could also be 1/8" NPT, some random chinese threading, or even a flare nut. If it's 1/8" NPT you can get an adapter, otherwise you're screwed.

Some consumer compressors also run the motor start/stop switch off the regulator because their reckless fucks who care more about saving $2 than your life. If there are any wires going to the regulator then you're screwed.

By the way, 1/4" NPT has a nominal inner diameter of around 3/8". 3/8" NPT has a nominal ID of around 1/2". That's why your fittings are all 1/4" NPT but you need 3/8" hose.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2009 03:47

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

The easy way to test for proper flow is to attach a gauge to the tool with a T-fitting and see how much pressure drop you get under load. Set the regulator so you see 90psi under no load. If you pull the trigger and it instantly drops to 60psi then you've got a problem. You'll always have some drop, but you want it as small as possible. Realistically on a cheap gun like that if you can start at 100-110psi and wind up around 90 then you'll be fine. Worst case scenario is you break the gun.

If you break the gun you can buy a bigger one that will remove nuts in the first 1/2 second and all will be well.

Wagonburner posted:

The regulator is a weird looking bastard, I noticed the tank has a big 1.5" or 2" pipe plug in the side, could I take that out and put some kind of regulator there instead of hacking up the plastic cover to replace this strange looking thing? (return it to factory config easier to sell it later)

That would be an inspection plug most likely. Messing with it could be dangerous. If a 1/4" fitting lets go you get a small projectile and a loud hissing. If a 2" fitting lets go the whole tank could go flying. The plug holds so it'll hold pressure, but how well will it hold up to you tripping on a hose and knocking it over? Just something to keep in mind.

My compressor has no regulator or outlet on top, just the pressure switch. There is a 3/4" NPT bung welded onto the side of the tank and you either attach a regulator or plumb it into a larger system.

You have 4 options.

1. Crank the stock regulator wide open and install a second one downstream. This could wind up being worse than just the stock reg.
2. Leave the stock regulator alone and plumb a fitting into that 1.5-2" bung on the side of the tank. This could potentially explode.
3. Remove the whole regulator and switch assembly and replace it with new, standard parts. This would cost about $150 and could explode if you do it wrong.
4. Get by with the stock regulator until you can afford a compressor that doesn't suck.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2009 05:12

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Something better,

http://www.eatoncompressor.com/catalog/item/504747/172983.htm

# ¿ Dec 4, 2009 09:10

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Glynis27 posted:

I drained my 60gal today and got 1/2gal of very ugly water out.

There are auto drains that do a great job and don't waste too much air. You should still drain at the end of the day, but at least it won't build up as much.

edit: You can keep the water from getting in in the first place, but it's really expensive and not really necessary.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2009 00:09

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 05:45

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

60 gallons at 125psi is like a bomb. You REALLY don't want that tank exploding. If you're lucky you'll just have to fix the hole in the wall/roof.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2009 01:05

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