When my kid was in school they had belt sander races with the kids riding on the sanders, when the teacher was out of the room.
This brought back memories! Hadn’t thought of this in years. However ours weren’t as elaborate as the ones pictured. We just put ours on the floor when our shop teacher wasn’t there. We tried to fix the balance problem with counter balances, with limited success. Then there was the “ red light”:argument that lead to plugging them into a multiple outlet cord, then plugging that cord into the wall. We learned that after learning that plugging both sanders into the wall sockets and tripping the breaker was messing with the class clock, thereby informing our teacher of our deeds! I sure he was guilty of this as a youngster him self. I was no stranger to the “ Board” of Education......lol Bones
If you labeled the plug end of the cord, you wouldn't have to worry about plugging the wrong one in. This is assuming you can read. Common sense. It's a gift.
The only trick I can perform is sometimes I don't pinch a big chunk of my palm in between the handles of my rivet pliers.
I like having long cords on my tools, so they can be all plunged into a wall outlet without extension cords. But that's just me Andrew
I have a special cord that I made up with male plugs on both ends that I use to connect my generator to my welder outlet when our power goes out. Yes, I turn off the main breaker and also the breaker from the main panel to my sub-panel, which is where the welder breaker is located, as well as the breaker for my furnace, refrigerator, and a couple outlet and light circuits in the house
How about getting all set up into that contorted position that only Houdini could get out of only to pull the trigger...and it ain't plugged in......sometimes there really is no easier solution its just a life thing and it's best to laugh it off...
Me, too. I put my generator in my detached garage, for safety and it’s also quieter in the main house. Used it for 14 days about 18 years ago. Kinda pissed my neighbors off, I was also running my Christmas lights and a Santa figure waving at people, while they were running around with flashlights! Bones
Once, long ago, I borrowed a table saw that had a 240v motor, I didn't have any 240v receptacles in my shop, so I wired up an extension cord with 2 male ends. I had 120v receptacles every 6' in the shop so I found 2 that were wired to opposite sides of the 240 feed coming into the breaker box. This gave me 240v out the female end of the extension cord. An electrician buddy came over and saw me using the set-up and asked "what the hell I was doing," after I explained it to him, he said he would never have thought of doing it that way. After I was done with the saw, I cut the double male end off and returned it to a normal single male end. Didn't want to confuse anyone!
My favorite trick is when drilling a hole with my drill press, I'm in too much of a hurry to clamp the work piece into my [Christmas gift from my son] drill press vice. The bigger the drill bit, the more blood is spilled when the work piece spins around to gouge the back of my hand. Thank you.
I have an extension cord with 3 outlets on it. I use a separate circuit for my mig welder. I have 2 airlines in different ends of my garage. I drill one hole and it takes me a half hour to untangle the mess. How I do this is one of life's mysteries.
Careful you......I have met many in my working circle and I am amazed at the pressure to f'n hurry up only to see missing digits, arthritic, joint and other conditions affecting them even being younger than myself... So as has been said already be safe and wear your safety shit...and do clamp that part or use a vise...being a tough guy in the shop may cost you dearly... Oh and then theres that Worst Thing that happened in the Garage thread...
As an electrician and electrical inspector I would advise using tools that have an equipment ground, that is a three prong plug. At least use a wall plug that is a Ground Fault Receptacle or breaker. You can also use an extension chord that has a built in Ground Fault. Concrete is a great conductor of electricity to ground! Throw in some water and it doesn't take much.
Growing up and learning from my gpa he had a box spliced onto the end of cord for an extension cord. Having used extension cords with multiple outlets never seem to work as well as a simple box on the end of a cord. Of course this is the same person who taught me a tab of grease works well to hold a nut/bolt on a socket or wrench for those near impossible to get to locations.
It could be worse, I was drilling a piece of 1"x 1/8'' flat stock in the vice when the bit decided to catch and whip the thing up and out of the vice. Caught me on the left side of the head just behind the eye, thought I took my eye out. This happened just before Halloween, I had surgery on the eye first week of Jan still fighting to get all of my sight back in that eye. They think I may have to have another surgery to repair.
A couple of years back I was wiring my bike and needed to pull a wire tie snug. Well for whatever reason there just happened to be a pair of fence pliers (like these in the pic) close to me on the floor. I grabbed me and pulled, proceeded to pull the wire tie in two and the pointy end snagged my hand (see other pic). The missus just walked in the door. I said, "Honey I hurted myself" She just said, "Go get in the truck." At the e room they kept trying to hook me up with domestic violence counseling. LOL A asked her why she just said go get in the truck without even looking and she said, "I knew you were hurt, you weren't cussing." note to self "fence pliers are for fences."
When I was younger (working with my Gpa) I made the mistake of wrapping my thumb around the ratchet wrench, well we all know what happened. The ratchet slipped and mashed my thumb (right) good. About half an hour later he was shaping the hood lip and missed nailing his thumb (left) good. Well when Gma called us in for lunch we went in with matching thumbs turning black. After lunch he proceeded to heat up a bit of bailing wire like he usually would do for welding, to my horror he stabbed the red hot wire into his thumb resulting in his hopping around (something he never did when he got hurt). His next words were "come on over here and I'll do yours . . ." no way was I letting him come near me with that red hot poker. Long story short we both lost nails and I always remember not to wrap my thumb around a ratchet.
Because of winter west coast wind storms, we used to experience power outages from blow downs, at least three times a winter. I made an adapter that allowed me to use the generator to power the house. Because the power company made a priority of cleaning up overhangs and taking out weak trees, I have only had to use it once in the last ten years. I really don't mind, cause the power surges can easily wipe out the computers. Bob
My emergency cord is 60 amp, and gets lots of use for powering the electric welder and other projects in the yard. I also have a Miller Big 40, but that sucker is heavy, and I don't have it on a trailer right now. I need to get off my butt and build a 4 wheel trailer, so I can move it more easily. As it is now, I have to move it with the Bobcat, which means taking the time to drop the bucket for better balance. Bob
The Jalopy Journal
