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Wrong tool for the job?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Eddie's chop shop, Jan 8, 2007.

  1. Eddie's chop shop
    Joined: Sep 4, 2006
    Posts: 592

    Eddie's chop shop
    Member

    My buddy and I were trying to one up each other today for the most incorrect use of a tool.

    Now I know I am not the only one that will fess up to using a tool improperly. After seeing that thread about the bagger with the wonderful fab work it got me thinking of the things I have done during the learning curve..... that still hasn't straightened out yet.

    My top few:

    Welded a pc of 1/4" rod to a loose vice I had and used it to remove door pins

    Bent handle bars for my custom bike by driving up a pc of pipe braced on cynderblocks with the forklift

    Used a wood router to machine master cylinders, triple tree's and custom tank pc for same bike

    yes I am stupid enough to tell everyone the bonehead crap I have done..... but 98% of the time it worked
     

    Attached Files:

  2. I pulled the front end of my crashed Scirocco back into place using a 20ft chain and a concrete post.
     
  3. ratstar
    Joined: Feb 22, 2005
    Posts: 1,313

    ratstar
    Member

    Used my arm as a engine hoist. Still havent recovered from that one!
     
  4. All tools are hammers, except screwdrivers they're chisels.
     

  5. leon renaud
    Joined: Nov 12, 2005
    Posts: 1,937

    leon renaud
    Member
    from N.E. Ct.

    I worked in 2 different machine shops that used plain old router bits to machine aluminum all the time.I'm not a machineist by any means but this sure looked to work quite well
     
  6. ratstar
    Joined: Feb 22, 2005
    Posts: 1,313

    ratstar
    Member

    Words to live by!
     
  7. hmmm... I always thought they were prybars?
     
  8. MIKE47
    Joined: Aug 19, 2005
    Posts: 987

    MIKE47
    Member
    from new jersey

    I've cut 1/8" alum. diamond plate with a 7 1/4" circular saw and a dull, old course tooth wood blade. It works very well. Also used my car's frame rail as a bead breaker so I could change a tire with a couple of screwdrivers. Sometimes you just gotta be creative.
     
  9. jetmek
    Joined: Jan 12, 2006
    Posts: 1,847

    jetmek
    Member

    i put a chopsaw blade in my new dewalt mitersaw and promtly melted the plastic parts with the sparks. duh! also use a router to relieve flatheads. works good.
     
  10. Fe26
    Joined: Dec 25, 2006
    Posts: 543

    Fe26
    Member

    Hey Guys, I want to give you all a big welcome.
    I never knew there were so many Blacksmiths on this site.
    We are the the guys that make tools.... break em too.
    There isn't a day goes by when we don't don't find a new use for an old tool.
    Here's something that pisses me off (I've got 5 guys working), Tools I've had since I was an appentice and used and looked after for over 30 years are now fucked and no one knows how it happened.
    A couple of years ago our 300 ton press broke down and we had to finish a cold bending job, we took our forklift with the press dies into a nearby back road (where truckies leave their trailers parked) and set the job up between the fork tines and the bottom of a trailer, raised the fork tines until the dies closed against the job, slow work one at a time instead of 12 at one push, but the job got done.

    Get it Hot!... Hit it Hard!.....:D
     
  11. Shit, I've stirring paint all this time with them. When I'm not using them as drift punches of course! Stu
     
  12. BostonCat
    Joined: Nov 15, 2005
    Posts: 38

    BostonCat
    Member

    Did a similar fix to my old t-bird with a length of cable, a piece of PT 4x4, and my mom's Volvo wagon.
     
  13. Paul
    Joined: Aug 29, 2002
    Posts: 16,389

    Paul
    Editor

    I just lost my ocular virginity looking at a images of a trans-orbital lobotomy :(
     
  14. 2manybillz
    Joined: May 30, 2005
    Posts: 835

    2manybillz
    Member

    Front end loader as engine hoist - get all the dirt out of the bucket first.

    Left front wheel - on car - and 4' length of 2 X 6 - drive on bead breaker.

    2 lug wrenches as jumper cables. Put cars bumper to bumper for ground - hold 1 lug wrench on each positive - hold wrenches together - turn key.
     
  15. Used to sharp picks to get C clips off. (I like to call them Bejesus clips because they aggrivate the Bejesus out of ya). I've stabbed myself twice and a friend once using this meathod, but I still have not gone out and bought a wrench.
     
  16. J'st Wandering
    Joined: Jan 28, 2004
    Posts: 1,772

    J'st Wandering
    Member

    What, you mean to tell me there is a wrench? I thought that the awl or screwdriver is the perscribed method. :)
    Neal
     
  17. BigBlockMopar
    Joined: Feb 4, 2006
    Posts: 1,361

    BigBlockMopar
    Member

    I turned 2 Chrysler TorsionBars into big-ass hex-ended screwdrivers/chisels recently.
    Also used a tire-iron to try and tear open the roof of a car. Only got halfway though, must have been a Chinese tire-iron...
     
  18. Chris Casny
    Joined: Mar 13, 2006
    Posts: 4,874

    Chris Casny
    Member

    Aluminum is cut easely with woodworking tools like the bandsaw, chopsaw and the router, nothing unusual.
     
  19. Ramblur
    Joined: Jun 15, 2005
    Posts: 2,101

    Ramblur
    Member

    Heres my Ford body/frame seperater submitted for best use of
    a 10 foot pole...

    [​IMG]
     
  20. Eddie's chop shop
    Joined: Sep 4, 2006
    Posts: 592

    Eddie's chop shop
    Member


    Hey der boys i think this here man jus dun insulted me?

    common on paul you know you have done it too... lets hear it.
     

  21. I have a 4 foot piece of black iron pipe that I use. It makes a damn good breaker bar. I am offended that someone would say this is the wrong tool hahah.
     
  22. Mojo
    Joined: Jul 23, 2002
    Posts: 1,872

    Mojo
    Member

    I've used chunks of wood for hammers and dollys doing body work. Used a wood blade in a jig saw to cut sheet metal out of a quarter panel (rips right through it, but watch that shrapnel!). Screwdrivers for c-clip removal, claw-hammer's pull end for a prybar, water pipes for prybars and wrench handle extenders. Dad picked up the sawed off frontend of my eldo with a backhoe once, it popped a pressure line and soaked me down head to toe in hydro fluid, that was fun. Tasted it when I ate for at least three days.

    I tend to use whatever I can get my hands on to get the job done.
     
  23. I have an old tablesaw with a 7 1/4" carbide wood cutting blade. It works fine for cutting aluminum plate up to 1" thick. Damn sure though, you better be wearing safety goggles.
     
  24. dabirdguy
    Joined: Jun 23, 2005
    Posts: 2,404

    dabirdguy
    Member Emeritus

    I have an 8' long piece of square tubing I have named the Bigodder.
    I put it over the end of my Snap-on Ratchet and BY GOD it turns the bolt.
    The DUMBEST thing I have done is to use blocks of wood and/or metal to add height to the garbage floor jack I have so I can raise cars higher to get my fat arse under them. Still havn't found that deal on a PROPER floor jack.
     
  25. skajaquada
    Joined: Sep 14, 2004
    Posts: 1,642

    skajaquada
    Member
    from SLC Utard

    i once used; a 2 ton floor jack, a t-handled basin wrench, an old fan belt and two 1" sockets to compress the springs so i could remove the snap ring in the low-reverse assembly of a th350 i rebuilt.

    think about that one for a min;)
     
  26. RatBone
    Joined: Sep 15, 2006
    Posts: 660

    RatBone
    Member

    I use these rubber stoppers with a bolt in the middle you can find at lowes etc.. to block off the waterpump and therm housing when pulling an engine. Keeps from getting that damn coolant all over and killing your cat. They have all different sizes by the pipe stuff.

    I also use my sockets and vise as a press.

    I use my wife as a work support stand all the time!
     
  27. Zerk
    Joined: May 26, 2005
    Posts: 1,418

    Zerk
    Member

    I ran a Makita 9.6V cordless drill off my 12V battery charger. It worked like gangbusters for the rest of the day and then was done for good.

    Flattened some aluminum bicycle handlebars to the necessary contours by placing them carefully under the car's back tire and running over them. Repeatedly.

    I STILL use Visegrip/locking pliers for brake spring pliers. Visegrips are the best tool going for all kinds of jackleg repairs.

    A metal-cutting blade in a circular saw is a pretty good chopsaw.
     
  28. HEATHEN
    Joined: Nov 22, 2005
    Posts: 8,562

    HEATHEN
    Member
    from SIDNEY, NY

    A friend once showed up at my house with a '70 Nova that had the clutch pivot ball broken off in the block, and someone drilled the hole out freehand as deep as they could and had a 3/8 allen wrench stuffed in the hole for the countershaft to pivot on.
     
  29. Roupe
    Joined: Feb 11, 2006
    Posts: 723

    Roupe
    Member

    Always buy a house that has a tree with a nice tight crotch, Mother Natures best tubing bender and a limb for pulling motors and bodies. Oh a woman with a nice tight crotch is good TOO!
     
  30. Splinter
    Joined: May 14, 2005
    Posts: 1,112

    Splinter
    Member

    Hell, I've been using 'em to stir my Vodka & Orange juice. What's the name of that drink again?
     

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