Tricks/Hacks to Make a Job Easier

Get Off My Lawn

Get Off My Lawn

Artist formerly known as Pink Vapor
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After a comment to a fiberglass repair post, and one from a younger mechanic this week, and y’all’s bast wealth of knowledge. I thought we should have a thread of helpful tips.

Removing Old Decals
I finally got a round tuit to clean up and paint the mower cover. It’s 10+ years old and the stickers are a hassle. I used what I had on hand.
Use a heat gun and a stiff putty knife filed to an edge (use a plastic one if you don’t want the surface scratched) to remove the stickers. Place a piece of industrial paper towel on the adhesive and wet With WD-40, PB Blaster, Kroil (PB & Kroil can stain) or something similar. It works as a solvent to soften the adhesive without evaporating too quickly. ~10 minutes later scrape the gooey mess off. Of you don’t want to scratch the surface, use a plastic putty knife, or a spray can lid. The spray can lid is an old surfer’s trick to remove old/sand embedded wax off the deck. Spray some oil on a ppr towel and wipe up what’s left.
E5A598A7-D5B0-42A4-A312-881C8F120505.jpeg 794EB3C5-6140-45C9-A533-B03E7ECFB502.jpeg BCB8AAA7-8DD3-4EE0-9334-89EE85EDFF7F.jpeg
 
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Ok,, I like this topic. Here is a trick that I learned from an old friend of mine that has his own machine shop business. Many times he would get a a cast iron cylinder head that had a rusted snapped off exhaust manifold bolt struck in the head. As long as there was a little stub sticking out to grab onto with a good pair of pliers he could get it out. The usual soaking with penetrant like PB didn't do it.. He trick was a candle.
Heat the head with a torch gently, not the broke off stud.. get it very warm but not stinking hot. Then take a paraffin candle and rub the stud and it melts into the threads. Then let it cool till warm, then twist it out with the locking pliers.. Didn't believe till I saw over and over again.
 
Your working on your car, your drained out the coolant and want to reuse it but you also have old motor oil floating on the top. Strain out the motor oil by draining out the mess using a shop rag as a filter.. The coolant with pass thru the shop rag but will trap all the motor oil.. Your left with clean coolant and an oily shop rag..
 
Pink_Vapor said:
After a comment to a fiberglass repair post, and one from a younger mechanic this week, and y’all’s bast wealth of knowledge. I thought we should have a thread of helpful tips.

Removing Old Decals
I finally got a round tuit to clean up and paint the mower cover. It’s 10+ years old and the stickers are a hassle. I used what I had on hand.
Use a heat gun and a stiff putty knife filed to an edge (use a plastic one if you don’t want the surface scratched) to remove the stickers. Place a piece of industrial paper towel on the adhesive and wet With WD-40, PB Blaster, Kroil (PB & Kroil can stain) or something similar. It works as a solvent to soften the adhesive without evaporating too quickly. ~10 minutes later scrape the gooey mess off. Of you don’t want to scratch the surface, use a plastic putty knife, or a spray can lid. The spray can lid is an old surfer’s trick to remove old/sand embedded wax off the deck. Spray some oil on a ppr towel and wipe up what’s left.
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And if it's in a delicate area just use peanutbutter to get the sticky stuff off. My dad was an appliance sales/repair shop owner and people don't like that stuff on their appliances. So he always told them to put peanut butter on it and wipe off the next day. No one ever called back so I guess it works.
 
Lager said:
Ok,, I like this topic. Here is a trick that I learned from an old friend of mine that has his own machine shop business. Many times he would get a a cast iron cylinder head that had a rusted snapped off exhaust manifold bolt struck in the head. As long as there was a little stub sticking out to grab onto with a good pair of pliers he could get it out. The usual soaking with penetrant like PB didn't do it.. He trick was a candle.
Heat the head with a torch gently, not the broke off stud.. get it very warm but not stinking hot. Then take a paraffin candle and rub the stud and it melts into the threads. Then let it cool till warm, then twist it out with the locking pliers.. Didn't believe till I saw over and over again.
Click to expand...
my dad did that with a broken exhaust stud on my dragbike once, worked well
 
One of the hot rod magazines used to have a section like this every month, many tricks saved my butt.
If you need to drill a hole through automotive, safe, etc fabric; to keep it from just wrapping around the bit, use a razor and slice an 'X' opening just large enough to slip in a tube that the bit fits into, drill away. The fabric will lay down nicely around the fastener.
Or, get a short steel tube larger than your bolt that'll fit in a drill chuck, grind/file one end until sharp, drill/cut/burn through the fabric.
 
How to sharpen a drill bit because a dull drill bit just sucks.
Use the side of your bench grinder wheel. Place the drill bit on the guard at just the right angle so that the bit rests on the side of the wheel until it contacts the wheel. Then turn the drill bit in you hand about 90 degrees with adding just a lil bit more pressure as you turn it.Then do the other side the same amount. Do it quick, you dont want to heat it up changing the property of the metal..
 
Lager said:
How to sharpen a drill bit because a dull drill bit just sucks.
Use the side of your bench grinder wheel. Place the drill bit on the guard at just the right angle so that the bit rests on the side of the wheel until it contacts the wheel. Then turn the drill bit in you hand about 90 degrees with adding just a lil bit more pressure as you turn it.Then do the other side the same amount. Do it quick, you dont want to heat it up changing the property of the metal..
Click to expand...
That's exactly what the groove in the rest is for and make it so easy Screenshot_20200718-200913_Chrome.jpg
 
Olive oil helps remove any residue from decals or packing tape.
 
Lager said:
How to sharpen a drill bit because a dull drill bit just sucks.
Use the side of your bench grinder wheel. Place the drill bit on the guard at just the right angle so that the bit rests on the side of the wheel until it contacts the wheel. Then turn the drill bit in you hand about 90 degrees with adding just a lil bit more pressure as you turn it.Then do the other side the same amount. Do it quick, you dont want to heat it up changing the property of the metal..
Click to expand...

Using the side of a grinding wheel is leading to a wheel explosion which is dangerous....
 
I finally got around to working on the fiberglass boat repair. Someone else did a rough patch job with cloth before I got it, glass mat on the surface will leavea smoother finish. There’s only a couple pics due to my phone being in a hazmat type getup.
Grind the areas smooth, tape plastic around the repair areas, cut out the pieces of glass that get layered- smallest to largest. Using a disposable chip (paint) brush paint the area with the mixed resin, apply the glass, tapping with the brush to working the air out, continue until the layers are all down.
Have everything prepped to move quickly before mixing the resin, it frequently starts to gel up before I want it to. Once all the glass mat or cloth is laid and the air has been worked out, apply a precut plastic sheet over the wet glass, gently & slowly work out as much resin as possible. Let it setup, the plastic will peel off leaving a smooth finish, no obvious edges of the sheets that need to be ground away.
Prepped for glass:
84A68829-4B71-4ED2-91B8-7ED9D3FB1843.jpeg

Working out excess resin:
5B164884-BC2F-4AED-8890-A50CACABB128.jpeg
4A02148E-A0C3-499A-8CFD-9A648970A72E.jpeg

After hardened & plastic peeled off:
A3FE0BF2-A6E3-4FD2-B1AF-3E19583D53BA.jpeg
 
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How old is too old for the sticker before the WD-40 trick doesn't work that well?

I'm in the middle of prepping a trailer for paint and want to remove the old reflective stickers. I grabbed the corner of one and it actually broke off. So, I know they are old and weathered.
 
kcult said:
How old is too old for the sticker before the WD-40 trick doesn't work that well?

I'm in the middle of prepping a trailer for paint and want to remove the old reflective stickers. I grabbed the corner of one and it actually broke off. So, I know they are old and weathered.
Click to expand...

If your not worried about the finish (doesn't sound like you are if repainting), sharpen a putty knife, heat it up good, and scrape it off.

*heat the stickers up not the putty knife
 
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kcult said:
How old is too old for the sticker before the WD-40 trick doesn't work that well?

I'm in the middle of prepping a trailer for paint and want to remove the old reflective stickers. I grabbed the corner of one and it actually broke off. So, I know they are old and weathered.
Click to expand...
Imho the way those reflective straps are made. You will have to burn them, then scrape the residue
 
Yea, they are especially nasty to deal with when trying to preserve paint underneath. Hard brittle top layer, soft vinyl middle, and the stickiest glue that God put on this earth. Gasoline brakes up the residue pretty good.


*make sure all sources of heat are away from the area prior to using flammable liquids as cleaning agents.

😁
 
kcult said:
How old is too old for the sticker before the WD-40 trick doesn't work that well?

I'm in the middle of prepping a trailer for paint and want to remove the old reflective stickers. I grabbed the corner of one and it actually broke off. So, I know they are old and weathered.
Click to expand...
With that style sticker and since you are planning to paint already, I'd use a wire wheel. Might still need to clean up some of the sticker residue after but that will probably be much quicker if you have one.
 
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