Topic: Cool Tools.

[grcamna2]

everyone hates a flat tyre?ive only had i think two on the car ive driven daily for 35 years?any way its a #$%* around with those 4 way cross wheel braces that have 4 nut sizes on them?you can never get enough leverage and unless your wife is a huge gorilla lady they got no chance breaking them loose,let alone getting em tight enough to proceed safely?anyway i found a while ago this extendable 1/2 drive bar,its real solid and with a 13/16 plug socket on the end its perfect,i ditched the cross brace and have this now in the car kit,hopefully it never gets used!

I remember twisting the cross till paint popped off of it - on my old Jeep. 


This looks like a nice breaker bar, I might look it up.

+1  John,does the socket come with it(looks like a spark plug socket?)and how tight does the socket fit ?

[Terry in Australia]

My old bike jack came in handy today. Cleaning up my old Yamaha RT1 to take to the swap meet next weekend and needed to clean off a bit of surface rust and fuzzy corrosion so after cleaning the rust off the jack’s ram and oiling it then noticing for the first time the mechanical stopper (duh…) I jacked the bike up in the air and got stuck into it with phosphoric acid and a stainless steel scouring pad and was surprised at how quickly it removed the crud. Cool tool.

[Tim2005]

Does anyone have recommendations for a Dremel-type minidrill?  My ancient Minicraft one keeps stopping nowadays. I am looking for a corded one, not a rechargeable, and there seem to be loads of different makes around nowadays

[BenelliSEI]

I have an actual corded, 110V DREMEL. I bought it at a garage sale, in a big red Dremel box with literally a hundred bits and end that fit it. There is even a mini router base that I have never used. Great tool, has lasted for ages and I do abuse it. It has a few small chucks that will maybe hold a 1/8” bit (max).

[gearsoup]

Any recommendations on a good motorcycle lift? I've been looking at the Kendon lifts, but it appears they're sold out on the large units. I'm rather partial to a "fold-up when not in use" unit, otherwise I'd just buy the HF lift..

[Kelly E]

I have an actual corded, 110V DREMEL. I bought it at a garage sale, in a big red Dremel box with literally a hundred bits and end that fit it. There is even a mini router base that I have never used. Great tool, has lasted for ages and I do abuse it. It has a few small chucks that will maybe hold a 1/8” bit (max).

I have one of those in a gray plastic box. The accessory I use the most is the flexible drive shaft with the heavy duty cut-off wheels to remove lower steering stem races.

[BenelliSEI]

Any recommendations on a good motorcycle lift? I've been looking at the Kendon lifts, but it appears they're sold out on the large units. I'm rather partial to a "fold-up when not in use" unit, otherwise I'd just buy the HF lift..

I have had three different styles. I like the big table best. It’s like having an extra bench. I’ve bought all of mine on KIJIJI. People buy them for a project and then get distracted or disillusioned. I paid almost nothing for the last one and it’s like new…

[Kelly E]

What does "when not in use" mean? 

Every time we take a bike off the lift it seems like there's two more waiting to go on.

[BenelliSEI]

What does "when not in use" mean? 

Every time we take a bike off the lift it seems like there's two more waiting to go on.

Very true!

[BenelliSEI]

My favourite lift. Air and hydraulic, never use the air.

[Tim2005]

I have an actual corded, 110V DREMEL. I bought it at a garage sale, in a big red Dremel box with literally a hundred bits and end that fit it. There is even a mini router base that I have never used. Great tool, has lasted for ages and I do abuse it. It has a few small chucks that will maybe hold a 1/8” bit (max).

Yes the genuine Dremel ones do look good. The 4000/4250 model is top of the range, the 3000 is a bit cheaper & seems pretty similar

[jgger]

It's the amperage that gives it the grunt. Higher amps=more working power.

[Terry in Australia]

Do you guys buy anything from Vevor? I bought one of those “Dentist drill” style rotary tools that’ll accept  1/8” to 1/4” bits. Looks good but bought it to port a head then sold the bike, so haven’t used the tool yet.

[Magpie]

John, I did order the lift in November, and paid for it too. The tracking company says it was delivered to my home. A big nope on that one. Too good to be true I guess. Emails sent to the customer service are returned as undeliverable, the domain name no longer exists. There's a bunch on Facebook posts advertising these lifts, all using the same photos and videos. I wonder if it's one company with a bunch of different names? I commented on one of the adverts with my complaint so we'll see what kind of response I get, if any. Further reports as I get more info. Cliff.

[BenelliSEI]

John, I did order the lift in November, and paid for it too. The tracking company says it was delivered to my home. A big nope on that one. Too good to be true I guess. Emails sent to the customer service are returned as undeliverable, the domain name no longer exists. There's a bunch on Facebook posts advertising these lifts, all using the same photos and videos. I wonder if it's one company with a bunch of different names? I commented on one of the adverts with my complaint so we'll see what kind of response I get, if any. Further reports as I get more info. Cliff.

Cliff….. I hope that gets resolved! I got scammed for the first time on FB last week. Fortunately no money had changed hands but I spent a morning and $100 in gas chasing a galvanized trailer that didn’t exist! Thankfully I didn’t send the arsehole a deposit…..

[BenelliSEI]

Set up my disc “dressing” tool today. By hitting the spinning disc at a certain angle, the disc on the grinder gets it up to a nice speed. This seems to work for me and it turned out well! This disc was not pretty to start with. Three of the stock spacers and a couple of extra washers gets the axle nice and tight to the bracket, locked in the vice. The stock nut goes on backwards to engage the threads. Note that when the disc is flipped on the hub it doesn’t quite sit flat. Three thin washers do the trick. Make sure everything is tight!

[grcamna2]

Set up my disc “dressing” tool today. By hitting the spinning disc at a certain angle, the disc on the grinder gets it up to a nice speed. This seems to work for me and it turned out well! This disc was not pretty to start with. Three of the stock spacers and a couple of extra washers gets the axle nice and tight to the bracket, locked in the vice. The stock nut goes on backwards to engage the threads. Note that when the disc is flipped on the hub it doesn’t quite sit flat. Three thin washers do the trick. Make sure everything is tight!

Which abrasive do you use to 'dress' the discs with John ?

[BenelliSEI]

Set up my disc “dressing” tool today. By hitting the spinning disc at a certain angle, the disc on the grinder gets it up to a nice speed. This seems to work for me and it turned out well! This disc was not pretty to start with. Three of the stock spacers and a couple of extra washers gets the axle nice and tight to the bracket, locked in the vice. The stock nut goes on backwards to engage the threads. Note that when the disc is flipped on the hub it doesn’t quite sit flat. Three thin washers do the trick. Make sure everything is tight!

Which abrasive do you use to 'dress' the discs with John ?

Bill…. I use the disc on the grinder in the photo. No idea what it is, I bought a stack of 40 and they seem indestructible! I start on the outside, just to get the disc spinning fairly quickly and then tip the grinder a bit so I am still spinning it but also cutting across the face at about 45 degrees…. Odd but it works.

[RAFster122s]

John, I did order the lift in November, and paid for it too. The tracking company says it was delivered to my home. A big nope on that one. Too good to be true I guess. Emails sent to the customer service are returned as undeliverable, the domain name no longer exists. There's a bunch on Facebook posts advertising these lifts, all using the same photos and videos. I wonder if it's one company with a bunch of different names? I commented on one of the adverts with my complaint so we'll see what kind of response I get, if any. Further reports as I get more info. Cliff.

Cliff….. I hope that gets resolved! I got scammed for the first time on FB last week. Fortunately no money had changed hands but I spent a morning and $100 in gas chasing a galvanized trailer that didn’t exist! Thankfully I didn’t send the arsehole a deposit…..

Got scammed out of $100 a couple years back on FakeBook. FakeBook allows anyone to sell anything.
It is advertising dollars, I periodically would go through and flush all the companies spamming my feed, it was futile, just like resisting anyone from tracking you.
With the propagation of tracking dots embedded in message address headers or links they inject these tracers for whomever opens/views/copies or forwards a message sent with the tracking dot, so even if you turn safe tracking on, copy that link and paste it into your time . 
The item for $100 I got scammed on had a tracking number with major shipping company and the package traveled from China and it. Went to LA X  that went to Los Angeles and it never moved after that, to fake the appearance of lost in customs I guess. My credit union wouldn’t do anything and the site got pulled down about 2-3 weeks after it “landed in LA. Still have no clue how they made a valid shipping company package just vanish in LAX. But stuff never came. Facebook is full of scammers and they do not try to shut them down as they are there, fleece everyone they can, then disappear without a trace.


If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Wish.com is full of counterfeit stuff of big name brands …zoom in, you will find tops on watch faces, poor product quality abounds and may look good on outside but the inside is full of junky or low cost movements in case of a watch. Things break quickly on these knock offs. It is like the guy of old in NY who opens a big raincoat kind of coat with watches everywhere on the inside flaps, all cheap counterfeit abd even the good or higher quality cosmetic ones have issues.


Better sometimes to just squirrel away more money and buy the real deal for cash, not financed!

David

[BenelliSEI]

John, I did order the lift in November, and paid for it too. The tracking company says it was delivered to my home. A big nope on that one. Too good to be true I guess. Emails sent to the customer service are returned as undeliverable, the domain name no longer exists. There's a bunch on Facebook posts advertising these lifts, all using the same photos and videos. I wonder if it's one company with a bunch of different names? I commented on one of the adverts with my complaint so we'll see what kind of response I get, if any. Further reports as I get more info. Cliff.

Hey Cliff….. any good news? J.

[Magpie]

Not yet. I'm going back and forth with them via email. MasterCard said they will investigate it and possibly give me a refund. At least I got an email back to one of mine, most of the email address on the sites are not "deliverable". Time will tell.

[BenelliSEI]

Not yet. I'm going back and forth with them via email. MasterCard said they will investigate it and possibly give me a refund. At least I got an email back to one of mine, most of the email address on the sites are not "deliverable". Time will tell.

Too bad, but sounds promising. Good luck! J.

[BenelliSEI]

Two cool tools. Big ultrasonic tank my local garage trashed. The timer was fried and some wiring too. A few of the parts glued to the tank base had fallen away and it was FILTHY…… A spare On-Off switch from my junk bin snapped into the panel. Took me two hours to scrape the gunk out of the bottom and clear the drain. It works like a charm!

On the left is a small press. I saw this in another shop. A pair of farm gate hinges and it hangs up off the floor. Swings out when I need it and completely out of the way the rest of the time. The stainless steel bin that holds all the spools and bits I use on the press came off a junk BBQ a neighbour threw out. I am a scrounger.

[BenelliSEI]

When I was about 10 years old, my parents bought a house in the Bathurst and Eglinton area of Toronto. Our next door neighbour was an older gentleman that had started a small lighting company. Oddly, his focus was strings of indoor and outdoor Christmas lights. Odd because he was Jewish! Sam had a really cool workshop in his garden where he tested and played with new products. I hung out there a lot!

One day he gave me this shop light to “test” in my garage. It has about a 15’ cord on the reel and I have hung it in all my shops. To his credit, it’s working as well today as it did 60 years ago! I have never seen one anywhere else, I don’t think it ever made it into production. NOMA Lights became a huge international corporation. Thank you Sam!

[70CB750]

When I was about 10 years old, my parents bought a house in the Bathurst and Eglinton area of Toronto. Our next door neighbour was an older gentleman that had started a small lighting company. Oddly, his focus was strings of indoor and outdoor Christmas lights. Odd because he was Jewish! Sam had a really cool workshop in his garden where he tested and played with new products. I hung out there a lot!

One day he gave me this shop light to “test” in my garage. It has about a 15’ cord on the reel and I have hung it in all my shops. To his credit, it’s working as well today as it did 60 years ago! I have never seen one anywhere else, I don’t think it ever made it into production. NOMA Lights became a huge international corporation. Thank you Sam!

Thats a really cool and clever light.  I can imagine it next to my air hose reel.