Unique Favorite Tools of ours

[dmeek]

This is a set of 1/4" deep sockets I put together, inch and metric. Very handy.

https://music-electronics-forum.com/...1&d=1582509477

[g1]

A thing I find very handy is a pick up tool. When you drop a piece of hardware in a tight spot, or even a solder blob, they come in very handy. I have one that is telescoping like Helmholtz inspection mirror above, only it has a small magnet on the end.
But the one I usually go for is the generic automotive claw type (flexible). Cheap and indispensable.

[dmeek]

The magnet pick-up tool gets a lot of use when I'm working on the car, though there are still a couple of sockets lost down there somewhere.

[Chuck H]

The magnet pick-up tool gets a lot of use when I'm working on the car, though there are still a couple of sockets lost down there somewhere.

My brother and I use to joke that Murphy's law states "When working on your engine and you drop a socket it will roll to exact center underneath the car."

[Leo_Gnardo]

My brother and I use to joke that Murphy's law states "When working on your engine and you drop a socket it will roll to exact center underneath the car."

And right into that gooey pool of oil.

[big_teee]

With Sockets and extensions?
You can't get the socket off, unless you want to keep it on?
Then it will fall off.
With 4x4 vehicles with skid plates?
The socket when it falls, doesn't hit the ground, it hides on top of the skid plate!
T

[Enzo]

Any dropped screw will go straight down the carburetor. Remember carburetors?

[big_teee]

Remember carburetors?

What's a carburetor?
The two main things that really innovated autos?
Electronic ignition, and Closed loop fuel injection.
T

[Enzo]

What's a carburetor?

It is a calibrated port designed to allow small screws direct access into your cylinders.


Many years ago in the hobby mags like Popular Electronics, electronic ignitions were a popular project. Of course nothing like today's computerized ones.

[shortcircuit]

Remember carburetors?

like quadrajunk... jet

[dmeek]

Here's another one. A tape measure with memo recorder. I bought this many years ago thinking it would be great for those times when
I get down from a 30ft ladder and suddenly forget the measurement I made at the top.
Never used it once. I guess I'm overloaded with gadgets.

https://music-electronics-forum.com/...1&d=1582583823

[Chuck H]

Regarding carburetors...

Not as bad as people think. But they have to be designed right to be efficient. My old Ford F100 had an 8cyl 302 and a 'three on the tree' transmission (I loved that truck). I wasn't happy getting 10mi. per gallon like every other V8 truck owner. And they always complained about it. So I modified my carburetor by drilling and swedging in my own main AND accelerator pump jets. Then I cut out the drip tray and polished the ports there. I beveled the edges of the butterfly flaps in the ports. A little more port polishing on that end too. I shaved the gasket material so it wouldn't impede the atomized fuel and cause it to condense there. Then I changed the springs in my mechanical advance system and put an adjustable vacuum advance in to replace the stock one. It took months to get everything just right (I was younger ) but when I was done the truck had more power than ever and got fully 15mpg city and 15.5mpg hwy. Not making this up. I drove that truck for a decade.

I did all this because I read a report about a guy who invented a standard carburetor that was so efficient that Firestone poured money on him until he sold them the patent. After which they locked it away in a closet so that no one could use it. And now we have fuel injection so we don't need the efficient carburetor. But it CAN be done.

[Enzo]

Yep, FI is easily controlled by the car computer and blows carbs away.

[nevetslab]

I've always admired the swivel-head Snap-On Socket Wrenches, though I've never bought one. What I did find I absolutely love is the Snap-On TM67A 1/4" In-Line Ratchet head. Armed with an older Craftsman Sliding T-Handle which has a center detent. I first began using this tool when I was a bicycle mechanic back in 1968, with a Snap-on 1/4" bladed socket for installing Weinmann Brake handles onto the handlebars, when assembling new bikes. The first one wasn't a Snap-On......forget who the mfgr was, but then found Snap-On also made them.

[nevetslab]

Erem 504 Wire Strippers

While I've had this Erem 504 Wire Stripper tool in my machinist chest for decades, having bought it at C & H Sales (surplus store) out in Pasadena back in the early 80's, I never did put it to use until recently, having seen one again and pulled it out to have a look at this. After lubricating the joint, and buying some foam handles from McMaster-Carr, I've since tuned it up, and find I like it alot, though my cheap Yellow Handled Miller Tool stripper gets used alot, as does my Paladin and Ideal strippers.