Random Cool Tricks

No video, but yesterday, I saw a guy riding an electric unicycle. Tres kewl!

 

Spring again at the beach and the wasps and bees are back. The pressure treated lumber slows the bees, but they occasionally find a spot they can chew into. It's funny that I have .40 caliber bees here and we have .45 caliber bees at the range. This permanently seals their hole and encourages them to move along. Just have to choose an appropriate caliber case for their perfectly round holes.

 

We call them "Forty Caliber Bees" here too! I find using .22 rat shot shells on them is great fun. "Skeet that dodges!"

 

Kinda makes ya wonder what they're treating the wood with these days ,,, sugar water ??

 

That porch is more than 20 years old and they've only been able to bore into that one board. It's under the roofing that we added later and may not be treated lumber. I'd never have noticed the bee if I didn't sit out there so often.

The wood at the range is near forty years old, and might not ever have been treated. The bees have been steadily boring holes in it for a decade. They only like ceiling beams under larger covered porches.

I prefer to shoo the bee and block their hole than trap and kill them.

 

We noticed the bees at our outdoor range when we kept noticing fine yellowish dust sprinkling down on us as we were shooting. The dust smelled of honey. "Bee Piss" we called it!

 

Okay, just let the clutch out really easy and don't accelerate too fast....

 

Hey if it gets you back to the house it ain't stupid! In my younger days I've had to afro-engineer something many times to limp back to the shop.

 

Once returning ftom a miltistate roadtrip, my KLR650 chain had shed a bunch of rollers and was slowly eating my sprockets! Every stop I would apply more chain lube, and kept my speed down. Made it home. Luckily I already had a spare new chain and sprockets ready.
After that I always carried a spare chain on long trips.

 

I never had an issue with a chain, but I blew up a differential on a 1970 something Toyota Corolla so thoroughly that it had that weak of a link with the spider gears. We were way up in the Northern Training Area of Okinawa, far above Nago. I had to shift from first to reverse a bunch of times, letting the clutch out each time to "feel" the gears mesh. Once I got it I could ease into a roll and then try to do a 1-3-5 shift to build speed. If I had to slow down I kept the car in gear and under load and just applied brakes. I hit the bus lane and even the sidewalk if necessary to keep the car rolling. Too much gas or the slightest lift of the throttle and it sounded like I'd run over a cinder block. We made it home, and I welded that rear differential up solid, which was a whole different adventure.

 

Ahh yes, the 'ol Lincoln Posi.

 

It was great fun! Used about a fist full of welding rods. I eventually snapped an axle, which made it even more interesting. If I was on the slightest incline I couldn't do anything but spin the one wheel, and if I had traction the whole car would twist when I applied or released throttle. I just about bounced off the side of a bus testing this. I really made people nervous at traffic lights when I'd let the clutch out and just sit behind them with the tire squealing.

 

I used to wear one of those biker wallets with the chain hanging ,,, I had a master link holding the chain to the eyelet of the wallet ,,, actually had to use that link one day ,, luckily,, the chain came off at a low speed ,, it could have been disastrous.

 

We were delivering a big boat from Big bear /Lake California to Los Vegas and we took 2 trucks because the boss wanted to water-ski while there . At about midnight we were about 12 miles from Whisky Peets and the right front inner wheel bearing went out on the 4wheel drive ford I was in, so we all pulled off the road and took it apart . As mechanics, we don't go anywhere without our tools.
I took a section of my leather belt and we wrapped it in place of the missing rollers and greased it up as best we could and reassembled it and went on to Whisky Petes and I stayed there with the truck and my boss finished the delivery and got the new parts and we rebuilt the wheel and went on home.
From that time on I have worn over size belts in the event it is required again.
I learned this trick from an oldtimer that went across the desert in a model T and a connecting rod started knocking, they stopped every so often and dropped the oil pan and took bacon rind and wrapped the loose rod and reassembled and went another 10 or more miles and did it again, and again and got home that way.

Another valued tool in my work is learning to listen to the machinery and determine what if any bearing is beginning to fail.
This had saved my bosses thousands $ and many hours of lost downtime plus doing a more thorough job on machinery repairs.
Sometimes I use a stethoscope but sometimes in a particularly noisy environment having to wear hearing protection I rested my arm on the running machines listening through my muscle and bones and could determine the failing bearing. the more you do it the easier it gets, especially if you can visualize the insides.

 

cool camera trick