The Best Tool You Own

[riser4]

I am trying to avoid perforating the wall. It's in a hallway. Right now it's behind a bookcase. However, in 4-5 years the kids will all be in college and we will be considering a downsize move. The easiest is to install one of those plastic access panels. And put the bookcase back over it. Then I can rig up whatever spacer I want. As well as having access for any future repairs. The master 3/4 bath now has an access panel in one wall of the vanity alcove due to access issues for repairs. This house sucks. Repairs are one thing. Repairing someone else's kludge sucks balls because it usually all falls apart once you touch it.

[riser4]

In my mind the thing I want looks like a C clamp but has the turning handle inside the C.

[EWG]

In my mind the thing I want looks like a C clamp but has the turning handle inside the C.

Well maybe you could rig something like that with a jaw turnbuckle, but I don't think that's the best answer. However, to each McGuyver his own.

[MontuckyFried]

I have a new favorite:
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Produc...enches/2767-20


Been wrenching on my cars a lot lately and this beast has cut down my working time SIGNIFICANTLY. Removes decades old, corroded bolts like a hot knife through butter. It's unbelievable the torque this thing has. HIGHLY recommended. After having no luck using a breaker bar, then a buddies pneumatic impact wrench, I sucked it up and bought the Milwaukee. Now I use it pretty much every chance I can. It's pretty much a cheat code for working on your car.

[El Chupacabra]

I need a spreader device. It will be one use, so it has to be cheaper than ripping a wall apart and repairing the sheetrock. It needs to be about an inch long and I need to be able to operate it by touch blind up inside a wall. It has to stay in place once expanded. It is replacing a piece of wood. The fucknuts who installed the tub for the previous owner well over 20 years ago did mega kludges. The faucet valve is not mounted to anything. When I was pushing and pulling to replace the valve core, it knocked loose a piece of wood. They probably figured friction would be constant over time. That piece of wood was pushing the pipe away from the shower wall so that the faucet was snug. Now there's a big gap. Fuckers. I can't find the piece of wood, it fell in there somewhere. I am able to get my arm up in the wall through the ceiling of the bathroom directly below it. When they did some "remodeling" they ripped the ceiling apart and put a hanging ceiling in the downstairs bathroom. I don't really have the patience to keep cutting pieces of wood until I find the right size. It's an educated guess that the previous shim was wood based on the sound it made when it fell down. FML.

You said it needs to be about an inch long -- can it be longer? And how wide of a gap do you need to fill?

Could you knock a wedge in place? Something like this, or even a doorstop? (smear glue on the outside to help hold in place?)

https://www.zoro.com/precision-brand...xoCNFMQAvD_BwE

[riser4]

You said it needs to be about an inch long -- can it be longer? And how wide of a gap do you need to fill?

Could you knock a wedge in place? Something like this, or even a doorstop? (smear glue on the outside to help hold in place?)

https://www.zoro.com/precision-brand...xoCNFMQAvD_BwE

The space I estimate around an inch. Doorstop is a good idea, thanks, even if just to use to measure the actual thiccness, because I can't see it. Not sure about adhesive, it's going between copper pipe and the back of a one piece shower-tub that is fiberglass/gelcoat. I will probably put it on a string to the nearby stud if nothing else so it doesn't get lost when it falls out. I guess this went from a tool question to something that belongs in the home repair thread.

[house]

Riser- maybe something like this could work? I searched “mini scissor jack” and see a variety of things like this.

YaeTek 4" x 4" 100mm Stainless Steel Lab Scissor Jack Stand Platform LAB Lift Laboratory Jack Rack Lifter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BXHY3MM..._0pmkEb5TBSCZZ

My first attempt would be to use some wood shims. Attach a two strips of half-inch plywood to one of the shims parallel to the copper pipe, straddling the pipe so it won’t move. Put the other shim between the shower and the shim/pipe, and slide it until it’s snug.

[abraham]

Something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Anytime-Tools.../dp/B075QQ424Z

[jackattack]

[Core Shot]

Somebody here should be able to guess why this still a favorite of mine
Attachment 302612

That is a great idea. Put a wrench on the tails of your wrench for max clampage

[Core Shot]

Attachment 302624

+

Attachment 302625

I used my makita cordless drill to drive my LEM Sausage Stuffer the other day. Pretty impressed with the results.

I hate screw drive or kitchenaid stuffers.
Old school manual plunger is faster to fill and to stuff.
Unless you have some weird crazy thick chunky shit, maybe

This is closest I could find to what have had for generations
https://www.lemproducts.com/product/...usage-stuffers

[Danno]

this might be my favorite tool

[iceman]

We have that same one. it would be a lot better if I could somehow teach my wife how you clean the accumulated coffee out of the grinding chute thingie or I could remember to clean it out at night because she gets up earlier than me and every few weeks it won't work because it's clogged and I have to drag my ass out of bed at the crack of dawn to clean it. It's not like it's complicated or hard to do, she's just convinced herself she can't do it. But other than that it's good.

[bodywhomper]

my less fancy cuisinart coffee maker stopped working a few weeks ago. no water was dripping. I disassembled the thing and started messing around with my multimeter. I found (and learned about) the thermal fuse, which was toast. i bought a fuse (less than $1) and soldered it in place using the soldering iron recommended by iceman several pages back (THANKS! - twas a b-day gift a few months ago). wham bam, got a functional drop coffee maker again. are thermal fuses part of planned obsolescence?

[Thaleia]

Clean / inspect the water reservoir regularly. I had one too, best coffee maker I ever had. Loved waking up to the sound of the grinder going in the morning.

I guess this goes for all coffee machines..

Eventually noticed my coffee was tasting off. When I started feeling ill after drinking coffee out of it I found a couple of dead spiders and curl-up (pill?) bugs had gotten trapped and died in the reservoir.

Steeped bug coffee is not recommended.

[bodywhomper]

Run vinegar through it occasionally to clean the system

[old goat]

A coffee maker is not a tool. Man up.

[Rideski]

Best 6 or 8 pound splitting maul at the semi disposable $50 price point?

[hawkgt]

Best 6 or 8 pound splitting maul at the semi disposable $50 price point?

dude, breaking man code. you dont ask for tool advice on and open forum. you bs in the garage over beers, see what your neighbor has and buy one juuuuust a bit better.

[Rideski]

A neighborhood mami wants me to bust a stump out of the ground asap and greeted me to talk about it wearing no bra.

[hawkgt]

how long it take you to get the stump out?

[Rideski]

That’s what the maul is for. If you have better ideas I’ve got beer.

[hawkgt]

serious. dig around stump to expose roots, chainsaw root, move to next. chain and truck.

ask for cold beer delivery on reg from said mami. eye breaks are important

[Rideski]

Chainsaw e dirt es no bueno

[hawkgt]

mall works (looks like a good one) but i consider a new chain for the saw after a sunk cost in any stump.

edit: sat night covid tool talk!