Justjim75 said:
pooper scooper
parking lot striping equipment
The first one has got to be better than better than a plastic bag and feeling the poop through the plastic. Plus I think dog owners hate homeless people. Take that E36 M3 ( literally ) home and put it in your trash! Plus in the summertime those trash cans STINK like an open sewer! Homeless people haters. 
Lately I've been seeing road crews using some kind of roll of tape for lane striping. I think it's just the temporary stuff tho'. Looks cool nonetheless. 
68TR250 said:
Painting crap, brushes I end use them for cleaning parts. Rollers and pans, no use at all for that stuff. Chain saws scare the bejusus out of me.
Chain saws kinda scare the crap out of me but don't. We always went to a lumber yard and took home tons of trash pieces and cut and split them ourselves when I was young.
Having your hands inches from a saw has a strange way of being wildly unpleasant but just getting the job done nonetheless.
ShawnG
PowerDork
11/13/19 10:57 p.m.
I've never been afraid of a tool.
I do have a healthy respect for all of them.
Vigo said:
I love tools, just need more space for them.
A lot of people here have mentioned lawnmowers. To add fuel to that fire i relate to you all the tale of that time my mom ran a pushmower over a flint rock that shot lots of pointy bits out the back and basically cut one of her legs most of the way off. All the bones, most of the tendons/ligaments. The last foot or so was held on by skin. "Near-amputation". She didn't walk again for about 6 months.
But now she dances for fun, so start breathing again!
This awful situation is exactly why modern push mowers have much longer handles (to keep your legs and feet further from the blade) and that big, thick piece of rubber that drags behind it (to reduce the energy of any flying chunks).
I want to own all of them. Like literally, I never borrow or rent a tool if I can afford to buy it. I think that is my true hobby, collecting tools. Everything else is just an excuse to buy more of them.
Using them is another story.
Top of the list at the moment is probably the macerator pump for draining the black tank on the RV, but only because I've used it recently. By tomorrow it will be some other tool at the top.
Much like the guy retiring from the Merchant Marine, leaving the ship with an oar over his shoulder. Buddy says "What's that for?"
I'm walking inland, first time someone stops me and asks what it is, I'm putting down roots.
Love to push this thing out of my life.
In reply to 914Driver :
Weren’t you talking about moving to New Mexico a while back? You won’t need one there.
Keith Tanner said:
Now I want a cell disruptor.
You're in luck! https://ebay.us/UuZiqc now that I see what those sell for (cell for?), giving it away to a friend seems like an over reaction.
In reply to karplus2 :
Come to Lockport, IL. All clay. PHD suck.
Vigo
MegaDork
11/14/19 10:26 a.m.
This awful situation is exactly why modern push mowers have much longer handles (to keep your legs and feet further from the blade) and that big, thick piece of rubber that drags behind it (to reduce the energy of any flying chunks).
This happened in about 1993 and the rubber piece was present. But, anything that will go straight through your leg will go even straighter through a few millimeters of rubber (not in that order, of course...). Sharp edges were the biggest issue there. Bad luck, yes, but i think it's also true that most people either have no idea or are in complete denial about how dangerous it is to operate a lawnmower, especially if the grass is tall enough that you can't see every inch of the ground in front of it.
Anyways, I once lost a thumbnail to a spring compressor. It grew back in about a year. There was a blood spray (mine) on the side of my Caravan that I left there for a while as a reminder.
Honestly, i fear heavy objects i have to lift more than heavy objects that might fall. The prior have proven to be much more likely in the long run to reduce my quality of life. It's a lot easier to avoid things you know you can't survive even once than it is to avoid doing things that might have indeterminate consequences in some unknown time span from now. I always try to tell my (young) students "you're stuck with this body for 60 more years, remember that".
Keith Tanner said:
Honestly, a 3D printer. They always seem to be 2 years away from being perfect, and the rest of time you're spending your 3D printing time 3D printing parts to make your 3D printer work better.
At least, that's been my experience.
BTW, I mentioned this to my wife and apparently talked myself out of my Christmas present :)
Keith Tanner said:
Keith Tanner said:
Honestly, a 3D printer. They always seem to be 2 years away from being perfect, and the rest of time you're spending your 3D printing time 3D printing parts to make your 3D printer work better.
At least, that's been my experience.
BTW, I mentioned this to my wife and apparently talked myself out of my Christmas present :)
I have a Anycubic Predator. It has 400-500 hours on it without a problem. I have printed nothing for it and modified nothing on it. It just works. The people having problems seem to be the ones wanting to run them at maximum speed which causes errors in the print. Then they complain about print quality and part failures. Just slow the machine down and give it time to do the job. I run mine about 3/4 throttle and it has done everything I've asked it to. All the spare parts I bought with the machine are sitting in a box, unused. I think for some people the printer is the hobby, not the tool.
spitfirebill said:
In reply to 914Driver :
Weren’t you talking about moving to New Mexico a while back? You won’t need one there.
Yep, still want to. SWMBO keeps asking what to do with her mother? The Home! C'ya.
Vigo said:
Honestly, i fear heavy objects i have to lift more than heavy objects that might fall. The prior have proven to be much more likely in the long run to reduce my quality of life. It's a lot easier to avoid things you know you can't survive even once than it is to avoid doing things that might have indeterminate consequences in some unknown time span from now. I always try to tell my (young) students "you're stuck with this body for 60 more years, remember that".
Agree 100%. At work we regularly roll around really awkward weldments that weigh up to a few thousand pounds. As long as you respect the potential for failure in the overhead cranes, hooks, magnets, etc. there isn't much reason to be scared. Within a couple weeks time, three of us got injured lifting stuff the old fashioned way. Only one of those injuries happened at work, but it was a pretty mean shoulder strain. He's been on light duty for eight weeks now, going to PT and doctor's appointments the whole time.
The tool I hate owning/using is the tile saw. Partly because it's a piece of E36 M3 and partly because it guarantees the next day grouting will be even worse.
I also hate my sawzall. Hate it.
Bent-Valve said:
dculberson said:
I once bought a lot of state surplus that came with an interesting device labeled "Branson Sonifier Ultrasonic Cell Disruptor." My friend Jim was helping me unload and check the stuff out, and we were both curious about it, so we plugged it in and turned it on. At first nothing seemed to happen, and then what can only be described as a sensation on par with the "Pain Box" from Dune erupted in the back of both of our heads. It was like a steel spike was being forced into the very center of our brains. Jim fumbled for the power switch for a bit and I finally lunged out and unplugged the thing. We took a few minute's break to recover. When we got back to it, we noticed that the "Output Control" (power level) was on 2. Of 10. We never spoke of the device again, and I gave it to a friend of mine that had a fondness for old laboratory equipment. That's a tool I never want to own again.
An example of the device in question, but not the one I owned:
I think that's even the style of probe it had attached to it. One might question the wisdom of turning on a device labeled "CELL DISRUPTOR 200," but again I've never claimed to be smart. Just curious.
WT...Heck? I thought you were kidding when I started reading.
The fact you plugged it up and tried it has my respect. It also makes me question your sanity.
IDK what's the normal use for such a machine, but i googled the model number and read the user manual. allow me to quote:
User manual says:
6.2.5 Disrupting Tissues and Solids You can effectively homogenize or disrupt many kinds of tissue and other solids.
Has anyone mentioned this one yet?
In reply to TopNoodles :
Even worse is needing but not owning one!
dculberson said:
In reply to TopNoodles :
Even worse is needing but not owning one!
sometimes you gotta go old-school and straighten out a wire coat hanger. i guess we were kinda poor, because we had a turd hanger in the bathroom when i was little. didn't get a plunger until i was about 10.
In reply to Toyman01 :
Probably not the place or time, but I have a question. Where do you get the files to print? Do you model them yourself, or download premade? I'd love to be able to make little brackets or trim pieces for the car/motorcycle, or even stuff for 1:24 or hot wheels customization... getting started seems pretty daunting.
In reply to AngryCorvair :
Yeah, and then they tell you how long - a few seconds usually depending on what tissue it is. berkeley!
It reminds me of Uncle Rico's time machine in Napoleon Dynamite for some reason.
ebelements said:
In reply to Toyman01 :
Probably not the place or time, but I have a question. Where do you get the files to print? Do you model them yourself, or download premade? I'd love to be able to make little brackets or trim pieces for the car/motorcycle, or even stuff for 1:24 or hot wheels customization... getting started seems pretty daunting.
I had a weird idea last year for valve cover racing. I figured out this thing that would allow an axle to remain centered in a hole - essentially an almost frictionless axle. I drew up the 3D file of what I wanted and gave it to a local print shop that has an older printer. I was amazed at how accurate the product was. I had precision placement of magnets and it was spot on. The valve cover was attached to the part that was repelled by the magnets around the axle.
I spent the new few weeks trying to figure it out. I could have made it work, but it would have been rather expensive and I didn't give a E36 M3 about valve cover racing that much. Fun project though and I learned new things!
Its better to have the tool and not need it than to need the tool and not have it.
A Ford 3v spark plug removal tool.
Either your day just got E36 M3ty because you have to use it or you are expecting it to get E36 M3ty because you own one.
In reply to ebelements :
Many of them I have designed myself using Fusion 360.
From there, there are a bunch of sites with printable files.
Thingiverse.com is probably one of the biggest.
Cults3d.com is another large one.
Grabcad.com has an enormous repository of cad files for products. If it's a 3d file, it can usually be printed or incorporated into your own design.
A Google search will come up with a lot of sites with 3D files. Some of them print well, some don't. My last print was a couple of planters for the porch. The design I used was actually a pencil holder from Thingiverse. I modified it to suit my needs and printed it at 400% scale. Presto, it's a planter. Printed in a stone filament, it looks pretty decent.
/threadjack
