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Tamworthbay

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Talk to me about car creepers - as I don't have a nice flat garage floor just a knobbly tarmac road, is there any point in treating myself. or am I doomed to a life of sliding on the ground to get under cars ? Any recommends, dudes ?

 few scraps of lino or carpet maybe...saves ripping your clothes etc

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Halfords used to do a set of two polyurethane foam pads, a small one for kneeling and a large one for lying on; I never use the small one except as a cushion to land heavy things on but the bigun is used regularly as the drive is gravel and nothing rolls on wheels.

 

A bit like this.

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Talk to me about car creepers - as I don't have a nice flat garage floor just a knobbly tarmac road, is there any point in treating myself. or am I doomed to a life of sliding on the ground to get under cars ? Any recommends, dudes ?

I use a cheap Lidl one on my Tarmac drive. Works fine and can convert to a seat. Only got it fairly recently and its something I wish I got way sooner.

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My Mrs bought me one years ago which rolled really well on my block paved drive which wasn't ideal as it was steeply sloped.  It did come in handy for rolling the engine out from under my VW camper.  Now somewhat battered and bent with 1/3 of the wheels missing I still use it most weeks at work where the ground is hard(ish) and level(ish).  It even survived being run over by a 4.5T Transit minibus with the bonus that it is now so knackered that if I moved back to the house with the sloping drive it might not make unscheduled descents at inopportune moments.

 

Edit,  I've just remembered why I used to hate it so much.  I used to have long hair,  the combination was not good as I would often run over my flowing locks resulting in painful gymnastics to kick the infernal device out from between me and my hair while under a car which is even more fun when you suddenly start heading off downhill.

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I’ve got a set of those - They are pricey but bloody lovely - yet to use them in anger mind so not sure whether they’re really worth it if money is tight.

 

For the best compromise, look out for a good used set on eBay, they come up from time to time.

 

Their screwdrivers are awesome too!

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Another tentative shout for Wera. I needed a 1/4" drive socket set that wasn't mentally overpriced like Snap On is these days or had foul mentally oversized grips on the ratchet handles. Wera make a very sweet little 1/4" drive ratchet with a very slim handle - you know, because you tend to be using small stuff because access is limited - that comes in a really nice soft pouch instead of the usual Xmas cracker quality plastic box. Ratchet, couple of extensions, 5-13mm sockets and some other driver bits for about £60. Recommended.

 

Machine mart are selling them: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/wera-8100-sa-8-28pc-zyklop-metal-switch-ratche/

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.

As recently discussed on the Bikeshite thread < here > and Blackboilersuit's recommendation, I'm looking to aluminium (HTS-2000) braze the cooling fins on one of my old bike engines. 

Accordingly I'm looking to buy a decent (high temp / map ) torch.   Very soon I'll also have to face the plumbing on my boat (and I hate plumbing !) so I'll need a torch for soldering pipe connections too.  It's always useful to have a localised flame for undoing seized bolts, to seal ends of polypropylene rope, to light the fire, etc ..and I've also wondered about gas soldering electrical connections ..where getting electric extension leads etc out is just such a pita.  So I was thinking of getting the Vortex map torch package with its three interchangeable heads / nozzle sizes

Tool-station is not on my list of favourite stores - but they do seem to offer the best price (£61) for the torch < here > and for the map gas (£11.32).  However the torch is out of stock ..and perhaps will be more expensive as n' when new stock comes in.  So two questions - 1. Are these torches any good ?  and 2. aside from ebay can anyone suggest a least expensive (with p&p) place to buy from ?   

Thanks, Bfg

EDIT : Ok I've just found it at CPC for just under £60 and their gas is (£9.59) so that's cheaper too, and they have free delivery on orders over £8.  It seems a lot of money for a blow torch but if it'll last and be reliable then I'm prepared to pay that for a useful tool.   But is it any good  ?(I have read criticism that teh interchangeable nozzle fitting is a bit iffy). 

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  • 1 month later...

.

Someone suggested a company called  CJ Auto's  re.  car lifts  for the home garage.  I was also told their stuff is well engineered, so I looked at their website and was impressed with their 3-in-1 Tilting car lift. < here >   NB. I'd use acro type rests under each end to prevent unwanted rocking as I fought with stubborn fastenings.  And as it's on wheels then I'm told the car can be moved around for more working space around one side.  Car lift and mobile cradle in one - neat.  And most likely it could be used to simply tilt the car on one side.

It would seem to be handy for lifting under the car and even along a Citroen punt chassis, or other marque's backbone chassis, rather than under crusty cills (..in British English should that be sill ?).  True with VAT it's close to £500 but in the big / long term picture,  and seeing how it might ease and also quicken so many tasks of restoration and maintenance - it seems a reasonable price if well engineered. Has anyone here used one ?  ..and can give feedback.

Thanks, Bfg

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 3/9/2019 at 5:46 AM, JimH said:

Oh and car creepers.

Really, don't bother. The number of times they are actually useful/helpful is somewhere close to zero. The rest of the time they just take up space.

^  I'd second that.    .. I use an offcut of carpet.   Mind you I don't even have a tarmac drive now.   But when I had one  ..and a creeper,  I found that even two inches off the ground meant the underside of the car was too close to do anything with. Then tools would get lost under it, and if I had an lead light then its wire would get under the wheels.  nah, not worth the bother imo. 

Big difference in cost  ..but a tool for life,  is a sodding great trolley jack which will lift your car 2ft off the ground.  The high lift types have their wheels further apart and of course have a longer wheelbase .. so offer an overall more stable platform.   It's still wise to use stands or blocks to avoid it coming down on you though.

But otherwise an end-of-roll offcut of the padded vinyl kitchen flooring would work well - because it's easier to slide on your back on,  and also easy to wipe clean of oil or other leaks.  Choose a plain whitish colour so you can more easily find your tools, and also the washer you just dropped. A  light colour also reflects daylight to under the car.  

That's it .. well for tuppence what did you expect ?

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On 3/10/2019 at 12:29 PM, Bfg said:

re. Blowtorch

....  I'm looking to buy a decent (high temp / map ) torch.   Very soon I'll also have to face the plumbing on my boat (and I hate plumbing !) so I'll need a torch for soldering pipe connections too.  It's always useful to have a localised flame for undoing seized bolts, to seal ends of polypropylene rope, to light the fire, etc ..and I've also wondered about gas soldering electrical connections ..where getting electric extension leads etc out is just such a pita.  So I was thinking of getting the Vortex map torch package with its three interchangeable heads / nozzle sizes   

Thanks, Bfg

EDIT : Ok I've just found it at CPC for just under £60 and their gas is (£9.59) so that's cheaper too, and they have free delivery on orders over £8.  It seems a lot of money for a blow torch but if it'll last and be reliable then I'm prepared to pay that for a useful tool.   But is it any good  ?(I have read criticism that teh interchangeable nozzle fitting is a bit iffy). 

Just to say I've used this blowtorch a couple of times now, and am well pleased with it. 

Of the three nozzles ; I used the small one a week or so ago for re-soldering a fuel line on one of my old motorcycles. The small flame was easy to focus on the job, and the heat was brilliant..   I used the torch again today with its general purpose nozzle to free off a piston seized onto a gudgeon pin.   Man does that Mapp-gas burn hot fast.  I reckon it'll work out much cheaper than propane because it takes just a fraction of the time to heat anything up.   NB. I have not had a problem with overheating what I'm working on.  Perhaps that's because I now have a choice of nozzle according to the job, whereas before hand it was one broad flame to do everything.  There is a screw on / closing off valve which enables a less intense flame to be used too. 

However,  or WARNING if you like the nozzles interchange via plugging into plastic bayonet fittings. It's super quick to change but.. I've read feedback to say they are also easy to snap.  As a result I am very careful not to force the bayonet or to knock the blow torch over (when not in use).  I also remove the nozzles when I put it away, and found a soft plastic pipe cap to fit over the hole in the top of the torch, when the nozzle is removed. just to keep crud out.  The canisters are really heavy compared to disposable propane types, which for  me is not good environmentally, but it is pretty stable because of it..      

Bfg

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A little late to the Wera party, but another vote from me. I’ve got some of their Kraftform screwdrivers, some of the small diddy ones for electronics, PCs etc and a couple of their VDE drivers - used to have a set but somebody wandered off with some from my desk at work. Gits.

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  • 3 months later...

Is this still the tool thread? (Something funky going on with the topic name it seems...)

Anyhoo, I took delivery of a new nut buster yesterday. Happened to spot this in the Amazon warehouse deals for cheaps. 1300 Nm of bolt snappin', nut manglin' ferocity... if I ever manage to source an air source that can keep up with its appetite, that is!

3/4" drive. AAA battery for scale. It weighs a ton, so I'm expecting a joyous experience of pulled wrists and cracked knuckles.

 

1243045449_DSC_07922sm.thumb.jpg.91b055716e3adb31af71b10974f2b8bb.jpg

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