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Common Shop Tools Explained

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Member
DRILL PRESS :
A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and
flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.

WIRE WHEEL :
Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and
hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, "Oh, shit!"

SKILL SAW :
A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

PLIERS:
Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER :
An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW :
One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle... It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable
motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS :
Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer
intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH:
Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel
hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race.

TABLE SAW :
A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood
projectiles for testing wall integrity.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK :
Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have
installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the
bumper.

BAND SAW:
A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the
trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST :
tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER :
Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT (Flathead) SCREWDRIVER :
A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.

PRY BAR :
A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER :
A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER :
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.

UTILITY KNIFE :
Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.

Son of a bitch TOOL :
Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling "Son of a bitch at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.
 
Great list.
you forgot your favorite chisel which your wife finds and thinks is also used to open paint cans and used as a flat blade screwdriver.
 
I can also add the drill press is also good for grabbing the steel bar out of the clamp and spinning it into your wrist, which in turn causes said wrist to bend backwards beyond anything God intended only to hear a SNAP!
 
I can also add the drill press is also good for grabbing the steel bar out of the clamp and spinning it into your wrist....


25 years ago when working on military aircraft I went to install a small wiring harness and one of the terminal end eyelet's was too small for the required bolt. Rather than replace the eyelet I thought it would be easier just to slightly enlarge the existing one using a drill press. I brought the 5' long harness over to the metal shop and asked my buddy to enlarge the eyelet with their drill press.

I think most of you can see where this is going.....

.... the spinning drill bit caught the eyelet and started rapidly flinging the 5' harness around in circles. What a mess. I was un-injured, but my buddy took the brunt of the damage as the harness pelted him repeatedly across his mid-section/back. By the time the press was stopped the harness had cut him up pretty bad... picture "the passion of the christ" and JC on the cross being beaten with a whip. The harness ended up catching on his t-shirt and pulled him into the machine. What a freakin' nightmare.

Since this incident it has only happened to me a few more times with much less consequence. I'd like to think that I'm smart enough to not repeat my mistakes, but who am I kidding.
 
"daveSanborn" said:
Since this incident it has only happened to me a few more times with much less consequence. I'd like to think that I'm smart enough to not repeat my mistakes, but who am I kidding.

Wait are you telling me that you are not perfect, that you are in fact a human being. Oh man what a letdown. :sad Well at least Pat sighed up to the Fix today so not all is lost. :ecit





j/k


fd
 
A few years ago I was using my drill press to make a bracket. I knew enough to clamp it down but it was a Z shape and a little flimsy. As I tried to drill a hole in it, the part began to vibrate. With my left index finger I steadied the part. Just then the drill bit caught as it broke thru. My finger was caught in the twisting metal (imagine Chinese finger torture) the part wrapped repeatedly around my finger creating what the doctor later called a "compression amputation". I knew it was bad as I finally pulled free. I just held the stump and laid down on the garage floor because I felt faint. I laid there until the dizziness went away and tried to convince myself that it wasn't as bad as I thought. I went to the sink and looked, it was worse than I thought. I was alone, my wife and kids were at the in laws. I knew I couldn't just go to the hospital because my wife is the type to blow things way out of perportion and if she called and I wasn't home she would freak. Also I couldn't just call her as she would freak. I was 40 miles away. I held my finger tight and drove 40 miles in intense pain to my in laws. I walked in and instantly told my wife to come with me to the Emergency room. She said I was white as a sheet and asked what was wrong. I told her I would tell her when we got there. Once there I showed her and she about fainted. I sat in the emergency room for what seemed like forever. I finally begged a nurse for something to numb the pain. She took me back to a spot and said someone would come to clean the wound. When he arrived I said you aren't touching me until I get some drugs! He left and came back with the doc, she said she would have come sooner if she knew how bad it was but thought it was just a cut. She stuck a needle in the hamburger left on the bone and I felt relief. The guy cleaned it up and later she came back to stitch me up. I had cleaned up the drill press and brought the parts I could find. As she was sewing my finger back together the shot began to wear off and she could see I was in pain again. She gave me another shot and finished up. It was a long time healing but the nail grew back and most of the flesh lived because it was all still kinda connected, just ground up. My left finger is much smaller than my right now and has some numbness but for the most part undetectable. Anyway, I'm much more carefull with my drill press now!
 
Lucky your finger was spared. I spent many years working in a machine shop building tooling with a wise old guy named Neil. He used to get on the young newbies for wearing their wedding rings in the shop. His favorite thing to drive home the point was to show the missing ring finger on his left hand. He got it caught in the spindle of a Bridgeport mill, and pulled it right out of the knuckle.
 
I spend I a lot of time around machines and I don't wear any jewelry, watch, ring, etc. Long story short, my wife always complained that I never wore my ring so I tatooed our wedding date on my ring finger.
 
My first introduction to shop tools was my first year in college: a drill press. Well, I had very long hair, and as I was leaning over to inspect what was going on, the hair got caught in the drill press. Ooops! I stopped the press just as a hank of hair came out. Fortunately, it was small, and I did recover. Ever since then, I'm very anal about working around tools. AZPete gives me grief for not using air ratchets and stuff, but I much prefer hand tools to air tools because of my being a scardy-cat around electrical and air tools.
 
"Midlife" said:
My first introduction to shop tools was my first year in college: a drill press. Well, I had very long hair, and as I was leaning over to inspect what was going on, the hair got caught in the drill press. Ooops! I stopped the press just as a hank of hair came out. Fortunately, it was small, and I did recover. Ever since then, I'm very anal about working around tools. AZPete gives me grief for not using air ratchets and stuff, but I much prefer hand tools to air tools because of my being a scardy-cat around electrical and air tools.

Maybe a few brain cells removed but I see no evidence of said hair loss......as for the tools, there is no long hair I know of so I think he is waiting for someone else to buy them.......
 
Rings are no joke. A few months ago I was yanked off the scaffolding by my hod carrier. I don't know how I managed but when I was going down I went between the planks and the cross braces(maybe a foot gap) and landed on the next level down. I felt the frame grab my ring and I was yanking and felt like I was going to rip my finger off. I am a slow learner though. I still wear the ring.

Watches suck too when you are welding. I am always getting hot slag between the watch and my wrist.
 
I quit wearing my ring 2 years after I got married. It only took one time getting caught to make me and Deb realize it was a bad idea. 20 years later, I still don't wear it.
 
"silverblueBP" said:
I quit wearing my ring 2 years after I got married. It only took one time getting caught to make me and Deb realize it was a bad idea. 20 years later, I still don't wear it.

But now you have to wear the nose ring so that Deb can lead you around!
 
"Midlife" said:
But now you have to wear the nose ring so that Deb can lead you around!


Do see any marks or remains of what could be conscrewed as a "nose ring"? I thought knot!


PTshirt.jpg
 
"daveSanborn" said:
Since this incident it has only happened to me a few more times with much less consequence. I'd like to think that I'm smart enough to not repeat my mistakes, but who am I kidding.
And you're still allowed to play with power tools??? I'm glad I'm out on the west coast, hopefully out of the blast zone!! :lol
 
"silverblueBP" said:
I quit wearing my ring 2 years after I got married. It only took one time getting caught to make me and Deb realize it was a bad idea. 20 years later, I still don't wear it.

She keeps leaving hers on my nightstand.
 
While I was reading your response, I felt someone looking over my shoulder.........you just got cut off sucker!


:lol :lol
 
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