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Collected from experiance and around the net here is 18 tips that work and are useful.
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that angle iron in the slip rollers is slick!
I think that This Old Tony should be doing a similar type of video......or even a series.
Tony make more content please 😭😭
Creating an adjustable slip roller design, so you dont have to cut angle iron everytime
ThisOldTony, Colin Furze, Clickspring, Wintergatan. These are a few of my favorite things.
hey there tony. this is coming at you from the states. get back in the shop and give me 20
Am I the only one that would love to see this because a regular series? Learnt so much from this video, that paper cone template is genius!
YES
Please do it colin
Do you think you might be the only one?
We were taught the cone construction at school
Agreed, a series of these would be awesome.
Rubbing alcohol gets sharpie off, and also causes hot glue to peel off in one clean chunk from even heavily textured surfaces.
Or hand sanitizer
Yup, anything alcohol based. You could probably waste your gin doing it too. I use meths (methylated spirits/denatured alcohol).
The easiest trick to get sharpie off is to use a dry-erase marker instead of another sharpie.
I half inch acetone from work. That's the best solvent for marker pens.
Tea leaf!@@DisorderedArray
If you're taking a complicated thing apart... use scrap cardboard to draw a basic template and run the screws or bolts into the cardboard. Each layer deeper... just draw another template and keep going. Nuts can go on the bolts themselves and if they're are nuts that were in studs, bits of scrap wire can secure them. All your hardware is organized and basically gives you instructions to put out back together, even years later.
Use that all the time for water pumps or carbs. Because a lot of the time the bolts are not the same length.
Double sided tape on some cardboard also works well, especially for small bits.
This is a great one thanks. I had to read it twice to get it. lol I have been laying things out taking up a whole bench but this is genius. throw the numbered stack of bolt boards in a box and come back in a month no problem!
I usually don't have problems, but that is a genius method.
Oh geez I used to tape them to papers sheets like an animal, thanks.
To find the center of mass of a piece with irregular shape and non-constant density (I was spinning up a cross-section from a large tree), you can put it on your work table and nudge it up to the edge until it’s just about to tip and mark the table-edge on the part. Rotate and repeat a few times, and the center of mass will be at the intersection point of the lines.
That's genius
That was great, i fell right to sleep after reading that
Brilliant!
Listening to engine noises? Put a long, pref hex headed screwdriver tip on the area, put your ear to the handle end.
Always used the hanging-string method for this: tape a string somewhere on the thing, then grab it at that piece of tape and let both hang. Use a pencil to mark where the string falls. Then do this again from another spot, and the center of mass is where the string lines cross.
This might be the first "hack" compilation that I have ever seen that has actually been helpful. Nice.
The only channel I actually want to see "hacks" from.
12 mins of Colin shorts, happy days! 😍😍😍
Same, not a single clip wasted
Colin inspires me.. My parents said if i get 40K followers They'd buy me a professional camera for recording..begging u guys , literally Begging...
Everyone knows it's not a real hack unless it's a "life hack!"
If your gluing to pieces of wood together, you know what happens when you tighten the clamps. The two pieces start sliding around on each other, ruining your alignment. When you apply the glue and smear it around for even coverage, sprinkle some salt on the glue. Then when you apply the clamping pressure, the sharp corners of the salt digs into the wood and will prevent it from sliding around. I learned that from John Wilson, from Charlotte, Michigan. He made and sold supplies for shaker box making. He passed away earlier this year.
I mentioned the angle iron slip roller trick on your drift trike video when you was making the steel balls. If you radius the internal edges of the angle that are in contact with your material, it won't try to rag the edge on the material as you roll. You can also weld a bit of flat bar on one end of the angle and use a small g-clamp to keep it in place or drill and bolt. Love the videos, but shame nothing blew up or caught fire in this one :)
A trick I was shown by my grandfather many moons ago to keep a drill horizontal when drilling into a wall or post, was to place a washer over the drill bit. The washer will stay in the same spot if you keep the drill horizontal. otherwise it will move towards the wall or away from it.
I like it 👍🏻.. Also, if your drilling into something and you dont want debris falling into the object your drilling, just put grease or something similar for the cut pieces to stick in to instead of falling in.
Actually a solid idea if u got nothing else to rely on or use
Do you know if it works with the perpendicular position, as in left and right?
only issue is you need to drill ever so slightly down, like sub 1 degree, otherwise the washer could be moved by the flutes couldn't it?
@@bluedrink5928 leave enough of the smooth shank section of the drill bit out of the chuck jaws and have the washer ride on the smooth section so the flutes cant affect it. ;)
To be sure that you don't cross-tread a nut, a bolt, or whatever -- turn it the wrong way until you feel a "click". You have now found the beginning of the tread and can start turning the nut/bolt/other the right way to make it screw on correctly.
Very good tip. I've seen so many ruined threads in plastic materials over the years. Don't ruin threads.
When you feel the male threads jump upward, then immediately drop, there's the beginning of the mated thread.
I do two clicks to be extra sure, especially when doing and bolts directly on an engine
@@fluffyflunk Oh yeah, I used to WRECK plastic thread before I learned this trick.
One of my favourites (that probably everyone knows) is to find the middle of something, eye ball the half way on a pair of callipers or dividers, and scratch in this distance by running it along the edge. Then do the same thing from the other side. The middle is between these two, much closer, lines. This also actually works with stuff that is a bit wiggly or has a few width changes as well as parallel stuff.
You can chose any point between the two resulting lines (though closer to middle of the two is better) and set the calipers from an edge to that point. If you then make the two marks as before then you will always get an even smaller interval containing the center. You can continues this to arbitrary precision.
The small hole saw to big hole saw thing is great but as a locksmith you encounter odd shapes from whoever installed (ususally carpenters) or something that isnt round and for that just get scrap timber and drill straight through with the size you want and clamp it in place to get perfect holes without it destroying your job 👌
When someone has kicked the door in and broken the lock ,I just fill the whole thing with Builders Bog and start again from scratch. Here's a tip scrap off the Builders Bog before it sits entirely.
For hole saws: If you drill something with them, they tend to get hot and have issues with friction (your plywood hole in the video also had this issue for example). Often that's because the chips can't get out. [Edit: Before sawing out the big hole, start by drilling] 1 or more holes on the edge of the inside of what you're making the hole in and juuuuust barely touch the actual cut of the hole saw, so the chips can fall out and not gunk up the teeth while you're enjoying holey perfection.
That's a goody that one ... works well
AND for hole sawing MDF, I put a shop vac next to the blade, also sucks out chips/dust, and no more smoking and much better inner surface.
I will add to this, if you are hole sawing heavy steel or anything that can get hot, hole saw a sponge first, stuff that sping inside the hole saw and it will hold your coolant, cutting fluid, water etc in to help keep the bit cool!
I do this when core drilling into masonry / concrete too. It lets the dust fall out, and if you drill enough holes, reduces the wear on the core drill so it lasts longer.
When using a hole saw/drill bit/putting screws/lags in wood rub them with some basic bar soap it prevents the friction and allows a better cut without the burning.
Another vote for the hole in the middle of the cable tie bag. Keeps them from falling out, but still easy to get one out when you want.
I put the hole nearer one end but yeah this trick is very useful
@@Panthera_Leo_I think middle is suitably ambiguous.
When marking stainless steel for drilling, use a centre punch sharpened with 3 facets (triangular rather than round). That give the drill something to bite into and helps prevent work hardening by the drill not cutting.
To make two straight things square to each other over large distances, use the 3, 4, 5 triangle. Example: measure 3m out from the corner to be square and mark, then 4m along the other side and it will be square if you measure a straight line between your two marks (the hypotenuse of the triangle formed) and it is 5m. Works with any measurements that have the same ratios as 3, 4, 5 ie 9, 12, 15 even imperial sizes :)
Should have read further down everything I’ve said is already here
The hole saw in a hole saw is a great way to make odd sized washers from odd materials like plastic.
I have made rubber washers this way, but by running the hole saw in reverse so it doesn't snag.
Let me know if you know of any more guys as some of these were new to me but genius. Get an exclusive Surfshark deal! Enter promo code COLIN for an extra 3 months free at surfshark.deals/colin
Hi Colin
salt and alcohol to remove oily/tarry goop -= the salt doesnt dissolve but any tarry stuff will. Even works shaking it round in something
A good safety tip: Never try and hold a piece of wood in one hand and use a chainsaw with the other, especially when on a trampoline.
If you struggle to wash your hands, use PVA glue and let it dry. Works a treat
Excellent video as usual Colin - Top job.
When coiling an extension cable, rather than making a single loop (e.g. around your hand and elbow), make a figure 8 (crossing between the hand and elbow each pass). The crossings prevent each loop from tangling with the next pass and you can unwind the coil by grabbing an end and throwing the length.
This all the way, I prefer under overing my cables but this is far easier to teach people.
my mates old man used to make us wrap the 50m 110v lead then laugh at us as one arm slowly gave up 😂 wrapping a 50m properly is an artform
Learn to chain link a cable faster easier and no tangles surely there is a utube vid of this already
@@josephovervliet3291explain!
@@Thomas-hf3dnEssential Craftsman has a good video on it
This is one I found doing jewelery, but might be useful for larger stuff. Copper wire gets... kinky over time. But if your bench vise has a smooth knob on it, you can use that and puuuull the wire across/through it, and that'll work pretty well to even it out. This works mostly for higher gauge stuff- bigger things can use the copper tube method Colin mentioned. Starting a hand-sawing cut with a hacksaw can be tricky, so put a little notch in with a file first.
Another way I learned to score for a hacksaw cut was to draw the blade against the direction the teeth 'bite'. This works pretty well with hand saws for wood too.
Wires you get 100% straight putting them in a vice or clamp on one end, in a drill chuck goes the other. Gently give a few turns et voilà!
Hm. I... I want to be like, "No, that twists it!" but that's sort of the point of this method? Urgh. Brain... hurt...@@Calligraphybooster
@@Earthenfist sorry, I forgot to mention: do this while pulling it.
Something that has helped me out in a lot of situations: If you are facing a big mess and feeling overwhelmed start by solving the bits you know or that are obvious. As you get into it, the next step often becomes obvious.
Tried it playing chess. Didn't win.
I learned that idea from my mother as an approach to cleaning. Don't clean the house, clean the bathroom. If that seems too much, maybe clean the bathroom sink and mirror. Then the toilet. Then the tub, then sweep and mop the floor, and suddenly the bathroom is clean! And once the bathroom is clean, maybe start with making the bed or putting your laundry away...
@@MonkeyJedi99this is something I always remember after I spent all day trying to do everything, then I don't feel like cleaning for a while and eventually try to clean everything. Lol. I need to hang out on the wall "just do one thing!"
Tip #1: keep lose objects (such as a tie) away from spinny things (such as an angle grinder)
Fan Tastic
how are you supposed to be safe it ya aint wearing your tie?
'loose' And yes, I've seen digits removed because of stuff like this. As nice as work gloves are, they can be very dangerous too. There's a video out there of a girl who's clothing or glove got caught in an industrial shredding machine..... Ya. I've come down off a ladder with a tool belt and a hammer hanging off (as they do), someone behind said something and as I turned to him, the hammer got caught in the ladder and sent me about 7 feet down for hurt. Just mentioning that for people so they can see that not everything meant to help, is always safe. Paying attention to your surroundings at all times, is a must.
@seriouslyconfused1 Username checks out. Use some duct tape to stick your safety tie to your safety shirt.
@@RickL_was_here Walk ways, ladders and railings that have things to snag on (fuck scaffold) and the flappy pockets on work trousers has caused me more issues than anything else on gods green earth!
If you need to cut a piece of threaded rod or a bolt, put a nut on first. The nut will fix the blemishes on the thread as you remove it after cutting. If you need to glue two pieces of plastic together and superglue does not stick to them (like polypropylene for example), hot glue is usually your best choice. Also, just so you know, Colin, if the two diagonals of a quadrilateral are the same length, that does not necessarily mean it is a square. But of course if they are not then it's definitely not a square.
for the transparant plastic (used for machine protections) u can use chloroform to glue it
@@gabb3r4lif33 Acrylic, yes, polycarbonate I'm not so sure.
Methylated Spirits (the purple stuff used to light lamps) is extremely good at getting sharpie or any other permanant marker off. It works well on other stains too and also doesnt tarnish the surface.
Adding on to the sharpie tip: because I draw maps for DND on dry erase boards, sometimes I mess up and grab the sharpie instead. If you use a dry erase marker over sharpie, it’ll treat the sharpie marks underneath as if it’s dry erase and you can wipe down with no effort using a cloth.
Its alcohol solvents
Also hand sanitizer has alcohol & woks great removing sharpie marks!
@@biga8u This sub-chat is going to save my TTRPG battlemats!
Nerd 😉I joke, as I played a lot of DND and a bit of war hammer 40k back in the day. I usually just use methylated spirits or isopropyl alcohol to get rid of sharpie marks. Works great. As first comment says, it's alcohol solvent. 👍👍
For a house hold solution that most people have, anything like lynx or a body spray works a treat on permanent markers too 👌🏻
You can also use a dry erase marker over dried sharpie to get it off.
Yep, both dry erase and sharpie pigments are suspended in alcohol. Kinda like "the hair of the dog that bit you" solution
Everything is natural solvent of itself..... Now if someone could explain, why does every work place have that one idiot that can't grasp what a dry erase marker is verses a sharpie?
Hand sanitiser also removes dry sharpie very well
If there is a nail you are trying to remove but the head broke and you cannot claw it out - Take a cordless drill, tighten it around the exposed piece of nail, and turn on the drill and turn. Also, works for screws on either side of the fastener so long as you go with the screw twist.
I'd love for Colin to do an out-take at the end of his project videos showing us the cool techniques he learned or used building the project. Just 30 seconds long - you can always find a more detailed vid, but knowing about a thing in the first place is the most valuable for me.
Straightening brake line through a hole drilled in wood and refilling an aerosol can with shop air are such great ideas, I can't believe I've never thought/heard of these before.
Using a old rubber tire valve fits nicely on the aerosol can and the air chuck.
The only thing Colin didn't mention is that if the product in the can is something that cures (e.g. paint) you should understand the mechanism of the curing before you add air to it. If it cures on contact with either air or moisture, it'll only really work if you intend to use the remains of the can straight away.
Agreed. I have a can of PB Blaster I was just about to throw out because there was no more pressure in the can, despite hearing a decent amount of liquid in there...definitely using this one.
Un-Safety tie
When stacking buckets together, you can place a piece of non-corrugated cardboard between them to prevent the vacuum from forming. When working with spray cans, you can keep the nozzle from getting clogged by spraying upside down for a few seconds. This only works if the can is not one that works upside down.
I open new bags of cable ties/zip ties like tissues boxes and pull them out like tissues. That way they won't spill everywhere.
@@aidankelley9857 i use thousands a zipties a year this WILL save allot of mess. thankyou!
I take the nozzle off and blow through it hard - you can do it without getting paint on your lips. It clears the paint and it works.
@@pepwaverley2185Just blow long enough till it runs clear. Way better to end up with a little paint you can’t use than waste the majority after one use because the nozzle and inside pipe is blocked.
@@grumpyone5963 There's going to be some funny replies to this comment, I can feel it in my water!
I hope someone sees this! I needed to drill a hole into the center of a 3/4" dowel to make an axle. So I took a piece of 2x4 and drilled a 3/4" hole about half way through, using my drill press. Then I used a smaller bit (that matched my threaded rod) in the drill press to drill the rest of the way through. This made a nice jig. Put the dowel into one side of the 2x4 jig, and then drill from the other side of the 2x4 into the dowel. And you end up with a perfectly centered, straight hole in the end of your dowel.
It's quite a feat to make a video this fast paced that still communicates every idea clearly, and where every tip is either useful, or at the very least the general concept is worth filing away in the back of your head. I appreciate this drive-by sharing of knowledge.
Additional tip for drilling level holes (only works when drilling horizontally). Put a washer on the middle of the bit before you start drilling, if you’re drilling straight the washer will stay in the middle. Drill downwards and the washer moves forwards, drill upwards and the washer moves backwards.
wouldn't the spiralling cut-out on the drill bit naturally move the washer? much like a washer on a spring.
@@rid1coza might need a drill with a clean shank
The right washer is always the hardest thing to find. :)
@@GBCobber It just has to be oversized.
@@RandStuffOfficial Let me rephrase that. The bigger washers are always the hardest to find. lol
When I was building model rockets the instructions had an awesome tip. If you need to draw a straight line on a tube use your door frame. Just hold the tube up against the inside of your door frame.
If you don't have a table saw you can buy a cheap giant board of insulation foam and use that as your sacrificial piece on the ground (or table). It hold all parts of your work material level and you don't need to worry about parts dropping. Bonus points for clamping and using a straight edge (or like another 2x4 or thicker board) as a guide for perfect large cuts.
10:34 Just to be more precise, for a square you actually have to check both diagonals are the same AND (any) 2 adjacent sides are equals. Or you may end up with just an almost square (rectangle 🙂). Thanks for the tips Colin !
Think you need to check all 4 cuz if you check 3, you could still have a trapezoid and the corner to corner would still come out to the same length
@@dexlovesgames_dlg That's why I mentioned diagonals to be checked too.
He does say it's a check for squareness, I think he just went too quick for himself and muddled it up
@@cl3m19 Having equal diagonals means it is not a parallelogram (other than a square or rectangle). 2 pairs of adjacent sides would be equal with a kite (with equal diagonals). As @dexlovesgames_dlg said, 3 out of 4 sides could be the same length with an isosceles trapezoid. You need equal diagonals and equal sides. (Or 90* diagonals and equal *half-diagonals*. Trace it out, turn it 90*, it should fit in the trace.) Squares are hard.
I'm not an old timer by any stretch. But a few things that helped me out when I first started: 1. The phrase "Measure twice, cut once." It's saved me from making mistakes by catching them early. I repeat the phrase to myself when ever the thought " That will do." or "That's good enough" enters my mind. It helps me slow down and think about the work I'm doing. It allows me to maintain a good standard of work. 2. Learning how to use the gears on my drill. I used to be an ape and just blasted everything on power setting 2 level 15. But it caused me to over-drill holes or have bits slip in the chuck. Spending a little time finding the right setting on your drill will also help prevent you from using too much power and wearing out the thread in the hole you're drilling into, giving a better fit. 3. When measuring the fit of a piece of work, use the piece of work as a guide. Since that's whats going to be used. No point spending all your time measuring lovely angles and lines with tape measures, squares, and spirit levels if the wood you're using has a slight curve or bump in it, the frame you have isn't perfectly angular or the fittings you're trying to align aren't square. The work is what you're working with so make the work work for you. 4. Let the tools do the work. Especially if you're using hand tools. Your saw will cut with a surprisingly little amount of pressure. You don't need to try push the saw blade through your material in one stroke. You also don't need to try and make your arm move at light speed. You're working, not working out. Leave the cardio session for after work. When drilling, don't need to try and push your whole drill through the material you're drilling. Those steel bits will do the job with just a bit of pressure for most materials. Too much pressure will add additional wear to the drill mechanisms. That's all I can think of for now.
Number 2 is an especially useful one for DIY dads out there. My dad always has the drill at it's top torque setting and wonders why philips screws magically convert themselves to circular slot screws. Turn the torque-out down, and go slow in first gear, it's a screw, not a nail, you don't need any force to put it in. Frankly, get a dedicated electric screwdriver if you find yourself putting that many screws in, you don't need a drill for putting in screws most of the time.
If you're using a hand saw, point your index finger straight and grip the handle with the remaining fingers: it both keeps your wrist straight and stops you making a fist, gripping the handle too tightly and tensing your forearm unnecessarily.
A saying that goes very well with the first one: "cut thrice and still too short". 😎
Except if you are drlling stainless steel. Then you do absolutely need pressure... otherwise it work hardens and you will never be able to finish the hole, except with a plasma cutter. When drilling stainless, moderate speed and lots of pressure so you are cutting a clean chip... when it is cutting nicely, keep doing exactly what you're doing till it is done, then get out immediately.
I get measuring twice... but which number do you use?
Colin is one of those few channels where I actually begin to miss the uploads. I do like the big projects, but it would be awesome to get back to slightly more regular uploads, even if the scale of the projects is reduced as part of that. In either case, I'm not complaining, I'm just happy the geezer is still here with us.
Yeah me too once a month once every month and a half is not enough calling in my life😢😢
fab tips, but more importantly I love how much fun you have 😂🤣....off to try the offset cone technique! THANKS
we need all the knowledge collin has perfect from over the years, thank you collin furze.
The sharing of knowledge freely like this is what makes the creator community so great
heck yeah, this is what youtube is all about
One which I'm surprised a lot of people don't know - When cutting with an angle grinder, don't apply force - that's what causes the disc to wear out (and it doesn't cut any faster). Use only light pressure and your cutting discs will last 10x as long. To tap holes perfectly, place the tap in the chuck of your pillar drill and turn it manually for the first few turns. Better still, make a tapping block from an aluminium chunk - drill and tap whatever holes you need, then when you need to tap a hole simply line the tap block above your hole, clamp gently and go! Perfect taps every time.
Plus with the angle grinder go along the entire length of the cut moving the grinder back and forth, as opposed to cutting thru the material and just pushing the saw through. In other words, don't use it as a circular SAW, it's a grinder, doesn't have teeth.
@@king4aday4aday Fireball Tool has a great video on this.
That video shocked me, when he's like "I pay $6 a disc and can cut 3 pieces of metal before it's ruined." @@InTheCatBoxAgain
@@heathcliffflowen4134 Yeah, money doesn't seem to be a limiting factor for Fireball... like his stuff & vids, just have noticed cost/thrift isn't on his radar.
not just with an angle grinder, almost any cutting/grinding tool, let the tool do the cutting, theres generally little to no force required beyond holding the tool in place. One of the things i got taught over and over in both lapidary and engineering XD
I used to always measure corner-to-corner for checking for square, but recently when setting up string lines for a new shed an old timer taught me the 3-4-5 method which is just a quick way of saying Pythagorean theorem. Measure 3' from the corner in one direction, 4' in the other direction, those two points should be 5' apart, adjust units for scale. This is especially great if you just want to check the squareness of one corner of a shape that may not be a square overall.
3-4-5 is used in construction every day.
Any multiple of 3-4-5 can be used for a quick check (the bigger the triangle the better really). Gotta make sure things are straight first though as that'll skew the results. Also, if you're measuring corner to corner, it's important to check the parallel dimensions are the same first! A trapezoid has equal diagonals but is not square.
@@niceguy191doesn’t even need to be multiples just do: 3/4 = a/b 3/5 = a/c Measure out “a” side (3 in the 3-4-5 method). Take that measurement and multiply it by 4 then divide by 3, and you’ll get your “b” side length (4 inthe 3-4-5 method) Now.. 3/5 = a/c You just take that same “a” value, and multiply it by 5 and divide by 3, and you’ll get your “c” value (5 in the 3-4-5) this will be the number that the point a to point b needs to measure to and if it doesn’t, then you’re not square. 👍🏼 (Anyone feel free to correct any issues here but I’m like 95% sure I got this right cuz it’s how you do percentages to… What percent of 56 is 31? 31/56 = a/100 … 31*100 =3100 … 3100/56 = 55.36 … so 55.36% … check the math: 56* 0.5536 = 31.0016, bingo.) I suppose at this point it’s easier to just do a^2 + b^2 = c^2 math. It doesn’t need to be 3,4, and 5 that just makes it quicker doesn’t it? Fuck. I matched myself into pointlessness
@@niceguy191 also any right quadrilateral could be misidentified as a square by solely using the 3-4-5 method. If you check all sides are equal though, then having one right angle ensures it's square with no need to check parallels. With regards to trapezoids, what you've said only pertains to isosceles trapezoids.
If you have a box with rounded edges, and you need to measure-up for some drilling/machining, a piece of angle-iron can be useful for marking up some inset lines to work from. I like to divide these to draw centre-lines, and work from those.
After using a can of paint with a lid, turn it upside down for a second before putting if back to the shelf. This way the tiny holes between the lid and the can are covered and the paint won't dry out.
Forgot where I saw it, but they'd go as far as _storing_ the can upside down. That way, if you don't touch the can long enough that the paint grows a skin, it'll be at the bottom when the can is turned back the right side up again.
@@rolfs2165 not a great idea as you get slow leaks everywhere. If you seal it like he suggests that'll work fine, but if you left it the pressure and some solvents will eat through it. Skins are better on top anyway as if you mix that in rather than skimming it off it leaves bitty pieces in the paint.
Best tip i was ever given for soldering two wires.. instead of trying to hold the wires together or twisting them and feeding solder in, apply solder to each wire separately (called 'tinning') then gentle heat them next to each other with the solder iron and they melt together. Much nicer and easier to do.
I always tin the wires and usually feed a bit more in but it's often not really needed. I usually find the hardest bit to be getting the helping hands holding them in just the right spot so the wires are nicely next to each other. And usually harder if the bits of wire are attached to something at the other end, which they often are. I find blue tac to often be useful to hold awkward wires in the right spot. Although it can get a bit melty if the wires get a bit too hot lol.
And don't forget to forget to put the heat shrink on first!
@@mattagnew206 the glory of this (the nasa method) is that if you forget just heat them up again pull them apart let them cool add your shrink and rejoin
@@mattagnew206That's the most important part. It makes your soldering better if ya have to do everything twice 😂😂
Yeah, but I come up from the days of the Western Union Splice where you are looking for a perfect solder joint without relying on the solder to be the electrically conducting material. The reason being? Well non-lead solders have about 10x the resistance of copper. this means that you will induce resistance into the circuit at that point. resistance turns into heat, at a point that can easily melt. so, tinned connections are only for super low amp applications or where resistance wont be an issue. Do it to a sensitive sensor for a machine or car, things wont work right. do it in a high volt/amp circuit and the joint fails.
Have a tip for when you use cable ties/ tie wraps/ zip ties… whatever you call them. After tightening them down and instead of cutting the tail off and leaving a sharp jagged end that ca scratch you. Use a pair of pliers and pinch the zip tie tail at the base and twist it around till breaks off. It will leave a clean smooth end that you wont cut your hand
Hello Colin, love the video. One thought on the square is that your tip tells people whether it has right angles rather than if it’s a square. If you were to add that the sides are all the same length, then that method would define a square. Andy.
The 'corner-to-corner' trick still passes even if the shape is a rectangle (or an isosceles trapezoid). You need to measure all four sides as well to be sure.
or you could draw a circle from the centre that touches the edges. If it touches all four edges and not just two, it's a perfect sqaure. Bonus: this method doesn't even require measuring anything, it's all geometrie.
I think he was getting at the corners being square, not the shape
@@sharbanu1 a rhomb (or diamand) also has the diagonals crossing in the middle (of each diagonal). Yet there is no 90° Angle. The word "square" can be a bit misleading for non english native speakers.
Its 'square' doesn't mean it's A square. It means it is made up of right angles. Like testing if some woodwork squares up, you test all the angles for square with your set square. So any quadrangle (quad right (or rectus) angle) is square though rarely A square.
@@mandowarrior123 The trick doesn't check that the corners are right angles, either. An isosceles trapezoid passes the test, and none of the corners are square.
For deburring drilled holes, even at odd angles, instead of using a countersink, use a ball burr meant for a die grinder. Use one slightly bigger than the hole, mount it in a handle (tap handle works well) and turn it by hand. This works great for deburring inside tubing or in tight places where you can't fit a countersink straight on.
Tapered reamer is the tool nobody has thats just perfect for this XD
Or just a larger sharp drill bit
It's not really a secret but there is a tool for deburring even weird holes and irregular shapes. It's simply called "deburring tool" (if you need a specific product for reference, an example would be "Noga Teddy Burr - TB1000" but you can just get any that are like that it doesn't matter). For regular holes on flat surfaces a countersink bit is usually better but with some stubborn materials like some plastics the deburring tool works much better. For irregular shapes it's immediately become my favorite tool when I bought it.
This is brilliant! I often find that countersinks just fold the burr over, particularly on harder materials. Plus, deburring blades can be tricky in small holes.
@@mycosys A tapered reamer or drill bit doesn't work on the inside inaccessible edge of a hole.
Similar to the sharpie one, spray paint can be re-'hydrated' by more spray paint (or rather, by the chemical accelerant in it, so spraying the second coat up real close to soak it works best) for easier cleaning (a can of clear paint is useful for this). In fact, I believe most things that are applied liquid and then dry on can be un-dried by applying whatever original substance kept it wet (water, alcohol, some other chemicals, etc).
I discovered it by accident when a can of pain let some drops go on dry paint I did earlier and leave big marks + visible primer...
here on balkan we have our own method of getting the sharpie off surfaces. step 1. go to your grandparent's in the countryside step 2. accept and eat all the food grandmother starts cooking because you visited step 3. ask your grandad where he keeps the "lozovača" step 4. fill up a small bottle from the stash step 5. return to sharpied surface step 6. dab a cloth with the holy water... erm. lozovača and remove the sharpie
tilting your ruler to get an evenly divisible number to find your half ALSO works with other divisibles! It's a great way to get perfectly even divisions of any number on a piece of any size, no matter how irregular the measurement!
This is so obvious in hindsight, I feel dumb I didn't see it
@@unoriginalname4321 That's how I felt when my buddy (a 70yo ret. contractor) showed it to me!
Same - I am going to make a new ruler that isn't for normal measuring, it just has a start mark, and end mark and a mark for half, third, quarter and fifth.
@@mikelastname Technially a ruler already has those marks.
@@strecher777 You are right, of course. But this may be the one reason why an SAE ruler is superior to a metric as the major graduations are more in line with the typical divisions needed for "human scale" carpentry, etc.
Isopropyl alcohol is the best for removing sharpie markers. I use the alcohol wipes on the sharpie labels to reuse plastic bins and bags
Any kind of high proof mixture will do. And I KNOW there shops where such liquids are very common. Isoprop is the best though, and the wipes are a wonderful premade alcohol + shop towel combo.
Covid made hand sanitizers freely available everywhere. I have used those many times to get rid of sharpie marks.
Meths works well for lots of these types of ink and is easy to get. I have seen navigators use a small tub of nail polish remover wipes to clean permanent pen off maps too.
The owner of the angle iron in the slip roller deserves a shoutout and credit Colin
Awesome tips! Love how you present them. Just straight up, no funny business, just solid to follow along.
The saw handle that you used to mark 90 degrees also had part that was a 45 degree angle. And if you don't trust whatever you used to mark 90 degrees, just flip it over and mark it from the other side. If the lines aren't exactly the same, then 90 degrees is right in the middle of the two.
The past bit is killer. I have used that trick to find out if the 90 degree mark on adjustable-angle tools is actually 90 degrees.
I have a notching technique! I’m a hobby welder and I do a lot of projects with EMT conduit, and the issue I had were breaking hole saws regularly from the skipping or binding while notching. My technique now is to drill a pilot hole with a 1/4” bit through the pipe, using one of those drill gauge blocks clamped on with a hose clamp, leaving two perfectly centered holes. Then I chuck in 1/4” round stock about 12” long into my hole saw instead of it’s drill bit, along with the hole saw the diameter of the pipe. The longer rod stock feeds through both holes and keeps the hole saw nice and perpendicular as it cuts. This really reduces the hole saw binding and snapping off hole saw teeth. Bonus tip, always operate the drill with your left hand anytime you use a hole saw. If the saw binds, something about your left hand’s grip on a drill spinning clock wise is fine, whereas using your right hand can really tweak your wrist painfully
The left Hand Trick ist neat!! I will Uwe it when in Drill anything that can bind (or i am too lazy to Walk an get my step Drill Bit)
Fantastic. First 60 seconds and it's already gold. I'm here for anything Colin uploads. Cheers
For the Sharpie one, you can also use normal rubbing alcohol, because they're alcohol based ink.
Using a white board marker also works
Make this a regular series that can all be found on a playlist divided up by project, processes, tools, etc. Would love to see all the tips and tricks surrounding each piece of equipment or end result and beginners would have the most amazing resource.
I second this.
This might be a really good use of KZhead shorts.
My early fabrication hack for notching tubing was to figure out where the centerline intersected the tube, drill a 1/4" hole on either side of the tube and replace the drill bit in the arbor with a 12" piece of 1/4" drill rod to guide the hole saw. It works surprisingly well, even at angles.
You're welcome about the slip roller tip Colin. you just tie the angle in with mig wire so you don't have cut different lengths of angle and I did send you a video of something like what I was talking about you must of missed it. keep up the good work 9:46
Fantastic TY Colin….I just hope I can remember them when needed.
Tip to prevent cross threading screw holes. Instead of sticking the screw/bolt in the hole and start tightening, unscrew the screw/bolt whole applying pressure against the bolt hole until you feel a little clunk, then tighten. This way you know that the threads are all perfectly aligned before tightening which will prevent cross threading screws/bolts and creating a nightmare to fix...
Especially good when working on plastics, means you don't chew new holes whenever you put whatever it is back together.
Works with jam jars also.
7:02 also works with coffee filters. Blow on the edge when you know they are stuck together and they just magically separate.
Thanks Colin, helpful AND entertaining! Keep em coming!
Greetings. You sir. Are definitely hands down the best shop teacher out there. Thanks for all of your wonderful content, always looking forward to your next. Best regards from a 🇨🇦 residing in 🇺🇲 Seattle, Washington State!
Sharpie (and pretty much every marker) uses an alcohol solvent which is why drawing over it works, it re-dissolves the ink so you can rub it off. BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE this also works for anything with alcohol in it like rubbing alcohol or my personal favorite, hand sanitizer!!! (Also works wonders for getting ink off of skin)
This works amazingly … until you start using the industrial (wet-dry) and scientific (high temperature resistance) sharpies. But for your "but more" … you can get 100% rubbing alcohol (which is safe to touch without gloves) online for quite a bit less than denatured/fuel ethanol and it's still usable for any sort of solvent mixing and cleaning that you'd need.
Is it a bad idea to use hand sanitizer to get the old thermal heat stuff off of an ssd or cpu instead of designated alcohol rubbing stuffs? Cause thats what I do 😂
@@weddiedon hand sanitizer (even the liquid stuff) has lotions and other stuff in it that leave a residue behind that you'd want to clean off before attaching a heatsink. Though probably doesn't matter for an SSD.
@@ex-nerd the extra ingredient in hand sanitizer is usually glycerin which is hygroscopic, something you dont really want near electrical componants
Great tips! Another one, whenever you want to screw a hook, or like a full ringscrew thing into let's say a piece of wood, use another hookscrew in your drill to make it go round.
Siphon fluid using a blow gun at the discharge end by setting the blow guns tip at about a 60 degree angle facing away from the discharge end. It's like using a hand vacuum to pull fluids. Another....say you've got wires to feed through an odd shaped pipe. Get a length longer than the pipe of Unwaxed dental floss tucked into one end, then holding the start end of floss, blow the rest into the pipe and it'll always come out the other end. Use this one all the time on retro installs for things like HDMI cables etc into previously installed conduit. Also works awesome to wire up motorcycle handlebars and hide the wires inside the bars. Same with hiding wires in the frames of bikes and motorcycles. Just drill a couple small holes. One at the start of your wiring, another where you want the wire to exit and poof.....floss threaded and it's plenty strong enough to pull a number of wires at once.
I picked up a drill guide here in Colorado, thank you Colin
Love these! Never heard the sugar tip for clean hands. An old painter trick is to rub some kind of vegetable oil on your hands to dissolve oil based dirt or paint. The vegetable oil then easily comes off with soap. No more sticking your hands in solvent!
This works great with pine tree pitch too!
It is unbelievable what dissolves in veggie oil! Once had boards covered with a thick layer of gum-like sticky glue and could not get it off with the nastiest solvents I could possibly get, neither with any mechanical shaving or abrasion. Veggie oil for 99ct per litre just did it with no problem. Overnight soak, rub it off, job done!
Salt will work as well, though it is a bit rougher on your hands.
On devices that use cables or hoses: if they get stuck and you dont want to walk over to the obstruction, instead just give it a whip. And if it doesnt move/unstuck correctly, slightly twist the cable left or right when you whip up. You can even make it hop over stuff with that. To continue with the rope tricks: cable has a natural twist in it, especially if you store it on a drum. Use the above whip trick to remove unnecessary twists. Especially useful on stiff tubes that otherwise horriby twist when winding up. I learned this from helping at stage production, the signal cables they use are very sensitive to improper twisting when winding up.
Doesn't work on a garden hose that gets caught underneath a car tyre, it's like a grappling hook and refuses to come loose unless you physically go to the tyre and ever so gently just remove the hose...each and every time i kill myself over this
Sheet metal bending recommendation, taught to me by a panel beater, for those without a bender or roller.... Put a piece of angle iron in a vice, with the V pointing down. Use a wide flat blade cold chisel along the line of the required bend. Bend in small increments along the line to get the neatest result. Takes a bit of practice to do neatly and a lot of hammer and chisel hitting, but works. To get really sharp bends, the inside of the angle iron can be ground out as necessary. Larger radius curves can be done, but takes more effort, using a piece of bar, parallel with the angle iron, instead of the cold chisel. Welding a piece of bar to the end of a cold chisel can do similar. You can even bend half to 3/4 cylinders and cones in increments using this method. You cant bend a full cone, because you can't get inside for the final bends. It's difficult to bend a channel for similar reasons.
was getting curious when the tunnel was going to continue. good to hear you haven't given up on it
When digging a tunnel under your house, make sure that the local authority have given planning permission. 😂
And if they haven't be sure not to stream your progress informing them. 😂
For drilling level holes in a wall or a piece of wood, metal etc, Just put your keys over the drill bit and let them hang. If they slip backwards or forwards you are not level, if they stay in the middle of the drill bit, you are level!
Well yeah but you could also sway left to right so to improve this method use a key ring a string and then the key ona string pointing at a cross marked on a piece of painters tape. You can position your drill bit right horizontally and vertically at the same time 👍. Or to be super precise bend a copper wire at 90⁰ angle and stick it to the wall with painters tape and use that as a guide for the key on a string.
Surely as the drill bit rotates the keys would be pushed or pulled based on the corkscrew of the drillbit?
@@tomjohnson5713 no, not at all
This will genuinely improve my life. Please keep making these
I loved the mechanical layout principle. Thanks!
if you have a whole bunch of allen wrenches laying around, and they aren't easy to read.. a) use a socket set to determine the size.. (put your allen key in the hex end of the socket to check size.) b) paint the middle handle part with spray paint, and you can ultimately color-code your allen key sizes. It's what I did at my work. All you need to do is make a color guide and keep it in the drawer. Helps you grab the right size allen key every time!
Not only is the saw handle a good set square (double check it’s square by flipping the saw over after you make the line) but the 45 degree face on the handle is also good for 45 degree mitering!
Ffs it’s a try square or engineers square
Great great tips! Loved two angle iron tips for finding center line on tube and the slip roll part!
Colin has become my absolut favourite youtuber. Seems so humble and funny and in the same time great and interesting projects! Love the energy! Continue being awesome! ❤ love from Sweden
Would love one of these on welding. It's such a core skill to making, and I've forgotten most of what I learned in high school.
I second this
Wouldn't be mad if you made this into a series Mr. Furze, incredible stuff! Thank you for sharing
This 12 minutes flew by! Loved every single tip!
Regarding the soap thing. if you have it around. Clothes washing powder or Dishwasher powder works a treat too
Congratulations to Colin for producing a tool hack video that is actually helpful. Probably the first of it's kind not like those 5 minute crafts a solution to a problem you never had. Anyway great video really enjoyed it. 👍
It's unusual to see a "hacks" video that doesn't involve using tools wrong, or using a glue gun. (or both)
The drilling of the hole was genuine genius, and I'll use it for work 😀
2:25 Ive used for cleaning my hands of grease indeed soap but also with used coffeegrid. Works excellent.
I'm amazed you figured out that old slip roller comment. I just re-read it 3yrs ago on your screw tank!. Auto correct had done a great job when trying to explain the inside/smaller diameter lol.
One thing I learned from a workshop is that if you need millimetre-accuracy, to never use a measuring tape from the metal end, because that piece moves about when the rivet starts to loosen over time. Instead, pick a mark to measure from, i.e the 10cm mark, and then just subtract that amount whenever you make a measurement. This provides greater accuracy and consistency between different measuring tapes. It's a simple trick, but it checks out!
Good tip - but worth noting that the end of a measuring tape is supposed to be loose, to account for when you measure with the end hooked over something or abutting it
The end of the measuring tape is supposed to move for inside vs outside measurements (it moves the width of the blade). But they can wear and get out of square. The latter can be fixed carefully with pliers. Edit: jinx. Apparently I just needed to refresh the comments to see that this point had just been made.
I use this but be warned, if you don’t remember to allow you’ll be cursed with the sneaky 100.
Yep, I did this a lot. I'd measure from the end of the tape and then double-check from the 100mm mark.
And if you need to subtract a specific dimension from a length you're gonna mark (lets say you need to subtract 243mm from 1060mm), instead of calculating the reminder, just put the subtractable (243) on the edge of the piece and put a mark at 1060mm.
I like the compressor in the can trick to get the last bit of paint or WD40. I usually just stand on the side of the can to squash it and make the internal volume smaller. Works with deodorant and squirty cream too.
I thought he was gonna heat the can.
Love the pipe hack , I’m a mechanic and hate untidy copper brake pipes. Have straightening tool but not that brilliant. Thanks for sharing Colin
One I picked up not long ago,if your trying to find the centre of a circle roughly is to sit a hole saw upside down on it and use the centre part of the holes saw as a guide for your texta works pretty good
To drill a straight hole through a wall, if your bit is long enough it has a smooth spot with no helix, you can hang an eye bolt on it, and if it moves towards the wall, you’re angling downward, and if it is moving towards the drill, you’re angling up. Then you just have to make sure you’re square side to side.
Pouring from a full plastic can into a hole (windshield washer fluid or motor oil): Start with the hole on the top and pour it over the handle. So while in action you have leaned the can backwards. Much less spillage and easier to aim after a few tries.
Bruh! This is awesome content! This should become a regular thing on your channel. Keep on crowdsourcing them magic skills and post a clip like this every so often! I'm sure, I've got quite a lot of these in my repertoir but they feel so obvious to me, that I can't even think of one worth mentioning LOL Anyway, thanks for all your inspiring videos! Don't ever stop!
another tip: when you are tapping by hand, use a jacobs drill chuck that's not attached to the drill as a tapping handle. This will allow the tap to spin before it breaks.