Mechanics: what are your most common tools?

Have to say YouTube is a favorite tool. Who doesn't love cracking open a video when one needs to figure out the easiest way to replace a headlight, disable auto locking doors, install a block heater, create 240v out of two legs of 120v so you can charge faster, best ways to block a grill for engine warmth, etc - you name it.
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Except for the current $#%!@ Uber ads…

 

How many nails are there in a Prius?

 

They're everywhere, when I'm holding my hammer.

 

Or, in engineering parlance, "An inertial impact alignment device."

 

I've just recently learned that the term du jour for "septic system" is now, apparently, "onsite wastewater treatment system".

 

I've seen this "oil udder" in a few YouTube videos and finally found it on Amazon. I was going to get the smaller size but will also use it for the canisters in my Tundra and my daughter's Sienna so went with the medium size....now changing out a spin-on filter or canister is drip free! (And it has a pretty strong magnet in it that holds it to the filter very well.)
Let's see if I can get a few pictures to upload...

 

This is my slightly “value-added” window stop: cedar lathe, with finger holes at both ends for easy removal. To drill the holes neatly I start with a small-diameter through-hole, then drill partial-depth holes from both sides with Forstner bit.

 

Yours is quite elegant, but I think I would use a chopped-down broom-handle - less elegant, but simpler, n'est-ce pas?

 

May wee, lol.

 

My new favorite. I use this every day in my part time job. HUGE time saver and incredibly small and light.

 

Lest we forget the last tool of most every job. Hand cleaner. In the 1980s, there was a commercial product manufactured in a gel in a one gallon sized can/tin. Strong ammonia content. It could take India ink & open gear lube right off. There was nothing stronger. Modernly - it's lemon, orange, lanolin, cherry - walnut shell you name it.
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I've been buying this stuff:

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NCB5005

It's not always in stock at NAPA these days. If it is, it might be old. Better to have them order it.

If it is too old, it gets really runny, and then half of it schlops on the floor when you tip it up into the dispenser.

Good, effective, basic hand cleaner though.

 

More just a little organization project: I got a 120 volt forced-air heater for the garage, and it's recommended to be plugged directly into wall outlet, no power bars or extension cord. I did use it with a heavy extension, found the connection getting a little warm. I had a simple two-into-six brick covering the one convenient duplex-outlet. Got a new four-outlet power bar so I could leave one outlet free for the heater, and then one thing lead to another:



Previously I had a motley array, attached directly to the drywall.

The power box and the timer (right side) both required hidden screw heads behind. Getting those precisely located is tricky, no template available so used an old grade-school trick:



Pipe hanger strap works well for corralling excess cord. In some cases it might start creasing the cords' insulation, so I made protective sleeves out of old inner tubes.

The CTEK charger (left side) mercifully uses exposed holes, easy to fasten.

 

Three settings. The lowest on mine is kind of useless unless you're screwing into plastic. I usually keep it on 2 and use discretion on the trigger. On the mid setting, it'll still snap off a 10mm bolt head. The high setting will work for lug nuts unless they were seriously over tightened.

 

I have tons of the DeWalt stuff including the impact drivers in 3/8 and 1/2 in kind of made for automotive I also have a ratchet that looks like a ratchet that takes a battery on the end of it I think DeWalt and Milwaukee and a few others make them you know these tools are not designed by their makers they're from think tanks That's why the Bostitch nailers look just like the DeWalt and the batteries can even swap because DeWalt Townsend Maryland and Bostitch wherever they're out of bought the finish nailer design from white consolidated industries who doesn't care whose name goes on the tool design that they manufacture they manufacture the designs and sell them to DeWalt Bosch whoever that's generally how this is done with the tools That's why you don't get caught up in the yellow or black or green or red or any of that because it doesn't really have much to do with them

 

Do you mean the 14mm head of a 10mm bolt, or the 10mm head of a 6mm bolt?

 

My money's on the latter, since there's so much mental gymnastics coming up with the former. For the most part the relation between Japanese bolt head dim's and diameter at the threads is consistent? I seem to recall there are a few exceptions.

I've resisted the urge to use power wrenches, for the most part. I did snap, getting a corded impact, which so far I've only used for removal of lug nuts (install by hand). It's a safe approach, especially for DIY, where speed isn't paramount.

Addendum: to be fair, the corded impact I've got seems pretty crude, has one speed (full blast), and definitely takes a moment to spin down when you release the trigger. It works well breaking loose lug nuts with the wheels off the floor already, and would be handy for something like the bolt holding the beltless pulley on the crankshaft I'd think.

 

You're probably thinking of the differences between JIS relations and other standards. They give mostly the same head sizes for the same bolt sizes, but there are some differences. The 10mm bolt is one of those. In JIS (so, on a Toyota), it'll have a 14mm head, but in ANSI/ISO the head would be 16mm and in DIN it would be 17mm.


Bolt Depot - Metric Bolt Head, Wrench Size, and Diameter Table