ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Things you wish were made

As for your "pilot" an old plug from a previous hole sorta works ... if you hold your mouth right.
Say you have a 1" hole and you want a 2" hole. Take your 1" hole saw, drill half way through some thick stock, from both sides. Save the plug.
Stick this in your 2" hole saw as your pilot and go after the 1" hole. It may wobble a bit until the saw bites but it works.
I had to do this to redrill a cabinet base once.
I assume if you actually had a real tool that was a better fit it would work better.

Hi John,

Going back to my days in the 'circus' tent poles where pulled with a lever.

Picture a 6'- 7' bar with a 18" T shaped leg attached to it about 18" from one end.

The large side of the T rests against the dirt and a short section of rope was wrapped around the pole and the short end of the lever. A tent pole being about 3' would come out enough in one shot, a ground rod may take more.

That said the workers where happy to see me come over with a front end loader to just yank em out.

How's it going down there?

Come on over the house I'll show you how it's done.

I did not say it was fast.

Bob you got me thinking about the ground rod puller. If you had a hardened steel washer doodad like the one on a screen door closer piston that holds the door open you could use it to grab the rod. Then a short piece of chain or cable to your lever (stick of RMC) and off you go. Pull up and when you let the lever down the grabber would slide down the pipe for another grab. Two or three times and you would have it.

Quick, call the patent office!

There's something I've needed at least three times in the last few years, and I've had to build it myself every time. A simple plug-in relay module.

Picture something like an X-10 appliance module, but with two screw terminals. Short the terminals, and the internal relay closes and energizes whatever load is plugged in.

The module contains an internal class-2 power source, so nearly anything can be connected connected to the low-voltage, low-current terminals: a magnetic reed switch, a float switch, a pendant switch, a floor mat switch, whatever.

Bonus points for having selectable normally-open or normally-closed control.

It seems like something that every hardware store would carry, but AFAIK, it just doesn't exist.

Ryobi is doing a good job on the interchangeable battery scene with their 18V products. I suspect they are very 'consumer grade' though.

For the pilot device.... I will drill the hole size I want in a piece of scrap material and affix it over the existing hole. (This also works good if you've broken the pilot bit.) Another cheat I use is with a knockout punch set. You can get 3/4" and 1" conduit dies that fit the 3/8" draw stud. Gives you lots of flexibility if you are starting with a 7/8" (1/2" conduit)hole.

Interchangable truck bodies is almost a reality. The local phone and power utilities are using more and more camper shells on pickups instead of outfitting vans.

How 'bout a ring bender and a little heat treatment?

Oh, GND rod romoval... While in the military, we had special rods that came in sections that threaded together, and a slide hammer that threaded on to them. "So you put it down, now pull it back up, and put it over there Lance Coolie!" I would imagine if just add the threads to any rod, you could do the same. But having pulled up more rods than I can think off - WHY? It's in, leave it there.

And I love the modular truck idea, but it would never happen. They want you to but whole brand new ones. And it seems like I would always have my work portion to put back on every monday morning.....

Creighton see the LV relay thread, I know ecactly what you're looking for, so am I!

Anyway, one more thing for the list:

A PDA or Labtop add-on O-scope. (Cheap!)

Reno ,
As to redrilling a larger hole with the holesaw, Gfretwell is on the right track. I use a similar method except I cut the larger hole in a scrap piece of wood and save the outer part with the new hole in it. I use brads or a clamp to secure this new template in place and use it as a guide for the holesaw. The holesaw can't jump out of this new guide.
HLCbuild

I log on to ECN this Sunday, and find all sorts of helpful advice for my "holey work!"

Thanks, guys!

CTwireman,
in England we have a vast selection of vans and trucks to choose from,
i personally drive an Iveco Daily 2.3litre turbo charged Hi Pressure Diesel van with a top speed of over 100MPH !!
fuel consumption is very good i get about 270 miles from one tank of fuel (approx 50 litres) carrying capacity of 1.9 ton, the van is rated at 3.5 ton and is a very long (6.8m) and is about 2.7m high.
the Iveco is made in Italy and is one of the best selling vans in the UK at the moment.

most of my staff use small utility vans made by Ford Motor Co or our old favorite the Transit also made by Ford.

what types of utility vans do you have in the US.

one thing i am going to invest in in the next year or two is a bucket truck, its getting expensive to keep on hiring them in when we need em.

Britspark
www.iveco.co.uk