Thread: Things you like because they break....

Originally Posted by GadgetGeek

So my question to my friends here, what do you like, even as a side, once and a while hobby, to rip apart and make better?

Tattoo machines. Once they're good I leave well enough alone though.

Originally Posted by GadgetGeek

So my question to my friends here, what do you like, even as a side, once and a while hobby, to rip apart and make better?

Other people's faces.

It is a dark side of my nature (says my wife) that i like to put (mechanical) things into pieces just to see how they work and if i can make them better.

Nowadays i can satisfy this need at work. I work with engines, hydraulic & electric pumps and motors. There's always something to tune up, to service or to repair.
When home, i still every now and then work with veteran car & motorcycle engines, repair old furnitures or just repair & fix this house i built about 10 years ago.

Originally Posted by blockhead

Put in a 400HP V8 and you have one hell of a sleeper.

Originally Posted by Sailor

It is a dark side of my nature (says my wife) that i like to put (mechanical) things into pieces just to see how they work and if i can make them better.

I do that too. How else would you know how to fix it when it breaks?

One of the more satisfying fixes I've done lately - the vacuum. Didn't tinker with the mechanics, but by breaking it down and clearing out some hidden dust bunnies it went from a "air horn that barely cleaned the carpets" to a functional vacuum that didn't make my ears bleed.

Usually tinkering with anything remotely technical only results in frustration and unnamed scrap parts.

Originally Posted by Hydaral

Put in a 400HP V8 and you have one hell of a sleeper.

Nah, that is part of what I dig about older vehicles. It seems to be more gratifying to tweak a bit of power from an old Y-Block or flathead from the 40's or 50's. This little 292 has just the right balance for me.

Originally Posted by BingoBango

One of the more satisfying fixes I've done lately - the vacuum. Didn't tinker with the mechanics, but by breaking it down and clearing out some hidden dust bunnies it went from a "air horn that barely cleaned the carpets" to a functional vacuum that didn't make my ears bleed.

Usually tinkering with anything remotely technical only results in frustration and unnamed scrap parts.

My brother has a vacum sales and repair shop and I learned how to work on them to help him out. The most important thing to do is to remove the roller brushes and clean out the hair, lint, and thread from the brushes and bearings on each end. It will run better and last much longer.
Most of the problems I have seen with them is either people try to pick up pennies and the like. They break the wings off the plastic fan on the motor and then it looses power. Also straight pins and bobby pins will stick in the fan wings and pick up dust and plug it up.
Just a little info.
I love to fix and make almost anything. The more complicated the better. I have built from scratch a, small metal lathe, wood lathe, belt grinder, sheet metal brake, and many other things in my shop.
It is the second greatest joy in my life. Second only to the LOML

I subscribe to Red Green's adage, "If it ain't broke, you're not trying hard enough." Actually I try my hand at everything, you know the consummate tinkerer. I can do most of the trades and really dislike hiring anything done. I like to invent things or make stuff out of weird things. My wife says I'm in "MacGyver mode". I guess it's the engineer in me. I have a full blown furniture/cabinet shop. But the love of my life is my 1952 Ford 8N tractor. It runs like a top and looks like new but at nearly 60 years old I can always find something to fix on it.



Pelkey