the gallery of fail

GeorgeC

GeorgeC

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GeorgeC
I hate it when I find things that are just... wrong.

Last spring, I found a tee to nowhere in my vacuum system, where one leg of the tee was terminated with this. I finally cracked it open today and found that it was filled with rubber cement:
fail.jpg
 
MauleSkinner said:
I wish I had pictures of the pistons from the IO-360 that somebody tried to balance by arc welding into the back of the pistons and then drilling.
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Yeah, but did it fail?
(Just realized this can be the gallery of jank too cuz @GeorgeC never actually said his find ever failed).
 
I wish I had taken more photos of this setup.

The guy who built my airplane (Fisher Celebrity) was a skilled woodworker but his metalworking and mechanical skills were a little subpar. He utilized a Yamaha motorcycle oil cooler on the Lyc O-235, and plumbed it with rigid copper lines running through the top of the baffling, above the cylinders.

This was the stack of adapters near the accessory drive housing at the back of the engine. At the front, he had a tapered seat fitting soldered to the tubing, where the correct metric hydraulic fitting would have relied on an o-ring seal. Apparently the union wouldn't stop leaking no matter how much he reefed on the nut, so the whole thing was encased in a sarcophagus of teflon tape.

It looked like a cracked line and an engine fire waiting to happen, so I got the correct JIC adapters and made a simple pair of aeroquip hoses, slipped them through fire sleeve, and secured them behind the intake tubes on the bottom of the cylinders.

I love the freedom afforded by Experimentals, but some of the design choices I've seen builders make have been downright scary.


IMG_7805.jpegIMG_7809.jpeg
 
My first car had a major overhaul one year and 47 or so miles before I bought it. Now, I don't think that I am Alfred Einstein (Albert's slightly less bright and far less known brother), but that suggested the mechanic flubbed something up. Turns out that the factory gaskets between the twin carburetors and the intake manifold are no longer available. So, "Bubba" made a pair. Two very rough squares for the air passage and four holes for the bolts . . . and the equalization passages . . . the ones that permit atmospheric air to balance the vacuum in the carb piston and allow that piston to rise as the throttle is opened . . . were 100% blocked off by the "new" gaskets.

I made two gaskets, with all the holes, and that car has served me quite well.
 
This thread helped me to remember to cut 2 pieces of aluminum while I was at the hangar this morning.
When I moved into the hangar I bought a 4’ long piece of 1x1” Aluminum angle to make 2 soft jaws for my vice. Saved the extra under the workbench.
I found it this morning and cut 2 more pieces for my home vice. Been wanting to do this for a year or more.
Yeah I know that that’s a pos vice. Forgive me.

IMG_5376.jpeg
 
Dan Thomas said:
How many POAers own any vise?
Five here, I think, though I haven't gotten my shop unpacked after the move. Two are small hobby vices, two more mid-size (one was Dad's and probably Grandpa's), and a newer 6" import, which is the beefiest of the bunch.
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5 inch made in Taiwan vise bought out of the back of a semi trailer in 1978ish. That was before Regan made China our new best friend. Also bought a drill press (still use) and bench grinder (died).
 
Dan Thomas said:
How many POAers own any vise?

I have one like yours. Works fine. I also have others, all of them cheap imports. One of them, a 6" Jet, has served me well for nearly 50 years.
Click to expand...

I have four that I can think of off the top of my head. Five is I count the one for rifle cleaning.

I really need to make a vice for carpentry/woodworking.
 
brcase said:
I have the slight cheaper version, works well for what I do. Mostly need to mount it to a heavier/more secure bench.

Brian
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I hate to buy cheap tools, we all do.
But sometimes it happens. In my case it is a case of convenience like the vice in my picture above. I needed it one day and I was in a hurry so bought because it was there.
I do have several other vices at work and in my race shop that are Wilton and they are good ones. Do I need a hi dollar vice at home? Not so much now since I cut back on how much mechanical repair I do because I spend more time at the hangar now.
One of the better deals on a vice was from home depot imo for the hangar. Same deal I needed it in a hurry and home depot was around the corner. It’s OK and lot’s better than the blue one above.image.jpg
 
Dan Thomas said:
How many POAers own any vise?

I have one like yours. Works fine. I also have others, all of them cheap imports. One of them, a 6" Jet, has served me well for nearly 50 years.
Click to expand...
I believe Jet has always been imported but in my mind I always thought they were OK and better than other imports?
Back in the late 80s I bought some equipment (drill press, press, porta power, belt/disc sander and more from HF. It was when they were mail order before they had any stores around here.
It has served me well and I feel they are a couple notches better than today’s imports.
Here’s my 80s press, I used it over the weekend.image.jpg
 
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Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
5 inch made in Taiwan vise bought out of the back of a semi trailer in 1978ish. That was before Regan made China our new best friend. Also bought a drill press (still use) and bench grinder (died).
Click to expand...
I think most of my 80s imported tools came from Taiwan back then? IMO better made than the china stuff now?
 
Gary Ward said:
I believe Jet has always been imported but in my mind I always thought they were OK and better than other imports?
Click to expand...
The older Jet products made in Taiwan were considered better than current mainland China production. But they're still better than average for cheap Chinese tools, so I'm told. I have an older Jet mill/drill that I bought used which has served me well for the past 15 years or so... though it was probably made by Rong Fu for Jet. And at least 8 vises of various sorts...
 
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