Tools and late night bike maintenance



Helen Deborah Vecht <[email protected]> wrote:
....
| A five-minute job is a description ONLY ever made in retropect.

It's actually the truth, most times, but refers only to elapsed
progressive time. Wallclock time includes all the mistakes, dead-ends,
going to the loo just as your hands are at their muckiest, searches
for parts and tools that have been moved by forces unknown, and all
the getting back to square 1 malarkey, and is reckoned in hours if not
days.

| Hope you get some decent cablecutters.

I use thin-nosed pliers so I can unmash the steel spiral afterwards.

--
Patrick Herring, Sheffield, UK
http://www.anweald.co.uk
 
Al C-F wrote:
>
> Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great peace of mind.

So desu Al-sensei.

Tony
 
billlee wrote:
> I did not think my life complete without a Dremel. I find no use for it
> except cutting bike cables.

The other use is having one to look at with that inner contentment that owning
such tools brings

Tony
 
Patrick Herring wrote:

>> A five-minute job is a description ONLY ever made in retropect.

> It's actually the truth, most times, but refers only to elapsed
> progressive time. Wallclock time includes all the mistakes, dead-ends,
> going to the loo just as your hands are at their muckiest, searches
> for parts and tools that have been moved by forces unknown, and all
> the getting back to square 1 malarkey, and is reckoned in hours if not
> days.

My rule of thumb used to be double it and go up one unit. So, for a five
minute job, allow ten hours.

Recently I have adopted a more accurate factor by moving to the FFF
system[1], so for a 250 microfortnight job allow 2.5 millifortnights[2]. I
usually manage to finish within this timescale. Usually.

[1] Furlong / Firkin / Fortnight
[2] Conversions at
<url:http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/chemistry/general/units_en.html>

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Victory is ours! Down with Eric the Half A Brain!
 
Sandy Morton wrote:
>> Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great peace of mind
> Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great piece of mind

Heh!

I'm surprise the PP did not post in the form:

late night assembly
of japanese bicycle
requires peace of mind


--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Victory is ours! Down with Eric the Half A Brain!
 
On 8/6/04 11:04 pm, in article [email protected], "chris
French" <[email protected]> wrote:

> I've been experimenting to see what the optimum number is for the number
> of the same tool you need to own before you can be sure of finding one
> of them when you want one.
>
> For tape measures it seems to be about 8 at the moment, though for head
> torches, 3 seems to be sufficient. For garden trowels I suspect the
> number is infinite though.

Screwdrivers are a case in point. I must have at least 20 with additional
bits for the socket type. Can I find the right size when I want one?

I'm sorely tempted to get another set of small ones...

Ring spanners are the other thing where I only have one of each size.

Sockets are fine. I picked up a 50+ piece britool set for a tenner in a
closing down sale so have everything from about 10mm to 40mm in imperial and
metric (and the plug spanner sizes too). Shame I can barely lift the box
they are in ;-(

...d
 
"Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> billlee wrote:
> > I did not think my life complete without a Dremel. I find no use for it
> > except cutting bike cables.
>
> The other use is having one to look at with that inner contentment that owning
> such tools brings

If you like such tools then the weak, fragile, low-quality, built-to-price,
heavily-hyped Dremel is unlikely to give much of the glow of inner contentment.
--
"I would recommend Iowa or North
Dakota for your dip into reality."
- Ed Dolan in alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
 
Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
>
> [1] Furlong / Firkin / Fortnight
> [2] Conversions at
> <url:http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/chemistry/general/units_en.html>

[1] I like the microcentury unit - about 50 minutes; a useful length of time
[2] Interesting. It tells me that one acre is 1.209600e+06 seconds
 
Colin Blackburn wrote:

> You can never have too many hammers. I know the same is said of bikes
> but it is even more true for hammers.

One can never have too many /tools/[1]. Why did I buy that bench drill,
when all it does is glare at me from the top of the fridge every time I go
get another BEER? Why do I have an illogical urge to buy an angle grinder
every time I set foot in B&Q? And why do I continue to want a set of cone
spanners even when I /know/ I'd never use them?

My name is Mr Larrington and I'm a tooloholic.

1 - Except garden tools, obv. Gardening is one of Stan's greatest
creations..

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================
 
Sandy Morton wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Al C-F <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great peace of mind
>
> Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great piece of mind

Assembly of Japanese bicycle require BIG hammer.

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================
 
Dave Larrington wrote:
>
> One can never have too many /tools/[1]. Why did I buy that bench drill,
> when all it does is glare at me from the top of the fridge every time I go
> get another BEER? Why do I have an illogical urge to buy an angle grinder
> every time I set foot in B&Q? And why do I continue to want a set of cone
> spanners even when I /know/ I'd never use them?
>

You can never have too many tools. You never know when you might have to fix
a fridge magnet back on the door when you get that beer. Be prepared ;-)

Tony
 
"Mark South" <[email protected]> wrote:
>If you like such tools then the weak, fragile, low-quality, built-to-price,
>heavily-hyped Dremel is unlikely to give much of the glow of inner contentment.

OK, is there a *good* rotary multitool that one can obtain at retail in
the UK?

m.
--
Martin Read - my opinions are my own. share them if you wish.
 
David Martin <[email protected]> wrote:
( I started to mentally count my hammers and kind of lost the plot
) at around a good eight or so (from teeny tack hammers to 14 pound sledge
( hammers).

And then there are the five or so different weights
of axes with wedge-driving faces on them. I don't
think I've ever wielded one of those in the presence
of a bicycle, though.

I wouldn't be without my dad's semi-infinite collection
of razor-sharp taps and dies, complete with home-made
stainless steel tap and die wrenches with turned and
hand-polished perspex handles. The thing that makes a
tool /essential/ is not that you ever need to use is,
but that it gives you a warm feeling to handle it.

I do use his bolt-cutters, though only to cut cables
(and fencing wire) rather than bolts. They're evil.
 
On Tue, 08 Jun 2004 21:11:15 +0100, David Martin
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Love to try blacksmithing at some point. Looks like the right
> application of
> brute force and skill combined with chemistry and lots of fire ;-)

Yep! Well worth doing an introductory course even if you take it no
further. It can be cutting, upsetting, wrenching and twisting but it'll be
fun hammering and punching.

Colin
 
On 9/6/04 11:19 am, in article [email protected], "Geraint
Jones" <[email protected]> wrote:

> I wouldn't be without my dad's semi-infinite collection
> of razor-sharp taps and dies,

I realised the difference between my family and others the day after I had
been attempting (age 12 or so) to sdjust the rear derraileur on the bike and
stripped the thread. I looked in the shed, found a die for the next size of
nut down, found an appropriate nut, cut a new thread and half an hour later
(or about 0.75 microcenturies) had everything working again.

Virtually none of my friends could actually comprehend what I had done, let
alone believe that I could do it, and were even more confused as to why I
had done it when I lived next door to a bike shop.

(got a few axes as well.. useful for all sorts of things. And a good range
of kitchen knives that are kept appropriately sharp. Must put a decent edge
back on the axes.. I used to be able to use them for whittling.)

...d
 
in message <[email protected]>, Geraint Jones
('[email protected]') wrote:

> David Martin <[email protected]> wrote:
> ( I started to mentally count my hammers and kind of lost
> the plot
> ) at around a good eight or so (from teeny tack hammers to 14 pound
> sledge
> ( hammers).
>
> And then there are the five or so different weights
> of axes with wedge-driving faces on them. I don't
> think I've ever wielded one of those in the presence
> of a bicycle, though.

I have. Indeed I do almost every Thursday, clearing fallen tree-trunks
off the old track we're re-opening.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; IE 3 is dead, but Netscape 4 still shambles about the earth,
;; wreaking a horrific vengeance upon the living
;; anonymous
 
"Mark South" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> "Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > billlee wrote:
> > > I did not think my life complete without a Dremel. I find no use for it
> > > except cutting bike cables.
> >
> > The other use is having one to look at with that inner contentment that owning
> > such tools brings
>
> If you like such tools then the weak, fragile, low-quality, built-to-price,
> heavily-hyped Dremel is unlikely to give much of the glow of inner contentment.

What alternative do you suggest?
 
"Michael Green" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Mark South" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > "Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > > billlee wrote:
> > > > I did not think my life complete without a Dremel. I find no use for it
> > > > except cutting bike cables.
> > >
> > > The other use is having one to look at with that inner contentment that
owning
> > > such tools brings
> >
> > If you like such tools then the weak, fragile, low-quality, built-to-price,
> > heavily-hyped Dremel is unlikely to give much of the glow of inner
contentment.
>
> What alternative do you suggest?

Think how the owner of one of these tols must look down on someone who takes
pride in their Dremel: www.foredom.com

--
"Do stairs, stairs, and more stairs,
wherever you can find them."
- Jim Roberts in rec.backcountry
 
Mark South wrote:
>
> Think how the owner of one of these tols must look down on someone who takes
> pride in their Dremel: www.foredom.com

Gimme, gimme, gimme, lust

Tony ;-)
 
"Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Mark South wrote:
> >
> > Think how the owner of one of these tools must look down on someone who
takes
> > pride in their Dremel: www.foredom.com
>
> Gimme, gimme, gimme, lust

Yeah, I rather like the 1/3 horsepower model....

Phone them up - but check other sites first, several US retailers sell them
cheaper than the manufacturer does.
--
"I would recommend Iowa or North
Dakota for your dip into reality."
- Ed Dolan in alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
 
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