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
 
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/
===========================================================
 
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/
===========================================================
 
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.
 
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
 
"Mark South" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> "Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:2insv7Fo90ktU4@uni-
> berlin.de...
> > 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
 
On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 09:57:38 +0100, "Dave Larrington" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>One can never have too many /tools/[1].
<snip>
>1 - Except garden tools, obv. Gardening is one of Stan's
>greatest creations..

My dad used to leave his garden tools out in the garden on
principle. He said it would make the neighbours think he did
a lot of gardening.

--
Dave...

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live. -
Mark Twain
 
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