Having trouble getting consistent measurements in the workshop? In this episode, Harley gives seven woodworking measuring tips to improve your projects' success.
Here at House of Hacks we do tutorials, project overviews, tool reviews and more related to making things around the home and shop. Generally this involves wood and metal working, electronics, photography and other similar things. If this sounds interesting to you, you may subscribe here.
Music under Creative Commons License By Attribution 4.0 by Kevin MacLeod at http://incompetech.com.
Intro/Exit: "Hot Swing"
Transcript
Are you having problems with consistent measurements on your projects?
Today, I have 7 woodworking measuring tips here at the House of Hacks.
If we're just meeting, I'm Harley and I believe everyone has a God-given creative spark.
Creativity involves connecting the dots in new ways.
The more dots you have, the more creative you can be.
Here at the House of Hacks, I try to show new connections and give you new dots for your own inspiration.
If this sounds interesting to you, hit the subscribe button and ring the bell notification icon and you'll be notified when new uploads are available.
The first tip is to square the ends that you're going to be measuring from.
This way, if there's any angle, it won't impact the final measurement.
Tip two is to use the same tape measure for your whole project.
This will eliminate any variation from one tape measure to the next, particularly on the ends that move.
Those holes may be slightly different from one tape to the next.
Tip number three is to use a sharp pencil.
This will help minimize any error from the mark itself, both when making the mark and also when lining it up for the cut.
And stay tuned to the end because there's actually a bonus tip at the end.
Tip number four is to use a "V" to mark your cut location rather than a straight line.
This will help reduce the amount of interpretation when lining up to make the cut.
Tip number five is to make one measurement, cut it, make your next measurement, cut it, and so forth.
This will eliminate any drift from the kerf width of the blade.
Tip number six is, if you're making multiple cuts that are the same length, use a stop block.
This way you only have to measure once, it speeds up your production and it also gives you much better consistency.
Tip number seven is to be consistent where you line up the mark with your blade.
The more variance you have in your alignment, the more variation you're going to have in your final product.
And bonus tip number eight is, if you're cutting multiple pieces that are the same length, in addition to using a stop block, if you make multiple cuts at the same time, that'll further reduce the room for error.
Thanks for joining me on this creative journey that we're on.
I'll see you in one of these videos over here that YouTube thinks you'll enjoy.
Music under Creative Commons License By Attribution 3.0.
Intro/Exit: "Hot Swing" by Kevin MacLeod at http://incompetech.com
Transcript
Do you have a crusty, frozen, broken shut-off valve that needs to be replaced?
Today at the House of Hacks, we're going to do just that.
[Intro]
Hi Makers, Builders and Do-it-yourselfers.
Harley here.
Today we're going to remove this old shut-off valve that doesn't work anymore and replace it a bright, shiny new one.
To do this should required just a few minimal tools.
First off, I've turned off the water and drained all the taps so there should be minimal water in the system.
However, there will still be a little residual water that will drain out when we cut into the pipe.
So, I have got a pile of towels to soak up any water that does come out.
We have a couple wrenches we will need.
This is a 15/16th inch open end wrench and this is a 5/8th inch open end wrench.
And we have a tubing cutter that we will use to remove the old one.
And we have our new valve.
Now these valves have compression fittings on them so they just slide on and then you tighten down the nut.
However, once a pipe has had a compression fitting on it, you don't want to put a compression fitting back on the pipe in that same location.
So on the old pipe, we are going to just cut it off since even if we did try to remove it and take off the compression fitting...
First of all it is going to be really difficult and second of all, even it we got it off, we would not be able to use that section of pipe.
So we are just going to cut it off.
It does have plastic lines going into it, so we will remove those plastic lines because those can be reused.
If you have plastic or braided lines going into the output side of the shut off valves, then those can be taken off and reused.
But if you have got hard, solid lines going in there, then again, those need to be cut off as well.
For this particular project, I will be removing the two plastic lines and then cutting off the valve from the main input line.
Put down a towel before opening up the lines to catch any water that might still be in them.
Then a 5/8" wrench loosens the connections until they can be removed by hand.
A small tubing cutter makes quick work of removing the old valve assembly.
Let the towel wick up enough water from the pipe that it won't make a mess when putting the new valve assembly on.
A cleaning brush makes sure we have a good connection to help prevent any leaks at the joint.
Put on the compression nut and then the compression ring.
Fit the valve assembly and make sure it's oriented the way that works best for your environment.
Thread the compression nut onto the valve and tighten it down.
It should be good and tight but you don't need to strong arm it.
Make sure the valves are closed and turn on the main water.
OK. That was a bit exciting.
I made sure before I turned the water on to have the valves all turned off because I have not hooked up the inputs on this yet. Or the outputs.
And I turned on the water because I wanted to make sure that this main input here was tight and did not have any leaks on it.
What I failed to do was turn off the faucet up above and it was turned on in the middle position.
So when I turned the water on, the cold water side got pressurized, went through the faucet, out the hot water side and came out through the unconnected connection.
So, lesson learned: remember, before you turn the water on, to turn off the faucet here if everything is not tightened up and buttoned up down below.
But the good news is we do not have any leaks down here.
And a good way to test that is to use a piece of tissue paper.
Tissue paper soaks up water really easily and just the tiniest drop will cause it to swell up and also change color.
So it is real obvious if there is a tiny leak, even if you can not see it or feel it, it shows up on the tissue paper real well.
And if I run this around here and get it up in the crack of that seal and run it around the top, it's completely, perfectly dry.
There is no change in it whatsoever.
So that tells me that this first connection has a good seal on it.
So let us continue with the last two connections.
OK. A lot of times plastic line on the end here has triangular shaped end on it that is designed to kind of go inside the pipe and provide a good seal on it.
This one does not though.
This one is just straight pipe and then has a compression fitting on it.
You should not really reuse compression fittings once they've been used once.
So I am going to cut this off and then use the new fitting that came with this to connect this up.
And in this case, for the other end, we have braided line, and that has a rubber seal on it, so it can just thread right back on.
And on this rubber stuff, you do not need to really torque it down.
You just need to get it snug.
And again the tissue paper test.
And everything is nice and dry.
And now we have everything connected down below and the valves turned on and we can see we have water on the cold side and water on the hot side, so everything seems to be good.
I didn't see any leaks with the tissue paper.
I like to leave it sit for a couple hours and then test again with the tissue paper because sometimes you have a little bit of seepage that you want to double check a couple hours later just to make sure that there is no leakage.
But I do not think there is going to be a problem with this.
It is rare that I have problems with this side of the plumbing.
Usually when I have leakage problems it is on drain sides, with p-traps, not on pressure sides, interestingly enough.
I am not sure why that is, but that has been my experience.
I believe everyone has a God-given creative spark and this involves making things with a mechanical or technical bent, and sometimes repairing them.
If this sounds interesting to you, I encourage you to check out the rest of the channel and see if this is something you are interested in, and if it is, go ahead and subscribe.
Click the bell notification icon and YouTube will let you know next time I have a video uploaded.
Accurate measuring in the workshop can be critical to the success of a project. In this episode of House of Hacks, Harley presents six tips on how to make more accurate measurements.
What is dielectric grease? Why should I use dielectric grease? How do I use it? Dielectric grease is something used on automotive electrical connections. It is relatively unknown and has some misinformation floating around regarding it. In this House of Hacks video, Harley talks about the what, why and how of using it.
With Tomahawk DIY, Mike is building a business dedicated to helping people Build Better Lives. A substantial portion of revenue is donated to organizations that focus on helping people build better lives in some of earth's most dire circumstances. Visit his About page to learn more about the mission of Tomahawk DIY and use this Amazon Affiliate link to help support that work: Buy Dielectric Grease.
Hey, I wonder if Harley knows his brake light is out. That could cause a real problem.
[Door slam]
Hey Harley.
Yeah.
Did you know your brake light's out?
No, I didn't know that. There's a car store right around the corner. Why don't we go get some parts.
Yeah, it's a really easy fix. I'll show you how.
Awesome. Sounds great!
[Buying parts]
Today at the House of Hacks, we're going to talk about replacing light bulbs and using dielectric grease.
[Music]
Hi Makers, Builders and Do-it-yourselfers. Harley here.
This is Mike from Tomahawk DIY and we're going to be talking about two things. One on his channel about how to replace a brake light and on my channel this videos going to be about what dielectric grease is and why you should use be using it.
In Mike's video, we put some dielectric grease in the fitting before putting in the new bulb.
In this video, I want to talk about what dielectric grease is and why we used it.
While shooting the bulb changing video, we ran into a problem that is a great example of why dielectric grease really should be used.
We'd taken the old bulb out, put the new one in and put the socket back in the tail light assembly.
When we tested it, it didn't work. After some checking, I found corrosion on the socket connectors.
Dielectric grease helps inhibit this type of corrosion.
If these had grease put on them at the factory, they wouldn't have corroded this way.
So what is dielectric grease?
It's a silicon based grease that is non-curing and non-conductive.
Coming out of the tube, it has a, well, greasy type consistency, and being non-hardening, it maintains this consistency.
It stays this way and doesn't get hard or setup.
Here I have the multi-meter here setup to measure resistance.
When I put a drop on the probes, we can see it is non-conductive until I press the probes together and they make metal-to-metal contact.
Bare metal will have a chemical reaction to the oxygen in the air, called oxidation or corrosion.
Oxidation is less conductive than the metal, causing the flow of electricity to be reduced.
If there's not much oxidation, the reduction isn't enough to cause a problem.
However, in the harsh, sometimes wet, environment of a car, oxidation can build up over time to be a problem.
At best, it will decrease voltage causing lights to dim and other devices not to work properly.
In extreme cases, it can cause increased heat as the current attempts to break through and cause plastic to melt, shorts and sparks and, in the worse case, a fire.
Dielectric grease does a couple things to help combat these problems.
First, it's an insulator and helps prevent arcing between air gapped metal.
In high-voltage situations, this can help reduce voltage leakage, like in the engine's ignition system.
But in the low voltage situation of lighting, this isn't it's primary benefit.
In normal use, any place there's air gapped terminals, the air is sufficient insulation.
It's primary benefit comes as a non-hardening sealant.
When it's liberally applied to an electrical connection, it coats the metal and surrounds the terminals.
But being squishy, it is pressed out of the way on the metal-to-metal contact points.
This creates a sealed electrical connection that prevents both air and water from getting to the metal.
Keeping the water out of the connector helps eliminate short circuits and keeping the air out limits corrosion from happening.
It also helps the plastic and rubber parts of the connectors.
The oils in the grease help minimize gassing off of the plastic's oils.
This in turn helps prevent the plastic from getting brittle.
It also lubricates rubber fittings to let them seal better but not fuse.
All these things combined make the connector easier to take apart next time the bulb needs to be replaced.
I've seen some more expensive cars with dielectric grease on fittings from the factory.
And I've heard of people who will go through their vehicle when they first get it and put grease on all the connectors.
Usually these are people who put their vehicles in unusually harsh circumstances, particularly off-road or marine environments.
Personally, I use it whenever I replace something, but I don't go out of my way to take things apart specifically to add grease to them.
But given this most recent situation, I may rethink that.
If this is your first time here at House of Hacks: Welcome, I'm glad you're here and would love to have you subscribe.
I believe everyone has a God-given creative spark.
Sometimes this manifests through making things with a mechanical or technical bent.
Through this channel I hope to inspire, educate and encourage these types of makers in their creative endeavors.
Usually this involves various physical media like wood, metal, electronics, photography and other similar materials.
If this sounds interesting to you, go ahead and subscribe and I'll see you again in the next video.
Thanks for joining me on our creative journey.
Now, go make something. Perfection's not required. Fun is!
Presenting an quick, disposable way to mix two-part epoxy.
Transcript
Hi Makers, Builders and Hackers. Harley here with a quick tip.
Whenever I'm working on a project that I need some 2-part epoxy on, it seems like I'm always scrounging in the trash for something to mix it up in. Last time I needed this I realized… I had some scrap left over from a previous project, and I realized that the bottom of cans are the perfect thing to mix 2-part epoxy in. They're real easy to… you just take a knife or some scissors and you can just run around the bottom. You're going to be throwing away… planning on throwing this away anyway so it's not like you're using something you'd otherwise be needing. It just seems like the perfect solution for mixing epoxy in. They cut off easily like that. I'm going to bring home a bunch of cans from work and have a nice little mixing tray so I can have them on hand whenever I need to mix up some epoxy.
That's it for tonight. Until next time, go make something. It doesn't have to be perfect, just have fun.
