The tool used most infrequently, that has no substitute in my collection is that damn weird special wrench for unscrewing the hose fittings from a faucet fixture under a countertop. I’ve used mine on two projects in my entire life, but it is absolutely essential to changing a faucet.
I just started a maintenance job about a month ago, and I had never seen that tool before but have now used it 4 times and I completely agree with you, it's like the ONLY thing that works for that situation.
My dad calls it a basin wrench, not sure if that’s the proper name. I kept one around for years in my service truck because they are priceless when you need it.
Actually had to go buy one of those in the middle of swapping out a faucet. Used it twice, has a dedicated place on the pegboard, and it's one of the few things I always know the exact location of
Some things everyone should always know if they have a workshop: -where is the fuse panel (and can you get to it safely when the power and light is off) -where is the fire extinguisher (and does it have a charge) -what are the exits in case of an emergency (for when the thing that should not emit fire or smoke, is) I think the best organization advice I got from this channel was not to put anything behind anything else (if you can't see it, you will forget about it). The fact you found those unused bits so fast was an apt demonstration of it being in the right spot I think.
6:57 The fact that Adam first thinks of a trimmer is actually an interesting answer. For all the tools in that quasi-organized space, delving into the depths of the unexpected and rarely used, you would expect an answer like "Oh, it's this left handed spangler spitfire screwdriver" or something strange that 90% of people may never have heard of. However, such a mundane answer to such a broad question in a shop filled with tools that I'm certain 90% of people wouldn't know about? That's interesting in a unique way, and thus isn't a bad or uninteresting answer.
Another one was Knipex soft jaw pliers. I searched high and low in Australia for a set so I could dismantle my microscope stage gear for re-greasing. Finally found them but when I applied the pressure it was like I had put tubes of toothpaste between the jaws of ordinary pliers. The rubber was so soft it just squished sideways and spat out the gear. Had to masking tape the rubbers to stop the flex. I could have masking taped a normal set of pliers if I wanted to do that 🤨
Maybe something wrong with them, they also get copied a lot in Asia. Believe they are hands down the best pliers! Quality is insanely. I have been to there production and bought couple of them. I Study in the city they are made called Wuppertal in Germany. Everybody loves them.
When describing the use of a key to tie two rotating parts together, they are sometimes used as a shear pin to serve as a “mechanical fuse” between parts to more safely dissipate energy.
You need to be careful when using keys as "shear pins". If a key shears in-between a shaft and a hub it can do a significant amount of damage to both the shaft and the hub. I was involved with the shearing of the woodruff keys in every cargo valve on a tanker. As I recall it was nearly 100 valves. The shear area of the keys was too small for the torque imposed by the hydraulic actuators acting against the hydraulic pressure on the valve disks. Damage was done to both the valve shafts and the actuators. In some cases the actuators had to be jacked off the valves. In some the valves and actuators had to be removed from the ship so they could be rebuilt. The result was that high tensile steel keys had to be fitted. Bob
I am so happy I got to see you being happy and yourself for a brief glimpse! Mythbusters is pivotal to who I am and how I think, so to see you way down the road just being great is wholesome as ****. Cheers, thank you for sharing!
This is something I do to recall where I dropped things, mind you I often forget to do it. When you drop a thing, your brain goes "We don't need that anymore" and your brain essentially deletes that file which is why you can't find it. So when you put a thing down, point to it and mentally say "It's there!" So your brain can sort of take a picture of where it is and file the memory so you can find it later.
Thank you for talking about organizing, finding tooling, and setting things down in random spots! I have problems with this, and at least I'm not alone :)
I literally just saw a video where someone used a bit that was a combination drill/tap/countersink. Not two days ago. Can’t remember who it was. Alec steele, maybe. Now I will have to go back and check.
I was making a part for my lawnmower, because the original part from Husqvarna is made of sintered parmesan. This required cutting a keyway. What I ended up doing was using the lathe as a shaper and running the ways back and forth 100,000 times taking taking like a tenth off each go until I had bulldozed a proper keyway.
I adopted adam's 'put it where you would look for it if you needed it right now', and although my bench looks messier, it is so much easier to work with.
The way I find something is I give up looking and buy another and then when I go to put the new one away in what feels like the most natural spot I find my old one right there.
I felt happy to learn that a recognized genius independently came up with the same technique I use to know where to store things. I also take the extra step of visualizing myself looking for the item in the future, and then imagine myself remembering that I put it in that spot.
I would think your least used most specific tool is that wrench that fits that one thing that nothing else does, and it just takes up space until you need it, and you feel like a genius for having it, and you know where it is.
:( Oh Adam, so sorry to hear about the laptop screen! I work for the company who repairs your laptops, and your situation is probably the most common way they get cracked (hopefully you got the accidental damage protection). Furthermore, I speculate that your hearing aid was very likely towards the "hinge end" of the keyboard when you closed it, and it succumbed to what I will call the "fulcrum effect." It is for this reason that I (a) do not put things on my keyboard when at all possible, and (b) I encourage everyone to STOP closing their computer clamshells so emphatically. I know it makes for a satisfying "phwap!," but I strongly discourage the habit due to the risks. :) Loving your videos as always MrSavage. Keep on keepin on.
That last question is so good. A tool you almost never use, but every time you have want to use it, it is mission critical and no other tool could possibly get the job done. The kind of tool that if you didn't have it, you'd have to just abandon the entire project, buy the tool, or or outsource the work. Like a small shop gunsmith realizing halfway through a repair that the barrel needs to be rebored and they aren't set up to fix that.
He never actually answered the question of tools not living up to expectations. He mentioned he didn't use a tool yet but I think the person wanted to know what tool he used that just didn't live up to its name.
No, the question was something that he was exited about that didn't live up to that expectation. Just because it was a different type of letdown, doesn't make it less valid
Welcome to the world of Adam Savage, where his mind runs off on a tangent, eventually his body will catch up to it and by the time that happens, things are lost, people, sometimes even a few paperclips too.
While he did not directly answer the question, I think there is a good answer in what he said, even if he did not intend it. The tools that are the least useful can often be the ones you imagine would be invaluable. A good way of determining whether a tool would truly help you is to ask yourself how many times you thought, "I wish I had something to make this easier," while working.
My tool that didn't live up to the hype (but could have been my unfamiliarity with it or misuse) is a flexible shaft on my drill. I was using the drill for driving fasteners at inconvenient angles and I found that when I applied any significant torque the flexible drive would try to twist itself up on me, pulling the fastener bit out of the fastener.
The tool I use most infrequently but has no substitute for me is an 8" pipe wrench. I work on old cars in my spare time and if I round off a bolt or a flare nut fitting it gets it out nearly every time. When it doesn't it twists the bolt off lmao. Definitely worth having
For the first tool (the tap and tap drill) check out a Worx WX716L. Never used it myself, but it looks like you can chuck two tools and flip between them seamlessly.
This is one of the best examples of how to set up a room. Pretend you've lost something and go to the first place you'd look for it and put it there. Fascinating.
Look into an ETP keyless shaft bushings. When I was a maintenance manufacturer for a corrugated plant we hand a roller that constantly tore up the keyway on a journal. We installed one of these ETP bushing and never had a problem with it again. It's very interesting how they work.
That's stupid. You should be able to feel what's going on. A large part of aptitude is sensitivity. Using your senses and mind's eye to draw you a mental image of what's going on. It's incredible what blind people can do. They can't see at all.
Interesting challenge You want the light near the tip, in case you're putting it down a deep dark hole. A light shining on the outside surface just reflects back and makes the hole harder to see. If the light is near the tip, it needs to be small so the screwdriver is small enough to still fit in small holes. Maybe a band of OLED around the tip? Maybe a translucent polymer screwdriver shaft with a beam in the handle?
@@1pcfred I do agree that in almost all cases that is the best, sometimes one may work around such fragile things that just gently feeling around can be catastrophic.
I used to work in an auto parts store more than 25 years ago. If I got called to make a delivery while putting parts away I would put the parts in a space that they would fit in where I was. Thinking I would come back and start back right where I left off. What didn't help I would put them in spaces that they fit in, so they didn't look out of place. I had to learn to put the parts back in the receiving area to re-stock before ai left.
would be very cool to see a video or a series where Adam sits down with some of the tools he's gotten but hasn't had a chance to use and tries to find a creative way to use them all in a project. Maybe make something that he normally wouldn't think about.
A combination of tools? a 3/8 10mm socket that has little legs to return back to its home in my box. That also does not malfunction and run away instead.
I used to have a set of ratcheting box wrenches for hydraulic fittings that you could open and close. Very handy when you had a bank of hydraulic hoses and you had to get at one
I saw a solution to the age old "tapping it straight" issue in American Machinist years ago. You make a swing arm for the column of your drill press that is used to hold and guide your taps and is on the spindle centerline. Assuming you clamp your workpiece , or not , just drill the hole and swing the arm over the work and tap or if clearance is less than minimal, move the drill press table off center and use the tapping swing arm. Easy peasy Japaneezy. Takes a bit to make but will be used hundreds of times for years to come. For mill work ,just use the usual techniques, or if many holes need to be tapped , get a geared tapping head.
hey adam have you ever heard of "combination drill bits" they typically let you drill tap and chamfer a hole all in one stroke I think it might be a interesting tool for you to check out
I was about to suggest the same - that actually exists. Not suitable for all applications, of course, but for tapping through-holes it is pretty convenient.
Truer words have not been spoken about keeping a fire extinguisher close. I have one in my garage hanging up, ready to use. I was working on my car in the driveway, doing some welding. Despite taking precautions, the welding on the underside of the car caught the interior of the car on fire. I then had to run into and through my garage (which of course was a mess and unorganized at the time), grab the extinguisher, then run back through the garage and outside to put out the fire. If I had the extinguisher out in the driveway where I was, the fire could have been put out much quicker.
There really must be something to Adam's organisational method; the amount of times some random piece of kit or prop brought up in - or in response to - a question that he can lay a hand on within single-digit seconds... It never ceases to tickle me.
You reminded me a a pie chart a saw one time about time management in the shop. 5% is being productive, 20% is figuring out what to do and 75% is looking for the thing you just set down.
Hydraulic brake line flaring tool. Rarely ever use it but when I do, it was worth every cent. Recently had a friend break a brake line on his Mom's car on a Sunday evening "simple" brake job. In about 20 minutes, I had a new custom bent and flared line made.
Regarding moving things and not be able to find them: Years ago a couple of friends were visiting in my admittedly messy living room. I had several piles of papers and magazines and other miscellaneous items. The one friend was standing up and looking at things. He would pick up an item and walk around while examining it. Then he would set it down where ever he happened to be. He would then pick up another item, walk around with it, and set it down somewhere other than where he picked it up. After the fifth item, my other friend asked him why he was rearranging my living room? Apparently, he wasn't aware he was doing so.
Adam, I am right there with you on your hearing aid shattering a laptop screen except I've done it multiple times with my mechanical pencil. My mother always claimed we were a lot alike. Thank you so much for yet another insightful video, my friend.
The tool I use least frequently with no substitute is probably a hand impact wrench, it gets out stuck bolts and similar in a way nothing else does, especially if they're slightly stripped or rounded
FOR THAT TURRET SYSTEM IDEA YOU TALKED ABOUT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE VIDEO!! Look up the Worx SwitchDriver. it's a drill that has 2 separate quick change hex head collets like an impact driver, and you literally just turn the head of the drill and you can switch between two different drill bits. Even the motion you did is exactly what you do with it.
The tools I use least but have no substitute are my screw extractors. For most of my life, they were a tool that I had to rebuy every time I needed them. I have proudly had the same set for 6 or 7 years now, and used them only 3 or 4 times.
I totally feel you with the "high functioning hoarder" thing and the "if it's not right in front of me I forget I have it." This has lead to many clashes with family members as I imagine you've had with colleagues (especially Jamie) over the years.
I may be a little late to the comments here, but if you're talking about a combination drill and tap for thin materials (like sheet metal) Greenlee (a company specializing in tools for electricians) makes a drill bit/tap combinations in quite a few metric and SAE sizes. They're used all the time when assembling control cabinets to mount relays, solenoids, motor starters, VFDs, DIN rail, etc. so they cater to machine screw sizes commonly used for those purposes (something like #8 through 3/8", and M4 through M10-ish).
I love this channel so much, it does have a downside though, Adam is enabling my tool addiction by always showing me something else I very immediately feel the need to purchase.
Fire extinguishers are important. I was once soldering a couple 90s on top of a foundation in a very old rectory attached to a large church. I caught the cobwebs/sawdust/homosote/bark strips on the tree joists on fire right at the base of a chase in the wall. The only "water" I had was a small bucket with my own pee in it. I threw it on the fire without hesitation. That whole place was a tinderbox, thoroughly dried out over the past 200 years. I happily finished working, the smell of burnt piss thick in the air, content with the knowledge I hadn't burnt down a historic landmark. I now always keep at least a spray bottle nearby, and sometimes my fire extinguisher from the van.
I found that you need TWO fire extinguishers in different paces. When I had a single shop fire extinguisher it just happened to be right next to the fire so when I grabbed not only was the rubber hose melted but I scorched my hand on the handle!
Yeup, never keep an extinguisher right where you think a fire will happen. Put it somewhere visible and easy to get at in a clear space. Learned the same way as you.
You should always have your fire extinguishers by your exits. That way you don't trap your self by running to an extinguisher if the fire gets out of control.
My 'tool' that didn't live up to reality was the Gopro. Bought it to use in the car, but it would just overheat and shut down in video mode. Sat on my shelf for years, used a few times. Then I saw the tested garage time lapses and finally found a use for it. Good way to document a mission, especially with an old fashioned school clock face in the background. People would be surprised how much time a maker spends on their projects.
I had a need to change cars and change shoes at the same time recently for some field testing, so I put my car keys in the other pair of shoes. Took me 15 minutes of panic searching before I found them, because it wasn't the usual place I'd stash them. Sometimes current me has future me's back, sometimes future me is just a dolt.
2:19 Cottered Cranks you're describing cottered bicycle cranks the axle is a round shaft, with one side cut flat then the pedal crank arm slides over it and has a cotter pin that wedges against that flat on the axle the cotter pins had to be hand filed to fit kinda makes sense for a time when consistent mass production of parts wasn't a thing....
I have a solution to stop you moving stuff around whilst on the phone; a 'thinking stick'. I have a thinking stick I walk around the house with, whether I'm on the phone or thinking through a problem. It started out as a bokken (wooden Japanese sword), but that was a bit too unwieldy. So now it's a rounders bat (a short baseball bat). A fly on the wall would watch me pace back and forth, softly hitting my other hand, wondering... "That looks like a police truncheon" NB Not suitable in a meeting.
That is marvellous! There are any number of finger-twiddly toys which would do the job. I've got an old SATA cable on my desk that is folded into zig-zags till it breaks.
The fire extinguisher comments hit home as I have carried one in my car door pocket for years but fortunately never used it. I think I heard about someone getting seriously burned after a crash as they couldn’t escape and the footwell caught fire.
My most infrequently used tool is a chemical called Vissin which dissolves ferrous screws that are stuck in brass plates, it's brilliant when restoring old pocket watches when the screw you're dealing with has an M0.4 thread and you can't get purchase with your screw extractor. I've used it twice in 5 years.
I have explained rotary broaching as: "We climb stairs one step at a time, the broach rotor cuts to depth one increment at a time." Might as well remember where the flange bits are only after you anneal the workpiece.....
I have a couple of ABC fire extinguishers in my shop but I rely on a plastic 5 gallon bucket filled with water with a plastic Coffie can floating 3/4 full in it and it has a lid laying on it. It is good for quenching hot steel and doesn't make near as much of a mess to use.
And don’t expect them to wear evenly. The tap might dull before the chamfer bit. Essentially it’s best(quality) to have 1 sharp bit of each instead of 3 in 1
@@cavemanvi It depends where you are using them.. Quite different to work on a bench versus upside down on a boom lift at 15 meters. If i get 10 tapped holes from a cheap chinesium set, it wins every time. Those usually come with 1/4" hex shanks, so i could even use them (carefully) with an impact driver, which i will be using for the screws anyway. When there's a lot of holes to drill and tap, i would probably get a regular drill with me to make pilot holes, but that way the pilot size does not matter that much and i do not need any tapping specific drill sizes. I do have to change between tapping and screwing bits though. But if i could select what will be used, for through holes there are usually much easier and maybe even better self drilling+tapping screws available.
I am laughing so hard about wondering around when talking on the phone and picking things up and setting them down somewhere that you forget. LOL! I can totally relate!
RE the infrequent tools; once is fairly frequent. I have several that I have bought for a specific job, that I couldn't do without and then never needed again. Mainly for the car. Quite often modernity has left the tool/process obsolete, but I'm not great at getting rid, especially of tools.
What I always worry about is something that I call transference. I'll have something and need something else so I'll put the first item down to pick up the other. Transferring focus and location of said items. Then I'll forget where I'd put the first item down. I won't remember when the transfer occurred. I do it all the time. So much that I look out for doing it now.
Right here on this bench, with everything else I own. At home and at work. Can't keep the bench cleared, not even for 15 minutes. Finish a job, clean it off. Start another, gets the exact same way in minutes, it's like magic.
Adam, combination drill and tap (and countersink) bits exist. Many companies make them, including dewalt (since you like dewalt tools). Beware: these definitely require a clutch! Otherwise, you're likely to break the bit when you get to the tap portion as the core is much smaller than a standard tap.
"Did I answer your question or am I just rambling?" *Checks question sheet* *Answers a different question* Just pulling your leg, love these QnA's and their tangents. Never stop rambling!
I REALLY hope that keyway broach gets it's own video. I've been BEGGING my boss to get us some lathe broaches for certain jobs, I love the mechanics of broaching. It's infinitely fascinating.
I love these Q and As with Adam Savage please never stop being you and doing what you do.
Absolutely Adam is an amazing, clever and very inspirational man, and I believe him to be very friendly.
He is the best answerer plus he's a good guy, very personable
Not sure how anyone could stop being themselves, that would be exhausting.
The tool used most infrequently, that has no substitute in my collection is that damn weird special wrench for unscrewing the hose fittings from a faucet fixture under a countertop. I’ve used mine on two projects in my entire life, but it is absolutely essential to changing a faucet.
I used to use one for removing or tightening retaining nuts for bearings on spindles. SKF KM nuts
Yea that’s a good one.
I just started a maintenance job about a month ago, and I had never seen that tool before but have now used it 4 times and I completely agree with you, it's like the ONLY thing that works for that situation.
My dad calls it a basin wrench, not sure if that’s the proper name. I kept one around for years in my service truck because they are priceless when you need it.
Actually had to go buy one of those in the middle of swapping out a faucet. Used it twice, has a dedicated place on the pegboard, and it's one of the few things I always know the exact location of
Some things everyone should always know if they have a workshop:
-where is the fuse panel (and can you get to it safely when the power and light is off)
-where is the fire extinguisher (and does it have a charge)
-what are the exits in case of an emergency (for when the thing that should not emit fire or smoke, is)
I think the best organization advice I got from this channel was not to put anything behind anything else (if you can't see it, you will forget about it). The fact you found those unused bits so fast was an apt demonstration of it being in the right spot I think.
“Is that an answer to a question, or am I just rambling now?” Even your rambles are great, so keep at it :D
If I did the idea of putting the tool in the first place I think of… my whole shop would be in the first drawer of my tool box! 😂
“High Functioning Hoarder” needs to be on the back of all my shop t-shirts.
I am using that to describe myself from now on.
Aren't all hoarders 'high functioning' in their own minds? I certainly am :)
Yep. Totally stealing this one.
Tool used most infrequently but no other substitute? Valve spring compressor tool. Used exactly one time to change the valve seals on a 97 Mazda MPV.
6:57 The fact that Adam first thinks of a trimmer is actually an interesting answer. For all the tools in that quasi-organized space, delving into the depths of the unexpected and rarely used, you would expect an answer like "Oh, it's this left handed spangler spitfire screwdriver" or something strange that 90% of people may never have heard of. However, such a mundane answer to such a broad question in a shop filled with tools that I'm certain 90% of people wouldn't know about? That's interesting in a unique way, and thus isn't a bad or uninteresting answer.
Another one was Knipex soft jaw pliers. I searched high and low in Australia for a set so I could dismantle my microscope stage gear for re-greasing. Finally found them but when I applied the pressure it was like I had put tubes of toothpaste between the jaws of ordinary pliers. The rubber was so soft it just squished sideways and spat out the gear. Had to masking tape the rubbers to stop the flex. I could have masking taped a normal set of pliers if I wanted to do that 🤨
Did you look at brass Jawed, or non sparking tools? There are some softer alloys that shouldn't mark steels
Maybe something wrong with them, they also get copied a lot in Asia. Believe they are hands down the best pliers! Quality is insanely. I have been to there production and bought couple of them. I Study in the city they are made called Wuppertal in Germany. Everybody loves them.
When describing the use of a key to tie two rotating parts together, they are sometimes used as a shear pin to serve as a “mechanical fuse” between parts to more safely dissipate energy.
You need to be careful when using keys as "shear pins". If a key shears in-between a shaft and a hub it can do a significant amount of damage to both the shaft and the hub. I was involved with the shearing of the woodruff keys in every cargo valve on a tanker. As I recall it was nearly 100 valves. The shear area of the keys was too small for the torque imposed by the hydraulic actuators acting against the hydraulic pressure on the valve disks. Damage was done to both the valve shafts and the actuators. In some cases the actuators had to be jacked off the valves. In some the valves and actuators had to be removed from the ship so they could be rebuilt. The result was that high tensile steel keys had to be fitted.
Bob
I am so happy I got to see you being happy and yourself for a brief glimpse! Mythbusters is pivotal to who I am and how I think, so to see you way down the road just being great is wholesome as ****. Cheers, thank you for sharing!
This is something I do to recall where I dropped things, mind you I often forget to do it.
When you drop a thing, your brain goes "We don't need that anymore" and your brain essentially deletes that file which is why you can't find it. So when you put a thing down, point to it and mentally say "It's there!" So your brain can sort of take a picture of where it is and file the memory so you can find it later.
I'll have to try this with the plates of food I sit in my pantry sometimes
Thank you for talking about organizing, finding tooling, and setting things down in random spots! I have problems with this, and at least I'm not alone :)
I'm going wild looking at the Louis Vuitton Steamer Trunk in the background. I can't tell you how excited I am to see that in extreme detail.
I literally just saw a video where someone used a bit that was a combination drill/tap/countersink. Not two days ago. Can’t remember who it was. Alec steele, maybe.
Now I will have to go back and check.
It was Alec on the treadmill video
Yeah desalt has a set that’s sold at big box stores. Other brands, too.
I was making a part for my lawnmower, because the original part from Husqvarna is made of sintered parmesan. This required cutting a keyway. What I ended up doing was using the lathe as a shaper and running the ways back and forth 100,000 times taking taking like a tenth off each go until I had bulldozed a proper keyway.
I adopted adam's 'put it where you would look for it if you needed it right now', and although my bench looks messier, it is so much easier to work with.
The way I find something is I give up looking and buy another and then when I go to put the new one away in what feels like the most natural spot I find my old one right there.
It still surprises me how few people have a fire extinguisher in their home... especially in the kitchen.
How many people have baking soda in the kitchen though (good to use on grease fires)?
I felt happy to learn that a recognized genius independently came up with the same technique I use to know where to store things. I also take the extra step of visualizing myself looking for the item in the future, and then imagine myself remembering that I put it in that spot.
I love the flange bits story. Fits me x100. These Q&As are great
I would think your least used most specific tool is that wrench that fits that one thing that nothing else does, and it just takes up space until you need it, and you feel like a genius for having it, and you know where it is.
"Where would I look for it at this second if I didn't know where it is."
Brilliant.
Combination drill bits! I use them at work on some things. Only good for certain thickness’s of material but faster when useable.
:( Oh Adam, so sorry to hear about the laptop screen! I work for the company who repairs your laptops, and your situation is probably the most common way they get cracked (hopefully you got the accidental damage protection). Furthermore, I speculate that your hearing aid was very likely towards the "hinge end" of the keyboard when you closed it, and it succumbed to what I will call the "fulcrum effect." It is for this reason that I (a) do not put things on my keyboard when at all possible, and (b) I encourage everyone to STOP closing their computer clamshells so emphatically. I know it makes for a satisfying "phwap!," but I strongly discourage the habit due to the risks. :)
Loving your videos as always MrSavage. Keep on keepin on.
That last question is so good. A tool you almost never use, but every time you have want to use it, it is mission critical and no other tool could possibly get the job done. The kind of tool that if you didn't have it, you'd have to just abandon the entire project, buy the tool, or or outsource the work. Like a small shop gunsmith realizing halfway through a repair that the barrel needs to be rebored and they aren't set up to fix that.
He never actually answered the question of tools not living up to expectations. He mentioned he didn't use a tool yet but I think the person wanted to know what tool he used that just didn't live up to its name.
That was probably the only thing he could come up with that came even remotely close to answering the question
No, the question was something that he was exited about that didn't live up to that expectation. Just because it was a different type of letdown, doesn't make it less valid
Welcome to the world of Adam Savage, where his mind runs off on a tangent, eventually his body will catch up to it and by the time that happens, things are lost, people, sometimes even a few paperclips too.
"Was that an answer to a question, or was I just rambling?" The latter, but please continue.
While he did not directly answer the question, I think there is a good answer in what he said, even if he did not intend it. The tools that are the least useful can often be the ones you imagine would be invaluable. A good way of determining whether a tool would truly help you is to ask yourself how many times you thought, "I wish I had something to make this easier," while working.
My tool that didn't live up to the hype (but could have been my unfamiliarity with it or misuse) is a flexible shaft on my drill. I was using the drill for driving fasteners at inconvenient angles and I found that when I applied any significant torque the flexible drive would try to twist itself up on me, pulling the fastener bit out of the fastener.
The tool I use most infrequently but has no substitute for me is an 8" pipe wrench. I work on old cars in my spare time and if I round off a bolt or a flare nut fitting it gets it out nearly every time. When it doesn't it twists the bolt off lmao. Definitely worth having
For the first tool (the tap and tap drill) check out a Worx WX716L. Never used it myself, but it looks like you can chuck two tools and flip between them seamlessly.
This is one of the best examples of how to set up a room. Pretend you've lost something and go to the first place you'd look for it and put it there.
Fascinating.
I'm always getting ready to leave for work (normally late) when the livestreams go on so I love these Q&A excerpt reposts.
Look into an ETP keyless shaft bushings. When I was a maintenance manufacturer for a corrugated plant we hand a roller that constantly tore up the keyway on a journal. We installed one of these ETP bushing and never had a problem with it again. It's very interesting how they work.
The thumbnail just had me wondering how a nice looking hammer was gonna be the tool that didn't live up to his hopes. 😂👌
Flashlight screwdriver, where you can see the screw inside a dark assembly. I've tried a couple, but none really work as well as a real screwdriver.
That's stupid. You should be able to feel what's going on. A large part of aptitude is sensitivity. Using your senses and mind's eye to draw you a mental image of what's going on. It's incredible what blind people can do. They can't see at all.
Interesting challenge
You want the light near the tip, in case you're putting it down a deep dark hole. A light shining on the outside surface just reflects back and makes the hole harder to see.
If the light is near the tip, it needs to be small so the screwdriver is small enough to still fit in small holes.
Maybe a band of OLED around the tip?
Maybe a translucent polymer screwdriver shaft with a beam in the handle?
@@1pcfred I do agree that in almost all cases that is the best, sometimes one may work around such fragile things that just gently feeling around can be catastrophic.
@@Lemu_with_a_shirt if something is that bad off then it is a lost cause.
I used to work in an auto parts store more than 25 years ago. If I got called to make a delivery while putting parts away I would put the parts in a space that they would fit in where I was. Thinking I would come back and start back right where I left off. What didn't help I would put them in spaces that they fit in, so they didn't look out of place. I had to learn to put the parts back in the receiving area to re-stock before ai left.
would be very cool to see a video or a series where Adam sits down with some of the tools he's gotten but hasn't had a chance to use and tries to find a creative way to use them all in a project. Maybe make something that he normally wouldn't think about.
It exists! Combination drill with tap AND chamfer in a single bit!!
I so enjoy our talks Adam
A combination of tools? a 3/8 10mm socket that has little legs to return back to its home in my box. That also does not malfunction and run away instead.
Or just a machine that pumps out single use 10mm sockets.
Love you’re channel and the Q&As
I used to have a set of ratcheting box wrenches for hydraulic fittings that you could open and close. Very handy when you had a bank of hydraulic hoses and you had to get at one
I saw a solution to the age old "tapping it straight" issue in American Machinist years ago. You make a swing arm for the column of your drill press that is used to hold and guide your taps and is on the spindle centerline. Assuming you clamp your workpiece , or not , just drill the hole and swing the arm over the work and tap or if clearance is less than minimal, move the drill press table off center and use the tapping swing arm. Easy peasy Japaneezy. Takes a bit to make but will be used hundreds of times for years to come. For mill work ,just use the usual techniques, or if many holes need to be tapped , get a geared tapping head.
hey adam have you ever heard of "combination drill bits" they typically let you drill tap and chamfer a hole all in one stroke I think it might be a interesting tool for you to check out
I was about to suggest the same - that actually exists. Not suitable for all applications, of course, but for tapping through-holes it is pretty convenient.
@@Ranger_Kevin true ive only used them on rarely but if you have alot of holes that need to be drilled tapped and chamfered they are a handy tool
Here to suggest same
I think I saw Alec Steele using one of these on a recent video.
@@dysartes yes, I just saw one for the first time on his first dog treadmill video
Truer words have not been spoken about keeping a fire extinguisher close. I have one in my garage hanging up, ready to use. I was working on my car in the driveway, doing some welding. Despite taking precautions, the welding on the underside of the car caught the interior of the car on fire. I then had to run into and through my garage (which of course was a mess and unorganized at the time), grab the extinguisher, then run back through the garage and outside to put out the fire. If I had the extinguisher out in the driveway where I was, the fire could have been put out much quicker.
There really must be something to Adam's organisational method; the amount of times some random piece of kit or prop brought up in - or in response to - a question that he can lay a hand on within single-digit seconds... It never ceases to tickle me.
‘Fire extinguishers are a wonderful thing. Keep them close.” Spoken with the voice of experience. ;)
You reminded me a a pie chart a saw one time about time management in the shop. 5% is being productive, 20% is figuring out what to do and 75% is looking for the thing you just set down.
Hydraulic brake line flaring tool. Rarely ever use it but when I do, it was worth every cent.
Recently had a friend break a brake line on his Mom's car on a Sunday evening "simple" brake job. In about 20 minutes, I had a new custom bent and flared line made.
Regarding moving things and not be able to find them: Years ago a couple of friends were visiting in my admittedly messy living room. I had several piles of papers and magazines and other miscellaneous items. The one friend was standing up and looking at things. He would pick up an item and walk around while examining it. Then he would set it down where ever he happened to be. He would then pick up another item, walk around with it, and set it down somewhere other than where he picked it up. After the fifth item, my other friend asked him why he was rearranging my living room? Apparently, he wasn't aware he was doing so.
Adam, I am right there with you on your hearing aid shattering a laptop screen except I've done it multiple times with my mechanical pencil. My mother always claimed we were a lot alike.
Thank you so much for yet another insightful video, my friend.
There are drill&tap bits. Which is kinda cool for certain applications.
Do you know how many times I think to myself “Was that an answer to a question, or am I just rambling now?” So relatable
I laughed so hard “ was that an answer to a question? Or am I just rambling now” hahahaha
I always enjoy watching your videos man
Tom Lipton is an awesome guy and incredibly clever. I wish he wasnt as busy and made more videos. Guy is a wealth of information.
The tool I use least frequently with no substitute is probably a hand impact wrench, it gets out stuck bolts and similar in a way nothing else does, especially if they're slightly stripped or rounded
FOR THAT TURRET SYSTEM IDEA YOU TALKED ABOUT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE VIDEO!! Look up the Worx SwitchDriver. it's a drill that has 2 separate quick change hex head collets like an impact driver, and you literally just turn the head of the drill and you can switch between two different drill bits. Even the motion you did is exactly what you do with it.
Heyyyy, loving your Hemingway kit instrument maker's vise on your bench there. I made one too and it's one of my favorite tools.
The tools I use least but have no substitute are my screw extractors. For most of my life, they were a tool that I had to rebuy every time I needed them. I have proudly had the same set for 6 or 7 years now, and used them only 3 or 4 times.
Wow, they make self drilling taps. They don't do deep holes, but they are great for sheet metal up to 3/8'' I believe.
Interesting that you mention that lathe keyway broach, I just rewatched This Old Tony's rotary broach video where he describes how it works
I love it when Adam rambles.
I totally feel you with the "high functioning hoarder" thing and the "if it's not right in front of me I forget I have it." This has lead to many clashes with family members as I imagine you've had with colleagues (especially Jamie) over the years.
I may be a little late to the comments here, but if you're talking about a combination drill and tap for thin materials (like sheet metal) Greenlee (a company specializing in tools for electricians) makes a drill bit/tap combinations in quite a few metric and SAE sizes. They're used all the time when assembling control cabinets to mount relays, solenoids, motor starters, VFDs, DIN rail, etc. so they cater to machine screw sizes commonly used for those purposes (something like #8 through 3/8", and M4 through M10-ish).
I love this channel so much, it does have a downside though, Adam is enabling my tool addiction by always showing me something else I very immediately feel the need to purchase.
Embrace it.
Sorry!
Oh man, please do a video on the broach, and include Tom's description, I've learnt more from that man than any book!
Hey Adam you could also put a slotting attachment on your Mill that fits most Bridgeport mills
I've seen 3 in 1 drill tap and countersink bits before, it might be worthwhile to have a look for some of those.
Fire extinguishers are important.
I was once soldering a couple 90s on top of a foundation in a very old rectory attached to a large church. I caught the cobwebs/sawdust/homosote/bark strips on the tree joists on fire right at the base of a chase in the wall. The only "water" I had was a small bucket with my own pee in it. I threw it on the fire without hesitation. That whole place was a tinderbox, thoroughly dried out over the past 200 years.
I happily finished working, the smell of burnt piss thick in the air, content with the knowledge I hadn't burnt down a historic landmark. I now always keep at least a spray bottle nearby, and sometimes my fire extinguisher from the van.
Nobody has better answers than Adam.
I found that you need TWO fire extinguishers in different paces. When I had a single shop fire extinguisher it just happened to be right next to the fire so when I grabbed not only was the rubber hose melted but I scorched my hand on the handle!
Yeup, never keep an extinguisher right where you think a fire will happen. Put it somewhere visible and easy to get at in a clear space. Learned the same way as you.
"911, what is your emergency?" "My fire extinguisher is on fire!"
You should always have your fire extinguishers by your exits. That way you don't trap your self by running to an extinguisher if the fire gets out of control.
@@MGower4465 that's a good'n, love it! ;-)
My 'tool' that didn't live up to reality was the Gopro. Bought it to use in the car, but it would just overheat and shut down in video mode. Sat on my shelf for years, used a few times. Then I saw the tested garage time lapses and finally found a use for it. Good way to document a mission, especially with an old fashioned school clock face in the background. People would be surprised how much time a maker spends on their projects.
What unit, there was a software fix for some of them that were doing that.
This Old Tony has a great 2 part video on rotary broaches.
I had a need to change cars and change shoes at the same time recently for some field testing, so I put my car keys in the other pair of shoes. Took me 15 minutes of panic searching before I found them, because it wasn't the usual place I'd stash them. Sometimes current me has future me's back, sometimes future me is just a dolt.
2:19 Cottered Cranks
you're describing cottered bicycle cranks
the axle is a round shaft, with one side cut flat
then the pedal crank arm slides over it and has a cotter pin that wedges against that flat on the axle
the cotter pins had to be hand filed to fit
kinda makes sense for a time when consistent mass production of parts wasn't a thing....
I have a solution to stop you moving stuff around whilst on the phone; a 'thinking stick'. I have a thinking stick I walk around the house with, whether I'm on the phone or thinking through a problem. It started out as a bokken (wooden Japanese sword), but that was a bit too unwieldy. So now it's a rounders bat (a short baseball bat). A fly on the wall would watch me pace back and forth, softly hitting my other hand, wondering... "That looks like a police truncheon" NB Not suitable in a meeting.
That is marvellous! There are any number of finger-twiddly toys which would do the job. I've got an old SATA cable on my desk that is folded into zig-zags till it breaks.
I keep a pair of homemade wooden dice on my desk, just to twiddle them in my hands for this reason.
1) Them that separate
2) Them that join
3) Them that manipulate
4) Them what measure
The four type of tools.
The fire extinguisher comments hit home as I have carried one in my car door pocket for years but fortunately never used it. I think I heard about someone getting seriously burned after a crash as they couldn’t escape and the footwell caught fire.
My most infrequently used tool is a chemical called Vissin which dissolves ferrous screws that are stuck in brass plates, it's brilliant when restoring old pocket watches when the screw you're dealing with has an M0.4 thread and you can't get purchase with your screw extractor. I've used it twice in 5 years.
I have explained rotary broaching as: "We climb stairs one step at a time, the broach rotor cuts to depth one increment at a time." Might as well remember where the flange bits are only after you anneal the workpiece.....
Adam, they make a Drill/Tap/counter sink bit. They work great!
I have a couple of ABC fire extinguishers in my shop but I rely on a plastic 5 gallon bucket filled with water with a plastic Coffie can floating 3/4 full in it and it has a lid laying on it. It is good for quenching hot steel and doesn't make near as much of a mess to use.
Alec Steele used the exact tool Adam was describing on his channel recently: a drill/tap/chamfer combo bit.
You can only use them on shallow through holes. And you must reverse the spindle to get them out.
And don’t expect them to wear evenly.
The tap might dull before the chamfer bit. Essentially it’s best(quality) to have 1 sharp bit of each instead of 3 in 1
@@cavemanvi It depends where you are using them.. Quite different to work on a bench versus upside down on a boom lift at 15 meters. If i get 10 tapped holes from a cheap chinesium set, it wins every time. Those usually come with 1/4" hex shanks, so i could even use them (carefully) with an impact driver, which i will be using for the screws anyway. When there's a lot of holes to drill and tap, i would probably get a regular drill with me to make pilot holes, but that way the pilot size does not matter that much and i do not need any tapping specific drill sizes. I do have to change between tapping and screwing bits though. But if i could select what will be used, for through holes there are usually much easier and maybe even better self drilling+tapping screws available.
Thank goodness the fire extinguisher hardly ever gets used!
The "tool I use most infrequently but has no substitute" is a pulley puller. I designed a case for mine to keep it compact so it stays out of the way.
great video, keep going, i'm your big fan for years
I am laughing so hard about wondering around when talking on the phone and picking things up and setting them down somewhere that you forget. LOL! I can totally relate!
RE the infrequent tools; once is fairly frequent. I have several that I have bought for a specific job, that I couldn't do without and then never needed again. Mainly for the car. Quite often modernity has left the tool/process obsolete, but I'm not great at getting rid, especially of tools.
There is such a thing as a 'combined drill and tap', it's a drill with a tap section, available on Amazon in kits
What I always worry about is something that I call transference. I'll have something and need something else so I'll put the first item down to pick up the other. Transferring focus and location of said items. Then I'll forget where I'd put the first item down. I won't remember when the transfer occurred. I do it all the time. So much that I look out for doing it now.
Laser Hammer. Now you want one, too.
There are bits that start off as a normal twist drill and end as a tap. No bit switching is necessary to drill and tap.
"Where would I look for it right now" This advice has the potential to be life changing.
Right here on this bench, with everything else I own. At home and at work. Can't keep the bench cleared, not even for 15 minutes. Finish a job, clean it off. Start another, gets the exact same way in minutes, it's like magic.
Some tools or something you may only used once, but that one time you need it you’re glad you have it.
alec steele showcased a drill bit a while ago that drills a hole, taps it and then chamfers it at the end! it was so cool!
They do make tap-drills WITH counter sink!
Adam, combination drill and tap (and countersink) bits exist. Many companies make them, including dewalt (since you like dewalt tools). Beware: these definitely require a clutch! Otherwise, you're likely to break the bit when you get to the tap portion as the core is much smaller than a standard tap.
"Did I answer your question or am I just rambling?"
*Checks question sheet*
*Answers a different question*
Just pulling your leg, love these QnA's and their tangents. Never stop rambling!
I REALLY hope that keyway broach gets it's own video. I've been BEGGING my boss to get us some lathe broaches for certain jobs, I love the mechanics of broaching. It's infinitely fascinating.
Best combined tool I’ve ever found is the stanly demolition wrench there awesome