Tool thread

Dr.Jeff said:
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Spammed this new user.

The translation from Russian to English reads "Our disinfection center during its work in the market was able to establish itself as a reliable partner for representatives of organizations and individuals. A team of professionals responsibly approaches to solving all the tasks!"

Not exactly on point for Xweb or even the tool thread. :)
 
Made my own rolling hub stands. I wanted something that would hold up the car higher as the underside needs a ton of work. Cost: $100 1/4 plate, $45 steel tube, $70 5 inch casters. Cost of cool tools to get it done: 175 chop saw, 800 plasma cutter, $1000 new welder (my 100 cheapy flux wouldn't work well enough on the 1/4). Nothing like telling the wife you need new/better tools so you won't die under the car. She approved quickly. When I am under it I still plan on jack stands. Just easier to move around this way. Still 2 people as me alone it is hard to get started.
Top lug hole is about 24 inches. Bottom of rocker is about 20 inches.

Odie
 

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autox19 said:
Made my own rolling hub stands. I wanted something that would hold up the car higher as the underside needs a ton of work. Cost: $100 1/4 plate, $45 steel tube, $70 5 inch casters. Cost of cool tools to get it done: 175 chop saw, 800 plasma cutter, $1000 new welder (my 100 cheapy flux wouldn't work well enough on the 1/4). Nothing like telling the wife you need new/better tools so you won't die under the car. She approved quickly. When I am under it I still plan on jack stands. Just easier to move around this way. Still 2 people as me alone it is hard to get started.
Top lug hole is about 24 inches. Bottom of rocker is about 20 inches.

Odie
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I like the height of them Odie. Previously I had the impression they would not be that tall, so glad to see they are.

One nice feature to this style of stands, that replace the wheels, is they are bolted to the hubs. That makes them a part of the chassis and therefore very stable. No way for the car to slide off or the stand to tip over.

I've considered making stands that bolt to the undercarriage somehow for the same reason. Sort of like this example:

Vehicle work stands - Copy.jpg


The only advantage here would be the ability to remove the suspension during restoration.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
I like the height of them Odie. Previously I had the impression they would not be that tall, so glad to see they are.

One nice feature to this style of stands, that replace the wheels, is they are bolted to the hubs. That makes them a part of the chassis and therefore very stable. No way for the car to slide off or the stand to tip over.

I've considered making stands that bolt to the undercarriage somehow for the same reason. Sort of like this example:

View attachment 51757

The only advantage here would be the ability to remove the suspension during restoration.
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hmmm so maybe I should make an adapter to allow either. maybe a pipe that goes through the hub hole then bolts in with the lug holes. still would be closer to the chassis stand and would cover the bottom, but I dont think I would be working on the bottom and suspension at the same time. I like what you are saying about working on the suspension

Odie
 
autox19 said:
hmmm so maybe I should make an adapter to allow either. maybe a pipe that goes through the hub hole then bolts in with the lug holes. still would be closer to the chassis stand and would cover the bottom, but I dont think I would be working on the bottom and suspension at the same time. I like what you are saying about working on the suspension

Odie
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Unless you are doing a complete vehicle restoration, with everything removed down to the bare shell, then you likely won't need to support the chassis without any suspension. And if you are doing that much work then a rotisserie is even better. But I'm just dumb enough to do that much work and not use a rotisserie...on three cars at the same time. :rolleyes:
 
Since I was cleaning up my rear suspension, I just ran a 4x10 across the bottom of the car right behind the jack points held up by concrete blocks. Plenty of room to get the engine in and out as well as dropping the gas tank. Way more stable than jack stands.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Unless you are doing a complete vehicle restoration, with everything removed down to the bare shell, then you likely won't need to support the chassis without any suspension. And if you are doing that much work then a rotisserie is even better. But I'm just dumb enough to do that much work and not use a rotisserie...on three cars at the same time. :rolleyes:
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Save your back (and rest of your body) and build a rotisserie - even the "thrifty" HF engine stand kit Rodger shared, and I used, has been a massive blessing.

3 cars at the same time is crazy.
 
darwoodious said:
3 cars at the same time is crazy.
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That's three complete restorations/customizations. I also have four other major project vehicles and two more mild projects going on at the same time. I tend to work on one for a while, then move over to another, etc, etc. This is why my builds take so long. :oops:
 
Much earlier in this thread we've had some discussions about battery maintainers. Mostly about their poor quality, high failure rate, destroying good batteries, unreliability, etc. In post #66 I mentioned that I've been unable to find a single decent test to evaluate any of the ones offered. So I decided to purchase a basic one at a popular retailer that was quite inexpensive ("Everstart" brand). At the same time I also discovered I had a new one ("Schumacher" brand) that was given to me as a replacement for one of the many failed ones from them. I was told it's their top model. I put both of them into service at the same time, which was a year ago. I just discovered the Schumacher one has failed. Not sure exactly when it quit working but it has been long enough for the battery to go down to 9 volts. Meanwhile the cheap Everstart is still working fine. I'm not saying one is any better than the other; I've had some maintainers last several years before they fail, while others only lasted a few weeks, and all seem to be a bit random. But I think I've given up on trying to find a "good" one and will just buy cheap units and replace them as needed. I really cannot understand why someone can't make a decent maintainer that lasts.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Much earlier in this thread we've had some discussions about battery maintainers. Mostly about their poor quality, high failure rate, destroying good batteries, unreliability, etc. In post #66 I mentioned that I've been unable to find a single decent test to evaluate any of the ones offered. So I decided to purchase a basic one at a popular retailer that was quite inexpensive ("Everstart" brand). At the same time I also discovered I had a new one ("Schumacher" brand) that was given to me as a replacement for one of the many failed ones from them. I was told it's their top model. I put both of them into service at the same time, which was a year ago. I just discovered the Schumacher one has failed. Not sure exactly when it quit working but it has been long enough for the battery to go down to 9 volts. Meanwhile the cheap Everstart is still working fine. I'm not saying one is any better than the other; I've had some maintainers last several years before they fail, while others only lasted a few weeks, and all seem to be a bit random. But I think I've given up on trying to find a "good" one and will just buy cheap units and replace them as needed. I really cannot understand why someone can't make a decent maintainer that lasts.
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I've done some failure analysis on a couple. They both appeared to have suffered from too much heat. One of them was connected to a battery that never made full charge so it may have been trying to source more current than it could handle. The other was a few years old and probably died from running hotter than it should based what the PCB looked like. I think many of these devices just use a voltage regulator set at ~13.4V and a resistor to limit current. I actually built one many years ago like that and it never failed. It used a pretty robust power supply and a high power ceramic resistor to limit the current. I may drag it out again if my current HFT blows up (gone through 2 already).

If someone wanted to, I'm pretty certain a reliable device could be manufactured. It might be a little more than most people want to spend especially when cheapies can be had for under $5 or even zero with the right coupon.
 
I haven't had the same experience that others here have with maintainers. I have around 20 or so batteries on maintainers all the time and have only had one battery destroyed, by a Harbor Freight maintainer. I won't buy another one of theirs. I also won't buy another Craftsman brand maintainer. I've had 6 or 7 of them fail. Seems that after a year or two they just stop working.
I've had good luck with both Schumacher and Everstart (knock on wood), and prefer Schumacher. Who knows why my experiences are different? I use them on everything from lawn mower/motorcycle batteries to 12 volt motorhome/trolling motor deep cycle batteries. Flooded and AGM.
One thing that I am pretty consistent about - I always make sure I fully charge the batteries before I put them on maintainers. The maintainers owners manuals usually note that a maintainer (and alternators for that matter) is not a battery charger. I most often use an Optima battery charger and, especially for larger batteries, will run them through the conditioning/reconditioning cycle.
I had a Ctek charger go tits up. I contacted them about getting it repaired and they told me they could repair it - if I sent it to their repair facility - in Sweden. Geeze, the Cteks are expensive, but so is shipping. Sad because the Ctek guy though the problem was simply a blown fuse (internal and not easily serviced). I suspect the Craftsman chargers may also suffer from blown fuses. I wish I know someone who did electronics repairs. I sold an old amplifier to a guy who did repair those, but he wasn't interested in any other type of electronic repairs. He said he gets asked all the time about working on other stuff. Seems like there must be a market for that kind of service out there.
 
dllubin said:
I've done some failure analysis on a couple. They both appeared to have suffered from too much heat. One of them was connected to a battery that never made full charge so it may have been trying to source more current than it could handle. The other was a few years old and probably died from running hotter than it should based what the PCB looked like. I think many of these devices just use a voltage regulator set at ~13.4V and a resistor to limit current. I actually built one many years ago like that and it never failed. It used a pretty robust power supply and a high power ceramic resistor to limit the current. I may drag it out again if my current HFT blows up (gone through 2 already).

If someone wanted to, I'm pretty certain a reliable device could be manufactured. It might be a little more than most people want to spend especially when cheapies can be had for under $5 or even zero with the right coupon.
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I agree these things can get rather warm at times. I suppose after a year of that it just wears out something on the circuit board. Like you say, they should be able to build a more robust one.

What's interesting on this latest failure is it almost seems a little intermittent. When I plug it in sometimes the little "power on" indicator light will come on, other times not. But even when it comes on, the instant it is connected to any battery (including a good, fully charged one) the whole thing shuts down. At one point I plugged it in and the power light came on so I did not connect it to anything but just watched the indicator light. A moment later it began to flicker a bit. Then it went off.

Just for fun I opened the unit to look at things. I couldn't see any obvious signs of failure on the board. There are a couple of sloppy solders from the factory, but nothing that looked to be any issues. I did not recognize anything that looked like a fuse, but I'm sure there are types of them I would not recognize. If anyone wants to play with the circuit board to analyze things let me know before the trash goes out.
 
MikeHynes said:
I haven't had the same experience that others here have with maintainers. I have around 20 or so batteries on maintainers all the time and have only had one battery destroyed, by a Harbor Freight maintainer. I won't buy another one of theirs. I also won't buy another Craftsman brand maintainer. I've had 6 or 7 of them fail. Seems that after a year or two they just stop working.
I've had good luck with both Schumacher and Everstart (knock on wood), and prefer Schumacher. Who knows why my experiences are different? I use them on everything from lawn mower/motorcycle batteries to 12 volt motorhome/trolling motor deep cycle batteries. Flooded and AGM.
One thing that I am pretty consistent about - I always make sure I fully charge the batteries before I put them on maintainers. The maintainers owners manuals usually note that a maintainer (and alternators for that matter) is not a battery charger. I most often use an Optima battery charger and, especially for larger batteries, will run them through the conditioning/reconditioning cycle.
I had a Ctek charger go tits up. I contacted them about getting it repaired and they told me they could repair it - if I sent it to their repair facility - in Sweden. Geeze, the Cteks are expensive, but so is shipping. Sad because the Ctek guy though the problem was simply a blown fuse (internal and not easily serviced). I suspect the Craftsman chargers may also suffer from blown fuses. I wish I know someone who did electronics repairs. I sold an old amplifier to a guy who did repair those, but he wasn't interested in any other type of electronic repairs. He said he gets asked all the time about working on other stuff. Seems like there must be a market for that kind of service out there.
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I recall you saying before that you've had good luck with Schumachers. I have not. No idea what might be different between users. Perhaps just random luck?

I considered spending the money on a Ctek, hoping it would be a better quality, more robust design...along the lines of what Don said - built with better components. But when I did a lot of research I found mixed results on them, much like all the others. I've discussed them with their reps at the trade shows and all I got was marketing hype (really nothing more than BS frankly). So I've concluded they are no better than any of the others. They are just selling them for more money (higher profit) which a lot of people believe makes them better.

I don't know if an item like these actually has a fuse, or do they use some other type of overload protection?
 
This discussion on battery maintainers reminded me of my early days, before I knew better about a lot of things. I had a motorcycle that mostly sat so the battery would go dead. I was a broke student that did not want to spend the money for a real battery maintainer. So I took an old power supply from a broken electronic device (one of those "wall wart" 12V converters that has milliamps output), and connected the leads to the battery. After a couple days I noticed the battery seemed to be getting a little too warm so I plugged the wall wart into a timer I had. Set the timer to run for about an hour each day. That battery lasted close to 10 years. No technology, nothing fancy, not the correct way to do it, but it worked amazing and the little wart never failed. Maybe I should try that again. :p
 
As mentioned in a prior thread I needed to replace a failed Schumacher battery maintainer and I've decided to just buy cheap ones with the expectation they'll need to be replaced every couple of years. The Everstart unit I got a year or so ago seems to be doing good so far, so yesterday while at WalMart I picked up another one. Less than $20 (that's under half what the Schumachers run). Apparently they have changed them since the last one I bought. Despite being the same price and the box looking identical (even has the same pictures on it), it has a different part number and the unit is about a third the physical size of the previous one. And the new unit is one amp vs three amps for the older one. Same warranty and general format with the exception it no longer offers a 6 volt option (which I never understood; even my vintage motorcycles are all 12V). We'll see how it does.
 
MikeHynes said:
One thing that I am pretty consistent about - I always make sure I fully charge the batteries before I put them on maintainers. The maintainers owners manuals usually note that a maintainer (and alternators for that matter) is not a battery charger.
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Hey Mike, this comment came to my mind the other day when I purchased another replacement battery maintainer. First, I absolutely agree it is best to have the battery fully charged before putting it in storage with a maintainer on. However what caught my attention was the maintainers I saw for sale all said "battery charger and maintainer" right on the box, including the wimpy 1 amp $19 Everstart unit from Walmart. Although it really isn't a good idea to use one on a low battery (i.e. as a charger), they state you can. That might be misleading to most buyers and may contribute to the rapid demise of these maintainers. I'm not saying this to contradict your comment...as I said I fully agree with you. But I thought it is interesting the manufacturers market them this way.
 
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