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| Railway dogs |
For some people it's
coins, for others it's frequent flyer points or compliments. I even know a retired minister who collects railway
dogs. But for me, it's always been tools.
In contrast to my Dad,
who considered that every tool he owned was a hammer, I'm on a quest to find the right hammer for the job.
So it was with much
fanfare that I recently welcomed three new tools to the fold.
Air powered riveter
There are approximately
2,000 rivets in the ceiling of our house – all installed by me, by
hand with a lowly Bunnings hand rivet gun. By the end of each day it
was a two handed job to pop rivet. Imagine my surprise when a
friend mentioned to me recently that he had an air powered rivet
gun. I hadn't known such things existed! Suffice to say that within days of that conversation I bought
one.
Conclusion: I wish I'd
had one 2,000 rivets ago.
A box and pan brake
So, I was in the market for some
weatherproof covers for my water pumps. At around $160 each I
wondered if there was a DIY option that didn't look like a recycled
compost bin. And yes there is, if you have a box and pan brake.
There's a 3 minute demo of one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4RWkf7eo1g&t=9s
Conclusion: It's brilliant (and no, you
can't borrow it).
Clekos
"A cleco, also spelled
generically cleko, is a temporary fastener developed by the Cleveland
Pneumatic Tool Company. Widely used in the manufacture and repair of
aluminum-skinned aircraft, it is used to temporarily fasten sheets of
material together, or to hold parts such as stiffeners, frames etc
together, before they are permanently joined. Clecos are installed in
holes predrilled through the workpieces (usually holes intended for
permanent fasteners installed later). They expand on the far side of
the workpieces and then draw and clamp them together while
maintaining the desired alignment and preventing distortion of the
pieces."
There's a 1 minute demo here if you're keen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYpEfo_OSKI
Conclusion: You can
never have too many clekos.
