Neat household MacGyver tricks you've learned

[Burgess]

Victorinox Swiss Army Knife --

Corkscrew is handy for Untying Knots !

 

[Dave_H]

Victorinox Swiss Army Knife --

Corkscrew is handy for Untying Knots !

I have been carrying a very compact Swiss Army knife in my pocket for over a dozen years. This one has a small set of scissors, which is great for cutting the small tie wraps binding cords on various items, especially from thrift stores. I can reach for larger scissors but most of the time they are not handy. The flat blade driver is useful for popping things open, as it has hardly any use as a slot driver.

Dave

 

[bykfixer]

 

[mrfixitman]

Fix any button faucet that has fallen apart and leaves a tube. Force (must be fluid tight) in appropriate size and purpose flexible tube, long enough to go above the waterline of the vessel. Fix a way to keep the end above the waterline. You now have a controllable gravity fed vessel. I did this with a large ZeroWater water purifier.

 

[bykfixer]

Went to an ER recently and they inserted and IV in my arm. When the lady removed it blood got on me trousers. She peroxide would work. They were work pants so I wasn't too concerned but thought what the heck.

Poured a cap full on the spot and it fizzed like crazy. Rinsed it off thinking there'd be a bleached spot. There was not. And the stain was a lot lighter. So two more applications like that and the stain was completely gone with no bleached spot at all on a parchment colored pair of trousers.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Went to an ER recently and they inserted and IV in my arm. When the lady removed it blood got on me trousers. She peroxide would work. They were work pants so I wasn't too concerned but thought what the heck.

Poured a cap full on the spot and it fizzed like crazy. Rinsed it off thinking there'd be a bleached spot. There was not. And the stain was a lot lighter. So two more applications like that and the stain was completely gone with no bleached spot at all on a parchment colored pair of trousers.

Nice tip! I'm gonna remember this.

 

[Monocrom]

Nearly ruined a pair of inexpensive LAPG cargo pants when some Anti-bacterial cleansing solution (without bleach in it) splashed a bit onto them, while cleaning off the security desk before my shift. All of a sudden noticing little tiny brown spots where the pants should be solid black.

Oh well. Recently replaced that pair with better quality cargo pants. Just one of several pairs I own. Couldn't bring myself to chuck them. Plus the splash stains weren't that bad. Just surprised that instead of white, they turned brown. So now I just wear them when running errands around my neighborhood. They're good enough for the cashier at McDonald's when she's taking my food order. Heck, I'm still better dressed than most of the customers who come in there. Some of whom just roll up in their Adult P.J.s.

 

[PROFG59]

I have an older thick alluminum pan that the non stick coating came off of long long ago. It's a great pan to cook with though. Food gets stuck to it and a plastic scouring pad won't begin to get it clean. I'd actually wet sand it at times.

Well, one day I was doing a rice dish where I brown meat in butter then toss in some pre-cooked rice. Or broccolli. The butter at the end carmelizes and sticks to the food. Yummy! But it also adds a layer of crud to my pan.

One day I added a few teaspoons of water to moisten the rice. After stirring I noticed the crud was mixing with the food and after serving it all the pan was clean. Wuh?!?

So now when the food is prepared and served (meaning pan has cooled) I add about 5 tablespoons of water to the empty pan, heat that up and whatever crud is stuck comes right off with a spatula. No more scouring to get the pan clean.

Given all that 👆even MacGyver would purchase himself a new pan. 😄

Recent evidence against excess aluminum intake would also seem to require a new pan.

 

[PROFG59]

Flat few days ago on F350 diesel w 8 lugs. Had a spare, stock jack/wrench but could not loosen last two. Adjusted jack to lug height, put wrench on jack and nut and jumped on with both feet. Worked great. Pics not taken but can repeat for pic if needed. Torqued when home.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

Recent evidence against excess aluminum intake would also seem to require a new pan.

To say nothing concerning the nonstick coating that's peeling.

 

[bykfixer]

Thaw frozen food quickly without a microwave

Stick it in a ziploc loaded with water.
Evenly thaws as well, unlike the microwave that often cooks the outside edges before the middle thaws.

 

[IMA SOL MAN]

Flat few days ago on F350 diesel w 8 lugs. Had a spare, stock jack/wrench but could not loosen last two. Adjusted jack to lug height, put wrench on jack and nut and jumped on with both feet. Worked great. Pics not taken but can repeat for pic if needed. Torqued when home.

 

[Poppy]

I laughed out loud. At the fact that she said all that with a straight face. I wonder how many takes it took.

Regarding a quick thaw, I put my food inside a zip lock baggie, squeeze the air out of it, and then submerge it in hot tap water. Similar to using a sous vide cooking style. I may have to change the water a few times.

 

[bykfixer]

My mom used a bowl and weighted down the food back ziploc bags were considered a luxury item.

 

[orbital]

+

Someone has been trying to get into my garage through my keypad.
This morning, must been the forth or fifth time they left the cover up on it.
..I don't ever leave the cover up, ever (wind didn't do it either, nope)

Probably using a UV light to see what numbers have been pushed,,
so today I took bit used motor oil & smeared it on all the numbers, just a little bit.
That'll give an interesting UV shine back___


then I changed the code

 

[IMA SOL MAN]

+

Someone has been trying to get into my garage through my keypad.
This morning, must been the forth or fifth time they left the cover up on it.
..I don't ever leave the cover up, ever (wind didn't do it either, nope)

Probably using a UV light to see what numbers have been pushed,,
so today I took bit used motor oil & smeared it on all the numbers, just a little bit.
That'll give an interesting UV shine back___


then I changed the code

Set up a trail cam with a cell phone video feed. Then you can have timely alert with video evidence to identify the perp and turnover to police for arrest and prosecution. Assuming of course you live where LE will care to do anything about it. CA has basically legalized theft.

 

[PewPewPew]

+

If you make your own cables for things, there is a way to not have to buy a big crimper or the hammer type.
Purchased just the die set and put them in my bench vice to crank down on & get a vault solid crimp.

Got some 4awg pure copper lugs (came w/ shrink tubing) and carefully put them loosely into the vice w/ the dies..
Once everything was sorted & holding in place, insert your welding cable or whatever your using and crank down on it all the way.

Also soldered into the neck for the best possible anchoring/connection,, maybe a bit of overkill, but its' really good. Then shrink tube.
Made a couple cables about an hour ago,, worked perfect.

I find making cables very satisfying


** dies used were labeled (25) for 4awg cable & lug

these::: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098R455L4/?tag=cpf0b6-20

You can also save a couple bucks by making your own lugs from the correct I/D copper pipe/tube. After cutting the pipe to size, ream out the end that closes up from using a cutter, then find a tight fitting pin or drill bit to insert in half way, clamp the other side in a vise and pinch it closed. Then use a hammer and finish flattening it out. The drill bit/pin will help keep it from pinching closed too much and give you a nice transition. After drilling a hole and rounding off the corners with a file, you have a high quality super cheap lug.

 

[PewPewPew]

If you have a popular vehicle, oftentimes you won't have any luck at the wrecking yards finding good replacement seats for your car/truck. You can substitute seats from other cars/trucks of the same maker in the same year range. Car factories will only make small changes between vehicles in order to keep production costs down.

So, if you remove the seat pan from the "scaffolding" and look at the threaded holes you will notice other bolt hole configurations already made in the seat pan. Find out what your threads are and tap the holes you need for your particular cars bolt pattern. It really helps if you have a pick n pull type junkyard that you can disassemble stuff and compare. Also have one of your seats unbolted to compare.

 

[PewPewPew]

If you have a door that sags you can often make a thin shim of solid cardboard the same size as the lower hinge, insert the shim (or 2) behind the lower hinges to bring the lower half of the door higher and re-tighten the screws holding the hinges on. This is nice because you don't have to be a carpenter to get your doors to work properly again and it can always be done better later if you wanted to inlet your hinges deeper to correct for it.

 

[PewPewPew]

If you are trying to figure out what outlets go to what circuit breaker and it's not labelled clearly, plug a vacuum cleaner into the outlet in question and turn it on. Vacuum cleaners are really loud and you can hear from across the house. When it turns off when you've flipped the correct circuit breaker.