Neat household MacGyver tricks you've learned

[PewPewPew]

If you ever have a stuck bullet or obstruction in the bore of a rifle with no way of clearing it, you can drill/tap the muzzle end with the same threads as a zirc grease fitting. Thread in the fitting and connect a grease gun to it and the hydraulic pressure will remove your barrel obstruction. I had a barrel brought to me with not only a stuck bullet, but also broken hardwood dowels that were wedged into the barrel when they tried to pound it out. You'll lose about 1/2" off the barrel when the threaded portion has been cut off and re-crowned.

 

[PewPewPew]

If you want to be able to park your car in the garage without worrying about hitting anything: Park your car correctly (with help if you need to) then take a tennis ball and drill a hole thru it and thread a thick string thru and tie a knot to keep it from coming off. Then use one of those threaded hooks and screw it into the ceiling so that the ball is hanging down so it is touching your windshield. Next time you park, you can slowly bring the car up until the ball touches your windshield. It's a good trick if your depth perception is off and the front of your car seems longer or shorter than it actually is.

 

[PewPewPew]

If you want your razors to last forever, just wash them in the sink as normal, shake off the water, then store them in a jar with rubbing alcohol. The alcohol will absorb any water off the razor and prevent it from rusting, which is the main reason that razors get dull. If you're stropping a straight razor to get it sharp enough to shave with, you'll need it to be able to cut the hairs from your arm without holding it close to the skin. If it won't do that, you'll end up putting more pressure than you need to on your skin, which causes more nicks and irritation.

 

[PewPewPew]

If you want to buy your fertilizer diesel DEF fluid is some of the easiest to find liquid fertilizer you can buy. Dilute 1 part to 10 parts water. Spray it on your grass and you'll get a beautiful emerald green in days. If you have a farmers co-op you can often buy huge bags of urea fertilizer for relatively cheap.

If you get rust stains in your toilet, first turn off the water supply then flush the excess water from the bowl. Then use about 1/2 cup of muriatic acid and use a brush to spread it around over the rust stains. Almost instantly dissolves it. Make sure you have your bathroom fan on because the fumes are bad for your lungs and nasal passages. Wear gloves and goggles. Muriatic/hydrochloric acid is what "the works" toilet bowl cleaner is made of.

 

[PewPewPew]

If you strip out a torx/hex head screw, get the next size up and use a hammer to pound it into the wallowed out hole. This will often allow you enough grip to finish removing.

Left handed drill bits can be bought at harbor freight and will often catch the stripped out screw/bolt enough to finish removing it. If you finish drilling a pilot hole with your left handed drill bit and the screw/bolt is still tight, you can use an easy-out to finish removing it.

If you have broken head off of a bolt that's snapped off flush, place a washer and nut over the damaged area and use a MIG gun to plug weld the nut to the broken off head. The washer will help protect the surrounding metal from spatter. The heat from welding will also help loosen the stuck bolt.

 

[orbital]

+

Big Gold Star for PewPewPew

thanks

 

[bykfixer]

Yeah I always keep a MIG gun with me....even camping.

 

[PewPewPew]

If you have a loose screw in a wallowed out hole in wood, you can dip a toothpick or two in glue and jam them in the hole, break off the excess, then screw the screw back in. The extra toothpick will make the hole tighter and give your screw something to "bite" into.

 

[PewPewPew]

Yeah I always keep a MIG gun with me....even camping.

If you need a welder when you're out camping, you can hook up two 12v batteries in series with two pairs of jumper cables and do some stick welding out in the bush. Make sure to pack some welding rods on your list of supplies. You'll have to close your eyes for the arc, so good spatial awareness is a must. It will work well enough for welding a nut onto a broken off bolt head though.

 

[PewPewPew]

If you play guitar, save your small piece of E string when you've clipped the excess off for cleaning carburetors. The thin flexible steel string is great for unclogging plugged high and low jets on carburetors. If you don't play guitar, use a pair of pliers to pull out a couple wires from a brass bristle brush and straighten them out. You can also use twist tie wrappers off bread bags, but they aren't as strong and springy as the steel guitar string.

 

[DRW]

If you ever have a stuck bullet or obstruction in the bore of a rifle with no way of clearing it, you can drill/tap the muzzle end with the same threads as a zirc grease fitting. Thread in the fitting and connect a grease gun to it and the hydraulic pressure will remove your barrel obstruction. I had a barrel brought to me with not only a stuck bullet, but also broken hardwood dowels that were wedged into the barrel when they tried to pound it out. You'll lose about 1/2" off the barrel when the threaded portion has been cut off and re-crowned.

Lead solvent is the usual way to remove a stuck bullet. Takes a little time for the bullet to dissolve, but the barrel isn't damaged in the process.

Wood dowels are not as good as purpose built squib rods.

 

[PewPewPew]

Cheap penetrating oil: Mix 1/2 part acetone with 1/2 part automatic transmission fluid. Works just as good as the normal brands, but about 1/10 the cost.

 

[PewPewPew]

Make your own re-usable spray can. Works well with the homemade penetrating oil listed above, or whatever you want to spray with it. Here's a video on how to do it.

 

[PewPewPew]

Pine oil mixed half parts with water and heated in a crockpot will help dissolve and loosen any gas varnish/residue out of your carburetors. Let em soak for a half hour or so. It doesn't damage the aluminum. If you have a heated ultrasonic cleaner, even better. I learned this from a honda motorcycle forum years ago. Nothing worse than trying to detail clean a bank of carburetors that's varnished and gunked up with old gas. Rinse in hot water and blow dry with compressed air.

 

[PewPewPew]

White vinegar works really well to clean up any epoxy that is still sticky and hasn't cured yet. I have yet to find a brand of epoxy that this doesn't work with.

If you want your epoxy to mix up really well and really runny, put it under low heat on a heat gun or hair dryer. This will accelerate the curing time, so plan accordingly on how fast to use it.

If you have two part epoxy that has crystallized from sitting in storage too long, don't throw it away. Heat up your container of crystallized epoxy in a pan of boiling water. The heat will dissolve the crystals and the boiling water will help keep it from overheating.