Mis-use of tools

[timhoward]

Aside from every screwdriver in the universe, I wonder what the most creative mis-use of a tool you have encountered is.
I'm sure this example can be improved upon, but as a starter for ten....
Today I had the keys to a posh house to inspect, owner is out of the country.
There was a separate garage which had the consumer unit in and I had the front door key which also had the garage remote control on it.

So I press the garage door remote, it opens, I spend a few hours working on the consumer unit in there. (There are also several interesting looking motorbikes in there ranging from old and cute to expensive looking)
At the end of the day I pack up and press the remote again. Nothing. I try the manual "down" button inside. Nothing.
So I check the control unit is powered. It is. No error LED's on the unit, just plain refusal to co-operate.
I take the cover off and check there are no alarm contacts wired up or anything else, and I establish it's a plain vanilla install.

So then I look around in the main house and find the keys to the side garage door.
Fine, I can now lock up, but I still need to close this big garage door somehow. I look high and low and can't find the manual winding device. It's also almost impossible to turn manually.
So I start looking around for anything I can fashion into a winder. Then I finally get an idea:

So I take the nut off, pull the end off, pull the handle out (catching both springs), bash the end a bit, put the other end into a combi drill and hey presto I could slowly and carefully close the door.
( As a matter of interest it would then happily go up using it's own motor, but not down. )

 

[littlespark]

Did you try using the same button to close the door than open it?

FIL has remote control garage door… remote has 4 buttons… as in up, down, left, right.

Only the up button does something. Opens if closed. Closes if open. Simples.


Back to the misuse of tools.

Using a screwdriver is chisel… standard.
Using your next to good pliers as a makeshift hammer to hit said screwdriver…. Ingenious, I think.
Good for tightening or loosening old 20mm locknuts

Old Philips driver as a drill for rawlplug in soft chocolate block.

A cutting of 4mm earthwire or cable ties when you got no ropes or strap for towing a ladder on the van

Thousand more examples

 

[Dustydazzler]

Anyone you uses brand new cable shears to cut down 3.5/4mm screws is a badger

Equally anyone who uses a new wood chisel to chop our brick or block is a badger

 

[ipf]

Few years back, installed a load of conduit, ready for wiring, then found I'd forgot or lost a draw tape. Went round the factory and found a massive coil of insulated brake cable. Tough stuff but cut about 30 yards off. A bit stiff but it did the job very well.

 

[telectrix]

getting the apprentice to hand chisel chases in cement. is that a misuse of tools when he/she,/gender neutral it/ should be making the tea or fetching the beers?

 

[Dustydazzler]

I would say the most common mis-use of a tool is people standing on the top platform on a step ladder

Its plain lazy standing with both feet on the top platform rather than taking 10 minutes to actually go fetch a taller step ladder

 

[Dustydazzler]

getting the apprentice to hand chisel chases in cement. is that a misuse of tools when he/she,/gender neutral it/ should be making the tea or fetching the beers?

I did once watch a fresh apprentice go through around 10 wood spade bits trying to drill a hole through a brick wall until I felt so bad I fetched my long masonry bit set out

 

[littlespark]

Using a mini digger as a cable/ water pipe detector.

I know some people that quite adept at that.

 

[timhoward]

I know some people that quite adept at that.

A talented plumber I know managed this on the first experimental scoop:

 

[plugsandsparks]

Using MFT on RCD trip test to find the breaker
Using long nose pliers to open control panels instead of key
Using blow lamp on heat shrink sleave
Hammer and screwdriver for gland nuts
Using hammer drill on non rotary to get rawl bolts in all the way.
Using cutting disk, no guard, for virtually everything over 6sqmm

Wasn't me, just what i have been told by a friend

 

[happysteve]

Base of the hammer drill (bottom of the battery) to knock in the red wall plugs, after you've just drilled the 6mm holes (up a ladder). Red plugs held between your lips as you climb the ladder and drill the holes, obviously.

 

[telectrix]

Red plugs held between your lips.

I do that, then spit the plugs into the holes. SSSSImplesss.

 

[Rockingit]

Tools not fit for purpose? Are we wandering into politics here??

 

[ipf]

Red plugs held between your lips.

I do that, then spit the plugs into the holes. SSSSImplesss.

 

[Petej999]

Anyone you uses brand new cable shears to cut down 3.5/4mm screws is a badger

Equally anyone who uses a new wood chisel to chop our brick or block is a badger

Take it you mean BODGER as in bodge job

 

[ipf]

tel......Just seen #14. Don't know what happened there???

 

[freddo]

I've used my greenlee hydraulic punch set to remove/press in bearings.

 

[nicebutdim]

I've used my greenlee hydraulic punch set to remove/press in bearings.

That's a big one, given the price of replacement parts.

 

[freddo]

That's a big one, given the price of replacement parts.

It was done in a sensible/controlled manner, with the punch upside down.

 

[littlespark]

I got stuck on a job today, and the solution made me think of this thread.

After adding a socket in a customers hallway, he asked if I could do something with the telephone extension that was roughly stapled around the door frame….
Got it rerouted under the floor as I had a board up anyway… reterminating, I realised I didn’t have my punch down tool….

Cue my little screwfix card!

 

[timhoward]

I got stuck on a job today, and the solution made me think of this thread.

After adding a socket in a customers hallway, he asked if I could do something with the telephone extension that was roughly stapled around the door frame….
Got it rerouted under the floor as I had a board up anyway… reterminating, I realised I didn’t have my punch down tool….

Cue my little screwfix card!

View attachment 109122

I sawed a slot in a screwdriver in that situation once! Your solution is cheaper.
I was expecting a post about moving a pool table slate using roller skates or something….

 

[littlespark]

I sawed a slot in a screwdriver in that situation once! Your solution is cheaper.
I was expecting a post about moving a pool table slate using roller skates or something….

dont tempt me.

I pulled my 30 year old skateboard out my dads garage a while ago, sanded it down and let my artistic daughter do her thing with paint.... i'm thinking it could handle the weight??

 

[telectrix]

hammer and screwdriver on a reluctant poor access gland nut is me favorite misuse. ( apart from using same on 'er indoors when she in a bad mood).

 

[billyblade]

I was once trying to drill a hole through the suspension leg of my old car so I could put a nut and bolt in as the captive nut had sheared off. The only drill bit we had had gone blunt and we didn't have a bench grinder. It was Sunday afternoon so nothing was open back in the day.

Cue me sitting down on the drive with the angle grinder, wheel up, gripped between my feet. I tickled the drill bit up and it went through like a knife through butter. While I was doing the grinding my Dad muttered something about how stupid I was and walked off. Probably not wanting to witness his Son performing a self foot-ectomy!

 

[littlespark]

I just found today something that I’d forgotten about….

When you’re knocking out a chase with a hammer and chisel as you can’t get close enough with the SDS…. And you don’t want to accidentally hit parts of the wall that are still decorated…

Back of hand makes an excellent wall protector.

“*$##!!”

 

[pirate]

As a very young boy I cut through the twin flex of my bedside lamp with a pair of scissors...
I still have those scissors, and the "notch" in the blade is ideal for stripping the individual cores of 1.5mm t&e

 

[Dustydazzler]

I actually used my CK cable croppers the other day to prune back some small branches on my garden hedge when I couldn't find my secateurs. They cut a small branch like a knife through butter

 

[timhoward]

As a very young boy I cut through the twin flex of my bedside lamp with a pair of scissors...
I still have those scissors, and the "notch" in the blade is ideal for stripping the individual cores of 1.5mm t&e

My daughter went one better, she wrapped all the flexes in tissue paper, then used scissors to trim it and 'missed'. This caused a spark that set the tissue paper alight.
When I entered the room every flex was still live AND impressively on fire!

This is the same daughter that tried to cool down a bedroom light by pouring water on it. Later the same day she wanted an explanation of how the dishwasher didn't explode like the light bulb did, as the dishwasher has both water and electricity.
She's turned out very practically minded

 

[7029 dave]

I had to get the brake drum off my Renault ,it was stuck fast didnt have a hub puller, so stuck the road wheel back on with just two nuts and pulled like (you know what) came off a dream.

 

[oscar21]

Anyone you uses brand new cable shears to cut down 3.5/4mm screws is a badger

Equally anyone who uses a new wood chisel to chop our brick or block is a badger

CK tail cutters are excellent for cutting socket screw down, snips etc butcher the ends but tail cutters make an ultra clean cut, doesn't damage them either, I use the small notch though which I don't use for anything else.

 

[nicebutdim]

CK tail cutters are excellent for cutting socket screw down, snips etc butcher the ends but tail cutters make an ultra clean cut, doesn't damage them either, I use the small notch though which I don't use for anything else.

You're an animal

 

[littlespark]

After reading this thread....

I've just found a new use for the plumbers tool box......

 

[MJPD29]

My daughter went one better, she wrapped all the flexes in tissue paper, then used scissors to trim it and 'missed'. This caused a spark that set the tissue paper alight.
When I entered the room every flex was still live AND impressively on fire!

This is the same daughter that tried to cool down a bedroom light by pouring water on it. Later the same day she wanted an explanation of how the dishwasher didn't explode like the light bulb did, as the dishwasher has both water and electricity.
She's turned out very practically minded

A very valid question. I always appreciate when people take an interest in how things work.

 

[telectrix]

After reading this thread....

I've just found a new use for the plumbers tool box......

Comes in useful when there's no toilets on site.

 

[timhoward]

If you forget your cable rods and need to retrieve a cable without access to the other side of the fence....
A good old garden hoe to the rescue.

 

[timhoward]

Today I can add to the list - leftover 16mm earth to clear all three front blocked drains on a Renault Clio. Worked a treat!

 

[Dustydazzler]

...give it a wipe over with a damp cloth and that 16mm g/y can be used on the next board change

 

[freddo]

...give it a wipe over with a damp cloth and that 16mm g/y can be used on the next board change

It would be safer to put the cable in the scrap pile.