Used my cordless drill twice in an unusual way.

Re: Used my cordless drill twice in an unusual way

john lucas

Keith some vehicles have a re-learn procedure in the owners manual for learning where a sensor is replaced or if you rotate the tires. I've only seen this on Chevy's but it could be on other cars. BAsically you put it in that mode by doing what the manual says. Then as the turn signals blink you go to that tire and lower the pressure until the horn honks. then go to the next tire and do the same. until yo've done all 4. If your vehicle has this option I would do this before you go buy another sensor. It could simply be that it's lost the communication temporarily. The local Chevy dealer told my wife it would be $160 to replace the bad sensor. I did the relearn and if fixed it. didn't cost a thing.

Re: Used my cordless drill twice in an unusual way

Bruce, a MN Galoot

For a couple years we had an A-frame camper that had scissor jacks for stabilizers. It was the slickest thing to use my cordless drill to raise and lower those stabilizers. It made the process take less than two minutes for the whole camper.

It never occurred to me to try lift my pickup with it. OTOH, I’ve never had a flat on it, either.

Discount Tire

Dustmaker Mike

If you have a Discount tire near you, they can fix you up on the cheap with the TMPS. There are a few different styles of TMPS sensors. Ford went to a newier style in 2015 that will give you the pressure at each tire. Dodge had this for many years before that. I am not sure of Chevy's. Some of the older styles just showed a tire low without location. I am not sure of the Toyota or Nissan trucks.

Unusual uses...

John in NM

We had volunteer fire department training today, taking the roof off a junk car (PT Cruiser) that we've been slowly destroying for the last month.

On one side the chief had a group using the hydraulic jaws, on the other a couple cordless sawzalls. I have to admit that I was skeptical the saws could keep up, but they actually did pretty well... not quite as fast as the jaws, but pretty close.

Re: Used my cordless drill twice in an unusual way *LINK*

John McGaw

Not a totally original idea (see link for a commercial equivalent) but extra points for quick thinking and field expediency. I ran into a guy at the Maker Faire in San Mateo a few years ago who was working on a walking robot using electric RV scissor jacks as the main motivating force.


electric scissor jack

starting chain saws

John K Jordan

>>>starting my backpack leaf blower

I've always thought chain saws should come with an electric start just like that when stubborn. Could come with a 12v motor to use a vehicle battery.

BTW, another trick for starting reluctant motors is to take out the spark plug and preheat it with a flame then put it back in fast and crank. Just keep the flame away from the gasoline...

Re: starting chain saws

Tom dunlap

Decades ago there were electric start chainsaws. The unit was very bulky

The rope recoil unit on a lawnmower wore out so I pulled it off and used my drill to start

A ¾" nut is welded to the scissor jack in my shop. I've used it many times

Re: Used my cordless drill twice in an unusual way

Keith Newton

Ralph, that sounds like a great idea for starting small motors. Seems like it would be a fairly easy engineering feat to just have a 3/8" square socket on the outside of the cord housing. Although I'm not sure how large an engine that would work on. My Stihl saw is fairly easy to start, but I gave my old Olympic saw to my last apprentice because it had become to much for me to start.

Re: Used my cordless drill twice in an unusual way

Jason Roehl in Lafayette, IN

I've done that on a couple occasions over the years. I had broken the pull cord on a chainsaw about 15 years ago, so I used an electric drill on it after taking off the pull cord assembly. Just spin until it starts!

Then, a few years ago, I was doing some hardscaping in front of my house, and I borrowed my landscaper friend's wet saw, which was missing the pull cord assembly (broken, hadn't yet been replaced). This time I used a cordless drill, but I found that you had to yank it off as soon as the engine fired, or it would snap the bit. (I didn't break one, someone else did).

Jason

Re: Lee Valley...

TomD

Yeah, the engineered versions have a clutch or ratchet function in them that slips if the engine spools up under it. A cheap version might be constructed from those ratchet spinners, as some kind of linear drive like a pipe attached to the spiner that was dropped down to 3/8" drill dimensions would function. Of course they make them and you can pick them up and adapt them to your use.

This is an easy adapt ratchet spinner, all you would need is a take off like those Lee Valley sells.

OK, I looked it up and couldn't find the thing LV used to sell. They sell something for a brace still, but I couldn't find the "Drivers for Screws and Socket" for drill drivers. I made one for myself by adapting an extender. I just cut the female end off since it is useless (can you still say that), and turned the tenon down to sub 3/8".

One thing those drivers are great for is to mount a socket on the end of your driver, and with that you can use the rig as a power feed for a milling machine, since mine has an acorn nut holding the dogbone on the end of the screw. You could open your vise that way, for those long screws.

Re: Drill powered lift

TomD

This is my favourite. I briefly considered buying one because it would be useful in a number of ways other than as intended.

Re: Drill powered lift

John McGaw

Nice! I hate to ask but, how much does it cost? Probably not cheap enough for casual use. The older I get the more ladder-phobic I become.