The other day my wife and I were at Office Max where she wanted to look at a
tape dispenser. The one that held the larger rolls of tape cost $40. She
balked at the price, and I said that I would make her one. The next day a
frame was procured from some surplus aluminum sheet from an obsolete piece
of hospital equipment. Bent in the brake, shaped and filed, the pieces were
then TIG welded into a box. The wheel for the tape was the end cap from an
old motor complete with ball bearing. The axle was turned from a piece of
1" round bar and then the ends were turned down to ride in the slots in the
box. It was pressed into the bearing. A piece of fine tooth hacksaw blade
pinched between the frame and another chunk of aluminum became the cutter.

She was tickled to death and I got to see the big smile on her face. For my
part, I got to bend, weld, machine and think while I tinkered. This took
half a day off. I can't create work for myself on days off, so I figure my
time is worthless in terms of money but priceless in terms of doing fun
stuff like this.

--
Larry Bailey
Illegitimi non carborundum


"jim" wrote in message ...
couple of months back i was replacing a gate.. cedar 1 by 6 in. 6 ft
tall. i had some hardware on there that was about 30 yrs. old. it was
good quality stuff but the rust kinda messed up the threads on the
bolts and nuts.. i got out the taps and dies and told my wife that it
was goona be a bitch to get all this rust off... she then said.. how old
is the stuff: about 30 yrs.. she then said: well how many times do you
think you gonna have to do this again??? i realized that for the time
and energy that i was gonna put into this job that i could have just as
easily walked to the hardware store and for a few bucks got new stuff,
which i did.... i just have it in my mind that something needs fixing
and i can do it, so why buy new if the old stuff still works.........
kinda hard to get off of this way of thinking......
kinda like the time a ceiling fan switch lost its chain pull... i
figured i would get a new switch... went to three local hardware stores
and none thad them... i then drilled out the rivets to take the switch
apart.. then had to make some screws long enough to put the switch back
together..... took a long time do do with the screws(finally used the
shafts of the rivets that i put in the die to put on some threads.....
took all this time and one day out at home depot find a wall of these
switches for fans for about $3.00 each.... kinda made me feel bad
after messing with the old switch.... is anyone out there feels like
this???? sometimes does too much to fix junk that it only seems right to
them????