What did you screw up today?

[gellfex]

A little OT but I had real fun yesterday with some plumbing. I was changing a vanity sink, and when I shut off the cold the valve leaked. Time for a new valve. It was 3/8 npt, but when I put on the new one and turned the water on it was dripping. Here's where the real fun started. I got the wrench on there to tighten it a bit and the whole valve snapped off at the threads shooting water in my face! I guess I should have turned off the water again.

So there I am with my finger in the dike. Fortunately, the shutoff for the bathroom water is behind the toilet, so I have to let go and grab for it. Did I mention the valve handle was missing, apparently the tenant had disposed of it? So I'm trying to close the valve with a crescent wrench on the 1/4" square head. By the time I'm done there's water running down the stairs. No big deal, the tenant who just moved out had done this twice with her half assed countertop dishwasher. She moved out after we told her to get rid of it.

OK. Broken off threaded pipe end. I'll just get my 3/8 npt die and rethread it. But there's no room in there for the holder, so I'm trying to turn this 1.5" die with a stilson wrench that doesn't want to grab on it's hardened exterior. So I take it to the shop and cut grooves into the perimeter with a die grinder disk. NOW it's gonna work! And the pipe snaps off inside the wall.

Soooo, plan C. I get a bolt remover of the proper size that had just worked getting the stub out of the new valve, but it just seems to burnish the pipe stub there inside the sweat to 3/8 ell. So I get a 9/16 twist drill that fortunately already had the cutting edges ground zero rake for plastic and brass, then manage to run in a 3/8 tap using a crescent, because again, no room for handle. Did I mention it's a 19" wide vanity?

Last bit of fun: to clear the pipe of debris I put a bucket under it and open up the valve to flush it out. Of course it overshoots and more water on the floor. But I can reassemble and walk away. Picked up a new handle for the bath shutoff. Always a blast maintaining a ~120 year old building!

[Joel]

Plumbing...
I feel your pain.
Long ago (after a nearly as bad episode) I decided that I would always shut off the water at the meter, and only at the meter. Life has improved somewhat.

[The Metal Butcher]

A little OT but I had real fun yesterday with some plumbing. I was changing a vanity sink, and when I shut off the cold the valve leaked. Time for a new valve. It was 3/8 npt, but when I put on the new one and turned the water on it was dripping. Here's where the real fun started. I got the wrench on there to tighten it a bit and the whole valve snapped off at the threads shooting water in my face! I guess I should have turned off the water again.

So there I am with my finger in the dike. Fortunately, the shutoff for the bathroom water is behind the toilet, so I have to let go and grab for it. Did I mention the valve handle was missing, apparently the tenant had disposed of it? So I'm trying to close the valve with a crescent wrench on the 1/4" square head. By the time I'm done there's water running down the stairs. No big deal, the tenant who just moved out had done this twice with her half assed countertop dishwasher. She moved out after we told her to get rid of it.

OK. Broken off threaded pipe end. I'll just get my 3/8 npt die and rethread it. But there's no room in there for the holder, so I'm trying to turn this 1.5" die with a stilson wrench that doesn't want to grab on it's hardened exterior. So I take it to the shop and cut grooves into the perimeter with a die grinder disk. NOW it's gonna work! And the pipe snaps off inside the wall.

Soooo, plan C. I get a bolt remover of the proper size that had just worked getting the stub out of the new valve, but it just seems to burnish the pipe stub there inside the sweat to 3/8 ell. So I get a 9/16 twist drill that fortunately already had the cutting edges ground zero rake for plastic and brass, then manage to run in a 3/8 tap using a crescent, because again, no room for handle. Did I mention it's a 19" wide vanity?

Last bit of fun: to clear the pipe of debris I put a bucket under it and open up the valve to flush it out. Of course it overshoots and more water on the floor. But I can reassemble and walk away. Picked up a new handle for the bath shutoff. Always a blast maintaining a ~120 year old building!

LOL!

Sorry man, but that sounds like an entire damn Lemony Snicket tale! It's a good story for the kids if nothing else.

[reggie_obe]

Soooo, plan C. I get a bolt remover of the proper size that had just worked getting the stub out of the new valve, but it just seems to burnish the pipe stub there inside the sweat to 3/8 ell. So I get a 9/16 twist drill that fortunately already had the cutting edges ground zero rake for plastic and brass, then manage to run in a 3/8 tap using a crescent, because again, no room for handle. Did I mention it's a 19" wide vanity?

Breaker bar and proper sized 8 point socket to fit tap. Done!

[challenger]

Not really a screw up?
Here's a snapshot of my life:
Driving to Jacksonville to get the 2nd Covid shot and I hear a loud noise and lose power steering and power brakes. Temperature pegs but I make it within a half mile of the vaccination site. As I'm trying to hurry to my appointment I turn my ankle and go down. I pop up (I'm good at falling down AND good at popping up) and make it to the 2nd shot. I find an autozone within 1.5 miles as im waiting and figure I can make it there once the truck cools down. Steering is a huge effort btw. I get done with the 2nd shot and walk back to the truck. While doing so I treat myself to a good fart. Unfartunately it goes "code brown" but I make it to the truck with no laundry issues. Only some umwanted, and unsavory, lubrication. I situate myself in my truck so that I can clean up with a couple of shop rags aka shart towels and head to autozone feeling a Little guilty about littering. Autozone has to transfer the upper pulley which sucks BUT they do have a badly needed Men's room which more than makes up for having to wait for the part to come from another, close by, store. Hopefully I'm out of their parking lot soon with a repaired truck and a clean, fresh feeling.

[J Tiers]

Kinda TMI, but it's certainly a "definite sort of a day" deal......

[Dave C]

Challenger: I was told a very long time ago to "NEVER TRUST A FART"

[john b]

Looks to me that you steered your way Into a blasted day.

[challenger]

Took 4 hours to get back on the road. A full hour of which was putting the new belt on solo. Not an easy job on a dodge diesel 3500. Another hour was spent removing the melted rubber from the pulleys.
Working in my driveway isn't fun but working on my truck in the autozone lot sucked.
Must have tweaked the crank position sensor. I'm getting 2 CPS codes and the truck is a little slower to start.

[J Tiers]

Busted my favorite cutoff tool on a piece of scrapbinium.

I had drilled it, threaded it internally, and even turned down most of it and knurled the remaining full diameter section of the OD, so I did not think it was going to be a problem. Only got about 3mm deep cutting it off before it grabbed the cutter and broke it. Yes, I had it aligned with the cross-feed, and on-center.

The cutoff tool was just a piece of 5/16" ground down HSS cutter, no big whoopee, but it is annoying, and now I'll have to make another one.

The part was a blanking cover to screw over the end of a male hydraulic fitting to keep dust and dirt off of it.

[Cenedd]

Parting seems to go like that. Absolutely fine for ages and then drama after drama for no discernable reason. I tend to use double-ended inserts but the problem is that if you break one, they become slightly too short for the holder so you can't really use the other end. The unbroken length of my HSS blade is only just long enough to reach the second screw once given a bit of stick-out. Really want a carbide insert blade in a holder that includes the QCTP dovetail in it...and doesn't cost more than fifty bucks

[Cenedd]

My turn! Now that didn't take long, did it!
was in the shop eyeing up some bits of scrapbinium to see if they could be bent to my lunatic whims. I cranked the handle to move the lathe carriage out of my way - to be honest, I can't even remember the exact reason why. One turn, crunch. I'd left a 25mm travel dial indicator locked on the way. Over-travelled before I saw what happened and sheared the pin clean off the stem. Not a quality brand one but still annoying.

Anyone know how they fix the pin into the shaft? Tried tapping it out using a 1.3mm drill bit I was prepared to break (and wasn't disappointed) and it didn't shift. Not sure if it's loctited in or press fit.
This is the pin that has a spring attached to return the plunger, by the way.

[I make chips]

^25 quid fixes it.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30mm-Long-Travel-Stroke-0-01mm-Clock-Dial-Test-Indicator-DTI-Clock-Gauge/353366025542?hash=item524641a546:g:NaYAAOSwHOZgHBvc

[tom_d]

I have a set of rules in my shop. These are my personal rules as well as for any visitors. One of them is If I take a vise off a machine, when I replace it I either tram it true of put it on crooked enough it is obvious. The crooked happens when I don't have time to tram it.

Yesterday I was about 4 hours into a rather precise part. I put it in the vise and set the DRO off a bore and proceeded to drill a series of holes relative to the bore. The holes are all perfect relative to the bore and 10 degrees or less off relative to the base of the part. It will work fine but it looks like CRAP.

My personal rule is that when a vise goes on to a machine table it's clamped down. I'm just too clumsy to take a chance with it sliding off and doing considerable damage. When it gets clamped down it gets indicated into position. Always. If I don't have the time to indicate it I don't have the time or need to put the vise on to the machine. Same goes for other things like dividing heads and indexers. On the machine and in position, or under the bench and out of the way.

[Cenedd]

^25 quid fixes it.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30mm-Long...YAAOSwHOZgHBvc

Yeah. I'd seen a similar option (25mm Vs the 30mm on that one) from Machine-DRO but I was trying not to drop £25. It just seems a lot for a 2mm dowel pin - as the rest is fine. I was thinking of trying to redesign and see if I can get a digital scale in its place. Would give me more travel. My lathe is cunningly designed with millimetre carriage wheel graduations that don't match up with what anyone else calls millimetres (and it's not imperial either) so maybe Sieg should get an entry here!