Shop Time w/T.W. Friends. Where is your wallet…..poll

Has anyone ever been to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky?

 

Yes Mammoth cave is very cool. We went there every year growing up. They also had beefalo there.

 

Do any of you fine gents know how to measure for replacement windows?

 

It's been a very long time but I've been there. I wouldn't mind going back sometime.

 

Thank you!

 

it's usually performed with a tape measure!

most people these days do it with their cell phone. they make someone else do it!

really depends on the type you're changing to. siding or brick exterior? taking down the siding? installing within the old window frames?
most times, you need the rough opening size, vertical, and horizontal. most times it can be measured by clipping the tape on the outside edge of the current window. unless you're going with a retrofit window that fits within the old window casing.

best to figure out what company you're going with and see what dimensions they need. but normally they send a person out for that, which is better as it makes it their fault if one of the windows doesn't fit.

 

Well, another fun filled afternoon working on the old Subaru -- 4 more tires...

The old ones had 54,000 miles, still legal and good for summer except the left front had a bad wheel bearing at one point so the inside of the tire wore off.

At least the tires were new and much easier to work with than 35 year old mower tires, although cleaning the bead area of the aluminum wheels is never a fun time.

 

nothing a little kerosene won't take off!

 

I used a wire brush and some Scotch-Brite.

Funny as I have a dozen different solvents kicking around, never thought to try any of them, always used the wire brush. Aluminum wheels get corroded and pitted pretty badly here, always a PITA to get a good seal.

 

Here is a “Technical” question for you pipe fitters.


I had an interesting discussion and wanted to get your alls opinions. It had to do with preassembling pipe joints. I had a situation today where I had to put a 2” nipple into a “coupler”. The other guy on the job said it’s not good to preassemble joints and use the far end to tighten the whole thing. In our situation, we had no choice. I will add a picture below for demonstration.

Let’s say we preassembled the cap and nipple below. We then had to go through an object making it impossible to turn the nipple. So we have to use the cap to tighten the whole thing.

The other guy on the job said you can’t get a good idea of how tight nipple is because you are using the cap to tighten the nipple.
I say, if the cap is tight to begin with, than the nipple has to be as tight or tighter than the cap before the cap would start to turn.

Preassemble this


Then use the cap to tighten the whole assembly. (I doesn’t have to be a cap, in my case it was a coupler) As you can see, you aren’t using a pipe wrench to tighten the nipple in this case.

 

Short version: Yes it will work but is not best practice.
I wouldn't call myself a Pipe Fitter though I have run miles of black iron pipe.

In the example of the cap, it (the cap) will be tighter on the nipple than the nipple is in whatever it is threaded into. Sometimes one wants to remove the cap and it will bring the nipple back out with it.

With a multiple piece assembly, that end piece is going to be a lot tighter than all the parts down stream from it, you won't get the desired consistent torque on every fitting like if they were assembled one at a time.

Although it seldom happens it is also possible to strip the treads or split a fitting too.

 

that's better than how I was going to say it

 

Nothing like a good ing to teach you a lesson.

This is called a "close nipple", it is not your friend and the use of it should be avoided.



Many of the plumbing service calls and call backs over the years involved a close nipple at the root of the problem.

It is not your friend.

 

I'm trying to follow along here, jumped on kinda late about to hit the sack.

The consensus is that you dont want the cap to have the highest torque incase the need for disassembly arises, you start moving further upstream than necessary. Ok I'm following.

You don't want to use a nipple fitting like that basically because you have no shoulder or shank to hold the fitting in place and tighten/loosen. You could wrap a rag or some rubber under channel locks but you're probably gonna dick your threads trying to disassemble it. Am I picking up what you're putting down?

 

Every time you use a pipe wrench you leave marks on the pipe.
The close nipple has no un-threaded area to wrench on so you are going to mess up the threads, it is a given.

Since you don't want to mess up the threads so much that you can't get the damn thing to turn it probably won't be tight enough - it will probably leak - maybe at a time after the job is complete and the pipes are subject to some vibration.

Generally all fittings of the same class are interchangeable between different brands, however that doesn't mean they are identical. You may end up with fittings too beefy and they hit before the close nipple is tight enough to get a good seal.

Since both halves are threaded the close nipple is thinner and a bit weaker, as you are trying to tighten the damn thing without messing up the threads it might distort into an egg shape so the other fitting won't thread on.
Or the weaker close nipple might snap off if the pipe is subject to vibration or impact.

Yeah... That close nipple and I go way back -- it isn't your friend.

 

Most mechanic work comes down to process: We all do the job the same way every time, this gives good consistent results.

Tightening a multi-piece assembly from the end will never give you nice consistent torque you want on every fitting. It may work, but it isn't the best practice.

 

Goodnight everyone, sleep well.

 

In my situation today, that would be the ideal scenario should one ever have to take the assembly back apart. If the “cap” comes off and the nipple stays in, the job just got a whole lot harder.

As for the cap being tighter, it should be pretty equal. Torque in should be close to/equal to torque out(end)

The weakest (loosest) connection should turn before the rest.

 

All the pieces of the multi piece assembly are tightened and taped before the whole assembly is installed into the last piece. Then the whole assembly (that’s tight) is installed as “one”.

I’m not arguing here. I’m genuinely curious as to the “math” here.

FWIW, I was working on a an air line system. It didn’t leak. So I guess “if it works, it works”.

 

We hope all the pieces of the assembly are tightened before it is installed.
I don't know what the actual math is, I just did the work, never went to school for it.

Working in factories I have been on the receiving end of some colossally bad workmanship. For example, when someone asks you "why is this conduit so hot?" it's going to be a long day.

The building I was in charge of was apparently plumbed and wired by drunk monkeys on a Saturday morning after an all night bender. The fact that the place never burned flat suggests that the owners should have purchased lottery tickets.
I kept a "cabinet of shame" of some of the "best" things we found over the years.