Frugal Tool Hacks

[NutmegCT]

Interesting stuff, especially for us frugal zealots:

I knew about half of them, but the rest were totally new to me.

 

[PAUL161]

Now that was interesting! Thanks Tom. PJ

 

[NutmegCT]

Paul - my Dad taught me the "magnet on the screwdriver" trick over 60 years ago.

(yikes - that long ago? wow, Eisenhower was president!)

 

[DrEntropy]

Yup, me too, Tom. And how to both magnetize and degauss one.

 

[NutmegCT]

OK Doc - did you ever degauss a color TV back in the 1950s?

Our first color set, 1955:

Yup - we watched the Rose Bowl Parade back then. And at least a dozen neighbors came over to see the new electronic "miracle".

 

[Boink]

I remember going through our entire house pulling loose screws out of interior door hinges and then gluing in toothpicks (like the match trick) to get those screws in tight.

 

[DrEntropy]

OK Doc - did you ever degauss a color TV back in the 1950s?

Our first color set, 1955:

Yup - we watched the Rose Bowl Parade back then. And at least a dozen neighbors came over to see the new electronic "miracle".

Before "color TV" was broadcast in Pittsburgh, my dad and a pal were building and playing with RCA TV's. There was a color bar generator in a basement and we aligned the guns and were fussing with locally generated patterns there. The local NBC affiliate (then was WIIC) finally began RCA color broadcasts and "Disney" and "Bonanza" on Sunday evenings were in our livingroom, attended by neighbors and family then. "We got COLOR TV!" :grin:

I think it was a 25" screen. Can't be sure but it was big and remarkable at the time.

I came into the world in 1950, never had a time without TV. The Ol' Fella was an electronics enthusiast and we had everything; wire recorders, TV's, tape recorders that were reel-to-reel, through four track, all the cutting edge HiFi and stereo record players. Dad put together his own amps from components, we had 500W per channel stereo systems in our teens... The "Young Rascals", "Beatles", "The Association", "Jefferson Airplane" and Frank Zappa's first LP were all in our library in the early and mid-sixties on those amps. One of dad's co-workers even wrote his doctorate treatise on Zappa's first record!

 

[elrey]

Lucky you, we asked our folks to get a color set but they said no. So we told them that a few of the neighbors had them. The response was that the neighbors didn't know how to spend their money wisely. It took until 1973 for my folks to get frivolous. I use the square style toothpicks in tired screw holes. Their edges grip the sides of the holes and they seem to accept the screw threads better. Plus, with a little wood glue you can drive a few of them in together and they mesh well.

 

[Gliderman8]

I still have (and use) my 1973 Fischer 4-Channel receiver. I also have my 1971 Sears under dash FM Stereo that I bought for my first car. It's in my shop and it works as good as new.

 

[DrEntropy]

I still have (and use) my 1973 Fischer 4-Channel receiver. I also have my 1971 Sears under dash FM Stereo that I bought for my first car. It's in my shop and it works as good as new.

:thumbsup:

My "Autoradio" cassette player languishes on a shelf in th' garage now. It was originally under the passenger seat of the '66 MGB for the long trips from Buckroe Beach to Beaver Falls. Those were the days!

 

[Gliderman8]

Indeed doc....those were the days!!

 

[pdplot]

We had the first TV set in the neighborhood. Across the street lived Marshall P. Wilder. Worked for CBS labs here in town. He built a set for us back in 1948 or so. Huge cabinet, small picture. My dad always had to be first. Wire recorder, later tape recorder, hand held calculator, ball point pen (Reynolds $15.00!), FM radio - he would go crazy today.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

No color TV in my family until '68. Kinda anticlimactic then, as many of my friends already had one.

As for stereo equipment, I have the Realistic STA-120 in the garage, 1973 vintage from when I worked for Radio Shack, hooked up to an Akai reel to reel and a Pioneer turntable and speakers. Still plugging along nicely, thank you!

Oh, and that reel to reel requires demagnetizing the tape heads from time to time.

And back to the tool hacks, I still grind wood screws into a bar of soap - Mom taught me that one sometime in the early sixties!

 

[dklawson]

We didn't get a color TV until the mid-1970s. It was the big family Christmas gift. It was also one of the first bits of electronics we had that was "instant on" (as opposed to needing 5 minutes to warm up). News reports of "instant fires" scared my mom so the TV was left unplugged until someone wanted to watch a particular program.

As for old electronics.... When I was growing up my dad had a HUGE AM radio mounted on the wall of the garage. It was the size of today's college dorm refridgerators. It had been part of a console record player/radio... probably from just before WWII. Dad had cut it in half, put a piece of stained plywood on the open side and used it for at least 30 more years.

I knew about half of the tricks in the video. I still use a bunch. As elRay above, I have used toothpicks glued into screw holes for years. The one that caught my eye and I will try in the future was jamming the rubber band into a stripped Philips head screw.

 

[PAUL161]

When I was a kid all we had was an old Philco radio with short wave, police calls and regular stations. Looked like the photo. In 1946 or 47 we got a, (I think), Majestic TV, first in the whole area. I remember that on Friday nights we had a house full watching the fights. Guys glued to the tv and women in another room playing cards. Photo of same type TV also. My how things have progressed, some good and some not so good. PJ
View attachment 51174View attachment 51175

 

[dklawson]

Our garage radio looked very much like the left side of your console TV... but bigger. I remember its gold tone dial and big domed knob for finding the channels.

What I remember most was my dad tinkering in the garage on Saturdays listening to WPTF Radio (owned by Durham Life Insurance - We Protect The Family). Dad used to torture me by listening to opera.

 

[Basil]

Some cool hacks. The one using the two wrenches is a trick I've used for years when more leverage is needed.

 

[pdplot]

My dad also had a Bendix floor radio with a thin wood veneer which showed the lit dial through the wood. Anyone remember that one? He was also personally responsible for the economic recovery of Japan buying things like the bird that drank, swung up and drank again, a Lava lamp, an Atmos perpetual clock, 5 TV sets in almost every room in the house, hi fi and the first stereo system, etc. He claimed it was because of a deprived childhood. True, he did not come from money as my grandfather deserted the family and moved to Virginia when my dad was about 12 years old and he had to work his way through law school working for a wholesale fruit and vegetable company. Later, many small grocery store owners became his clients. Where are they today? The stores that is.

 

[DrEntropy]

I recall my uncle (dad's younger brother) had a Sparton mirror tv. I thought that was odd.

 

[dklawson]

He was also personally responsible for the economic recovery of Japan buying things like the bird that drank, swung up and drank again, a Lava lamp, an Atmos perpetual clock, 5 TV sets in almost every room in the house, hi fi and the first stereo system, etc. .

I still have a drinking bird. I bought one because so many of the young "kids" I work with had never heard of or seen one.

As for the Atmos clock, let's be clear... they are not Japanese and they really are super cool. My dad received one as a service award (back when companies spent money to recognize dedication). When dad died I inherited the clock which sits proudly on my fireplace mantle. Bloody expensive things to have worked on though. The factory won't even sell parts to owners... only to their certified repair shops and technicians.