TWENTY TIPS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 88, 5 July 1927, Page 13

TWENTY TIPS

FROM A GARAGEMAN THINGS TO REMEMBER If you value your wrist-watch, don’t wear it when working near the magneto. When blowing away dust or filings from a corner or other space, close your eyes. When using a cold chisel or punch, grip it firmly. If it slips it may travel several yards and do serious damage. When using a small screwdriver, don’t hold the object into which the screw is being tightened in the palm of the hand.

If your skin is naturally dry or tender, don’t wash your hands with petrol or benzole. Ordinary lard is an excellent hand cleanser.

Don’t increase the leverage of your spanners by putting a piece of gaspipe on the end. The spanner is always the correct length for the size of nut. When working on your back under a car, wear goggles and plug the ears with cotton wool. A silk handkerchief inside the collar is an added comfort.

Don’t touch your face, and espeei ally your eyes, whilst handling an ac cumulator.

Don’t grip screw threads or delicate parts in hardened vice jaws. Use sheet lead or soft copper on both sides.

Don’t bear the unsupported weight of the whole body on a spanner. If it slips you may have a nasty fall.

Keep your hammer face free from paint, glue or similar foreign matter. The smoother and cleaner it is, the less inclined it will be to slip when hitting a punch or chisel. When taking down an engine fitted with a self-starter, disconnect the accumulator leads. Failing this precaution, serious damage will be done to the engine, 'and possibly the workers, if someone treads on the starter switch.

If you find that, after working on your car, dirt which cannot be removed has accumulated under the finger nails, on the next occasion fill them up before you start by scraping them along a piece of soft toilet soap. The feeling is an uncomfortable one, but the results are highly satisfactory. Don’t pour waste petrol down the drain. It is dangerous.

When riveting use a light hammer and give repeated blows. Don’t attempt to finish the job with one fell blow.

If the face of the cylinder head is smeared with soap, the joint can be broken without damage to the gasket.

If you place a hot iron on one side to cool chalk a circle round it as a warning in case someone else picks it up. The centre carbon from an old pocket flash lamp battery will act as an emergency magneto brush when trimmed to shape with a file.

An emptied petrol can containing air and a few drops of petrol forms a potential bomb. A violent explosion may take place if a naked flame is brought near the outlet.

When taking out the screw holding the end of the spring on a magneto contact breaker, keep your thumb on the spring. If you don’t you will be lucky if you succeed in finding the screw.