Lets hear it

[TBONE]

Lets hear about all the creative inventions you have came up with to make your job easier....Just a quickie the cheater clip seems to be the top ranker in our district even after all these years. Whats yours?opcornsmile:

[yahoo]

there's no mcguevor in my blood so i don't invent much

[Mke]

McGuyver even? or McGrubber?

I tried to make my own Paintstick once... just because I hate the fact that you can't take it apart (riveted) and you can't make the Grip a bit more comfortable.

My ADD took over and realized too much effort for very little return.

mke

[Dave72]

Not my invention, saw a coupla gas guys that have been making them..
(and probably if you look hard enough are available off the shelf ??)

Take a sheet of plexiglass, a little larger than your forms (say 10"w x 16" long). Heat and curl the top corners a bit to make hooks that match your steering wheel. Bend the bottom few inches at a level 90 to make a prop that lays on the bottom of your steering wheel. Find one of those spring loaded paper clamps like on clipboards, and mount it to the plexiglass

A cheap little work table for filling out forms

[TBONE]

Guy up the road makes his own pipehorn boxes out of lexan it is the same size as the regular box uses the existing guts from the black 100 models and is stronger than hell i personally had one and it can take a beating unlike the cheap thin black plastic

[mixkwikis1st]

Well ok then, since you asked, I invented a contraption I call the mixkwik tool. It is an accessory to the reciprocating saw and it blends aerosol paint to perfection in just a few soconds. Even cold or stagnant cans. If anyone wants to see a video of this thing, go to Youtube mixkwik for a peek.

[mixkwikis1st]

Well ok then, since you asked, I invented a contraption I call the mixkwik tool. It is an accessory to the reciprocating saw and it blends aerosol paint to perfection in just a few soconds. Even cold or stagnant cans. If anyone wants to see a video of this thing, go to Youtube mixkwik for a peek.

"Beer can be food, but food can't be beer". kip blair

[underground quester]

I took a set of leads and cut off one of the wires. It is about 7 feet long.
Of course it had an alligator clip on one end and I took the remaining alligator clip and put it on the other end.

So now what I have is a 7 foot lead with an alligator clip on either end. I tuck it and a spare ground rod in my back pocket.

Here is how I use it.

Today as an example, I had to locate an entire NEW Condominium development, front lawn only, for a landscape contractor to plant trees.
Gas mains were in front, power telephone mains and services were in the rear.

So, I hooked up my transmitter to the tracer wire at the first gas meter in the condo and trace out the main. On the way back, I connect my jumper wire to every tracer wire, clip the other end to the ground spike and push the spike in to the ground.

Electricity being electricity likes to go to ground, so, WAH-LAH, you can now trace out that gas service because the extra ground will draw your signal up the service line and to earth.

Then I hook up my jumper wire to the next tracer wire and the next, all the way back to the transmitter.

Saves you having to move your transmitter.

Caution in dry or sandy soil, you can get no signal will have to move your transmitter.
And of course, I ran in to a broken tracer wire affecting two adjoining units in this condo complex, so had to move my box and set it on "high output" on 82 kHz to get it to jump the gap in the broken tracer wire.

[yahoo]

wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww dude....that's is awesome!!! you can do that?????? nice is all i can say!!!! I'm not worthy I'm not worthy!!! ha...that was a good one UGQ

[headcipher]

I took a set of leads and cut off one of the wires. It is about 7 feet long.
Of course it had an alligator clip on one end and I took the remaining alligator clip and put it on the other end.

So now what I have is a 7 foot lead with an alligator clip on either end. I tuck it and a spare ground rod in my back pocket.

Here is how I use it.

Today as an example, I had to locate an entire NEW Condominium development, front lawn only, for a landscape contractor to plant trees.
Gas mains were in front, power telephone mains and services were in the rear.

So, I hooked up my transmitter to the tracer wire at the first gas meter in the condo and trace out the main. On the way back, I connect my jumper wire to every tracer wire, clip the other end to the ground spike and push the spike in to the ground.

Electricity being electricity likes to go to ground, so, WAH-LAH, you can now trace out that gas service because the extra ground will draw your signal up the service line and to earth.

Then I hook up my jumper wire to the next tracer wire and the next, all the way back to the transmitter.

Saves you having to move your transmitter.

Caution in dry or sandy soil, you can get no signal will have to move your transmitter.
And of course, I ran in to a broken tracer wire affecting two adjoining units in this condo complex, so had to move my box and set it on "high output" on 82 kHz to get it to jump the gap in the broken tracer wire.

You can also jump to the pipe on the other side of the gas meter. The gas pipe should be grounded with the h2o service inside the house.

I do this, works awesome. It also means you don't need a ground rod in your pocket.

[GPGrasshopper]

You can also jump to the pipe on the other side of the gas meter. The gas pipe should be grounded with the h2o service inside the house.

I do this, works awesome. It also means you don't need a ground rod in your pocket.

This really depends on the gas line construction, when and where the construction happened, and what material the gas lines are made of.

If the service lines inside the homes are plastic, the technique of clipping to the metal piping on the other side of the meter will not work for locating the service lines. Plastic gas lines to the meter are non-conductive, and may not become energized (the plastic would heat, soften, and leak).

Internal metallic or electrically conductive piping systems, including “house side” gas lines, which may become energized within the structure, SHALL be bonded to the equipment enclosure (the appliance), the grounded service conductor (commonly called the neutral), or a grounding electrode conductor (GEC) of sufficient size for the system, according to the National Electrical Safety Code. What may and may not become energized is also up for interpretation by the building inspector.

The most common way to accomplish this is to bond the internal piping to the ground wire on the appliance. Some local and state codes prohibit the bonding of one system to another and require that the bonding points for ground connections to be made independent of one another to assure a low-impedance ground-fault current path. (Check the state and local regulations where you are)

UGQ’s technique of grounding the tracer WILL still work, and should effectively increase signal strength.

[GPGrasshopper]

Also, if the utilities share a common ground bond, you may experience bleed over. The method of grounding the tracer to earth will also help to minimize that risk.

[phoenix827]

Lets hear about all the creative inventions you have came up with to make your job easier....Just a quickie the cheater clip seems to be the top ranker in our district even after all these years. Whats yours?opcornsmile:

Ok, What do YOU guys call a cheater clip? I know what we got, clips the service drops and pierces the insulation just enough to contact the ground sheath on a tele/catv drop.
I aklso have a "modified c clamp" that I copied from here. it ALSO works GREAT for DC'ing transformers!!

[USIC1]

Ok, What do YOU guys call a cheater clip? I know what we got, clips the service drops and pierces the insulation just enough to contact the ground sheath on a tele/catv drop.
I aklso have a "modified c clamp" that I copied from here. it ALSO works GREAT for DC'ing transformers!!

I have also seen a regular set of clips with a sharp pointed self tapping screw run into one side of the clip (the side with flat steel), not long enough to effect the clips use but just enough if needed to squeeze by hand the sharp point intothe plastic armour to make contact with the shield...

* Not reccomended for rip wire shielded cable *

[TBONE]

The original clip was a small "C" clamp sharpened to a point on a bench grinder the most common I have is a old Radio Detection lead with a sheet metal screw ran through it