Marking tools for easy readability

Posted by Robert Green on November 6, 2009, 4:06 pm

> Robert Green wrote:

news:T6OdnWuNCIJ3hG_XnZ2dnUVZ_q-

> >> Eyes are strange....I got a routine eye exam, first in about 5 years,
> >> last Jan. I'm post-medicare, but not ancient :o) Hubby usually

drives,

> >> so I don't drive often. Out driving alone one day, I had double

vision.

> >> It was after noon, had had nothing to eat yet, so figured it was low
> >> blood sugar. Knew it wasn't a brain tumor, as it only happened that
> >> once. Month or two later, got it again. Went back to the cheapo
> >> optemetrist, who checked my prescription and later redid the exam. No
> >> change. Got double vision again, so went to MD. Ahah! One eye

crosses

> >> (invisibly, no less) and my eyes had always "adjusted". Got new
> >> glasses, and all is well when I drive. Now my vision is more blurry
> >> without glasses than it was previously but no more double vision. Very
> >> disconcerting when you know the road has two lanes but yer seein' four
> >> lanes :o)

> > As Bill the Cat would say: "Gack!" Another thing to look forward to

> > finger and toenails get so thick I need surgical scissors to cut them.

> And you call yourself a DIYer? On AHR?! A Dremel tool works nicely
> with a sanding drum tip...Of course, if you can't reach toes or see them
> well, you need an assistant :o)

Yeah, "what a drag it is getting old." (-:

--
Bobby G.

Posted by Existential Angst on November 3, 2009, 10:07 am

> As I get older, even with new glasses, I find it harder and harder to see
> things like the engraved markings on socket wrenches. Has anyone found a
> way to mark these things so that they can be read in dim light by old
> fogeys? I tried various kinds of Dymo labels, but they peeled off in
> short
> order. I had a little better success using Sharpies and then painting
> over
> the lettering with clear nail polish.
> Any hints, clues, tips, suggestions?

Well, Craftsman or someone addressed this problem with large-etched sockets,
for precisely this problem.
Heh, 'Boomers Rool!!

That's a bit of an expensive solution, tho, if you already have tools.

You could take a dremel with a round ball stone and engrave this yourself.
Or use a std buzz-type engraver. For some reason I prefer the dremel.

The problem with this is, if your sockets/tools are chromed, this will now
be a posible entry point for rust.

OTOH, if my impression is correct, most people don't really look for a
particular size -- they see what fits, thus making readable markings
semi-moot.
I'm almost tempted to just mix my SAE with metric!!! Heh, sometimes metric
fits better than the SAE on american stuff!
The only sizes I "know" are: 7/16" for 1/4-20 nuts/bolts, and 1/2" for
5/16" -- that's it.
Ditto allen -- the only size I know is 3/8" for 1/2-13 sockets screws.

Proly much more of an issue: engrave every goddamm tool in the place with
yer initials. Then fill that in with brite red nail polish. :) :)

Toward this end, I think I saw a company that will personalize new tools for
you -- purchased from them, of course.

And, having said this, if you can find someone with a laser engraver, who is
really desperate for work, they might do sumpn for you cheap.
--
EA

> --
> Bobby G.
>

Posted by Robert Green on November 4, 2009, 11:01 am

> > As I get older, even with new glasses, I find it harder and harder to

see

> > things like the engraved markings on socket wrenches. Has anyone found

> > way to mark these things so that they can be read in dim light by old
> > fogeys? I tried various kinds of Dymo labels, but they peeled off in
> > short
> > order. I had a little better success using Sharpies and then painting
> > over
> > the lettering with clear nail polish.
> > Any hints, clues, tips, suggestions?

> Well, Craftsman or someone addressed this problem with large-etched

sockets,

> for precisely this problem.
> Heh, 'Boomers Rool!!
> That's a bit of an expensive solution, tho, if you already have tools.

Yeah, probably cheaper to buy a lighted magnifier and velcro it to every
wrench, drill bit and other "sized" tool's toolbox.

> You could take a dremel with a round ball stone and engrave this yourself.
> Or use a std buzz-type engraver. For some reason I prefer the dremel.
> The problem with this is, if your sockets/tools are chromed, this will now
> be a posible entry point for rust.

Thought about that and rejected it for that very reason.

> OTOH, if my impression is correct, most people don't really look for a
> particular size -- they see what fits, thus making readable markings
> semi-moot.
> I'm almost tempted to just mix my SAE with metric!!! Heh, sometimes

metric

> fits better than the SAE on american stuff!

That's how I used to do it, but another aspect of age, fumble fingers, makes
that not as simple as it used to be. The set I have is metric and SAE, and
it's often hard to tell what a nut on something's going to be so I end up
going through all off them and dropping at least one of them so that it
rolls directly under the center of the car. (-"

I've seen security inventory tags of a semi-metallic nature that stick on
stuff like it was born there, but I haven't found any label-makers labels
like that. I've bought three different units using three different tape
carts and tried about a dozen different tape qualities but all of them start
to peel when put on shiny curved chrome surface that's knocked around.

> The only sizes I "know" are: 7/16" for 1/4-20 nuts/bolts, and 1/2" for
> 5/16" -- that's it.
> Ditto allen -- the only size I know is 3/8" for 1/2-13 sockets screws.

I only know 1/4-20 on sight because it's the standard US camera tripod
screw.

> Proly much more of an issue: engrave every goddamm tool in the place with
> yer initials. Then fill that in with brite red nail polish. :) :)

Part of the wisdom of old age is that I don't lend $ or tools to friends
anymore. It's pissed some of them off, but better that they are angry at me
and I still have my tool then I am angry at them and my tool's gone. For
anyone to steal them, they'd have to get past two alarms, a feisty dog that
just bit ME for the first time in its life (nail clipping anxiety) and my
personal bodyguards, Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson. (-: That eliminates all
need to mark tools and other gear almost entirely.

> Toward this end, I think I saw a company that will personalize new tools

for

> you -- purchased from them, of course.

Yep, nice but not practical.

> And, having said this, if you can find someone with a laser engraver, who

> really desperate for work, they might do sumpn for you cheap.

Now you're talking. While I couldn't convince SWMBO to open the treasury
for a plasma cutter, I might be able to sell a laser engraver, particularly
if I could sell it as a potential home business. If I ever toted up the $
I've spend on stuff people have turned me onto via the internet, I'd
probably go into shock.

Thanks for your input, Mr. Angst

--
Bobby G.

Posted by norminn@earthlink.net on November 3, 2009, 10:23 am

Robert Green wrote:

> As I get older, even with new glasses, I find it harder and harder to see
> things like the engraved markings on socket wrenches. Has anyone found a
> way to mark these things so that they can be read in dim light by old
> fogeys? I tried various kinds of Dymo labels, but they peeled off in short
> order. I had a little better success using Sharpies and then painting over
> the lettering with clear nail polish.
>
> Any hints, clues, tips, suggestions?
>
> --
> Bobby G.
>
>

There are paint pens available at hobby/craft stores. Avail. in bright
colors, fairly fine tips. I used it only on camera accessories, so
don't know how they hold up in workshop wear/tear.

Posted by Robert Green on November 4, 2009, 10:33 am

> Robert Green wrote:
<stuff snipped>

> > I had a little better success using Sharpies and then painting over
> > the lettering with clear nail polish.
> > Any hints, clues, tips, suggestions?
> > --
> > Bobby G.

> There are paint pens available at hobby/craft stores. Avail. in bright
> colors, fairly fine tips. I used it only on camera accessories, so
> don't know how they hold up in workshop wear/tear.

Alas, not well, at least not on curved, shiny chrome. The stuff's almost
like teflon. The paint just sort of beads up as you apply it. I have
silver and gold versions of the paint pens that have little mixing balls in
them and that dry out if you look at them the wrong way! (-: I think mine
are made by Berol. What are you using?

--
Bobby G.

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Marking tools for easy readability - Page 3