what are your favorite tools for salvaging scrap......

[dgoddard]

First a little story to set the stage. I had to make a tool for going" down-hole" to reach a 2inch PVC ball valve and turn the T-handle on the top and it had not been turned for years. Since the T-handle was plastic I had to get a good even grip on it, so that some jury rig would not not overload it and break it. So what I needed was a socket that was slit up on opposite sides and would drop over the 2 sides of the T handle. and let me twist while applying force evenly.

The socket was going to be around 2 inches in diameter. Not having any "tube stock or anything to bore out on hand. I went looking in the scrap box. And there I found the remains of the body of the McPherson strut that came off my Toyota Corolla when I put new ones on. And It was easy to measure ID & OD because I had cut off the end when salvaging the piston rods. One little problem. It was a 3 dimensional monster. Toyota had welded doo-dads all over the thing There was:
-- A bracket for the brake hose.
-- A heavy bracket for mounting it to the wheel spindle
-- An approximately 7 inch flange that engaged the front suspension coil spring sticking off at a jaunty angle
-- A bracket that held a brake hose fitting that routed the brake hose from the frame to the wheel cylinder.
At least those were the major ones.
And none of those was a simple shape and getting at them to cut was a nightmare.

The problem was that there was just no good way to get hold of this thing. One bracket or another or some multiple simply got in the way. The band saw vise, milling vise and the bench vise could simply not find a good purchase on this thing that would allow me to bring any power tools to bear and Toyota had used some decent steel in this thing that was not exactly going to cut like butter. A salvage operation like this is not worth the trouble if some esoteric set up is required to safely have at it. But I did not have any other steel on hand of the needed size. I did finally solve the problem by a combination of approaches with various tools.

That odball angled spring seat succumbed to my angle grinder, but first I had to get the smaller brackets off to make room for the bench vise to get a grip. I managed to hold it in the bench vise and hacksaw off parts of the smaller brackets So I could get the vise to grab the tube and hold it while I used a cut off wheel in the angle grinder to make a few strategic cuts to take the spring seat bracket off. With a bit of finesse I got the horzontal band saw to hold the tube so I could get the heavy mounting bracket cut off. Then I was able to get the tube chucked in the lathe and turn off some more of the bracket weld tabs. and then part off the lengthof tube I needed with a square end that allowed me to chuck it properly and clean off the rest of the weld tabs.

I do have a cutting torch but I do not have the bottles for it. Yes that would be really handy and flexible for tasks like this but I just thought I would ask to see if I have overlooked any other handy tools that are useful for such scrap salvage operations. Perhaps you guys would like to share ideas with the rest of us for things to keep an eye open for at sales and auctions.

Oh Yeah. the tubing was welded was then to an end cap with a 3/4 hex nub on the end and the slots were milled and that that valve turned nicely. The tubing seemed thin for the task but my estimation of the quality of steel Toyota used proved to be right I got a nice tool for the cost of putting the pieces together. The force on the plastic T-handle of the valve was evenly applied with nor real risk of breakage And the wrench handle was out where I could get hold of it easily to apply the torque.

[mcostello]

Sawall, and a good chisel or 2,3,4,5,6 etc. Punches also. Better hang up now or I will be typing all night.
PS Craftsman rounded over nut removers also. See what I mean!

[ctwo]

smoke wrench

[liveaboard]

I think you mean flame wrench!

In Portugal I have to pay for leasing the bottle. It's very expensive for me as a home user, but living without oxygen is impossible. I use propane, not acetylene.
A friend has a mig I can have free; but the cost of the argon bottle is so high, I stay with stick welding.
I complained to the retailer about it [not that he can do anything of course]. He told me the industrial gas firms do it intentionally, to prevent their bottles from being held by customers who only refill once or twice a year.

[dgoddard]

About gas bottles, I once made the mistake of leasing a bottle. What a rip off and when I moved I could not take it with me. Now for my mig I Bought the bottle. I got the best price by far at the Farmer's Co-Op and curiously the bottle is from the Airgas company and I can exchange it at Airgas or At the Co-Op for a full bottle and the gas price is about the same. I really ought to get the Oxy and Acetelene Bottles. and re-activate my smoke wrench.

[ctwo]

I think you mean flame wrench!

Usually with scrap there are other materials...

[warmstrong1955]

About gas bottles, I once made the mistake of leasing a bottle. What a rip off and when I moved I could not take it with me. Now for my mig I Bought the bottle. I got the best price by far at the Farmer's Co-Op and curiously the bottle is from the Airco company and I can exchange it at Airco or At the Co-Op for a full bottle and the gas price is about the same. I really ought to get the Oxy and Acetelene Bottles. and re-activate my smoke wrench.

Something to know, if you don't, is that bottles are not transferable.
Airgas will not fill a Norco bottle, or Airco....and on & on and back and forth. I think it's a DOT thing, or just liability....not sure.

Whichever, if you move, you may have a problem. That's why I always leased bottles when I was working for contractors. Buy 'em, and who knows if you could get them filled locally on the next project in a different state.

For me, and most guys I think, it makes sense to buy 'em. Not sure how many times I would have paid for my bottles if I leased 'em when I got here.
I've managed to sell 'em when I moved before, and not get hurt.

Bill

[wlw-19958]

Hi There,

I bought my O/A bottles over 40 years ago. I've never had
any difficulty in getting them refilled and I have taken them
to several different suppliers. Some will exchange them and
others will just refill them. So, I don't think it is a DOT thing
but probably is a policy of the individual supplier. Possibly it
is a state regulation.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb

[warmstrong1955]

Hi There,

I bought my O/A bottles over 40 years ago. I've never had
any difficulty in getting them refilled and I have taken them
to several different suppliers. Some will exchange them and
others will just refill them. So, I don't think it is a DOT thing
but probably is a policy of the individual supplier. Possibly it
is a state regulation.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb

Well....it would sure pay to check, should you be moving.
I know several states in the west besides Nevada, all you get is a 'sorry, we can't fill or exchange that, it's not ours.'

I've never had a problem with the little back pack torch bottles (20 cu/ft or less) They don't seem to care about those, but none are stamped with the 'owner'.

Bill

[david5605]

I have all of the above mentioned tools and also a plasma cutter but sometime it is just easier to go to the local hardware place and buy a pipe nipple of the appropriate size.

[liveaboard]

Well that depends on how far it is to the hardware store; and how sure you are that they'll have what you need.
For me it's 40 miles each way; and if they don't have it I can order it and make a second trip.
This means that it's a little extra worthwhile to make do with whatever is lying around in my own scrap pile.

[TomB]

....
I bought my O/A bottles over 40 years ago. I've never had
any difficulty in getting them refilled and I have taken them
to several different suppliers. Some will exchange them and
others will just refill them.

Bill

Somewhat more than 40 years ago I bought a Victor O/A welding kit and rented the two small bottles. Well a few years latter I was not using it and I started to get letters from the supplier saying I needed to return the bottles as they were going to close the store in my town. I was busy and did not get to it and they closed and left town. Then I started to get notes saying they wanted their two bottles back and I could drive them to the nearest store (an hour and half away) or they would pick them up. I sent a note back saying arrange a time for pickup. They called back saying they would pick them up on the weekday they delivered to my town. I told them that was fine I left for work at 5:30AM and typically was home by 9 PM so just stop by before or after my workday. Well after 6 months of notes they gave up and I never heard from them again. Years latter I was back to welding and I took the empty tank back to some other store (actually Airgas in VT) and they they told me the tank was out of inspection and they could not fill it but I could just trade it for a full one. I did and then asked the guy how that worked as I did not get it from him. He told me they had mostly taken over all the small independent suppliers and the small tanks on lease had been written off as user owned. They still filled, traded and inspected them but did not bill for lease fees. He looked at the ID on the tank and said this was actually one of theirs from out in Western NY. As that was where I had lived when I leased it was not a surprise to me.