An "OH SHYTE!" moment!

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DianneB
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Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:05 pm
Location: Manitoba, Canada

An "OH SHYTE!" moment!

Post by DianneB »

Had a blow-out on one cylinder head on my American on Sunday - the "modern gasket compound" failed - so I took the head off, cleaned everything, checked for flatness, chased all the threads, and put it back on with gasket shellac to seal it up.

The centre bolt that holds the cover over the cylinder bolts is drilled & tapped right through the cylinder head so I took it in needle nose pliers to dip the end of the little brass bolt in the little bottle of gasket shellac and it slipped out of the pliers and fell into the shellac bottle. ***Insert expletives here!!!"

I fished around with the pliers but couldn't feel it in the thick liquid so I KNEW it was an "oh shyte moment"! Dumped the contents of the bottle into a jar lid - couldn't feel the bolt with pliers so in go the fingers! Not in there .... So, one finger into the bottle to fish around and find the bolt stuck in the corner.... After trying to fish it out for some time, I finally got it.

By the time I was done cleaning everything up - and if you have used gasket shellac, you know how sticky and thick that stuff is - a 2 second dip in gasket shellac took 30 minutes!
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10KPete
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Re: An "OH SHYTE!" moment!

Post by 10KPete »

At least the shellac dissolves in alcohol! The new stuff I haven't had much luck finding a solvent for.
Yuck!

Pete
Just tryin'
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DianneB
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Re: An "OH SHYTE!" moment!

Post by DianneB »

10KPete wrote: Mon Aug 06, 2018 5:26 pm At least the shellac dissolves in alcohol!
Yes it does ... and thank gawd I had a gallon of alcohol in the shop to clean up with!

Most of the modern stuff dissolves in paint thinner, except Permatex #2, which is alcohol again.
rkcarguy
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Re: An "OH SHYTE!" moment!

Post by rkcarguy »

Almost as bad as dropping a bolt down an intake manifold!
John Hasler
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Re: An "OH SHYTE!" moment!

Post by John Hasler »

rkcarguy wrote: Mon Aug 06, 2018 6:37 pm Almost as bad as dropping a bolt down an intake manifold!
Or dropping a large screwdriver into a tractor transmission while trying to unjam the selectors out in a field a mile from the shop. No, magnets did not work.
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Fender
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Re: An "OH SHYTE!" moment!

Post by Fender »

Reminds me of a good story. About 1970 I was speaking with an old-timer who worked in a railroad shop in the 1920s. They were working in the smokebox of a locomotive, and had removed the exhaust nozzle. Someone accidentally knocked the nuts holding it in place down into the exhaust passage in the cylinder saddle! After scratching their heads figuring how to get them out, he had an idea. They got new nuts from the storeroom, bolted the nozzle back in place, and fired up the engine. He put a nickel in front of and behind each driver, wedged between the rail and driver tire. When the boiler was up to pressure, he set the tender brakes, put the reversing lever forward and opened the throttle! The coins kept the loco from moving, and the drivers spun wildly! And the nuts were blasted out of the stack, right through the roundhouse roof like buckshot! Problem solved (other than the holes in the roof).
Dan Watson
Chattanooga, TN
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DianneB
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Re: An "OH SHYTE!" moment!

Post by DianneB »

Fender wrote: Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:33 pm.... the nuts were blasted out of the stack, right through the roundhouse roof like buckshot! Problem solved
ROFLMAO!!!!

Sounds like me starting my old tracked loader! I keep a big old coffee can over the stack to keep the rain out and usually forget to take it off. On first-start, the can goes about 20 feet in the air - "LOOK OUT BELOW!!!"

... or the time I built a "can launcher" for the shooting range in the shop and figured I had better test it. It worked! Shot a soup can with GREAT force ..... right up through the fluorescent light shattering two tubes and raining glass down on me :shock:
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Benjamin Maggi
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Re: An "OH SHYTE!" moment!

Post by Benjamin Maggi »

I was recently running my Gauge 1 live steamer and using a syringe with flexible plastic tubing on the end to fill the boiler. Somehow, the tube fell in the boiler. Same feeling as you Diane.

...Except that there is no way to get the tubing out so in the boiler it remains. Its effect on the boiler is TBD.
"One cannot learn to swim without getting his feet wet." - Benjamin Maggi
- Building: 7.25" gauge "Sweet Pea" named "Catherine"
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