It is that time of year again when our attention turns to the outdoors and the curb appeal of our homes. One easy way to give your front porch a quick face lift is to add or replace an outdoor stair rail.

Dave emailed in a picture of his minivan tire. The tire hit a hex head self taping screw and Dave wanted to know if it would be best to…

An article and video on how Tom takes an inexpensive surplus purchase and turns it into something useful around the house and shop.

Tom explains the difference between a pop rivet and a drive rivet.

Most auto body shops have small covered anchor pots with a removable chain feature installed into the floor. It is easy to incorporate anchor pots into a concrete floor while constructing a new shop. Tom included several anchor pots into the new addition of his machine and welding shop.

Tom had the opportunity to work on a turbo piston several weeks ago. On this particular piston the compression ratio needed to be lowered. Pistons are a basic part to all types of machinery that employ a reciprocating engine and are designed to work in harmony with the other components of the engine. [...]

In this article, Tom reviews a windshield repair kit found at any local auto parts store.

Tom repairs the bottom of a metal tank so it drains better.

Tom builds new metal roof finials to match antique finials.

Tom repairs a mountain bike shock.

Tom mills out a piston and shows you how to measure it.

Tom received this letter from Daron and MaryAnn of Idaho. Sound familiar to anyone?
Tom,
Daron and I have a new segment for “Tips by Tom”. We found water in our
basement a few days ago. We found out it was coming in around were the
sewer line exits the house. Luckily there is a [...]

Brother-in-law, Dave, was in town over the weekend and filmed Tom welding up a few metal posts for Summit Structures out of Laramie WY. Summit will use these posts to help support structural beams for a house they are building.
The metal posts are designed to rest on the top of a concrete footer. The bottom plate fastens into [...]

Replacing a bike seat is a simple task. A bike seat should be replaced when the outside covering is worn and the metal seat is exposed. An old bike seat looks like the one in the photograph. The material is ripping and the metal seat is exposed. 

New bike seats can be found at any [...]

 Many parts of an antique tractor are not manufactured any longer, and purchasing used parts are not any better shape than the one that needs repaired. In many instances the local machine shop may be the best choice. I am not an antique tractor guru by any imagination, although cleaning up a bore and building [...]