As much as I love to go to the hardware store, I am getting tired of laying out the cash. Every time I go a twenty seems to disappear (if I'm lucky) - often more. The other thing is that I like to figure out how to make stuff work. I'm the son of a farmer and farmers are inventors as much as they are anything else*.
I'm getting a trailer ready for my current boat project and am working on the wiring. I don't know how the tail lights were wired before as there was no hole in the steel tubing for the wire to exit at the tail light. It is closed at the back end so I had to drill a hole and fish the wires through to each side. The raw steel edge is bad news for chafing the insulation on the wire and will eventually lead to a short. Rather than making yet another trip to the hardware store I made my own plastic grommets.
I have done this before using various materials. Today's subject was the old stand-by Sharpie, everyone's favorite marker. I save the old ones and use the barrels for various things like this:
Cut off a section with one end at an angle. Slip over the wire with the angle pointing in the direction the wire is coming from, press fit or glue into place and there you have it. A nice plastic grommet to prevent the insulation from being worn off the wiring.
* For years after we left the farm my dad kept his subscription to Successful Farming magazine. In the front of the magazine there were generally two pages showing ways readers solved different problems around the farm. It was inventing at its finest. Maybe not Thomas Edison level invention but the kind that got the job done and kept the farm running. It was my favorite part of the magazine and I never missed reading it. They have a web site but I don't know whether or not this feature is still available.
I'm getting a trailer ready for my current boat project and am working on the wiring. I don't know how the tail lights were wired before as there was no hole in the steel tubing for the wire to exit at the tail light. It is closed at the back end so I had to drill a hole and fish the wires through to each side. The raw steel edge is bad news for chafing the insulation on the wire and will eventually lead to a short. Rather than making yet another trip to the hardware store I made my own plastic grommets.
I have done this before using various materials. Today's subject was the old stand-by Sharpie, everyone's favorite marker. I save the old ones and use the barrels for various things like this:
Cut off a section with one end at an angle. Slip over the wire with the angle pointing in the direction the wire is coming from, press fit or glue into place and there you have it. A nice plastic grommet to prevent the insulation from being worn off the wiring.
* For years after we left the farm my dad kept his subscription to Successful Farming magazine. In the front of the magazine there were generally two pages showing ways readers solved different problems around the farm. It was inventing at its finest. Maybe not Thomas Edison level invention but the kind that got the job done and kept the farm running. It was my favorite part of the magazine and I never missed reading it. They have a web site but I don't know whether or not this feature is still available.
