The Free-Ride family enjoyed a late breakfast (although you better believe that if either of the Free-Ride offspring claims to be hungry in the next two hours, I'm calling it an early lunch) at a local diner.
While there, the elder Free-Ride offspring struggled to eat an omelette off an unstable plate. Any attempt at cutting, spearing, or spooning sent the plate a-spinning.
Luckily, having some experience with diners (as a former Jersey girl), I was able to solve the problem quickly. All it took was placing two sugar packets under the plate (spaced about 180 degrees apart).
Then, it occurred to me that most of the things that might need fixing in a diner can be fixed with sugar packets.
And from that thought, it occurred to me that in different environments, there must be different characteristic materials that are your go-to item for fixing what needs fixing. In the lab where I did my graduate research, teflon tape was the local cure-all. (What need fixing most of the time? Pumps, of course.)
So I have to ask: In your milieu, whether in the laboratory, in the field, or someplace else, what is the first thing you reach for when something needs fixing? Is this fixing tool or material something whose official purpose is fixing what you use it to fix, or is it more like the sugar packet in the diner, intended for some other purpose but wonderfully suited for the problem solving use to which you put it?
Thanks for satisfying my curiosity.
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Well, as a med student, we're told pretty explicitly not to macguyver.
But in my previous life as an engineering research student, my go-to macguyer was parafilm.
This wonderful little thermoplastic is flexible, stretchable, hydrophobic, water tight, but with some interesting vapor permeability properties.
Also useful for sealing watever needed to be sealed, and in one case, as a scientist-mummy halloween costume.
Duct tape. I know it's cliche but when I'm working with physical things duct tape really is my go to. It seals, it holds, you can tie a person up with it.
In my life as a netadmin it's libpcap and the various frontends written for it. It's the best way to pull data and information from a wide variety of platforms from which to form a troubleshooting hypothesis and go on to solve the problem. It really is my troubleshooting swiss army knife.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pcap
Parafilm is pretty amazing stuff. I used to use it all the time as an oboe player, of all things; it fixes leaky reeds, holds stray threads in place, and in a pinch can be used for certain repairs. Not elegant, but in a disaster situation mid-performance, anything goes.
1 Yes duct tape. Which I actually did used to tape a duct once. (of course said duct was full of a peat sample)
2 PVC tubing. Used for everything from core barrels to supports for laying out grid squares.
Paperclips. I always need to poke things.
And string, though I don't have enough of that in lab. A world without string is chaos.
Motherfucking Jameson!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Python. I spend way to much time in front of a computer.
aside from parafilm, it's hard to go wrong with electrical tape. It'll even work underwater.
That plus WD40. If it's stuck, unstick it. If it's unstuck, stickit.
Washers--that is, the round, flat metal object used with nuts and bolts. Washers can shim up almost anything, can be bent into useful shapes (with pliers) and are almost free.
This may sound bizarre. For my data collection, it is imperative that our most important portable,electrical devices don't get too wet. It's tampons that solve the problem.
As a paramedic, 2" medical tape. Duct tape is considered to be not at all PC. 2" medical tape is as close as I am allowed to get to duct tape. It can be used in ways that are more limited by the imagination, than by the tape. A knife occasionally comes in handy, but I don't carry one. Many partners carry them. I can use a pen to cut through most things that do not require a smooth neat edge. A knife is available in the OB kit, if I really need an expensive knife (the whole OB kit needs to be replaced).
My most useful tool is creativity, because EMS will always be using equipment that is dramatically limited by the available space (and the budget), but trying to do everything that can be done.
Fia, much along similar lines, a group next door use a lot of unlubricated condoms. Keep those sensitive antennae dry!
Head down to the hardware store.
Find the isle for A/C contractors. There you will find genuine high-end duct tape. Once you use the good stuff, goes for about $13 an over-sized roll, you will never go back to the cheap stuff.
Near the duct tape your going to find the 'foil tape'. Sold as duct sealing tape.(Never use duct tape on ducts)This is strip of aluminum with a high-tack and quite tenacious acrylic adhesive with a backing strip that has to be removed. While there get an applicator. It is a piece of flat plastic, about $1, that you use to smooth it down. It allows you to apply enough pressure to activate the adhesive properly without straining or burning your fingers. Also helps prevent cuts you can get from foil tape when your working fast.
I used to recommend 'duct seal' but the quality on that has slipped. When it is good it is fine stuff and sold for about $8 a pound, quite cheap. More reliable is 'string caulk'. Really it is just a putty that has been extruded into 1/4" stings and boxed. Sticks to just about anything. A ball of it stuffed under glassware and it won't rattle or vibrate off the workbench.
While your there head down to the rope isle and pick up a roll of nylon mason line. Good stuff for light tying, lashing, binding. Even cuts PVC pipe.
You might also head down to the roofing department. Look around for 'flashing tape'. Comes in rolls typically 6" wide. It is a tough plastic membrane or foil with a layer of acrylic modified bitumen on it. Good stuff for sealing holes I use it mostly for quieting noisy machinery. Applied to the inside of a computer case it keeps it quiet by adding mass and dampening vibration.
Keep a little of each of those on hand and you will always have something to work with.
80-20 (see here if you don't know what that is) is the go-to stuff for rigging things up in the physics lab where I work. It's not exactly for the teflon-tape sorts of problems, but it was the first thing I thought of in response to your question. It's sort of a joke around the lab, that a few people can solve any problem by building something out of 80-20.
And it's pretty much intended for that. At the website linked above, the company itself calls it "the industrial erector set."
80-20 is good stuff. Very adaptable, scaled for its intended market, and it looks good.
If your not put off by a more industrial look and an emphasis on larger scale, the 1-5/8" stuff is thinner than some of the 80-20, head down to your electrical and mechanical supplier and take a look at Uni-strut. I have seen everything from small electrical racks holding a set of routers to huge industrial frames, virtual buildings in themselves, made out of it. Most labs, unless your doing 'big science', will want to stick to the smaller gauge Uni-strut. I have built benches and test beds out of it.
The big bonus is that it is cheap, tough, and reusable. It isn't hard to assemble if your good with your hands and can use normal hand tools. Sort of a giant erector set. Good stuff to keep in mind when the budget is tight.
Introduction:
http://www.unistrut.com/
To give you an idea about some of the many options you can download the latest General Engineering Catalog at:
http://www.unistrut.com/literature/index.php?archive=1
My Swiss Army Knife. I'm a computer scientist, and there are usually screws need unscrewed, CDs that need dug out, keycaps that need unstuck, etc. etc. Oh, and you can open wine and beer bottles with it to. Jameson, I hear, CPP, only has a screwtop on it. No need for expensive tools there.
I'll second the PVC pipe. You can build anything out of PVC pipe and its fittings.
I reach for my jacket so I can call it a day and have the early-morning peeps deal with the fixing mess.
Cable ties, (AKA zip ties). I used to use a lot of them for actually tying cables together, but they have a miriad other uses. For larger applications they can be strung together. Great for odd loads to motorcycles, although they're not completely recycleable. More recently I've been using them to repair zips on various clothing. Not exactly high-fashion, but effective.