Right tool, right job?
- Thread starter rexus31
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I cant wait to meet that guy! I love to network and learn from other people! We all have knowledge to share, I know where most of mine came from and that is ONE practice I will continue to SHARE all of the knowledge that I am blessed to have.Properly done...
TFT
Not quite, you don't use the level to check the seams for flatness, you use a machined straight edge instead, that way you can see how well the seams match up from 15" back from both sides. If the slates have been sanded before to make a high side match the lower side, using the level to check to see if the seams are flat, all you're doing is repeating the same error that was done before you. When you can see a 30" span across the seam you'll see the imperfection in the seam, and be able to correct from there. You also don't use plaster to fill the seams, it turns brittle and flakes apart, then if vacuumed to clean the cloth, it will spread like gravel under the cloth. Playing cards have a plastic finish on them, super glue won't be absorbed as well using them as compared to sheet rock tape.Properly done...
Then, if you're really, really good, you carry a 72" straight edge with you so you can see the flatness of both seams, and all 3 slates at the same time, and adjust from there
Right tools for the COMPLETE job!!!
Right tools for the COMPLETE job!!!
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Bondo was used.
Wet washrag will remove all signs of plaster.
To many times in the past table mechanics will cheat to get the seams flush by sanding just enough of the high side of the seam to flush it up with the lower side, and what that does is it moves back the higher side of that seam by say an 1" or so, where it humps back up again. When you place a straight edge across the seam, it'll read the hump back from the seam as being high still, so then you have to lower that side of the seam down, leaving the lip that was sanded off, now exposed, because when the straight edge shows flat all the way across the seam, it'll also show where the seam was sanded off, and is now low to the seam. Then when you fill the seam with bondo, the perfect seam will only have bondo in the ditch of the seam, but the imperfect sanded off side of the seam will have the fill in bondo showing as its feathered out over the sanded down side of the seam, exposing exactly how much was sanded off, how far back, and how much along the seam, by going from darker pink to lighter, cloudy pink as it started to crest the flatness of the slate.
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coolidge
Well-known member
Another important tool...your hand. After multiple cleanings and wipe downs I was doing a final slate inspection. Ran my hand over the entire slate and found several stuck on bits and nubs I had to pop off plus one well camouflaged crater about 3/8 across I had to fill with bondo.
And that is the exact reason I don't use the cloth to sweep off the slate, then shake it off to remove anything that might be picked up sweeping the slate. Seen to many installers sweep the slate and MISS the mole hills stuck on the slate, then wonder how they got a bump under the cloth after its installed!
Here's another little trick, slide your level flate over the cloth in a sweeping motion, and in doing so, you'll feel anything under the cloth, and even if the cloth has a knot in the weave.
coolidge
Well-known member
I recently found (at Home Depot) a unusually small head pivoting 1/4" drive ratchet that's perfect for getting at my GCIV pocket casting bolts. The only tool I found that can get up at those things square. The ratchet was part of an $18 1/4 drive set in a plastic case.
I just use a standard 1/4” drive ratchet and 4 mm Allen head bit (aka Apex bit). Works great! It’s probably not metric, but the 4 mm bit fits snug.
Edit: after rereading this it dawned on me that you were probably talking about the 9/16” hex head bolts, not the liner bolts. The 1/4” size ratchet made me think of the liner hardware.
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coolidge
Well-known member
Not that screw, I'm talking about the hex bolts on the underside of the pocket castings that attach them to the rails on a GCIV. This could be specific to the GCIV pocket castings. They screw into an odd T nut. There's a casting flange under there that gets in the way of wrenching.
I just use a standard 1/4” drive ratchet and 4 mm Allen head bit (aka Apex bit). Works great! It’s probably not metric, but the 4 mm bit fits snug.
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DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
I just use a standard 1/4” drive ratchet and 4 mm Allen head bit (aka Apex bit). Works great! It’s probably not metric, but the 4 mm bit fits snug.
Edit: after rereading this it dawned on me that you were probably talking about the 9/16” hex head bolts, not the liner bolts. The 1/4” size ratchet made me think of the liner hardware.
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4mm and 5/32" hex are manufactured to the same specification.