Monday Night Meatloaf 143 

Tom I'm glad you're back in the swing of things, you've been sorely missed.

When I started my electrical apprenticeship over 20 years ago I read the Klein/Vaco catalog front to back many times. I bought way more tools than most greenhorns including a screw starter. I noticed nobody else had one. Eventually I stopped carrying it in the field because I used it so seldom. Once in a while in wish I had it handy. It was years after I left it at home I heard the slang for it: “Monday Morning Screwdriver!” It still cracks me up. 😂

Good to have you back Tom! I was pleasently surprised with a second meatloaf in almost one week. Thanks for taking the time to make and share these videos with us. Greetings from the Netherlands, Mark

I have the Makita socket sets, and I really like them. For a few years they were super cheap at Home Depot around Christmas - like $7 for the 1/4 inch and $9 for the 3/8 inch set. And I use them 10 times as much as any other sockets I have, because they're so convenient. I put white nail polish in the markings on the sockets to make the sizes easier to read, but marking the holder seems better.

That style of ear defender has been my go to for years. A word to the wise, don't let the loop come in contact with a vibrating tool (hammer drill etc) when you are wearing them, it will give you a sharp surprise. Or if you want to make a colleague jump out of their skin just give the loop a flick when they are wearing them

Flared cone headband earplugs on order! Good to have you back. ATB, Robin

Country living seems to agree with you, Tom . That athletic tape works equally well for wrapping bicycle handlebars and for improving your tennis racket grip -- almost as handy as duct tape .... you'll be "hooked" soon !

Your ending quote is half covered by recommended video window. I love reading your small offerings of wisdom.

Screw starters. Have one of the second one you showed. Until this video I had no idea what the silly thing was for, I just knew to hang onto it. Til now. Thanks Tom!!

20 years ago I was encouraged to get a set of custom molded ear plugs working as a boilermaker. Just went down to the ear doctor and had a ear cast made. They are really comfy and clean up with alcohol wipe. They are a little expensive but worth it.

Thanks for using your come along as a sacrifice for our education!!! You should now force us to watch a video of you fixing it. Thank you for great clean content!!! You are a good man and I’m thankful for the work you put into showing us things that you have learned throughout your career.

So glad that you're putting out Meatloaves again Tom, you have indeed been missed!

The method they were using for tie wraps in your wire looms is known as "cascading" just a fun fact from a purveyor of superfluous information.

One note on the tape for the not-hockey-people: It's very easy to add good "ribbing". Run a loop around once to 'start' a layer, let out 12+ inches of tape, and then free-spin the roll into a cord. Now wrap the cord as a helix down the shaft. Run a layer of flat-tape back over that cord.

Anxious to see what sort of magic you wield with that EDM. Thanks for the great content Tom.

That tower looks great! I would never have guessed it would be that strong

Howie's Hockey tape is what I use on all of my drumsticks. It is the very best!!. Glad to see ya back!.

Grip tape technicalities from Montreal: Howie's and the Hockey Canada brand are probably the two most popular tapes up here. Howie's is maybe a little more convenient for players because you get stick, blade and pad tape all in one package but that's not helpful for our purpose. In the US, I think Renfrew is popular with college hockey players (that's the last time I saw a US locker room) and the Good Gear stuff is so suspiciously like the Hockey Canada brand that I wonder if they aren't manufacturing both. Always roll hockey tape from the bottom of the handle up towards the striking end. You can add slightly to the handle swell at the bottom - as well as making the tape last longer - by rolling with large overlaps there and reducing the overlap as you head to the top of the handle. If you roll from the top down, you'll get slightly better friction at the expense of much faster tape degradation. Most striking motions cause your hand to slide towards the base of the tool, so top-down rolling will concentrate friction at the exposed top edge of the tape, encouraging it to fray and loosen faster. With bottom-up rolling, the top edge of the tape is hidden under the next layer and will last longer. Always use a waterproof tape that stretches slightly to secure the top end of the tape - moisture in your palm or the air will loosen the top edge of the tape faster than you'd think possible. If you're working barehanded, you may find hockey tape too abrasive. My hands used to be calloused enough to make clicking noises when I patted a flat surface lightly but I still got blisters - especially in hot weather - from hockey tape. The best tape I've found for barehanded summer work is racquet grip tape. the blue stuff from Head or Wilson is well-made and you'll see it everywhere if you play or watch tennis. Better value and every bit as long-lasting, in my experience, is the Qichuan badminton racquet tape, although the colours are pure Miami Vice. That said, it takes a real man to grip a pink shaft in public.

Hi Tom-the most important criteria for tower loading would be sideways deflection from wind. Even a small 2 foot dish acts like a parachute when you have a 90 MPH wind. You would find an emt tube tower would fold like an aluminum can during high winds if you have too many square inches of surface area for the wind to act upon. There are programs to calculate tower loading...try setting up your tower and then adding some horizontal strain-you would be surprised by how much deflection would be caused by 50 pounds of force at the top of a 30 foot tower! Armed with pressure and drag data, you can find the wind load using the following formula: force = area x pressure x Cd. Using the example of a flat section of a structure, the area - or length x width - can be set to 1 square foot, resulting in a wind load of 1 x 25.6 x 2 = 51.2 psf for a 100-mph wind

I also use the Howie's hockey tape for wrapping tools and stuff. I'm not a hockey player but a Canadian friend told me this is the best tape he knows. It was not available in the Netherlands so we bought some (a lot...) when we were visiting. The transparent plastic tape is great too: it has almost no stretch (just a bit), sticks well and can be easily removed without leaving any glue residue. When I need even more grip, I have muscular arthritis, I'll use some rosin (violin rosin) and rub the tape with that.

I love having you back, Tom. Missed you greatly. The workshop is looking fabulous. Kind regards, Carl

I like the outside toilet. This way, on a nice day, you can do your business while enjoying nature.😊 The hockey stick tape is also tennis racquet tape, or similar. Tennis racquet tap doesn’t have adhesive though, the tape sticks to itself. I use that for wood handles.

Without any regard for life or limb and property Tom tests his creation....thank you Tom for providing inspiration and light relieve recieved from behind our safety glass aka computer screen....

Hello Tom, Good meatloaf, many thanks for the tip on the earplugs, I have found a supplier in the UK and will pick some up. Take care. Paul,,

Tower construction is pretty cool, I was kinda waiting for a Brian Block moment .

I saw a box full of hammers at a local antique show, thought yeah Tom would dig through that, found a blue point and a old plumb. Got both for $3 and a snap on angle wrench (1/2x9/16) for $2

Vaco makes another style of flat blade holding screw driver. They have split blade with wedges that slide together when a sleeve is pulled down to hold the screw. The blades expand against the drive slot in the screw head and work in either direction so they can be used to hold screws for removal too. It looks like they are sold by Klein now.

Watching you load up over a ton made my stomach rise up. You were the kid that got me in trouble when I was a boy.

I worked for a telecom company in Canada a long long time ago and remember the wire installers using twine/string to make the wire looms nice and tight, before the tie wraps were invented and now used ..

Yo Tom, you know better than most that we are all on the journey together, each with his own expertise and passions. A derrick is not a tower. To limit ugly surprises, be very conscious how you load that structure in the real world.

thanks for the meatloaf Tom . yes I am who is very particular about wiring ( or knitting as I call it ) it has to be uniform no out of place ect. you know how it goes , well I had to retro fit my CNC mill ( Far Eastern) from mach 3 to mach 4 . well no diagrams ,no labels , all wires blue and nothing relating between the two controllers , took a few days to unpick it all and label it up . the worst part was they had hidden in the loom out of sight under some sleeving some 4.7kohm resistors for the Optical limits ( 9 in total) , that confused my belling out the wires a bit ( they were for the pull up 5 vdc logic ) . now its fine and my OCD is fine . yes I was a time served sparks in automation and heavy power ( over 500 amp before I get interested) as well as live jointing but at 75 I have slowed down a bit

I have the same screw starter as the second one you showed. I use hockey tape on the round handles of my clamps used in wood working projects. I wear over the ear hearing protection as those things that go into the ear canal can cause ear infections from time to time.

Looking forward to what ever comes my way. All the best

I have a pair of noise cancelling ear buds that im using for hearing protection at work. I can switch them between 3 noise control options by holding your finger on the side of one of them. When I'm on the shop floor I have the noise control set to off, which work just as good as ear plugs. When I walk in the office, or if someone comes up to talk to me, I use the same gesture to swtich them to transparent mode, which allows sound to pass through. I like that i dont have to take them out when I change enviorments, and if i wanted to I can use them to listen to some tunes.

Hi Mr Lipton. I thought about making a "Stikkan" to make kindling, maybe give that idea a look. Nice to have you back on the videos!

SO stealing that kindling splitter design. THANKS! 😉

Glad the meatloafs back Tom! Rhanks

I think Makita was watching your video. I picked up all four of the socket sets. The 3/8 metric set now has the sizes printed above the plastic carrier. You have power. Remember with great power comes great something.

I look forward to seeing some videos on that EDM Tom. I have very little experience with them and have always had a high interest. Thanks for the video bud.

Electronic Fabricators , some of them are just different on how pretty the job looks. I could look at the work and tell who built it. They love wire crimpers too. I would add money to budget to buy them. They always wanted the new pair that cost ~$300 each. Never had the right one, but had drawers full of them. Cheap budget item to have them working hard.

I have one of each of the screw starting screwdrivers you showed. But I've had the 2nd one you showed for over 30 years and had no idea what it was for, and nobody could tell me. I got all excited when you showed what it's for. Finally, know now. Thanks for sharing 👍

If you flip the Makita Sockets over in the holder, you can still see the size inscription on the socket just above the vinyl holder...just say'in. Another plus is it puts the 3/8" socket square on the top so you can use the adapter to pull the sockets out easier.

Rock and roll death defying explosions. Nice one Tom

We have these hold on slit schrewdrivers on my day job. Made fully of brass and steel We use them pretty often.... This tape is sold in Germany for bicycle handlebars. I know this from my dad since 35 years. He was driving bicycle races...

Speaking of tape, have you used self-vulcanizing tape? It's non-tacky rubber tape, you stretch it and wrap it around something (usually wires when splicing them) and mold it into itself. It cross-links between the layers, forming solid rubber. It makes a nice waterproof bond. Also works pretty well for tool handle wrapping.

another solution for hearing protection if you like listening to music or podcasts, a pretty expensive one though, is looking at in ear headphones designed for stage use, they'll usually be rated somewhere around 25db reduction, and often you can get foam tips for them that'll give you an even better seal (plus they're never gonna work themself loose from your ear). and if you really want to push the boat out you can get silicone tips moulded to a scan of your inner ear for a perfect seal only drawback is if you put music on you can't hear shit, so not great if you're working with other people, like for a reference of the noise reduction you get: if im listening to music at a normal volume i can't hear a vacuum cleaner running at all

Glad you're back. A couple of comments: 1. Check out Rob Cosman's method of wrapping handles. He's Canadian, so of course he uses hockey tape. 2. We all have our preferences for hearing protection. The very best hearing protection is the one that you use. For me it's muffs, mostly because I can pop them on over my earbuds. 3. The Makita socket sets look great, but for some reason I think the metric set should be blue and the SAE set red. Don't ask me why, I don't know. 4. For your tower, could you show us the connection details? A structural engineer once told me that 50% of the cost of a steel structure is in the connections.

Lots of great stuff. Interesting and informative. Thanks.

Glad to see you back. thanks for the tips !

EMT is great stuff for light duty towers and Home made Garage Shelters. It's only two faults .. rusts easy - needs a heavy coat of good paint, and seal the ends to stop water filling the tubes. Also, the weak point is the Crimps .. in a perfect world a person needs a U shaped die when crimping to remove the 90° pinch point (which becomes a fold point in failure). Being a Canadian, Hockey Tape is almost as useful as Duct Tape. Thanka for dinner! Thanks for sharing 🇨🇦

Tasty meatloaf Tom, and a great quote at the end.

Thanks, Tom. I was definitely entertained.

Yep, that pine or cedar kindling would work great. I like it.

Years ago, I found something called SAF-T-TAPE, it only sticks to itself. It's made for wrapping your fingers or some where on your skin but I've found if you wrap a hammer handle as you did, this SAF-T-TAPE works quite well. It also can be taken off easily. It's 3/4in wide.

You are making this year off to a great start!

@ 10:24 Next to your compressor slab project, I see your next project - the Redneck BBQ. You know - ice & beer in the tank and briquettes (or newly split kindling) in the bowel. Immensely enjoying the MNM reprise. Thanks...

I could just see that tower launching off the table like a Saturn 5 if the come along let go...good times.

For best results wrap the ear plugs with hockey tape. (Fun vid BTW)

I'm a hockey person myself Howies hockey tape is great tape. Thanks for the video

Regarding taping handles: At which end of the handle you start wrapping the tape has a big influence on the longevity of the tape. Start at the end which your hand will naturally slide towards when working with the hammer. How I know this: Bar tape on road racing bicycles will unravel rather quickly if you start at the top of the bars. So you start at the bottom and finish of at the top. Great video !

That's a handy construction technique to keep in my back pocket for future projects.

I'm sitting here wondering why the laws of physics are just relaxing.. even if the spanset or chains were stretching the load wouldn't just casually become less. it was the gears or teeth in the come along just giving. Melting ish. .. Yes? No? Up next: tear down of melt down :) Great to see you back.

Love it thanks for sharing!!

Monday morning meatloaf! On my birthday. Thanks Tom, I love your stuff. The new place looks super cool!

Dimensional wood use will void your stove warranty. The tower uses @ 29:50: That's me, shortwave dipole antennae. Nonetheless the video was very worthwhile. Thanks!

Yo, Tom. Look into Bantex finger tape for grip and protection from blisters. It's seriously grippy stuff and protects your fingers. I absolutely love the stuff but I do a lot more "assembly line" kind of machining. Those MAX earplugs are my second favorite and I'm a big earplug nerd. (I've literally spent money buying musicians earplugs as Christmas gifts I think they should use) The MAX Lites are my faves. They're lower in ear canal pressure than the MAX and more comfortable. The closed-cell foam is way more comfortable than the cheap open-cell foam earplugs. The's a thin polyurethane skin over the top that makes them much more comfortable than the open-cell foam earplugs. There was a point in my life where I wore the Lites for 18+ hours a day at work and while sleeping. Even my headphones used adapted MAX Lites so I could listen to podcasts and music with hearing protection from the machines around me. 36dB of reduction is the practical limit so wearing a comfortable 30 NRR earplug like the MAX Lite with a comfortable 21 NRR headset adds up to the practical maximum noise reduction.

👍 always good to see my mentor is doing well.

Hey Tom thanks for breaking your come a long for us! Seriously I helped a student years ago making a structure with EMT, great material to work with and they could take apart the structure and move it to the next installation fairly easily. +1 on the banded ear plugs all I wore in the shop because I was constantly taking them out to speak to students. They sell replacement tips too.

Good to see you back.Gotta love screw starters. Twisty-pin (the second you showed) are probably my preferred, but diagonal slit sprung are good. I never have been a real fan of the first type you showed. They don't seem to hold as well as the others. I spend lot of time with a hardhat, and actually prefer the string connected squeezum ear plugs. A wind of the string around the headgear and they never get lost moving from the loud side t the office. Change off every shift, of course. They also work well when the muffs are needed for extra (think 9X air hammer in a 1.2M diameter header. Words do mot describe the loud) The neck style you showed is my comfort style in when in the base shop, where no headgear is needed and the noise level is generally sub-100dB

Thanks Tom, I'm happy to see you back. Love your material, I'm always learning something here.

Hockey tape, good stuff. We been putting it on handles for 40 years plus. Canadians eh! Try using a boot lace under the tape spaced about an in or so apart up the handle, thats what I've always done, you'll get even more grip. Keep smilin Tom.

You had me shaking there a bit cranking on that lever Tom. Glad your tower stayed together.

Hockey tape is good stuff. I've used it on pistol grips and forends on my rifles for years.

Lots of fun Thanks..

I turn over all the even sizes upside down with my metric sockets Makes it easy to pick the right one the first time

The power of triangles!! Glad to have you back, sir.

Glad your back!

Thanks for the video, Tom. Hope to see you at the Bar-Z. Jon

Tape on the handle works for me too. Rob Cosman uses it on his woodworking tools but he first makes a twisted rope with the sticky side out then covers it with a flat layer. Love your channel.

Tom, two other grip options from the land of hockey: 1 - hockey "friction tape." A higher friction version of normal hockey tape. 2 - Wrap some normal hockey tape, sticky side outwards, around a stick. Rub this 'sticky stick' on whatever item you wish to impart stickiness. The tape adhesive gradually transfers to that object. Players use this to selectively add tackiness to their hockey sticks

Loose sphincter moment there when the come-along popped. You're a brave man, sir.🤣

Off to buy a screw starter... You don't know what you don't know until you know it. Especially with tools. Cheers for that.

very tasty meatloaf, nice stuff, I was really worried about your safety on the come along test, thanks for the video great to have you back, be safe.

The hockey stick tape also works well for wiring harnesses. It looks very similar to a lot of the cloth tape used on tractors, older US cars and some German cars. I’ve used it for years for that.

Thanks for the meatloaf

Definitely entertaining! Thanks for the heads up on Howie's Tape and the headband earplugs. No mnatter how many times you have meatloaf, It seem you always want more. KOKO!

Important on the socket holder= you can get them out! Hard plastic sucks cause it Firmly retains, and old arthritic hands don’t work well with such. Same with 1/4” bits. Great to see design at work. And another Great to see regular videos again!

Right on, mate! The only issue I've had with those 'round the neck earhole pluggers is that you've gotta clean them fairly frequently. From back in my musician days I got really into a different style with silicone rubber plugs that block sound really well and are much easier to wash. Hard to find those in the Neil Young harmonica neck brace style like the foam ones, but they're definitely out there.

Thanks, Tom!

Nice Video Tom! As always…. Thanks for sharing your time and many talents. I don’t want to speak for your neighbors… but maybe you should pick up one of those Home Depot steel sheds for the outdoor shop toilet…. All the best. Chuck

Nice to see you back Tom. How about raising the splitter legs up maybe 200mm and putting a steel ring or two round the top to hold the log/offcut.

I made a geo-dome with the conduit. Watched 20 RU-vid videos. four hurricanes later it’s still going strong. Thanks for sharing. Yes a make your own come-a-long video.

That wood splitter is amazing.

Thanks Tom!

I put my safety glasses on watching your tower testing on the TV! I’d be worried about one of those screws or something imbedding in my groin. The Archimedean lever deal just didn’t look like the best idea. You can’t be bored? I’m entertained.

Great to see you back, Tom.

Good to have a heaping helping of meatloaf again.

A friend and myself made a water skiing high tow arch from EMT. We did incorporate welds (after removing the galvanizing). I also used some chain link fence post tubing in the construction. It was stronger than the hull. I’d love to see more detail at the connections. Also, not much of a safety factor on the come-along which illustrates the difference between a winch and a hoist fairly well.

Nice to see uploads again tom I missed ya I know you been busy getting into the new shop

Good Monday afternoon from the UK! That ear plug holder is a great idea - so much more convenient than a pair of the headphone style sweat boxes as you say! I have a Halfords socket set on 2 plastic rod trees, a 1/2 inch and 3/8 inch size to keep the sockets in place, and you can see the sizes - I'm bad at describing stuff so I hope you know what I mean!