What's Your McGyver Moment Of Inspiration?

Those ball point springs come in handy.

The high winds that surrounded the tornadoes around here ripped the clips out of one of my screens. This is my latest................I wonder if I can have my own TV show?

I used a shovel handle, lag bolt and small chunk of a 2x4 to make a ball hitch on a quad to pull a trailer... We were out in the middle of the Oregon forest on some logging roads and really wanted to go on an epic journey up the mountain... We had a couple lawn chairs and tie straps... the trailer was a flatbed... you can imagine the rest.

Much beer and whiskey was involved in the creation process, and I can happily say that the wooden hitch worked perfectly, and we all had a safe drunken time.

^{We left most of the guns back at camp with the women.}

One that brought a smile to my face was the repair on the trailer using a log to replace the broken axle and wheel on "The world's fastest indian" movie. Very appropriate given American Indians used to use dragged wooden A frames to move house.

I was once taking a break from study at university and a strong wind was blowing vertically up the building. Bored, I tied some bits of string together, which were lying around, and triled them into the up draught. To this, clearly way too much time on my hands, I added an umbrella of a cigarette packet foil stabilised by a wad of chewing gum. This thing floated nicely parallel to my position on the 3rd floor balcony, about 1.5 metres away.

To my chagrin, a fellow classmate came into the lab later and said he found this cool thing floating off the library balcony. I said I made it, he didn't believe me.

The question is what to make of his reply?

Yeah! On my daughter's Explorer...The handle on the door broke the piece that hooked a spring and there was no way short of replacing the whole she-bang to fix it. Then I realized the whole point of the spring was to hold the latch up, so I grabbed a silicone rubber high-temp rubber-band that I used to wrap meat for the BBQ and strung it in to hold the latch, and viola! Fixed door handle and latch! It's been more than a year now!

I also wanted you to know that when it came to heating my shop we use a wood stove. It was nice by the stove, but pretty cool in the rest of the shop. I built a new stove out of some steel sheet I had. In the top section, I built a 40 gal water tank. The wood heat would heat the water which was mixed with antifreeze. I had a 110 volt water pump pumping this through some PVC water pipe. I salvaged some radiators from some junk cars, with the 12 volt fans mounted to them I hung those radiators along the shop walls, with the last radiator returning to the water tank on this huge stove. I used a 60Amp power supply to run those fans, with a switch on each fan. We were walking around in our shirt sleeves it was so warm.

I was working on my Opel (Chevy) and had to pull the drive shaft out of the engine (front wheel drive). Of cause it stuck. After much pulling it finally came free spilling the needle rollers everywhere. I managed to get most of them but found I was short 6 and as this was late on a Saturday night nothing would be open till Monday. I found that a one inch nail looked about the right size so I cut the head an tips off, ground them smooth and wallah it worked. I lasted pretty well till I could replace them with new ones the next weekend.

I worked in a large iron foundry. We had a gantry crane, which ran for 12 years with a auxiliary contact repaired with……. The spring from my pen

I wonder how many pens give their lives to keep industry going

Yup pens and wire coathangers let's hear it for them.
Big ty-wraps are handy too, I always have a handful in the glove box.
I'm currently using a bent wire coathanger to hold my heat gun when heat tempering the belly of bows.
Del

I had to repair an old reel to reel tape recorder, it needed to work long enough to copy a speech made by my grandfather. This recorder was so old that all of the drive belts had disintegrated, I managed to find replacements for all but one small belt. eventually I cut off the neck of a balloon, the rolled up bit at the end made a perfect drive belt.

We often improvise at work, we needed some stainless stands to rest some parts with vulnerable ceramics on the bases. We looked at machined or spun parts & eventually cut the bottoms off of some stainless dog feeding bowls from the local bargain store.

In my case, when I drink a few beers!

I've had to use a piece of parachute cord and a motorcycle spark plug to tie up the fuel shutoff on my 94 cummins diesel pickup, after the alternator died on a weekend.

The second generation (mostly mechanical) cummins will run that way.

I stopped and bought the alternator (minus pulley) leaving the truck running and continued on my way.

I drove 500 miles that weekend with the key shut off to conserve battery power until I knew I would need power for the headlights. I pulled into my destination with yellow (dim) headlights, but made it.

Has anyone worked on a STUDEBAKER lately?

I was really off in the ding weeds when the fuel pump quit on my 1989 pick-up. I used a 2 litre soda bottle with the bottom cut off a piece of vacuum hose from the engine and duct tape to make a funnel that let me put gasoline straight into the carb. It ran well enough for me to get back to town. I had to stop @ the top of hills so I could re-fill the bottle(it would flood out otherwise)and pop the cluch to keep going. I traveled about 45 miles this way.

Dang....I do that so often I don't know where to start. Part of being cheap...is learning how to improvise.

In my family we call it being "Scottish".

"Cheap don't mean stupid"

Yeah, that was when computers were useful development interfacing tools... then that A..hole Billy big Bananas got rid of Qbasic and ports which you could interface easilly, called it an 'improvement' and charged us all more, whils still neglecting to give us MSword as standard.... (spits on floor)
Del

LOL! I've been fixing this new fangled cr*p for 25yrs now! (Spits on floor)

I'm in California, but my family is from the Great White North and the joke is every guy in the family has a ducktape story! Where would we be without Ball-point pen springs, ducktape, rubberbands, and bailing wire? My nickname when I was a kid in a motorcycle shop was Micky Mouse because of what I did with junk to fix the newer stuff.

I needed an infrared camera to watch my garden at night last year, and I discovered that you can make one out of a cheap Web-Cam. Take the lens out, pry off the red colored filter, and replace it with four layers of the "black" ends of 35mm negatives film. Presto! IR camera! A few IR LEDs for lighting and you are ready to go!

I love this stuff!

Hope I'm not repeating my self, But was in need of a work place and storage with no money, so I used heavy duty storage shelf frames and two old trampolines and built a fine looking shop, 15' by 11' and 10' high. Used cyclone fence top runner for the horizonal peices fitting into the 'T' braces of the Trampoline..Smaller or larger it' will work great..Just think mail box..Concrete post to holder down in this Ok. wind..Metal cover was used tin from a barn and left over scraps from metal roof jobs..Cost was 4 bags of Staycrete and screws...

Yep.... definate GA for sheer cleverness on that one! A backup plan could have been tying the string to a hamster or rat, and putting some tasty munchies at the other end...

On my way to the Sr. Prom with my beautiful date all dressed up and me in my tux. We were half way to nowhere in the boondocks when the fan belt on my 1936 Chevy 2dr (yeah it was a beauty too!) broke. I happened to have a thin style belt holding up my tux pants so I took it off and buckled it around the crank, water pump, and generator pulleys. It started right up and with a gentle use we made it the 20 miles into town where I buddy at a garage replace the belt. Got mine back on the pants and had a great time at the Prom!

Every time my friend locks his keys in his car becomes a McGyver Moment :)

OOBE. This is a great idea.

I was in my senior year at A.S.U. studying Automotive systems design, when we were assigned a mission. In 48 hours we were to develop and provide a workable and original device to increase gas mileage. I thought well 48 hours no way. That night coming home from the library I had a flat tire. Limping in to the gas station and asking for everything to fill my tire a light went on. Monday I took a bicycle tire pump to class with a gauge (from a old compressor) and some plumbing fittings. The Professor looked at me and at the pump and gave me an a+ not for the contraption but for understanding the problem. I filed a patent but it was rejected. Seems some guy from some startup tire business had the idea first. I wonder if he got an A+. This was in 1961..... The start up was called Michelin. Sundog

When I was in grade 10 I was having a bike that it somehow managed to get flat tire every other day. After I filled the tires with water, I did not have flat tire anymore. Base on my experience, I think that bale wire is a necessity in any emergency tool box, for a quick fix.

I use two types of trousers, purchased ready-made or got stitched by a local tailor (for my work uniform it was mandatory). Ready-made trousers have less number of straps for belt, so have wider space between them. The belt which exactly suit to stitched trousers were not properly fit for ready-made trousers and 3 to 5 inches on tip was hanging. It gave uncomfortable feeling.

There were several solutions for this problem, for example- (1) Use tailor-made trousers only (2) Use two different sets of belts (3) Advise tailor to make similar strap spacings like ready-made trousers, as for ready-made we have no control. All these were not immediate solutions except cut the belt length to size.

When I shared this problem with my wife, she gave me a plastic elastic (used as a band for ladies hair) and advised me to put on the belt at the point where its other part is hanging. It was a fantastic idea, which wonderfully worked and still I use. It was a McGyver Moment.

There are few things that rival the feeling of having a moment of brilliant inspiration, and feeling like the most clever SOB in town... except for maybe being able to crow about it to your peers, who might actually appreciate your cleverness

I knew we'd have some great stories here! It's very interesting & entertaining. Keep 'em coming!

Wow! Lots of good ones guys.

I'm rethinking my C clamp screen holder.

I should have submitted it to the caption this blog......................._{or just kept it to myself}.

20 years ago, southern Saskatchewan, Hwy #1 west, 1973 KZ1000LTD. Bike just died, 8 mi east of Maple Creek. No warning.

Crap, initial panic. Checked the usual suspects. Gas? Yup. Battery? Yup. Chain? Yup. Power? Nope. Crap. Where to begin.

KISS, Steve. Remove ignition switch. Bingo. Main power to switch, broken solder joint. Elation.

Check tool bag. Mechanical stuff, no electrical fixemups. Crap.

Emotional rollercoaster.

Sit down, have a smoke. Lay back, watch the clouds. Not gonna walk 8 mi, +35°C, bike will be gone when I get back.

Spot a farm, 1 1/2 mi off. Not gonna push the bike. Too hot. Borrowed a propane torch, a couple of nails and a bit of solder. Vise grips held the nail, torch heated it up just enough to solder the power wire to the switch.

That repair lasted about 2 years before it broke again. Used a real soldering iron this time. Third time I finally broke down and bought a new switch.

I had an old Mini estate years ago, when I was filling the tank at a petrol station I suddenly found that I was watering my feet because of the rusty hole in the tank. I discovered that a chewing gum plug would last for several days at a time until I got round to replacing the tank.

Chewing gum?? What?! LOL... if that's true... that's got to be the most classic McGyverism on this whole thread!

The good "old" Mini.

As apprentices two of us bought one for £10. I think it was just the rust holding hands that kept it together. The driver's side door fell off on our way back from collage in the middle of the A6 in Manchester. Embarrassment time as I dragged the door to the side of the road, fortunately where a hardware shop was. The guys in the shop were doubled up with laughter. We could drive the car home but what to do with the door? Bought a couple of "T" hinges and a toilet door catch from the shop, the guys lent us a pop riveter. So with a punch we belted fixing holes through the door and back panel and fixed the hinges on the out side, the toilet door catch to the front. It ran around like that for 9 months. One door hinged at the front the other at the back. It finally gave up the ghost by catching fire!

This was in the good old days before the MOT

OK..Here was a good one. I was traveling through Austria on my Harley-Davidson chopper 23 years ago returning back to where I was working in Italy. A friend whom I had ridden up with had to leave a day earlier so I was riding alone. I spoke no German. Stopped to get gas off the Autobahn outside of Salzburg. Filled up my tanks at the pump...paid for my fuel, Hopped right back on the highway which was literally at the end of a entrance ramp...mad it about a mile down the road and the bike stumbled and shut down. This was a rural part of Austria.

Bike only fired when I cranked it and goosed the throttle. Died immediately. wouldn't stay running. Panic is settling in as I am nearly a thousand miles from home.

I pull the fuel enrichment lever on the carb (wasn't a choke type) noticed it started without goosing the throttle but still wouldn't stay running or do much more than idle speed. Full panic is hitting me. Acts like a massive vacuum leak.

Realize this carb thankfully has an adjustible idle circuit I cranked that full rich......runs a little better but still not there, pull the enrichment circuit again and find it idles but won't run faster. Jammed a bandana loosely in the air cleaner cover to restrict airflow to fake it into richening up a bit more since I had no mechanical choke, but not so much to kill it from running. Being the Austrian cops are real SOB's I'm not going to go the wrong direction....so limped on the shoulder at idle in gear. heat coming off the engine like a furnace from running so lean....took almost 2 hours at a jogging pace to get to the next exit. Spent what seemed like a half hour trying to explain I need a gas can to the guy who spoke no English....(me with German dictionary in hand setting new standards of how bad someone can pronounce a German word). In frustration I just pulled a fuel line and when he saw fuel running across the parking lot he came running out with a gas can screaming in German.

I had deduced there was something with the fuel. It wasn't Diesel....I understood that word in German...it had to have been nearly pure Ethanol. (Keep in mind this was 23 years ago) Nothing else could have leaned it out so much. To this day I don't know if it was that, but have no other explanation. Once I filled it back up with fresh fuel....it ran like a charm after readjusting it all back to original.

Keep in mind, you can't write checks in Europe like here....I didn't have a credit card and had very limited cash on me.

Still have that bike.

That incident took about 10 years off of me.

Great post.
My Dad used to say 'if it can me made, it can be mended' but that's sadly less true these days. Like you say the designers don't want you to mend it, things are designed as oneshot, design for automated manufacture these days.
I once made a tool for opening up plastic cases of battery packs which according to our Japanese supplier couldn't be opened or reused. I built it in my garage one night from a few bits of chip board and some brass shim.
The next morning I knocked on the MD's (CEO) door and said 'You know the battery packs that can't be opened? Watch this'

I put the contraption on the table, put the pack on one end of, pushed it to the other end, at which point it had been unzipped and popped open.
Do that again was his response.
Del

I was in class when the Headmaster and a Polce officer came in and asked me to step outside. Oh my God what did I do? "Is that your orange truck leaking gas all over the parking lot? Get it out of here." I drove it down the street and parked it at the carpet shop. It had burned down three days before so I figured it couldn't be damaged much more and went back to class. After school I rummaged around the back and found an old bicycle innertube. Sheet metal screws from the bottom of my tool box driven through rubber squares into (very) numerous rusty pinholes stopped the dripping. Drove that truck until the doors fell off. Literally.

From my "deadliest catch" days (1980)--

When some 1/2" diameter chain drive pins corroded out of our crab cooker in the middle of the Bering Sea, we replaced them by lathe-turning the threads off our stock of 3/4" and 5/8" SS316 all-thread rod. These kept us going through the season without having to return to port for repairs.

Back in the day... I worked at a factory that designed and built jetted bath controls. We were purchasing small transformers, and couldn't get the price down on our circuits because of the cost of the transformers.

My boss at the time decided that between 3 of us, we could build our own transformer winding gear. He (Bill) was a microprocessor programmer, and Vic was an electronic hardware guy, and I had a way with mechanical things.

He chose a dot matrix printer as the winder, and programmed the stepper motor controls to count the turns, and provide the side-to-side motion... and Vic built the interface circuitry. I created all the mechanical aspects that didn't come with the printer. One fun one was figuring out how to provide the correct wire tension, per the three different guages of wire we were using.

After we got the first (10 up) core winder working.. we went on to build a more robust version...

but we face a very expensive problem. The industrial wire winders were all motorized deals, and cost about 10,000$ for each motorized spool unwinder. This put a 30 roll system way out of reach for us. (ie 300,000$)

Normally if you pull wire off the spool vertically you get kinks, and wrong tensions. My invention solved the problem very neatly, and we were able to implement it for basically nothign, using scrap and materials we had on hand, as well as a junk chrome grid (from a grocery store rack) with 10 x 3 spacings, that allowed us to keep the wires separated on the way to the winder

the basic invention used a chunk of fiberglas circuit board material, after the circuit boards had been removed from them. (leftovers) some small screw eyes, a spring, and some plastic bits, hot-melt glue, etc...

the thing worked so well it still was cranking out hundreds of transformers per day when I left 2 years later.

It is the tangent of the wire from the arm to the spool, that provides the turning motion, when the wire is pulled vertically. The spools were able to be positioned on the floor... and no motors were require, other than the rotations of the winder spindle, to pull the wire. (this system has less friction) It was completly intuitive thing that this popped into my head... you may have to watch it a couple of times.. ( I know I did.)

here is a quick animation of the basic idea.

I'm still sort of shocked that it worked so well.

Chris

Nice one Chris

thank you.

Did you receive a bonus?

Here is one for nothing GA

lots of congratulations... pretty satisfying actually, and Bill liked to show it off to customers when they came through..

Chris

By chance I found this link on a site I visit regularly. I lists the McGyver contrivances & the episodes they appear in.

Is it considered a McGyver moment if you do the silly such as the Mythbusters episode of using a 22 cartridge as a replacement fuse in your car, thereby shooting yourself? It shows the right attitude but not foresight to the consequences (an essential McGyver element).

I think not..

I love that show, those guys have the best job in the world.

I had a Citroen BX Gti, we were heading to the coast to see the sun rise for the new millenium (first country in the world, you see). The oil light came on and I do not mean the engine oil light, this is the oil that provides the power steering, the brakes and the suspension (very clever those Frenchies). I topped up the oil with the special fluid, having worked in a Citroen garage I knew to always carry some. I drove some extra kilometres and it came on again, this is strange... I looked down the road and there was a big green stripe (of oil). This was not good.. no oil left only engine oil, I had to use that. Thankfully engine oil is compatible with BX suspension oil, in the older Citroens brake fluid was compatible, put the wrong oil in the car and you can write it off, it is very difficult to get every last drip out when you flush the system and the seals keep failing, even years after.

I drove the car to a nearby campground where some friends were and got underneath to find the fault - the car had sunk right down as. The powersteering internal oil seal had blown (very high pressure more so than normal power steering), inflating the ball joint seal like a balloon until it burst and throwing all the oil on the road. I took the metal high pressure line, crimped it with pliers, folded it in half and tied it. I thought this would only leak a little, surprisingly it did not leak at all, and with a fill of engine oil (not many garages have Citroen oil) we managed to get home the 80km, without power steering... very heavy at slow speed but fine on the open road. One smallish o-ring can cause a lot of bother.

Hmmm... very interesting, ky! So your bridge is now metal? Steel? Aluminum? I can see that potentially enhancing the high end. That's exactly the kind of story I was hoping to hear... taking a part from one thing, and using it to fix another. McGyver would be proud! I hope bridge design is on your resume`!

Hey... not sure if I'll be putting a wiper arm bridge on any of my guitars, but actually I was considering replacing a bridge with teeth. Individual tooth for each string. I'm thinkin bicuspids, perhaps... or incisors. Haven't decided what sort of critter would have best acoustic value and best aesthetic shock value. I'm looking into it. Been chewing on it for a while now...

It had the perfect thickness and only needed shaping. I used the broken one as a model. If I would do it again I would use brass.

As for teeth and bone they have this unattractive smell when machined, sanded, polished. Coming to think of it I have a branch of black coral, I might give that a try one day. It gives off a nicer smell when put to the grinding wheel.

Haven't listened to Rainbow Bridge for a while.

Let me know if you have any teething problems, Ky.