I’ve had it..

[Imissedagain]

DIN connectors are used frequently in the Marine Electronics industry. HF/SSB radios, Pactor and the list goes on.
Being able to solder correctly and put heat shrink on every connection is something that makes someone a keeper.

Some fine wire jackets melt really fast and being quick with the iron and getting a good solder flow is necessary or you'll be looking for another job and the gear might fail at sea.

Being able to solder perfectly when the wind is blowing, up the stick or in the bilge, is job security.
Teaching rocket scientists from the Cape, with EE Masters to solder correctly on their boats, is hit and miss.

 

[Telecaster]

And my wife wonders why I never ask employees for help in Lowes Depot.

 

[LVSteve]

DIN connectors are used frequently in the Marine Electronics industry. HF/SSB radios, Pactor and the list goes on.
Being able to solder correctly and put heat shrink on every connection is something that makes someone a keeper.

Some fine wire jackets melt really fast and being quick with the iron and getting a good solder flow is necessary or you'll be looking for another job and the gear might fail at sea.

Being able to solder perfectly when the wind is blowing, up the stick or in the bilge, is job security.
Teaching rocket scientists from the Cape, with EE Masters to solder correctly on their boats, is hit and miss.

Aahhh, DIN connectors. Effective, but clearly designed by a German for other Germans. You need the exact wattage of iron and the exact size of bit to get the heat in quickly and precisely enough to make a good joint but still have insulation left. Then there's those audio/PTT connectors on CB and HAM equipment. The cheap ones have issues with the plastic structure melting as you solder wires to the pins. Not helpful.

I'll keep my soldering on a landlocked bench, thank you. All that moving about and bilge stink would have me heaving in no time.

A soldering/connector story. When I first started work, my boss was a former apprentice trainer. He showed me how to assemble coax cables onto SMA, BNC, TNC, and N-type connectors, and apparently I have a knack for it. Somebody ratted me out, because within a few days I was being asked at tea break, "Oh Steve, I hear you're the expert cable builder, Do you think your boss can spare you to make some up for me?" Eventually my boss had to train somebody from each section in an effort to give me a break. This was only partly successful, as "the knack" was hard to pass on.

 

[oldbrownhat]

Aahhh, DIN connectors. Effective, but clearly designed by a German for other Germans. ...

My first exposure to them was on Quad audio gear. Did seem to be pretty reliable, though.

 

[BigBoy99]

I used "pop rivets" two days ago to repair a table for a 3D printer. The table had become warped and was causing the objects being printed to be modern art objects. I added stiffening brackets to the bottom of the table and the resulting "print table" is now again flat. Rivets seemed like the fastener to use.

 

[hemiram]

I gave up calling ahead to ask stores if they had whatever in stock. My mother drove me nuts calling place after place asking about something, and I would just tell her to forget about calling and I would just go over and look myself. I don't know how many times my mother would tell me that "None of the stores I called has it!", and every single one of them had it, because the dope on the phone didn't have a clue. The worst place of all was at a Radio Shack that was run by the most clueless guy I had ever dealt with. I don't know how many times I heard him tell people that he didn't have something, and I would say, "They are over there" and there would be a bunch on a hook. He never got any better at knowing what he had, and I would avoid that store most of the time, but he always seemed to have the part, usually a plug, that I needed. His lack of knowledge about police scanners alone probably cost him thousands in sales over the years. He just was clueless. Kind of like a guy working at Menard's was last week. I asked him if he had a battery for my cordless impact driver. "Nope!", and then points right at one on the hook! I said, "That's what I'm looking for, exactly!". He kind of sighed, and said, "Oh, I thought you were looking for a charger!". On the shelf below it was the charger. And he was at least 50 years old...

 

[Greyman50]

Guess this thread should fit in with the ones regarding the “ downward” spiral of just about everything in this country.
The local ACE has a couple guys about my age that work in hardware, one kind of knew some DIN fasteners. I found my list with DIN to US , made a copy and took it there. Turns out neither one was there but some guy about late 40’s that acted like he didn’t care. Left it on counter so maybe the other guy will find it? “ You can lead a horse to water, but you can not make him drink”….

 

[Imissedagain]

To get the thread back on track, DIN this.
The Smith of nuts & bolts.

But.... Knowledge not shared is wasted.
Read that here somewhere.

Decades ago I needed someone to hold an open end wrench while bolting a radar scanner to a hardtop.
The boatyard asked if a skilled or non-skilled worker was in the budget.
The 40 year old man they loaned me did not know how to use the wrench.
Hope they gave him a raise after spending a day with me.

 

[oldbrownhat]

I gave up calling ahead to ask stores if they had whatever in stock....

By the time you get anyone on the phone (and navigate the phone tree in the bigger stores) you might as well just drive there.

I am SO looking forward to being able to visit my gf in Bellingham WA again (now that the PCR test is no longer required for returning to Canada for short trips) because there is a gen-u-wine hardware store (Hardware Sales) there. It's not a building supply store- no lumber etc.- just hardware. Like a small industrial hardware store. Family run for ~60 years. Rows of fasteners of all sorts- in bins, not plastic packages - including a good selection of LH thread (!) Extensive plumbing supplies. Full-line Stihl dealer. Separate cable shop with rope and wire rope and accessories up to 1 1/4"... And the staff all know their stuff. A tinkerer's paradise

 

[Telecaster]

By the time you get anyone on the phone (and navigate the ohone tree in the bigger stores) you might as well just drive there.

I have twice ordered stuff online at Lowes, then stood in line to pick it up longer than it would have taken for me to just go get it off the shelves. They simply didn't have an employee at the pickup station, and the people doing returns couldn't help me. I learned my lesson, ordering online there for in-store pickup is useless.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

A rivet and a pop rivet are two entirely different things, installed in two entirely different manners.

Well yea....but when I need some I ask for pop rivets. If I ask for rivets I would expect to get the same thing as They don't sell those big honking bridge rivets at lowes
As a sailor I have used these things exrtensively to replace hardware on masts, booms spreaders etc. Careful using steel and aluminum together though. Ask me how I know

Oh and they will always be pop rivets, I refuse to use the term blind rivets just because I am onery
And always get the right AND left handed spanner-there is a use for both

 

[crazyphil]

Discount

Greyman50 - Our local Home Depot here in Boise gives veterans
and active military a 10% discount. Don't know if all their stores
do or not.

 

[Imissedagain]

When Tef-Gel first appeared we always used it on boats.
Not inexpensive but neither is a Nautor's Swan.

Link to their stuff:
ULTRA Tef-Gel PTFE anti-seize, anti-corrosion, waterproof lubricant

Plastic screws on backs of electronics boxes would often break and removing them would take more time than the actual work.

 

[glowe]

If you get what you want from Lowe's, go there. 20 miles is nothing, since the nearest big box home builders store is 68 miles from me. Go there quite often because local businesses do not always have what I need.

 

[mrchick]

This is an interesting thread.

My part time retirement gig is working for Lowe's in the tools and hardware section. Been there 4 yrs. First week there started cutting glass and plexiglass. No big deal. These places that say they can't or won't cut glass... that's just wrong. Maybe the employee just doesn't want to do it. We recently hired a young fella and he has refused to learn how to it. Don't know how much longer he'll be there.

Moving on to the pop rivet discussion. I had a customer ask for pop rivets. I took him to the rivet section and he told me I didn't know what I was talking about because none of my rivets were pop rivets and he left po'd. In my research I cannot find a difference between a pop rivet and a regular rivet. I think it's terminology for the same part. What do you say?

So you met Greyman50[emoji16]
Pop Rivets are very different than standard rivets.

 

[g-dad]

If pop rivets are different than regular or blind rivets why do the suppliers say they are the same thing?

Pop Rivets vs. Blind Rivets: What You Need to Know

 

[mtgianni]

Like Kleenex and facial tissue, one is a registered brand name. It can not be used by another manufacturer.

 

[GypsmJim]

Once I was heavily involved in a big project and needed more bolts. Since my wife was going shopping at the supermarket next door to the hardware store I asked her to get them for me.

I asked for fifty 3/8" x 1" carriage bolts and nuts. I told her not to look for them herself but to give the clerk an example of what I wanted. He got them and put them in a bag, and she didn't have the foresight to look in the bag.

What I got was a bag full of 1/4" Capscrews and the nuts weren't 1/4" or 3/8". I asked her who was the clerk. I knew the guy and went back myself. His answer was that he gave her what she asked for. Right on top of the bag was the example. I showed him what the difference was. He was an old guy too....LOL.

It's not the employee's fault. ALL problems are ALWAYS bad management. Its like hiring a clerk in a book store that can't read...

 

[Greyman50]

Ok, lets get technical. Whats the difference in a Bolt and a Screw? Yes there IS a difference. Might want to check a “ Machinery Handbook” before answering.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Fasteners 101: