Degrease real well, and paint the engraved letters with a junkyard pen, then wipe off the excess.
Does Sears still sell the Giant Type socket sets? I haven't looked at their displays lately, since the only socket I have used in last couple of years is a spark plug wrench on the yard equipment.
-- aem, who is getting to have trouble seeing stuff like that myself, sends....
Any day above the grass.....
-- aem sends...
I've not had one who thought it bad (it isn't). BTW, one can do it with glasses too in lieu of bifocals. In fact - if you need trifocals - you can do it with bifocals. I did...got tired of the trifocals, made my head bob around like a dolly hanging from a mirror in a chevvy. Now I use progressives. Even better.
Okay with him.
It's roughly equivalent to wearing a hearing aid in only one ear or walking with a single cane.
If there exists any concern, routinely switch which eye has the contact. If you're like most people, the shape and size of each eyeball are the same as the other, so you only need one, er, "shape"(?).
Bi-focal contact lenses are also available.
Correct. At some point, no amount of lens correction is going to compensate for the degradation of old age. Van, no disrespect or ill will intended, but wait until you find out what "floaters" are. Then you'll realize the tip of the iceberg has shown itself. )-:
Yes, great minds run in the same ruts. When I realized I was having trouble, I bought 3 at Allelectronics because they were cheap, ran on AAA's instead of infuriating coin cells and had a nice band and swivel head. Great for dogwalking, too, because I'd have a scooper in one hand, a feisty squirrel-hating dog in the other and a penlight in my mouth.
Alas, when two of them went missing, (the dog is the primary suspect, but still hasn't confessed) I went back to Allelectronics but they were gone. That's the problem with surplus dealers. Haven't found anything near their price or performance point since. If anyone knows where to get a good swivel head AAA powered LED headlamp for $5, let me know.
My favorite quote from Kurt Vonnegut is "I knew getting old was going to be bad, but I didn't know it was going to be THIS bad!"
Interestingly enough, I have the kind of visual deterioration that extra light doesn't help as much as some of my sight-challenged friends. Did you know that older people's eyes are incredibly more yellow than young ones but that the brain automatically "white balances" for you by assuming that the brightest, lightest shaded item in a scene is white? I learned all about that from some brochure about cataracts and other ways your eyes can fail in my eye docs office.
Apparently my very yellowed eyes are helped, oddly enough, by LED flashlights. Some people find them too blue, but I bought some 100 LED "showerhead" flashlights and they help in lots of places. Strapped one to the vacuum wand with hose clamps and now I hardly hear "How on earth could you miss that?" from the missus anymore. Very bright but no "throw" - the beam falters at about 25' feet. Those 1MCP spots are still the best for lighting up street signs (I've got binocs in the glove box for reading those, and I'm probably not the only semi-senior who does!).
-- Bobby G.
Alas, not well, at least not on curved, shiny chrome. The stuff's almost like teflon. The paint just sort of beads up as you apply it. I have silver and gold versions of the paint pens that have little mixing balls in them and that dry out if you look at them the wrong way! (-: I think mine are made by Berol. What are you using?
-- Bobby G.
Been there, done that! (-: Ratshack used to make a serviceable magnifier with a small higher mag inset lens and a battery powered illuminator. About
6 bucks a piece and worthless after the take one hard fall. Also, the battery contacts and switch are cheap sheet metal and they fail after a while but I wouldn't (actually couldn't!) live without them in each and every room of the house. Paint pens work beautifully on them, FWIW, but they're plastic and I assume the solvent eats right into it, assuring good adhesion.I have an even older friend who's too vain to wear his glasses or use a magnified and lately he's burned up a hard drive putting the molex *keyed* connector on backwards, set DIP switches wrong by not realizing he was looking at them upside down and broken a ribbon cable with again, a keyed connector on the end by trying to connect it backwards. Well, he didn't exactly break it, he worked at the connector so hard trying to fit it the wrong way that a sharp metal RF shield edge just sawed right through it.
Eventually, he'll get the idea that being able to see is worth the indignity of wearing bi or tri-focals. I hope. (-: I've gotten the message from Mother Nature loud and clear. For now. I hear that hearing is going to be the next thing to go. What's that old joke . . .?
-- Bobby G.
Whose gonna clean up the coffee you just made me spit up! (-: My take on trifocals, exactly. They made my neck hurt I was doing the spring-head doll dance so much.
Went back to bifocals but just might try progressives - if I can get them in my RX. I've got some bizarre astigmatism that causes lens makers fits and makes it very hard to use contacts successfully.
-- Bobby G.
Yeah, probably cheaper to buy a lighted magnifier and velcro it to every wrench, drill bit and other "sized" tool's toolbox.
Thought about that and rejected it for that very reason.
That's how I used to do it, but another aspect of age, fumble fingers, makes that not as simple as it used to be. The set I have is metric and SAE, and it's often hard to tell what a nut on something's going to be so I end up going through all off them and dropping at least one of them so that it rolls directly under the center of the car. (-"
I've seen security inventory tags of a semi-metallic nature that stick on stuff like it was born there, but I haven't found any label-makers labels like that. I've bought three different units using three different tape carts and tried about a dozen different tape qualities but all of them start to peel when put on shiny curved chrome surface that's knocked around.
I only know 1/4-20 on sight because it's the standard US camera tripod screw.
Part of the wisdom of old age is that I don't lend $ or tools to friends anymore. It's pissed some of them off, but better that they are angry at me and I still have my tool then I am angry at them and my tool's gone. For anyone to steal them, they'd have to get past two alarms, a feisty dog that just bit ME for the first time in its life (nail clipping anxiety) and my personal bodyguards, Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson. (-: That eliminates all need to mark tools and other gear almost entirely.
Yep, nice but not practical.
Now you're talking. While I couldn't convince SWMBO to open the treasury for a plasma cutter, I might be able to sell a laser engraver, particularly if I could sell it as a potential home business. If I ever toted up the $ I've spend on stuff people have turned me onto via the internet, I'd probably go into shock.
Thanks for your input, Mr. Angst
-- Bobby G.
Tried that, but these damn sockets have incredibly finely etched lines and no paint to speak of sticks.
Thanks for your input,
-- Bobby G.
That's probably going to be the ultimate solution - that or adding another layer of clear tape on top of the labelmaker tape.
Thanks, Mike,
-- Bobby G.
That's a great idea. I'm always having to wipe it down before using it. I could easily make one out of a coffee can lid and some velcro.
Thanks for your input, DD3,
-- Bobby G.
Ditto. I've had no problem with progressives but it does take a week or so to get used to them. They still aren't a perfect solution but I've not yet found an 18 year old new eye donor :)
One other point...
Everyone has one dominant eye. If you do the near/far lens thing, put the prescription for the activity you most use (near/far) in the dominant eye.
You can determine which eye is dominant by pointing at something. Now close one eye...are you still pointing where you were? If so, the open eye is the dominant eye.
I've got a RhinoPro 3000, a P-touch and a Casio label machine. So far, the RhinoPro's super-expensive stuff sticks the best, but that's not saying much. After a while, they start to lift and curl up.
Thanks. I think I will email all three companies that make the label-makers I own and see what they have to say. I think if I find a label tape with a sticky enough adhesive, the problem will be solved. At lunch, a buddy suggested getting labels that are actually heat shrink tubing. Not sure if it will work on the socket wrench but it may be worth a shot.
Thanks for your input,
-- Bobby G.
That's an idea, but part of the problem is the engraved numbers themselves are pretty small. It's about a 10pt so making the existing markings readable probably won't help as much labeling or hand lettering new markings.
I'll be sure to remember we've got a locksmith here when a lock question arises! Actually, I do have one: I've always carried something called an "Ilco Unican Keycard Pat pending 82511A/88 1" which is a like a thick plastic credit card that has a copy of my car key that snaps in the middle. My new car had an "immobilizer" and has a chip in the key head that the ignition reads and then allows the car to start. The key head is very thick and won't fit into a wallet very well. Is there are way around this? Do they make "wallet" key card for RF enabled ignition keys?
Thanks for your help,
-- Bobby G.
Thanks for the URL's. Maybe a different brand of paint pen then the Berol's I've been using will do a better job. The Berol's lasted a little while, but after sufficient use started to flake off. Chrome is a lot slippery than I thought.
-- Bobby G.
I've used this technique and it works well if the letters are stamped, but the lettering on my socket set is very, very finely etched - I think it's done with a laser, and hardly any paint is left in the grooves. )-:
I guess we've got a lot of baby boomers going "boom" here . . .
-- Bobby G.
those are not for starting/driving. they are for opening the door when you lock yourself out of the car.
I remember a movie where guys in EMT suits come to cut some guys heart out and as he protests they say: "This IS your signature on the donor card, isn't it?" If I could remember the movie's name, I probably wouldn't need progressive lenses!
-- Bobby G.
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