What sorts of tools, parts, materials, etc. have you improvised when you did
not happen to have at hand, or did not want to buy, the 'correct' one?

52 responses total.

Hard to count the number of uses for a big pair of ChannelLock pliers (the
ultimate "wrong" tool).  

I've used a woodworking clamp to twist sink drain fittings on and off.

I got an amazing amount of milage out of a dull swiss army knife back before
I discovered that there was such a thing as 'correct' tools.

in front of me i have an old motorola tabletop radio which i use as an
improvised light switch, and since i shorted out and destroyed the original
power switch in it, i manufactured a replacement out of scraps of pop can.

the reason for it is that i needed a way for someone backstage to be able to
see when the person onstage turned on the radio, so that the person backstage
could be the voice of the announcer.

   when i was replacing the heater core in a car i used to have, i
needed a specialized tool in order to remove some retaining clips
from the heater core housing.  looking through my tools, i found an
old flathead screwdriver with a chipped blade.  i jammed the blade into
the space between the frame and a riser on a set of metal mobile-home
front steps (no vise was available) and applied a propane torch to the
screwdriver shaft to bend it into a retaining-clip remover.  while it's
great for aiding in the removal of dodge aspen heater core housings,
i have yet to find another use for the screwdriver.

Your tool sounds like it might be useful for getting coconut meat out of
the shell once it is cracked.  We have an old stainless eating-type (not
cutting) knife bent at an angle for the purpose, but works minimally.

ER, are you saying that if you turn the pop-can scrap it turns on the light
so that someone can pretend to be a radio?  Does your announcer speak into
a microphone connected to the radio speaker?  More details please.

the popcan scraps replace the original switch contacts. (it is a rotary
switch)

when the actor onstage turns on the "radio" it actually turns on a light
backstage, at which point the "announcer" speaks into a microphone feeding
into the theatre's sound system.  feeding back through the speaker on the
radio would not guarantee enough volume for all the audience to hear it.

re #4, when you read Chilton's repair manual you often run into a repair that
requires a tool beginning with the letter J, usually about 10 numbers long,
that you need to do the repair.  They start at over $100, so obviously nobody
but a professionall would buy one.  I made a removing tool, a spanner, for
my Maytag washer (instead of renting oone for $30 a day).  Why do they always
begin with J?  Always a specialized tool.
        I improvise things every day, just grab the closest thing at hand that
looks a bit like what I need.  Today I was trying to bend a steel plate and
used a railroad spike in order to try to hammer down the edge of the plate.
I remember a Mad magazine where they turned a screwdriver into a file, a file
into an icepick, an icepick into.....
        I am still trying to improvise a ceramic spacer to bolt the heater wire
to the electrical lead, it was a small ceramic cup-shaped thing about
the size of a life-saver.  I could not manage to cut down a type-S fuse, but
it was too impossible to cut it off, carbide and composite did not work, did
not even scratch it.  Can you buy a spacer somewhere?

Maybe the neck of a Tabasco sauce bottle would be the right size?  Not sure
what the heat might do to the non-Pyrex glass, though.

        Have you tried Madison or Wyandotte Electric?

Maybe a glass instead of a ceramic fuse, are they pyrex?  WOuld a carbide saw
or composite disk cut pyrex ok, they would not scratch the ceramic fuse.  What
is the proper way to cut glass, and what other ways will work?  We have a 10"
diamond saw blade but it seems a bit large for the job, maybe it would work
on the ceramic if we could find a way to clamp it down in apiece of wood.
Have not tried Madison or Wyandotte yet. Is there still MI Chandelier?  Ernst
Electric is no longer around, sorry to lose them.  Schlenker's is gone too.

Maybe you could find something useful in the parts for ham radio or HVAC 
things.  Lots of insulators made of ceramic there.

Probably the most useful thing I've found in improvising replacement 
parts is a wide-ranging knowledge, since there might be some little 
gismo in one field that turns out to be a wonderful tool in a totally 
different field.  I used to have a Subaru that needed a wrench for a 
small, square bolthead to adjust the valves.  I found that a (musical) 
drum "key" was almost exactly the right size, and convenient to use as 
well.

I know, I took a blowtorch to a quarter inch square drive extender, bent it
at ninety degrees, and made a piano tuning wrench from it.
Maybe there is some useful insulator inn a stove or refrigerator or microwave,
we know where to find lots of them.  Scott, did you get a cord?

Back when I used to do a lot of biking I had a bad habit of not carrying
enough tools, so being creative was a good thing.  The buckle on a toe strap
made a good screw driver, for example.

when i was working on "Hello Dolly" i ground the blade of a flat screwdriver,
altering it into a tool called a fid.  a fid is used kind of like a large
sewing needle, but specifically for putting a piece of ribbon through a rope
as a way of marking the rope temporarily.  this is primarily used in
theatrical fly systems for spiking trim heights for backdrops.

        A fid is a type of awl.

I wonder how many cobbler's tools could find application somewhere else. 
Patrick, could you list the more useful ones and tell us what you have used
them for in other situations?

Is there any tool sold specifically for use in theater, or is it 100%
improvisation?

To cut round glass like bottles, wrap a piece of fine magnet wire or other
bare wire around it and hook the ends to a battery.  After the wire heats up
(really hot), dip the glass in cold water. It will generally break at the wire
line.  Use safety glasses and other protective measures.

there are tools made specifically for theatrical use.  the altman company,
which manufactures theatrical lighting fixtures, used to make and sell a
unique wrench, commonly referred to as an "altman tool," which had openings
sized so that it alone could be used for every standard adjustment bolt on
a fixture.  those include the yoke bolt, the clamp bolt, the pipe bolt and
the pan screw.  the yoke bolt holds the yoke onto the fixture.  the yoke is
the piece of metal from which the fixture is hung so that it can be positioned
at any angle of pitch and yaw.  the clamp bolt holds the clamp onto the yoke.
the pipe bolt is the bolt in the clamp which is tightened onto the pipe the
instrument is to be hung from, and the pan screw is the little bolt in the
side of the clamp which allows one to adjust the yaw.  the same adjustment
can be made by loosening the clamp bolt, although that is not as safe.

that is the best example i can think of.

Well, since you already have the perfect tool for lighting, what other areas
of theater require improvisation (besides the radios)?

improvisation in the theatre is fairly constant, especially in lower budget
productions.

        Isn't that why they call it 'improvisational theatre'?

i was referring to the technical elements of production.  there is
occasionally improvisation in the performance, but unless it is the stated
intention, we try to avoid it (usually).

Jim was asked to fix a VCR.  The problem turned out to be mechanical - a
rubber bumper had worn out.  He described the material that he wanted to make
a new one out of (something like small nylon tubing) and I looked on the
miscellany shelf and pulled out a Charles Rheinhart keychain, made of flexible
plastic about 1/8" thick.  WIth his new Swiss Army Knife, a 'Ranger' model,
he used the bottle opener to unscrew the phillips screws, then that got the
case off, then he used the wood saw to reach in and remove the old stop
cushion, then the small knife blade to cut off a piece of the keychain frob
(blue) after putting in a small rectangular slot (2 mm x 10 mm) with the wood
chisel, for the long side (pushed down to cut the sides) then he used the mini
screwdriver (which he purchased separately to put in the corkscrew) to cut
the short sides.  To install the new piece, he inserted it onto the point of
the metal file (the longest reach) and held it above the cushion post while
he reached in with another hand and slid it form the file to the stop post.
This cushion made the stop post thicker and kept the pivot arm from indexing
at dead center.  (Klaus, you understand, don't you?) He discovered this fix
because he could make the machine work by just moving that arm slightly and
then the machine worked.  THe stop cushion had been overcompressed and was
letting the arm reach dead center.

If you want, I can get you catalogs of VCR, tape deck, and microwave parts,
along with "how-to" books and videos.

If they are free, sure!  (Old catalogs, don't generate more paper).
We have been using repair manuals from the library, they are about
the same age as the stuff we repair.

Someone answered my Freebie for a used stereo system and she wanted a
Panasonic.  At Kiwanis our only Panasonic with phono and tape was missing the
needle, because if you leave the phonos where customers can get to them the
needles and often the cartridges get stolen.  We have a collection of needles
and cartridges.  No needles fit our cartridge.  No cartridges fit that head.
We changed the head, but it was too heavy for the bottom-of-the-line phono.
Jim was thinking of shortening the spring (no weight adjustment).  Finally
he found a 78 needle, carved off the side arms, and inserted it in the old
cartridge with silicone caulk.  We will see tomorrow whether it works.
        Next one we tried to fix, the fifth needle (45/78) happened to fit,
by some amazing coincidence.  We have a turntable that plays 78s now.
        Third one was a 16 33 45 78 turntable with a missing cartridge.  The
only cartridge we could find to fit was for a needle that only plays 33 and
45, but this probably is irrelevant since the switch was frozen in the 33
position.  So we put a 33 needle in a 78 player and before that a 78 needle
in a 33 player.
        We also fixed a nice turntable that someone had decided needed a new
cartridge, by unbending a bent needle.
        The next 5-10 turntables should go faster, we were there last night
until 11:30, and now we know what time Dinersty stops serving supper.  Lettuce
for supper is not too filling after a whole day of nothing but cold oatmeal.
We can't get back in after noon if we leave, the building is locked.
        Anyone happen to know what bottom-of-the-line styluses and cartridges
cost new?  Our problem is that most of our spare cartridges are high quality
and the turntables are cheap ones.  BSR is the worst, they are always glued
shut, the turntables and the RPM changing levers.
        Oh, in order to put in the 33 only needle into the cartridge that fit
that head, Jim had to clip off a couple of pieces of plastic.  It works fine.
ANyone want a Garrard turntable with adjustable arm weight to play 78s?  For
some reason we have had a run on phonographs all month, perhaps because before
we started none of them at all worked (they needed a bit of spray cleaner).
They won't last much longer at $25-35, some of them even play tapes and radio.

   Thank goodness most of my music is on CD. I don't like procuring new fangs
for the python.

We sold a Lloyds to the woman who wanted the Panasonic because it was working
and the Panasonic was not playing one channel (broken wire?).  She will bring
in her old Panasonic (keeping the speakers) and if we can fix it for her, she
will trade her Lloyds for the repair.  Sold one more phono and a turntable,
and two monster speakers to someone who donated two nice small ones back.

We had a telephone with a bad microphone, and a telephone with a bad speaker,
and were thinking of combining the good parts, but instead robbed a mike from
a dead answering machine and glued the speaker back together.  It has been
a rather useful dead answering machine, well made parts.  One more phone needs
a mike and we have another dead answering machine.

For substituting tools, Allen wrenches can sometimes be used in place of
Torx drivers.  It's not the best, but it can work in a pinch.

And Torx drivers can be used as Allen wrenches ;-)

Paper clips and safety pins are indispensible in fixing tape players, what
else do people use them for?

Clipping papers?  In my college days, I kept a paper clip handy to remove
floppy disks from the Macintosh computers that I was good at crashing
(never on purpose, though).

There is a paper clip right here for that purpose.

Jim discovered that a phone was not going on hook due to a missing
microswitch.  After three hours of fiddling, he succeeded in making a
replacement out of a paperclip for the microswitch lever.  He held it together
with the wire from a twist tie.  He was surprised it works.  This is a rarity
- a tone/pulse phone with a bell.

A few months ago, when the screwdriver I had brought with me was too big for
the screws on a terminal server I was working on, I made a screwdriver out
of a dead phone headset that was sitting around in the colo space.  Once I
broke one of the plastic ends off of the metal band that goes over the user's
head to hold the headset on, the metal band was just the right size to
substitute for the screwdriver I needed.

All we need now is some way to make a phone out of a screwdriver ;)  We are
still looking for Jim's schematics of how to make a little box that will let
us call from one phone to another to test them and answering machines
(internal exchange).  I am about to translate 26 pages about telephone
exchanges from Slovene and hope to get some hints there.  What is required
to make a phone ring and to recognize a dial tone?

Phones don't recognize dial tones. Modems do, though. 90 volts 30 Hz AC is
used to ring. You don't need to ring modems, but you do need to ring FAX
and answering machines. 

Modems need to be run to auto-answer.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss