So, I needed a 3-inch wrench

Made on a Glowforge
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We’ve all been there. You need to do a bit of maintenance or make a home repair so you gather your materials & tools, get halfway through it and — dammit! discover you’re missing a tool you absolutely cannot do without. :rage: So, off to the local big box store to waste an extra 90 minutes in travel and shopping time. This happened to me today while fixing a leaking flush valve. When I dismounted the tank and flipped it over, discovered I need a 3" wrench to get the @#$! locknut off. :confounded:

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But wait a second… I have a frickin’ laser! 20 minutes, three objects drawn in Illustrator, and a hunk of 1/4" ply later, I had a wrench!

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At this point, my wife came in to see why I was laughing maniacally, grabbed her phone, and shot this:

Problem solved? Almost. When I went to tighten the new locknut, I discovered it was 2 1/2" :expressionless:

So, back to the Glowforge to add (subtract?) a 2.5" hex for tightening…

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Success!!!

Don’t know if I’ve mentioned this lately, but…

I :heart: my :glowforge: :exclamation:

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Gotta love Yankee ingenuity! :sunglasses::thumbsup:

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Very smart use of your resources.

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That would be a cool bumper sticker :slight_smile:

Well done with the tool. That is one of those use cases I have this machine for too!

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This is ingenious ad hilarious. :squee:

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Awesome McGyver!

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Sweet. Which reminds me I should to the same thing for that #@^%@%^ drain valve on the bottom of the compressor. Only been thinking about it for 15 years.

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Fantastic!

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awesome use to make a wrench. I know exactly what you were working on as I have recently done the exact same type of home surgery. I used an oil filter wrench

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I love how after breaking it loose you were compelled to continue using the wrench for another 2 1/2 turns, jus cuz… :sunglasses:

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I’ve done this with trace too - traced the nut to make a wrench. Super cool!

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Worth the price of a Glowforge to hear the cackle of success.

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So cool. This is just great!

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Amazing

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:blush:

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Oh yeah, the cackle was the best part!

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Gives new meaning to the phrase…“Here’s Johnny!”

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I’ve used the handles of a long channel-lock pliers for that before - just capture opposing faces between the long handles instead of the jaws. Worked fine because it wasn’t a super-tight torqued fitting.

But, with a laser… :smile:

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I’d like to think that would have eventually occurred to me…

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