there was alot of swearing in the workshop today

I think that was my second reason for giving up bar ends.

Just found out how fragile an Argos spray job is when a spanner is dropped on a recently aquired Kuwahara frame (sorry BarryHurgandy)...

Oh arse!

That sounds like the kind of thing I do (only then I'd cut myself and bleed on it as well!).

I've had about 20 or so of the cars that I owned painted at one time or another, and after I wrecked a new paint job on my then current car-a 1967 Porsche 912, by dropping some sharp skis on the fender, I vowed to always put the first scratch in new paint jobs myself, in an out of sight spot, so I KNEW that I f#$ked it up first! It's a shame you dinged up your paint, but it's really only a small step back in the grand scheme of things!

So you see my thread on that fancy new Titanium Lynskey frame? Well let me tell you an interesting story about it.

So I get this fancy new Bottom Bracket for it. 108mm wide. I was skeptical if I could make it fit on the bike. The ISIS bottom bracket cups are raw aluminum, not even anodized. I figured... hey... if it doesn't fit I can take it back to get it exchanged for a 113mm wide version. So I decided... no I don't need to use grease or anti-seize on the threads of the cup or the bottom bracket shell. I screwed it all in by hand using the ISIS tool snug. I loosely fitted the crank arms on and found, ok this is going to work.

I go to remove the driveside cup, damn... it is tight. I go and remove the non drive side... Crap it isn't moving. I put a 1/2 ratchet on the ISIS socket... it barely moves 0.5 degree turn. It then wouldn't turn a single degree after that. I put my whole weight onto the ratchet...$hit it isn't moving... I now start to panic... get out the penetrating fluid. While letting it soak a bit I muttered every single 4 letter word I could imagine. I go at it with the ratchet again... nothing. Crap. Knowing that aluminum is softer and weaker than Ti I think...screw it, I'm going to destroy this BB cup, the Ti threads should be ok. I go to the garage and grab a 4 foot longer 1/2" breaker bar I use for rusty nuts on my 20 year old rx7.

I had to use every single bit of strength I had to twist the BB cup out. I thought I was going to break the work stand the bike was mounted on. When all was said and done 1/2 of the threads of the BB cup remained in the BB shell. I had to use a dental pick to pick them out, and then go find a shop to re-chase the BB shell. All because I thought I didn't need any anti-seize on the threads.

Freshly cut Ti threads + raw aluminum = instant bonding to each other.

I spent 9 months of evenings and weekends doing a bare metal respray on my old Citroen DS- light metalic green basecoat and laquer, all stunning and hand polished with 2000 grade wet and dry to ashow standard. A few weeks later my new stainless exhaust arrived and I set too changing it. I did it out side and anyone who has had a D will tell you they are a nightmare to work on- fitting down pipe requires removal of an engine mount and the starter (which the bolts are almost impossible to get to). To cut a long story short, after 8 Hours in a biting cold wind and showers, a day of language that would shock the Gallaghers, a few temper tantrums, a box of elastoplast and 22 cigerettes I lowered it to the ground and took the old blanket of the front wing (fender) to find that the blanket must have had paint stripper or brake fluid on it- all the top of the wing was a crispy crinkled mess and down to the metal in places. I sank to the floor and wept. It was months before i summoned the will to repaint it (4 times incidentally as the colour was a bitch to match and I ended up doing the whole side again).
I feel your pain brothers.

Si

That makes me want to weep. :cry:

I took my Clockwitk into my lbs to have the threads chased out after a respray, when I picjked it up it was still packed up in bubble wrap, but when I got home and started the build there was a 3" scrap down the down tube.

to cut a long story short, they ended up sending the frame back to Argos to be resprayed. and I belive the oik who did the damage and tried to cover it up was given the boot.

The pattern emerging here seems we're all " good " at what we do. " Greatness " or mastery of the spanner or airbrush isn't about skill then; it's about realising that the stopwatch in our head is THE WORST tool in the shed and the tea break is sacrosanct. We sometimes j-u-s-t...s-t-o-p...t-h-i-n-k-i-n-g!

actually i was just being a clumsey bastard!!!!

but having read the rest of the posts i now don't feel as bad, knowing that it's not just me that does it!

and i feel more sorry about Dr s' car! you must have been gutted.

i sort of have a picture in my head as to how it went, movie style, filmed from above, looking down on you working on the car, you get up to remove the blanket, as you do horror and despair grips your face, you fall to your knees and scream to the heavens

"nnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!"

or is that my imagination?