{"id":15008,"date":"2023-04-05T10:51:29","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T09:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=15008"},"modified":"2023-04-05T10:54:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T09:54:45","slug":"doggy-diy-v2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=15008","title":{"rendered":"Doggy DIY v2.0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The management was unhappy with one aspect of the new dogflap: the four fixing bolts protruded too far (about 2cm) and made sliding the locking hatch into place too fiddly. Now then. I have never successfully shortened bolts (where successfully = ‘and retained the thread’). So rather than try to find a set of four bolts that were precisely the correct length (like that would even be possible!), I decided to have a go at successfully shortening the bolts. A bit of Googling followed by some YouTubeing (I’m sure that’s a word) put me on the right path. I should have taken photographs, right? Well I didn’t. Anyway. Here’s how to shorten bolts without messing up the thread:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Get on the Internet and spend \u00a319.99 on a metalworkers bench vice<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Get your 1,000cc motorbike out of the garage<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Have a hot chocolate<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Get notification that the metalworkers bench vice is ready for collection<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Dress correctly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Ride your 1,000cc motorbike to the store, 5 miles away, taking care to have a terrific time on the way<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Collect the metalworkers bench vice<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Return home, taking care to have a terrific time on the way<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Set up the metalworkers bench vice on your workbench<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Take the first bolt and wind two nuts all the way down to the head<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. Measure the length you need to shorten the bolt to, and mark it on the bolt<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  12. Wind down the other two nuts so that the top of the second nut (nut #4) is at the mark<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  13. Tighten nut #3 so that it butts firmly against nut #4.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  14. Place the bolt in your new vice and tighten but not too tight, just enough to stop it moving<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  15. Cut the bolt, with a fine hacksaw, using the top (outside) edge of nut #4 as your guide<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  16. Rasp off the cut portion of the bolt to a flat, smooth finish<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  17. Undo and remove nut #4. It might bind a little over the cut but don’t worry about that<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  18. Undo and remove nut #3. It too might bind a little, but don’t worry about it<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  19. Undo and remove nut #2. It should come off without any friction<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  20. Undo and remove nut #1. It should come off without any friction<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  21. Have a hot chocolate and a biscuit<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  22. Rinse and repeat steps 10-20 for bolts #2, #3, and #4<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    There you go. Removing the nuts over the cut area redoes the thread and repairs any thread damage that cutting the bolt might have incurred. You’re welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The management was unhappy with one aspect of the new dogflap: the four fixing bolts protruded too far (about 2cm) and made sliding the locking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stuff","two-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}