Popular Mechanics - USA (2019-04)

Easy ways

↓ to do hard things

SHOP

NOTES

PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE

SONGS TO CLEAN

THEGARAGE TO

46 April 2019 _ PopularMechanics.com

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▶Phone charger not working, or acting spotty?

Turn it off and hit the charge port on your

device with compressed air. If that doesn’t

work, try gently probing the port with some

tweezers. You’ll usually find pocket or purse

lint in there, preventing the charger from

connecting correctly.

PROPER PAINTING

SEQUENCE FOR

WINDOW TRIM

YES, THERE IS a correct

order to painting your dou-

ble-hung windows. This

sequence gets the job done

quickly, without forcing

you to double back to deal

with drips or unattractive

brush marks.

1. Muntins and bars
   (framework supporting
   the small panes)


2. Horizontal members
   of the sash


3. Vertical members
   of the sash


4. Drip cap (top molding)
   and casing (members
   framing sash at sides
   and top)


5. Sill

▶
IF YOU’VE GOT a move coming up,
don’t take your clothes off the hangers
and fold them just to put them in boxes.
(Especially if you had to buy those
boxes—they aren’t cheap!) Instead,
get a pack of 30-gallon garbage bags
with drawstrings and some twist-ties.
Sort your clothes into groups of about
ten, keeping similar items together.

To pack up one of the groups, twist-tie

the hangers together, cut a hole in the

bottom of one of the bags, and pass the

hangers through it. Pull the bag down

over the clothes and pull the draw-

string to tighten the bag around them.

Now they’re easy to carry, kept clean,

and you don’t have to re-hang them

when you get where you’re going.

The

Best Way

to Move

Shirts

(And Other Stuff

Hanging in Your Closet)

▶ THERE ARE no 4 x 4 creepers. If there’s

a lot of debris on your garage floor, good luck

gliding smoothly around. So try this: Unscrew the casters

from the creeper. Get four plastic food tubs, like from sour

cream or margarine. Seat them against the creeper, put

the casters inside, then screw the casters back into place.

You may have to trim the tubs to make sure the casters can

reach the ground, but now you’ll have shields to brush tools

or debris out of the way.

Improve a

Mechanic’s Creeper

4

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“The Letter”

Joe Cocker

“Double Shot

(Of My Baby’s Love)”

Swingin’ Medallions

“Place in My Heart”

Tay l o r M c Fe r r i n

featuring RYAT

“For You Too”

Yo La Tengo

Don’t Automatically

Discard a Malfunctioning

Charger!

FRO

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—TH

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ARC

HIVE

S

(^1998

!)