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Cleco Aphorisms

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
Ahhh?it?s great to be building again! It reminds of a few life lessons that can be learned from the lowly Cleco:

1) Life is too short to use bad Clecos

2) A Cleco Loaned is a Cleco Earned

3) You can never have too many Clecos!
 
And...

cleco pliers, now where did I lay them down this time? I found five cleco pliers is a minimum in the shop.
 
I agree with, "you can never have too many clecos.", but if you can't keep track of one pair of clecos pliers per person in the shop, you might be in need of evalutating your shop process.
 
Is it bad when develop a bond with your cleco pliers? I have a favorite pair and can identify them on sight.

Anyone else reach for the shiney clecos to put in prominent locations or if someone might drop by?
 
Never judge a cleco by its exterior.

A cleco in the hand is worth two that have rolled under the &^%#! workbench.

The clecos are always shinier in someone else's hangar.

Veni, vidi, clecoum. (I came, I saw, I clecoed. The original Latin seems to have been garbled...)

Also (forgive me) size matters...
 
Process?

I agree with, "you can never have too many clecos.", but if you can't keep track of one pair of clecos pliers per person in the shop, you might be in need of evalutating your shop process.

Process! Did he say "process" and "shop" in the same sentence?:rolleyes::eek:

OMG!
 
Process! Did he say "process" and "shop" in the same sentence?:rolleyes::eek:

OMG!

That made me spill my beer too... :D

One pair is not really a big problem if you're taking 4-6 years to build the plane and have the time to straighten up, sweep, mop, bacteria wipe and put up every tool everttime you enter the shop... Build on! :eek:
 
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How about the one(s) that wouldn't

Split tail

around the corner clamper

post pop (really concerning during canopy installations)

three legged dog

I squeezes and squeezes and it >>>> (this happens when the good one you were holding has fled)
 
1. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single cleco
2. Failure to cleco is preparing to fail.
3. If there is no cleco, there is no progress.
4. If you don't have time to cleco you must have time to do it over.
5. Necessity is the mother of clecos.


Not really one, but

to cleco, or not to cleco, that is the question?
 
L'il Buddies...

" I ever met a cleco I didn't like."

"Watch out for the 1/2" and 1" cleco clamps; they bite"
 
Cleco, celcamus, clecat? Sorry if I butchered the Latin, High School was a long time ago.

RV-9A.
Engine Hung, Baffles Done, Long way to go.
 
good ones above

I'm thinking...

A cleco in time saves nine...

For a moment, I also thought of something like... For want of a cleco the rivet was lost...(but I didn't like the ending, so...nah.)


.
 
Gipper

"Some tools spend an entire lifetime wondering
if they've made a difference. Clecos don't
have that problem."


Clecos are definitely the 'Marines' of the tool world!
 
When you get tired of cleaning proseal off clecos and throw them away, do it on garbage day. You'll feel less guilty and you won't be dumpster diving the next day.

I didn't see cleco in the spelling thread. Is it clecos or clecoes?

Is this right?

Yesterday I clecoed Cleco's cleco colored colar with three clecos.
 
Latin verb conjugation

It has been a long time since Latin class for me, but if memory serves, the proper conjugation of the verb to cleco should be: cleco, clecas, clecat, clecamus, clecatis, clecant. I hope my Latin teacher, Miss Grable, is smiling where ever she is.:)
 
When you get tired of cleaning proseal off clecos and throw them away, do it on garbage day. You'll feel less guilty and you won't be dumpster diving the next day.

Proseal (or epoxy, for that matter) has never caused a cleco to fail for me. The failure mode I see is bent or worn tabs.

Anyway: a cleco is a terrible thing to waste.

Also: Into every structure a few clecos must fall.
 
Hmmm....

clecohead.jpg
 
That's the one. And then this one occurred to me this morning:

You can lead a wife to aluminum but you can't make her cleco.

Don't put all your clecos in one project...
 
Any one seen my second set of cleco pliers?

I haven't seen them since I moved the plane to the hangar two years ago.

Maybe they were taken hostage by some terrorist organization. If that happened, I would have expected to see the video on Al Jazeera.

Then again, they could be rolling around in my plane but I doubt that as I haven't heard them rattling around in the wings or fuselage during the most recent move back to the basement.

So...

A cleco lost is a rivet gained.
A cleco in time saves nine.
The cleco is dead. Long live the cleco.
 
Exploding Cleco

"You'll shoot your eye out kid!"


Have you ever seen a cleco launch itself when one of the lobes break? Another reason to wear safety glasses in the shop...

Vaya con cleco...
 
Cleco's!!! They're not just good for airplanes, but they're even better for tennis elbow!!
 
It has been a long time since Latin class for me, but if memory serves, the proper conjugation of the verb to cleco should be: cleco, clecas, clecat, clecamus, clecatis, clecant. I hope my Latin teacher, Miss Grable, is smiling where ever she is.:)

Correct! If the verb "clecare" is in the in the 1st conjugation, of course :)

Imperfect (past)

clecabam
clecabas
clecabat

clecabamus
clecabatis
clecabant

Future

clecabo
clecabis
clecabit

clecabimus
clecabitis
clecabunt

or just the imperative form
Cleca! ("Cleco!")
 
I think, therefore I am
I am, therefore I Cleco!

Better to have Clecoed and lost, then never to have clecoed at all.

Et tu, Cleco (more of the Latin theme!)

Here are some "complete the sentence" opportunities.

If a VAF and a half can cleco a wing in a half in a day in a half...

A Cleco, a rivet and a AHRS walk into a bar. The Cleco says...
 
DUDE, just fill the hole!

I have to admit, I was giggling rather hard as I read through this. Who would've thunk to conjugate cleco as a verb in latin? We (collectively) are sick.

Rick 90432 - stuck making no progress with a cast on my left leg. You cannot imagine how frustrating it is.
 
Wildlife?!?!

Haha, Steve. When I read your conjugataions, I thought one of them was clecopotamous for a second. :D
 
Clecos! Outpacing extramarital affairs as the leading cause of divorce in aviators since 1934!!!

(Fortunately I'm not a statistic!)
 
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"A cleco a day keeps the doctor away"

"Is that a cleco plier in your pocket or are you just happy to see me"
 
I have to admit, I was giggling rather hard as I read through this. Who would've thunk to conjugate cleco as a verb in latin? We (collectively) are sick.

Of course, a "cleco" is a thing, that is, a noun:

clecus
clecum
cleco
cleco
cleci

cleci
clecos
clecis
clecis
clecorum

(Of course, about all the Latin I remember is how to say "Te audire non possum; musa sapientum fixa est in aura", or "I can't hear you, I have a banana in my ear". My mother and my Jesuit teachers are so proud. )
 
I place all inventors into two groups;

......1/ Those I hope got filthy rich off their invention.
And 2/ Those I hope have to use their invention every day.

Mr. Cleco belongs in group 1.
 
Cleco plyers

slide one leg of the plyers into your pocket and you will always have it handy.

RV-4 flying
RV-12 empennage started
 
All good things come to those who cleco.

(I really shouldn't be allowed to re-read old threads:rolleyes:)
 
aphorisms

Love them.
I don't have any good ones to add but have yelled a few obscenities when I get my skin between one and the part!
 
*sigh* A recent posted question brought this thread to mind. I just can't leave it alone... :rolleyes:

"Too many clecos is never enough."

And with Jeff Foxworthy in mind:
"Are you really building an airplane?"
"Nope, I'm just plugging up all these leaks. Here's your (sign) cleco."
 
Cleco weight loss

The thing I love about clecoes, is when you're riveting and removing the clecoes as you go, the structure gets lighter and lighter. I've always been amazed at how light the final, riveted structure is, compared to how it was, when filled with clecoes. It just makes final riveting that much sweeter.
 
Cleco Clamp Rules:
If you need a small pinch, use a Cleco clamp.
If you need a big pinch, just try and remove it from the pliers too soon!
:eek:
 
pneu cleco plyiers

The best purchase I have made was for the Pneo cleco plyiers which has saved my hands.
 
The thing I love about clecoes, is when you're riveting and removing the clecoes as you go, the structure gets lighter and lighter. I've always been amazed at how light the final, riveted structure is, compared to how it was, when filled with clecoes. It just makes final riveting that much sweeter.

Yes! Especially when you hoist that cleco-less sliding canopy in place for the first time. :)
 
"I may be drunk, Cleco, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be a cleco." - Winston Churchill?

"A cleco's a cleco, no matter how small" - Horton?

"Ask not what your cleco can do for you, but what you can do with your cleco" - JFK?
 
You missed one from your signature:

TRY not. Cleco or cleco not. There is no TRY. - Yoda (Van's X-Wing Fighter Builder) ;)
 
Time to revive this ancient thread (I'm in desperate need of humor at the beginning of an unusually chaotic semester)...

Darth Vader, to TIE fighter repairmen: "I find your lack of clecos disturbing."
(I wonder how many clecos were used in the construction of the Death Star.)

99 silver clecos in the skin, 99 clecos in the skin!
Take one out, pass it about, 98 silver clecos in the skin ...
 
And with Jeff Foxworthy in mind:
"Are you really building an airplane?"
"Nope, I'm just plugging up all these leaks. Here's your (sign) cleco."

I believe that should be credited to Bill Engvall.
 
Clecos are like horsepower.
"Adequate means not enough
Lots is getting close
Way too many is just about right"
 
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