Ok, you got a new can of contact cleaner or whatever, and somewhere along the line the little extension tube gets lost or misplaced. Also, if you leave the tube in the nozzle you can't put the lid back on the can... [I have ruined a few nozzles when the cans get knocked on the floor and land at an angle]

If you are like me, you save all the old ones (most of the times with the nozzle too!) but still, got to go look for one.

Tonight I came up with a simple way of keeping the extension tube with the can:

Take a short piece of shrink tubing, 1/8" diameter about 2-1/2 to 3 inches long.
Insert the extension tube into the shrink-fit so about a half inch extends beyond the end.

Then using a heated soldering iron (instead of a heat gun), gently shrink about 3/4 of an inch at one end, just so that it holds the extension tube somewhat snugly.

Attach it to the can, shrunk end down, with clear package tape, duct tape, etc.

Now, after you have used the can to clean whatever, take off the extension tube and insert into the "keeper", put the lid on and put it away...

Great tip UD. Please show us picture of your can tops.

"A picture is worth......."


Chuck

I will later on today....

Some spray cans with extention tubes have a "notch" across the cap to snap the tube into.

What I have always done is just to tape the tube midway down the can with about two inches of scotch tape. The tube can be twisted a couple of times to get it out and if you don't squish the empty 'hole' you can put it back in when finished. - Don

Yes, there might be a notch in the (small) lid but that places it at a right angle to the can and in the way of stuff in the shelf. -those are also short straws.

These are cans that have the full lid and a long straw.

See attached photos:

Done that before but invariably I wind up mashing the tape down so I need to get another piece....

That's why I came up with the idea of making a "keeper". -and it can be moved to a new can <G>

Nice idea, Thanks

You're welcome!

J

I just keep them in a pencil holder type cup, like an old coffee mug. Now those in the travel bag are another story. Those get a Ziploc bag.

Anything that can be fixed with duct tape, wins my seal of approval, but then I'm a big Red Green fan:

http://www.redgreen.com/

Duct Tape is one of the two basic tools; the other is WD-40.

If it don't move and it should = WD-40
If it moves and it shouldn't = duct tape it

Enjoy!

Am I missing something or would a rubber band serve the purpose?

LOL... you're right, I have used rubber bands but the Chinese ones rot (can't find US made rubber bands locally)

For awhile at work, something we were getting in cans, either canned air or freeze spray, was coming with it's own tube saver. Blue rubber loop that circled the can, with a little rubber arm hanging off of it, and a little ball on the end with a hole thru. Got one in use here, but I guess I should have saved all I could lay hands on. No one else did. Now the cans only come with the tube scotch-taped to the sides, again.

Hindsight is 20-20

I'm a firm believer in "waste not, want not"....

Here is one that was on "This old house" several years ago.
http://www.hold-it.net/newsrelease.htm

Not cheap! but if they work for you

Go buy a "head" of brocolli and use the fat rubber band off it for your spray can. Free. Lasts a long time. You end up with lots of good vitamins and minerals as well.

Old reliable, I could remember how many weeks my ex mother in law stayed by the number of rubber bands from the broccoli branches minus one each 7 days to seal off the garbage bag left around the kitchen sink's faucet. Well we wasted very little in those days.

Still save 'em in case we don't finish off a bag of chips, or stay off a can of whatever for a few days, and god only knows what I do on the workbench.

Keep everything until it seems ridiculous, then reconsider.