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home made tools

Rookie

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
5
Any of you guys make some of your own tools.
Homade blast cabinet for example or anything like that?
 
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drbill

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Messages
118
Location
Detroit
I made a temporary blast cabinet out of a big box, a used piece of plexi glass and a old shirt. It was crude but it worked.
 

kartracer55

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Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
5,317
I have had to make some custom thin wrenches for various things. Some 1/8 flat stock, cut it out, grind it to fit, heat then quench it. Works fairly well and I DO make them from american steel:fawk:


lol


Jim
 

W-Cummins

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 9, 2006
Messages
1,639
Location
Iowa
Some of my home made tools

6' wide dual operator bead blast cabnet out of 12 gauge ( looks just like tip's old commercial models that they no longer make with the angle iron frames)

dust collector for the cabnet

3 ton adjustable gantry crane ( just like the wallace 3 ton design:)

16"-18" 10 hp mitering abrasive chopsaw ( not quite done with that one yet)

HD engine crane 3"X4"X.188" wall tubing, 8 ton ram

Welder cart with 360° rotating, height adjustable telescopic boom for the wire feeder, 1/2" plate welding surface and a 12 gauge metal drawer to hold welding stuff.


 

TonyF

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Messages
54
Location
Charlotte, NC
ive made a bridge/universal style valve spring compressor with some angle iron. sorry no pics right now
 

Katbird

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
Messages
53
Location
Hickory, North Carolina
Here is a tool that I made to remove the retainer nut from my out drive on my boat. made out of 1/4" steel and it took a while to cut out the 4" hole with a hole saw but it works nice. I had to cut a cheap socket in half to weld on the end for a torque wrench.
 
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W-Cummins

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 9, 2006
Messages
1,639
Location
Iowa
Here is a quick picture of the gantry crane knocked down and the boom from the engine crane ( compaired to a HF cheepie.) I had the dam things outside so I could pour the last section of the floor and they got some rust on them. even though they were covered well ( I NEED to get them hot dipped any one know of a place in IA that does that??)
 

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mikeyr

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Joined
Sep 16, 2005
Messages
1,971
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
yup, I made my own blast cabinet, I did cheat though and buy the plans then I basically threw them away and made it the size I wanted. Made a bunch of other small things as needed also.
 

Toolmaann

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Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
70
Location
Elk Grove, Ca.
Made my own router table. Built it mostly for use in panel raising. The school I work underwent it's modernization years back, and there were a ton of cabinets removed, so I grabbed one for the base. Contractor was putting up some new cabinetry from scratch so there was also a whole bunch of 1" melamine scraps which I used for the top and fence. Used some cabinet trim that they were tossing to trim it out. I dedicated a Craftsman 1/2" router to it for use with my panel raising set.

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eschoendorff

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Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
8,991
Location
Michigan
Toolmaann said:
Made my own router table. Built it mostly for use in panel raising. The school I work underwent it's modernization years back, and there were a ton of cabinets removed, so I grabbed one for the base. Contractor was putting up some new cabinetry from scratch so there was also a whole bunch of 1" melamine scraps which I used for the top and fence. Used some cabinet trim that they were tossing to trim it out. I dedicated a Craftsman 1/2" router to it for use with my panel raising set.

HPIM1088.jpg


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Nice work! Our district just built a new high school and renovated parts of the middle school. You would not believe how much perfectly good stuff that they just throw out! I'm not talking about old furniture (although there was some of that too), but new (unused!) construction supplies like fasteners and uni-strut. I salvaged a bunch of threaded rod and uni-strut out of the dumpster many times during the construction projects.
 

Toolmaann

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Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
70
Location
Elk Grove, Ca.
"You would not believe how much perfectly good stuff that they just throw out!"

Just wait till I show you guys what I did with the old locker room benches... (1 3/4" solid maple, not laminated!)

Thanks for the kind comment. :rocker:
 

Toolmaann

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Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
70
Location
Elk Grove, Ca.
Alrighty then... :lol:

10' long, 1 3/4" thick, 8" wide locker room benches became the top for my workbench. Built the base out of 3/4" birch ply, painted. Base is in three pieces (two side cabs, 1 center drawer section) so that I can break the beast down when we move someday. Base trim is milled down from pieces of the maple gym floor that they tore out.

Nice thing is, I have about 10 more pieces of this 10'x8"x1/34" stock waiting future use... :thumbup:

Bench dimensions are: 9' L, 29" D, 30" H

105179.jpg
 

the shop rag

New member
Joined
Dec 25, 2005
Messages
4
Location
houston tx
3 of the pictures below are seal drivers that i made and use at work. 1 is a pinion seal installer made from a 4 inch schedule 40 connector with the end turned down on a brake lathe. 1 is a tailshaft seal installer for allison trans., no modifications required, and the 3 inch schedule 40 cap is turned down on the end for installing front crankshaft seals.

i have found that schedule 40 pipe and fittings make the best seal installers around unless you want to spend big bucks for the oem stuff. the galvanized pipe and adapter are for installing lower ball joints in mid 90,s ford trucks.

if you ever need to install a seal and a shaft does not allow for a flat driver you can buy most of this stuff for about 3 bucks. you can also turn them down on a bench grinder if you dont have access to a lathe.
 

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red caddy

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Feb 13, 2005
Messages
94
Location
venice, Florida
Here's a couple of Vice grip mods...
 

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Goobzilla

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Joined
Dec 19, 2005
Messages
321
Location
Wellington, CO
I made a spanner wrench to tighten the side adjusters on Ford 9" rears. Don't know what the right tool costs, but I'm sure I came out cheaper! Yeah it's not as cool as some of the homemade stuff, but we've all gotta start somewhere, right? Besides, once I powdercoat it Ford Blue, it should look even cooler.

P1010005_renamed_12241.jpg

P1010006_renamed_21927.jpg
 
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JHunter

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Joined
Jan 27, 2006
Messages
76
Location
DeRidder, LA
Car body 'flipper' - here's the plans and pics in action:
bodylift.gif

Prep4Paint1.jpg

Day14.jpg

A mobile paint / body work light, again, plans, don't have pics of the finished stand:
bodylights.gif

And, as with the earlier post about PVC, my piston ring 'setter' to place the rings 1 inch down the hole:
DSC01924.jpg

DSC01930.jpg
 
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RGausman

Active member
Joined
Feb 1, 2014
Messages
25
Location
By Skyline Drive - Virginia
The car flipper is interesting idea.

I saw some where some used two HF engine stands as the basis for a frame/body rotisserie.
Engine stand bolt at each end and just rotate.

Bob G.
 

javajaws

Active member
Joined
Jan 4, 2014
Messages
40
The car flipper is interesting idea.

I saw some where some used two HF engine stands as the basis for a frame/body rotisserie.
Engine stand bolt at each end and just rotate.

Bob G.

Rotisserie? Here's one I threw together to paint a trailer frame:

Bmbz1Ef.jpg
 

javajaws

Active member
Joined
Jan 4, 2014
Messages
40
And does this qualify? :bounce:


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Completely modeled in sketchup before construction:

PBoRe0o.png
 

bonneyman

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Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Messages
8,752
Location
Desert SW
Some of mine. Water meter valve socket, double flex 1/4" ratchet, nut grabber tool for shelving assembly.
 

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bonneyman

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Apr 22, 2010
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Desert SW
My own ratchet from a bare handle.
 

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bonneyman

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Apr 22, 2010
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Desert SW
Carb adjustment tool
 

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tombell572

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Joined
Oct 3, 2015
Messages
1,034
Location
Sea Cliff, NY & Portland, OR
[/ATTACH]
My retirement hobby is restoring and riding BSA motorcycles. Shown is the tool for removing and installing fork seals (top), and the tool for drawing fork legs into the yoke. Both copied from BSA design, made from scrap a lot cheaper than buying re-pop tools. One-Inch nut courtesy of Bolt Depot.

Tom B.
 

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jeffmoss26

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Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
12,851
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
I have a few locksmithing tools that were custom made for me.

Plug followers are used for rekeying a lock, to hold the top pins in a lock. I found a design I really liked, and had a coworker slightly modify it and make me a couple more.
j3VVpN6.jpg


I had this tool made, slightly modified/improved from the tool Best makes.
This is for installing interchangeable lock cores into housings and testing the operation of cylinders and padlocks.

Yi1iiM0.jpg


NDjvy3X.jpg


This last one was made for half the cost of the factory tool. This is for disassembling Best padlocks for installing new shackles.

Jae6tXK.jpg
 

mikegt4

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Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
3,262
Location
sw ohio
I make all sorts of tools and fixtures. I made this auto rotisserie that also works as an engine stand. I assembled my Oliver tractor engine (heavy) on it and could spin it over with one hand.
 

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evintho

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Joined
Apr 6, 2006
Messages
1,358
Location
Santa Rosa, CA.
I saw some where some used two HF engine stands as the basis for a frame/body rotisserie.
Engine stand bolt at each end and just rotate.

That might have been me.













Also fabbed a stand to turn my portable bandsaw into a stationary unit...…..











Welding cart...…..









110v up top for welding sheet metal and 220v on the bottom for heavier stock. Found this neat little Y-valve to transfer gas from the 110 to the 220 with the twist of a knob.

 

giants

Banned
Joined
Feb 15, 2019
Messages
605
Location
California
That might have been me.













Also fabbed a stand to turn my portable bandsaw into a stationary unit...…..











Welding cart...…..









110v up top for welding sheet metal and 220v on the bottom for heavier stock. Found this neat little Y-valve to transfer gas from the 110 to the 220 with the twist of a knob.


What brand is your engine stands?
 

davethorik

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Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
4,992
Location
Norka, Ohio
Ive seen a couple homemade jack screws on here, thought I'd share. This is pretty basic but a shop I used to work at cleaned out the tooling cabinets and found two of these jack screws with the swivel pad, but no jack body, so they tossed them. I fished em out of the scrap hopper and made a pair of these. Only one in pic, other at work.

A2 or S7 1.75" dia x 1.5" long drops. Drilled and tapped thru bore 1/2-20 to match screws.
Nothing fancy but they work.
 

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evintho

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Joined
Apr 6, 2006
Messages
1,358
Location
Santa Rosa, CA.
What brand is your engine stands?

They're the cheapest stands they offer at Harbor Freight. I did make some mods, though. The factory stand had a 30* tilt to the main bar (I guess to help compensate for engine weight). I cut the main bars off and rewelded them at 90*.



In addition, I added diagonal support bars (1" square tubing). Finally, I replaced their garbage casters with swivels that I had laying around. I greased the head units and the rotisserie works really well!

 

mikegt4

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Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
3,262
Location
sw ohio
[/ATTACH]
My retirement hobby is restoring and riding BSA motorcycles. Shown is the tool for removing and installing fork seals (top), and the tool for drawing fork legs into the yoke. Both copied from BSA design, made from scrap a lot cheaper than buying re-pop tools. One-Inch nut courtesy of Bolt Depot.

Tom B.

I have made some tools for my BSA. It is a 1966 650 Spitfire MK2 that I have owned for over 45 years.
 
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