Richard D
Well-known member
I was dating a girl 20 years ago who drove a Saab. First and last time I ever saw a car with caliper pistons that screw in. Still don't quite understand those, the calipers OR girls.
fabricated tools that make your life better!
- Thread starter E.rodz
- Start date
Vegaman_Dan
Well-known member
Working under a car with a lift means you have this huge light blocking thing overhead. Drop lights are useful, but finding someplace to hook it can be tricky. So I took a pair of locking pliers, welded on a tab with a hole drilled in it, and mounted a cheap desk lamp with bendable stalk on it. Now I can clamp it to any handy surface while working on stuff.
Sometimes it's the simple things that are the most fun to make.
Sometimes it's the simple things that are the most fun to make.
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
Ditto!!!!! I have a light above my lathe that hangs on a piece of conduit. The clamp keeps slipping. I have an old pair of vise grips, so I'm going to steal this one for sure.
Working under a car with a lift means you have this huge light blocking thing overhead. Drop lights are useful, but finding someplace to hook it can be tricky. So I took a pair of locking pliers, welded on a tab with a hole drilled in it, and mounted a cheap desk lamp with bendable stalk on it. Now I can clamp it to any handy surface while working on stuff.
Sometimes it's the simple things that are the most fun to make.
agreed this is a perfect example of great ideas come from everywhere and everyone! thanks for posting.!
Vegaman_Dan
Well-known member
Got tired of my 3/8" impact sockets being loose in my socket drawer. My normal sockets are all on rails, but the impacts- well, dedicated sets tend to be less used so I like to keep them together. The problem is that even the simple sliding rails with clips on them are simply too long for holding only a dedicated set of sockets. All that excess flopping about the drawer makes it awkward to use. And it's not like you can't just cut the rail down to size...
...Wait, why can't you?
A couple of minutes later, I had the rail cut down to the size I wanted, cut end rounded and deburred, now ready for use.
I took the opportunity to use a paint marker on the sockets for identification. I know it's not pretty, but finding the socket I need when I need it is more important. These are sockets I use, not to look at.
...Wait, why can't you?
A couple of minutes later, I had the rail cut down to the size I wanted, cut end rounded and deburred, now ready for use.
I took the opportunity to use a paint marker on the sockets for identification. I know it's not pretty, but finding the socket I need when I need it is more important. These are sockets I use, not to look at.
beakie
Well-known member
Got tired of my 3/8" impact sockets being loose in my socket drawer. My normal sockets are all on rails, but the impacts- well, dedicated sets tend to be less used so I like to keep them together. The problem is that even the simple sliding rails with clips on them are simply too long for holding only a dedicated set of sockets. All that excess flopping about the drawer makes it awkward to use. And it's not like you can't just cut the rail down to size...
...Wait, why can't you?
A couple of minutes later, I had the rail cut down to the size I wanted, cut end rounded and deburred, now ready for use.
I took the opportunity to use a paint marker on the sockets for identification. I know it's not pretty, but finding the socket I need when I need it is more important. These are sockets I use, not to look at.
if those sockets have the stamped lettering/numbers, grab a white/yello grease pencil and fill all the numbers in. makes seeing them at a glance much easier, still looks pretty good too.
Flex head Craftsman ratchet in the back of the drawer... You can't buy that one. Took a breaker bar handle and put it on a ratchet head (To get the extra length). The offset is to reach around Eaton truck rear ends to get at one bolt.
raddksn
Well-known member
Thread of awesome candidate right there!!!!Working under a car with a lift means you have this huge light blocking thing overhead. Drop lights are useful, but finding someplace to hook it can be tricky. So I took a pair of locking pliers, welded on a tab with a hole drilled in it, and mounted a cheap desk lamp with bendable stalk on it. Now I can clamp it to any handy surface while working on stuff.
Sometimes it's the simple things that are the most fun to make.
1953mercury
Well-known member
Nice for Japanese beer, but now you will have make an S.A.E. version for American beer, and of course British Whitworth for Guinness and the like. Mike
MikeChris Stapley
Well-known member
Couldn't find a few body panels I require for a custom car I'm building and have always beat stuff over a stump before so it was time for an English wheel build. Used an airport runway sweeper broom pressure adjusting jack for my adjuster ( a glorified 5000# trailer jack really that I happened to have in my warranty bin ) a very high quality caster wheel that I machined the urethane tire off for the upper wheel and a set of anvils from Princess Auto ( our version of Harbor Freight ) that I finished polishing and they are great.. The rest was odds and sods of tubing I had around. I used 4"x4" x 3/8" for the main frame , the legs unbolt so that when I have a dedicated wall spot in my shop I can actually hang the wheel on the wall to swing out of the way when not in use and bolt the legs on when friends need it too.. Oh yeah,adjuster wheel is a 16" BMX wheel with tire , makes for adjusting very nice with the slight kick of a knee.
willymakeit
Well-known member
That will work on a wood lathe to turn tenons to size. Use your rest.
fnieto
Well-known member
Beemer533
Well-known member
Man, there is some awesome stuff here!
This doesn't really compare, but it got the job done in a pinch!
I was installing some large solar stations with adjustable legs and the place that hot dipped them didn't protect the threads: solution, one extra heim and a grinder with a cut off wheel! Worked quite well as an impromptu thread chaser.
It also ended up serving double duty later on... You can see some orange paint on the bottom; I was laying out some sonotubes for a set of stairs at my house and realized I didn't have a plumb bob!
This doesn't really compare, but it got the job done in a pinch!
I was installing some large solar stations with adjustable legs and the place that hot dipped them didn't protect the threads: solution, one extra heim and a grinder with a cut off wheel! Worked quite well as an impromptu thread chaser.
It also ended up serving double duty later on... You can see some orange paint on the bottom; I was laying out some sonotubes for a set of stairs at my house and realized I didn't have a plumb bob!
Erodz that is badass!
rancherbill
Well-known member
Erodz, that looks great.
Will you post some pics of the stuff that is in the background of your pics. It looks like you spent a lot of time on the 'look' of your shop.
Will you post some pics of the stuff that is in the background of your pics. It looks like you spent a lot of time on the 'look' of your shop.
Thanks for the compliments check out my garage build thread I think the airbrush work that me and my son did. I think it is on page 11 or 12. here is a link if you want to check that out.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48204
rancherbill
Well-known member
12, I had a very enjoyable time seeing the project. That was a great project with your co-workers.
nicklouse10
Active member
Here's an incredibly simple tool I made for compressing/removing valve springs and changing stem seals/collets. It's literally just a piece of flat steel bar about 28" long with a hole in it, a slight bend near the end and a slot at the tip
It's nothing as intricate as most of the fascinating stuff you guys have built but it works perfectly for the job it was made for so I thought it was worth posting
I used some polymorph plastic that I got from ebay (small plastic granules that go soft and malleable when placed under hot water) I moulded some into 4X blanking plugs for the combustion chambers so the valves have nowhere to go
Here's one of the the moulded plastic plugs:
Just pop it over the rocker stud, screw on a nut a few threads to act as the pivot and then lever the spring down.
Now I've used it a couple times I've learned to stick my shoulder under the bar and lever it up that way so I have both my hands free to work.
Using this tool I can swap out the valve springs on a pair of heads in under 10 minutes for both heads
Here's a video of the very first time I used it
It's nothing as intricate as most of the fascinating stuff you guys have built but it works perfectly for the job it was made for so I thought it was worth posting
I used some polymorph plastic that I got from ebay (small plastic granules that go soft and malleable when placed under hot water) I moulded some into 4X blanking plugs for the combustion chambers so the valves have nowhere to go
Here's one of the the moulded plastic plugs:
Just pop it over the rocker stud, screw on a nut a few threads to act as the pivot and then lever the spring down.
Now I've used it a couple times I've learned to stick my shoulder under the bar and lever it up that way so I have both my hands free to work.
Using this tool I can swap out the valve springs on a pair of heads in under 10 minutes for both heads
Here's a video of the very first time I used it
KMinAF
Well-known member
motofool33
Well-known member
cool tools!
shortykorte
Well-known member
shortykorte
Well-known member
Building the wash cover gave me an idea to make my To-Do whiteboard more useful. I have these magnetic label holders that I will use to keep a list of my projects. I cut a small piece from the scrap galvanized, roll the top so it could hang from the top of the white board. Sanded and cleared it so I could have that shiny industrial look. I also thought it could use a little decoration so I added a decal I had stored away.
shortykorte
Well-known member
Garage5.9
Well-known member
I made this guy to help with my engine swaps. The Greenlee L97 has a laser built in and is intended for pipe work.
Bolted to the transmission output flange I can move the motor around until I get it situated where I want it and then make the engine and transmission mounts with out guessing.
Bolted to the transmission output flange I can move the motor around until I get it situated where I want it and then make the engine and transmission mounts with out guessing.
Ed ke6bnl
Well-known member
I made this guy to help with my engine swaps. The Greenlee L97 has a laser built in and is intended for pipe work.
Bolted to the transmission output flange I can move the motor around until I get it situated where I want it and then make the engine and transmission mounts with out guessing.
When I did my motor/trans to rear end I had the motor tilt down 3 degrees and the rear end up 3 degrees and the centerlines ran parallel BUT not aimed at each other. Just what I read and learned???
motofool33
Well-known member
nicely done
I made this guy to help with my engine swaps. The Greenlee L97 has a laser built in and is intended for pipe work.
Bolted to the transmission output flange I can move the motor around until I get it situated where I want it and then make the engine and transmission mounts with out guessing.
In my experience the crank does not point at the pinion. What you need to achieve is having the C/L of the crank run parallel to the C/L of the pinion. What you have does not assure this. Are you using any other measurements, like using an anglefinder, to assure that the center-lines are parallel?
lg
no neat sig line