Built-it-myself tools/machines - show us what you've done

[Outlawmws]

I had to fire this up agian today, so decided to get it posted:

Anyone get tired of shaking a rattle can to get it liquid again instead of settled into a big glop on the bottom that will plug the tube/nozzle as soon as you try to go?

The gear reduciton takes it down to 500 RPM. fabbed it from stuff I had laying around the shop. I think the motor was $5 at a yard sale some years back...

 

[NewLogik]

hehe, nice original rattle can shaking machine !

 

[machine_punk]

That's a great spray can shaker. I remember when I worked at a paint store as a kid, customers would often come in and buy a dozen spray cans of the same color. To shake them, we loaded 6 cans in each side of the old double one-gallon shakers. It worked beautifully. So, we sent the customer home with a case of spray cans, ready to use.

M_P

 

[FrostBite]

This is a 12" grinder I made using a Shop Smith platen from eBay, a 40 year old, 1.5HP grain bin fan motor, and some scrap I had around the shop. I still need a harrow disk to add to the bottom.

It still needs a shroud under the table to catch the swarf.

 

[mgermca]

Lots of great ideas on this thread!

Once you get the cnc bug, it's very addictive and you've got it for life.

I picked up a late seventies Bridgeport cnc milling machine for 1000$ on Kijiji a couple of years ago. It had been listed as 'best offer'. Cleaned it up and built a new controller for it, now using MACH hobby software to run it.

Once it was done, I decided to use it and the same stepper driver I had built to run a homebuilt 48" x 48" cnc plasma table. I have just gotten it up and I am now running/testing it. Some vid clips of the build...

 

[EW57]

I've wanted to try something similar for cleaning out motorcycle gastanks that have had old/bad gas in them (slower RPM though, more sloshing rather than violently shaking).

Havent found a suitable/cheap gearhead motor yet though....

 

[Outlawmws]

I've wanted to try something similar for cleaning out motorcycle gastanks that have had old/bad gas in them (slower RPM though, more sloshing rather than violently shaking).

Havent found a suitable/cheap gearhead motor yet though....

I've seen guys use an old dryer for that. Cut the heat, but BB's in the tank and "wrap" it in an old comforter so it doesn't get beat adn is sort of tight, and let'er roll!

 

[Richard D]

check out some picts of my unfinished english wheel sound encloser for air compressor and bridge cran all made at home for the garage built just for building hotrods.

Can you give some details on the steel used for the crane?

 

[Tamper84]

I would like to know about the crane as well. And how tall is your ceiling?

Thanks,
Chris.

 

[thruthefence]

I light of some of the work submitted here, I feel unworthy, but here are a few I've made through the years.

My version of a hydraulic press. Ram is a Flap actuator from some unkown aircraft, and the pump is an emergency gear pump from another. Not alot of horse power, but for the small stuff I do, it works well.The reservoir was supposed to be "proof-of-concept", but it's been fine for years, just ugly.

Centrifugal cooling fan puller for a Robinson R44 helicopter. Made from scrapbindium & a big sprung C clamp.

Flywheel holding tool for R44. Used for doing differential compression tests.

my version of the paint shaker theme

Lucas "bullet" connector tool, worn out set of channel locks, mild steel & brazing rod. A must have for old english cars.

Aluminum towbar for small aircraft

Towmotor for the R44, made from a powered wheelchair. This was a team effort, not all my doing. Also works as a redneck Segway for roaming around the airport!

Oil filter element cutter. I've posted it before, but it works so well, I couldn't resist.

 

[Jim Stabe]

I haven't seen this thread pop up in a while. I'll throw in a couple more just to keep it going. This is my rotisserie. I could never figure out how to get the car up on the ones that have a fixed height so I incorporated winches at each end to raise the car. They are HF worm drive winches so you can let go of the crank and they won't unwind. The rollers at the top are from a powered gate that roll along a piece of angle on the ground. Making an exhaust system is easy with the car upside down.

 

[Jim Stabe]

This is the shrinker I built back in 2008. Like many of the tools I build, it bolts/clamps to my steel work table and is less than 32” high so I can store it under my bench when not in use. I wanted something simple and inexpensive but wanted adjustable speed, stroke and die positioning.

I got 5’ of 2 x 6 x ¼ rectangular tubing at the scrap yard (just went up to $0.40 per pound – ouch!) and made the 14” throat frame. The upper die holder/ram is a piece of 1 x 1/8” wall sq tube with a ¾” long piece of 1½” round bar welded on and drilled for the ¾” round shank of the die (yet to be made). The die will be located with two 5/16” set screws 90* from each other that will bear against flats on the die shank. The attachment holes are slightly elongated to be able to tilt the ram slightly to get it aligned vertically to the lower tool holder arm. I used ¾” round shanks so I can use my planishing dies in it also. The ram rides in 2 x ¼” wall square tube with ¼” UHMW gibs shimmed for tight clearance.

The lower holder is a piece of 2½ x ¼” wall square tube with a piece of 2” square stock inside that is raised by a ¾” threaded rod from the bottom. It is held in place by ½” bolts from two sides to wedge it into the corner of the tube. The arm is two pieces of 2 x ½” bar on edge with a 1” space between.

The eccentric is made from 3” round and is adjustable for up to a ½” stroke (1/4” offset). It originally drove the ram through a connecting rod made up of male and female ½” rod ends. The lower rod end survived OK but the upper one rotated with the shaft and burned up pretty quickly. The connecting rod has been replaced with an aluminum bar that has ½” ball bearings pressed in each end. The driven pulley is a 5” diameter. The shaft rides in 1” pillow blocks that are the deal of the century for $6 each (if you buy 3 or more) from Northern Tool. With a 6” motor pulley it runs at just under 2100 RPM. I have another motor pulley (8” diameter) that gives 2760 RPM but it vibrates too much at that speed. The original motor was a 1½ hp 1725 rpm I have had lying around for years gathering dust. I always thought it was more power than I needed but when the motor on my belt grinder started making noise, I put that motor on the grinder and put a ½ hp on the shrinker and it works fine. The machine went from 160 lbs to 135 with the motor change.

Total out of pocket was $36 for the project - $24 for tubing and $12 for pillow blocks (Northern Tool – best deal around). The $14 for rod ends I didn’t count because they are not in the final configuration. The rest was in the steel pile or lying around the shop. I even had a v-belt that fit. There is no reason this could not be duplicated for about $100 (plus the cost of a motor) if you had to buy all the steel. Motors are cheap to free if you scrounge around and tap into your circle of friends that hoard that kind of stuff.

The monster 1 1/2 hp green motor was replaced with a more sensibly sized 1/2 hp one and the original connecting rod was replaced after I learned that spherical rod ends don't like to be spun at high speeds. The new one is aluminum with ball bearings pressed in. I can either have domed forming dies or shrinking dies The dies shown aren't mine but look similar.

 

[Richard D]

How about one of you geniuses help me figure out how to build motorized end trucks for a one-ton capacity bridge crane? From scrap, or at least real cheap! Maybe two torque wrenches for power in both directions? I have machine shop tools.

 

[JonBoehman]

Cool tools

 

[mag409]

Here are some I have built over the years. A tipping wheel for panel edge work, a beadroller, hydraulic conversion and stand for my tube bender, a rotisserie, and a CNC plasma table.

 

[Kevin54]

Here are some I have built over the years. A tipping wheel for panel edge work, a beadroller, hydraulic conversion and stand for my tube bender, a rotisserie, and a CNC plasma table.

Those tools look first class all the way

By the way....the Tipping Wheel. What is the purpose of that? I'm having a dumb moment this morning.

 

[LutzTD]

some of you have seen these in my shop thread, but heres a 3phase converter power cart and a heavy machine mover I built, hopefully once I get power and the machines set up I will be tooling up with english wheel rollers and a power hammer, I plan to build these myself.

 

[NUTTSGT]

my version of the paint shaker theme

Oh my, I like that one. So simple to make and looks like it'll work great.

 

[Scoutman]

Here's an adjustable height gantry I made a few years ago. I have used it quite a bit and don't know how I moved stuff around the garage without it.

 

[slickgt1]

Oh my, I like that one. So simple to make and looks like it'll work great.

I've done this too. Duct tape, and an old blade. Or any blade for that matter. Was too ashamed of posting it as a tool though. lol.

This thread is awesome.

 

[LutzTD]

Oh my, I like that one. So simple to make and looks like it'll work great.

somebodies found a use for the nearly useless battery powerd mufler gun

 

[mslisaj]

Well I built a TIG cooler. I just couldn't see spending $500 on this little device and figured I could build my own. For years I had my welder plumbed directly to the water supply and would run the water through the machine and just dump in outside. But when I moved to Klamath Falls my shop will freeze so this was a necessity. It's fully adjustable for flow and pressure too.

Lisa

 

[FarmerSid]

Lots of great ideas on this thread!

Once you get the cnc bug, it's very addictive and you've got it for life.

I picked up a late seventies Bridgeport cnc milling machine for 1000$ on Kijiji a couple of years ago. It had been listed as 'best offer'. Cleaned it up and built a new controller for it, now using MACH hobby software to run it.

Once it was done, I decided to use it and the same stepper driver I had built to run a homebuilt 48" x 48" cnc plasma table. I have just gotten it up and I am now running/testing it. Some vid clips of the build...

Very well done! From a fellow Canuck.

 

[Finnrodder]

Here is something i've made:

Stand for the shrinker/stretcher

Harbor freight bead roller,i had to make it a bit beefier because it was flexing

 

[JonBoehman]

Got any better photos of the guide you made for the roller?

 

[Finnrodder]

Got any better photos of the guide you made for the roller?

I posted a thread to hamb about that fence.There is more pics of it:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=730939

 

[NOZZLEMAN]

Darn nice piece of machine work !!

 

[Finnrodder]

Thanks!
I tried to post a link (there is some photos of the guide behind that link),but i got a note that the moderators must approve my post first,i guess thats because i am newbie.
I think its pretty good way to get rid off the spammers.

 

[metaleltr]

Hydraulic press brake

 

[e-tek]

Thanks!
I tried to post a link (there is some photos of the guide behind that link),but i got a note that the moderators must approve my post first,i guess thats because i am newbie.
I think its pretty good way to get rid off the spammers.

I think u got a setting wrong or somethimg - omce u can post one pic u should b ablr to post anything. maybe try agsin?

Loobr the ss stand - esp the feet!

 

[Finnrodder]

Nope,its not up to my settings.There was a post about this in questions and suggestions.Its just like i thought,forums anti-spam setting,but it should be fine when i got my post count up.

 

[Finnrodder]

Here is one other thing i've done.I have Harbor Freight beadroller,so i made a beadroller dies that match on 51' Ford floor:

Here is piece of factory floor with the die:

And new floor with beads:

 

[camarotoolman]

I made these two sanders out of some flee market parts, used motors, and scrap lumber. They get the job done for cheap.

 

[impala4speed]

I made these two sanders out of some flee market parts, used motors, and scrap lumber. They get the job done for cheap.

Very nice. I've got parts collected to build one like in your first pic. I know this is the wrong thread but in the second pic I see some 70's era stereo items. I'm into this stuff too; just wondering what they are.

 

[Jim Stabe]

I posted my bead roller a while back but have since made some modifications. I wanted it to run a little slower so I changed the sprocket ratio from 15:29 to 15:48 so it now runs at 6-7 rpm. While I was doing that I also added bracing to stiffen everything up some more so I can now run 16 ga steel through it if I want in one pass. I also added a jack shaft and hand wheel to make manual operation more convenient. I can disengage the winch motor from the drive to do intricate work manually.

 

[napalmv8]

Bead roller we have made a couple of days ago together with my friend.
Gears taken from russian motorcycle "Voshod" gearbox, frame welded from scrap box iron
Dies are designed to reproduce beads from buick 1981 floor pans.

 

[akdiesel]

nice work on the bead rollers.

 

[napalmv8]

Some pics of new floor pans we done using our bead roller for buick 1981:

 

[msportbiker6666]

I am a part time landscaper and full time tinkerer. I had the howard price power unit laying around unusednfor 11 months a year. The unused 2 stage simplicity blower was offered to me for 200$ and a couple of hours later, ok days, this was born....

 

[dladcock]

Posted these somewhere else, probably a better fit here.

Made up ten of these for the shop air drops. Plan to polish and plumb with 1/2 SS tubing.

dla