Modified And Fabricated Tools - Show & Tell

[JohnD]

Here's two of mine:

 

Angled spanners.    I have Malcolm Jones's 'overhead' Pi throttle linkage, that has droplinks down to the butterfly spindles, between the throttle bodies.  They need to be adjusted for length, and have small spherical bearing at each end, with opposite threads, so the link bar can be turned to do that.  But the lock nut at the bottom is inaccessible without these 8 and 10mm spanners, whose open ends have been cut off and welded back on at an angle.

 

 

Limited access puller.    The radiator is right in front of the engine on a Vitesse, no space to use a convenional tripod puller.   I made this to do the job.   It's a bar with short 'jaws' at each end, bolted on so that the distance from the jaw tip to the bar can be adjusted by spacer washers, for different thicknesses of pulley.    Place it across the pulley and undo the pulley bolt.  As the bolt comes out, the pressure on the bar pulls the pulley off.       A useful trick is to place a small bead of weld exactly where the bolt head centre presses on the bar, which stops it wandering off centre.

 

 

What have you got?

John

 

[JohnD]

I'm surprised!   I posted this "In Another Place", that I associate with a more staid and conventional approach to Triumphs, and it had a dozen posts in no time and is now in four pages.

Surely the ingenious minds of Sideways have secrets to share?

 

Or else you all go there as well, under another name??

 

John

Edited August 14, 2017 by JohnD

[Spit131]

Don't stop posting here John , people like yourself are much valued even if the response is not visible . M

[oldtuckunder]

What you have to remember is that a lot of members of "Another Place" have a lot of time on their hands   just try asking if its best to fill a Triumph with oil from the left or right hand side of the car and you'll rapidly get a four page link of suggestions  including many that will insist that if Brexit happens it will then be possible to do it via the boot as the stupid EU regulation that says you must open the bonnet first can be scrapped! 

 

Alan

[oldtuckunder]

Here's one to ponder

Alan

[rogerguzzi]

Here's one to ponder

Alan

IMG_20170815_164644 (Large).jpg

Capillary thermostat nut at a guess or oil thermostat same type?

 

Roger

 

Ps A bit big for our brakes

[oldtuckunder]

Right lines, Lambda Sensor spanner, slips over wires, lots of leverage, small rotation increments.

[rogerguzzi]

Right lines, Lambda Sensor spanner, slips over wires, lots of leverage, small rotation increments.

Hello Alan

                 The 7/8" confused me I though Lambda was metric size or is 7/8" close enough?

 

I have a draw full of special tools for motorcycles and cars (not sure what some are for now?)

 

I will lay them out and take a photo or 2 or 3?

 

Roger

[oldtuckunder]

Ah 7/8 Whitworth. Almost redundant when I was a lad, but have a number of them from my father, amazingly useful at times to have something not quite the right size!

[JohnD]

No probs, Spit131, just saying!

 

Alan, if you have been to t'Other Place, you'll have seen some splendid ideas..  I'm just touting for more - as if I have a book contract to fulfull!

 

And Whitworth.    I have a 1/2" Whitworth spanner, that used to sit in the bottom-most drawer (NEVER throw away a tool) until I realised - it fits the crank pulley bolt, and is the right length to turn the engine for valve setting.   All my others that big are too long - men were men, with strong wrists in those days.

 

And since we're discussing spanners, here's a modified one.    The front 9/16 AF nut under the exhaust manifold is so close to the engine mount that any ordinary spanner can only make a quarter turn, and even a multipoint ring has to be turned over every stroke.    This one is cut down to 120mm and drilled, so that I can wire a length of 1/4" tubing over it, tighten the nut twice as quickly and exert the necessary 20lbs-ft of tourque with my manly Whitworth wrist, without crippling my Southern wuss jessie fingers.  Once it's nearly there, a length of steel rod slips inside the tube to press the final fractional turn.

 

John

[JohnD]

No probs, Spit131, just saying!

 

Alan, if you have ben to t'Other Place, you'll have seen some splendid ideas..  I'm just touting for more - I have a book contract to fulfull!

 

And Whitworth.    I have a 1/2" Whitworth spanner, that used to sit in the bottom most draer (NEVER throw away a tool) until I realised - it fits the crank pulley bolt, and is the right length to turn the engine for valve setting.   All my others that big are too long - men were men, with strong wrists in those days.

 

And since we're discussing spanners, eher's a modified one.    The 9/16 AF nut under the front exhaust manifold is so close to the engine mount that any oardinary spanner can only make a quarter turn, and even a multipomnt ring has to be turned over every stroke.    This one is cut down and drilled, so that I can wire a length of 1/4" tubing over it, tighten the nut twice as quickly and exrt the necessary 20lbs-ft of tourque with my manly Whitworth wrist, without crippling my Southern wuss jessie fingers.

[rogerguzzi]

Hello John

                 Does this count? cobbled together a power drive for my small milling machine(Heath Robinson would be proud of it?)

 

I am using the switch off the old drill for testing but have ordered one of these now it appears to work

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reversible-DC-Speed-Controller-12V-24V-36V-48V-60V-Motor-PWM-Controling-Switch/263138897666?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

 

Roger

[JohnD]

Heath Robinson would be jealous!

 

I bought one of these NVR (No Voltage Release) switches for my pillar drill.    Couldn't get one the same as fitted, that had failed, so I was bit chuffed to be able to fit this by reshaping the bracket on the drill and making up adaptor connections, tah involved filing down some spade connectors!  Can't show a pic as its all reassembled neatly and invisibly now!   I presume yours has a speed control?

 

But this thread is really about hand tools, not "how I cobbled together a synchrotron, from a few TV magnets"

KISS!!

 

John

Edited August 16, 2017 by JohnD

[TIMSGT6 X 5]

John, That is a flux capacitor, I would be wary of going 88MPH, you'll  never know when you'll end up.

 

 

A bearing puller I made to remove the bearings from GT6 transmissions

 

Not a tool especially but using tools in a way they were not meant to be used. A lathe steady mounted on a milling machine bed, holding the ram of a 7" X 6 foot long hydraulic cylinder, the eye end in a rotary table chuck, milling a bevel all around the welded cap to separate it from the cylinder, by hand feed with a wrench on the jaws of the chuck. It was slow but successful, saved my customer $8,500 for a new one.

Cheers Tim

 

[JohnD]

Nice one, Tim!  Not so much, "using tools in a way they were not meant to be used" as using them imaginatively!

 

Which is what this thread is about.

 

John

Edited August 22, 2017 by JohnD

[rogerguzzi]

Hello John

                 Does this count? cobbled together a power drive for my small milling machine(Heath Robinson would be proud of it?)

 

I am using the switch off the old drill for testing but have ordered one of these now it appears to work

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reversible-DC-Speed-Controller-12V-24V-36V-48V-60V-Motor-PWM-Controling-Switch/263138897666?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

 

Roger

Hello All

             My speed controller arrived and I have fitted it into an old box I have.

 

It seems to work ok but there is a lot of humming? I may look at gearing it down a bit more so the motor runs a bit faster.

 

Would have been hard pressed to buy the components for £8.59 as one offs?

 

Roger

[JohnD]

Now roger, there is being proud of your inginuity and bloody showing off!

Very nice.

Heath Robonson must be like a lathe in his grave.

JOhn

[JohnD]

Swiss Cheese Disease

I'm rebuilding another engine, this one is FILTHY inside.   So double important to clean out the block, which I'll do on the engine stand.     I mount it using an old saloon rear engine plate, so that the block is fastened with ten 5/16" bolts, spreading the load, and the four that the stand arms have go in the plate.

All the oil gallery and core plugs out, including the one at the back of the cam bore.     The factory drilled a hole in the plate where the rear oil gallery plug sits, but the rear of the cam bore is covered up.  So I cut another hole in the plate.     I'd already made the centre hole for the crank rear boss  much bigger, so that I can remove or insatll the rear oil seal housing, so now the plate is looking a bit swiss cheesed!

But I can clean the cam bore out more easily!

John

PS Strange that the cam bore is EXACTLY central on those two bolts above and below it.     They are nothing to do with the cam, but I wonder if there was an idea in the designers mind at some time to close the bore end with a bolted plate?

 

[JohnD]

Trunnion oiling

My US friend Mike Bulfer has a useful method of trunnion oiling.

The oiling hole on front uprights was originally filled by a blanking screw; you took that out and inserted a nipple (aka Zerk in US) to oil the trunnions.    Mike does this, but wit a modified zerk, whose ball bearing and spring he has drilled out.       He also has a trigger oil can, with a flexible spout, whose end he has cut off.     The spout hose is placed on the nipple, with a jubilee clip around it, and  he pumps the trigger until clean oil comes out of the trunnion.   He then removes the spout and modded zerk, an d replaces the blankng screw.  Job done!

And his oil can doesn't leak on the shelf, like an oil filled piston grease gun does!

I can't upload any pics!   I've tried several.     Another problem for Craig, please?    I hope the text above is clear enough.

John

[PeteStupps]

That sounds a bit labour-intensive to me John! I bought one of these plastic oil cans from Halfords, and use a blanking screw in the trunnion. Remove screw, push tapered plastic spout of oil can against hole, pump, done

It's quite easy to get a good seal so that clean oil pumps out of the trunnion, rather than the hole. 

https://www.halfords.com/tools/garage-equipment/garage-essentials/rolson-225cc-oil-can-plastic-body-823846.html

[JohnD]

This is less tools, more kit.

Some find that they get an oil leak, from under the nuts that secure the rocker cover.  Doing them up tighter is not the answer.

You may be familiar with the "Dowty" washer that incorporates a rubber washer into the hole In a metal one.   Rather than source and for those (they are for high pressures!) I have fitted a fibre washer that is a loose fit on the stud, with an O-ring that is a close fit.  Over that, a plain metal, steel washer that compresses the O-ring into the gap in the fibre.

Result, no oil leak at all!   See pics

Edited April 6, 2021 by JohnD

[JohnD]

Stretch guage.

A recent thread over on the TR Register,  https://www.tr-register.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/77602-arp-bolts-in-maxpeeding-con-rods/ asked about the correct procedure to tighten ARP bolts, as in MaXpeedingrods, and other engine applications.     The advice, taken from ARPs own literature, was that torque should be considered secondary to bolt lengthening under stress.   We all know that bolts stretch elastically when tightened, but the torque applied to stretch it is usually used as an adequate surrogate for measuring stretch.  Like the OP in that thread, I'll soon be using ARP bolts in conrods, so I'm grateful to know this, but I like to get some ideas first.

How to measure stretch?    A "stretch guage" is available from ARP themselves, for £150!     That incorporates a dial guage, which no doubt inflates the price, mounted on a metal "C" whose other end has a screw adjuster.    Other, cheaper versions are available, but they look very flimsy!

The obvious alternative is a micrometer screw guage, but the threaded end of the bolt is inside the bore of the threaded hole in the big end, so might not be accessible with the spindle of the micrometer.      A spacer could be inserted into that bore, so that the micrometer will bridge the gap between the bolt head and the back of the spacer.

To me, it seems that the spacer need not be precision made, as long as it is the only one used, and as long as the ends are reasonably smooth and square to the axis.   Could I cut one from rod, or even tube of a suitable diameter, dress it smooth and square, and use it with confidence?   I'll be grateful for your views, before I try it!

JOhn

[Nick Jones]

Agreed. The ends do need to be flat and square though. Trying to think of a ready made object that would do the  job….. how long will it have to be, roughly?

[rogerguzzi]

Hello All

               If it was me I would turn a piece of bar to fit in the hole (probably shouldered) then bore the end out so it sits over the fixed anvil of the micrometer so it always sits straight and is not loose.

Then it is a one handed operation

Roger

ps if you have 0" to 6" micrometer the fixed anvil will probably fit down the hole but maybe to big to get into place!

[JohnD]

When I first posted this, I had been too lazy to go out and try!   Turns out that the spindle, and anvil, of my 1-2" micrometer are a loose fit into the threaded bore that takes the MaxPeeding rod bolt!     And the anvil is long enough to meet the end of the bolt and not foul on the rim.

So I can measure the bolt length easily, perhaps not quite so easily as the proper tool that uses a dial guage, but saving a significant amount of money!     All I need now is to check that there is access, but as the crank can be turned to project the big end upwards, I think that will be fine!

Block now chemically cleaned, in and out, and presently out in the sun, drying two coats of zinc-rich primer, before I give it a coat of paint.   Then to the machine shop!

Onwards and upwards!