Homemade and Unique Tools

NICE! Thanks for sharing that!
Joel
Steering stem nut spanners, I got tired of mashing the nut with punches.
Made with scrap steel and an angle grinder. The "extra tooth" to fit a second notch is overkill and not really needed but having two wrenches so you can tighten the nuts against each other is worth it.

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That second one was the bar from a garage door opener, the curve was awesome!

Not really a tool but a great way to remove fork seals. The white chunk is just some scrap aluminum so the tube doesn't get dented. this makes the seals practically fall out! Much easier with the iron clamped in the vice. You could grind a chunk of steel to do this if you don't have a tire iron.
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Hows that carb sync tool work and how can I make one! ?
Joel:thumbsup:

Super easy to make and use. 12' of 3/16" i.d. clear hose, a stick or board, tape or zip ties, and some transmission fluid or other oil. Attach them to the vacuum barbs on the carb holders or on your carbs and adjust the sync screw until the fluid levels are even. That's be basics anyway. Search manometer for more info.
 
Budget wooden jackstand, made from scrap 2x2, 17" long, 1/2 or 9/16" hole about 5/8" from end.
1/2" steel rod/punch, long/thick screwdriver will suffice.

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Fit the wooden jackstand between front engine mount lightening holes, slide the rod in.
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Lift the front end, the wooden jackstand will swing down to support the front end.
Stable enough to service the front wheel, check/adjust steering bearings, pull forks, ...etc.
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Start a little longer than 17", then trim as necessary to fit your bike. You want it to hold the front wheel about 1-2" off the floor, but not so long that you're fighting the rear wheel while lifting.

To remove, stand to the side, lift the front while nudging the stand forward with your foot...
 
A few things I have made so far during my build. Pictured is plexiglass plate for cc'ing exhaust port, engine stand, rockerarm bushing for refacing on Kwik Way valve grinder (may not need now that I found some self centering, tapered pieces for machine), rod holding fixture and bushings for end to end balancing, shortened Mikesxs.com valve guide tool to work with press, wooden fixture for holding head at 38 degrees to install guides.

I guess wood is a common tool for XS enthusiasts :thumbsup:
 

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I work with steel mostly but I realize not everyone has the tools required. My "motorcycle" jackstand utilizes scraps of 3/4" or 7/8" all-thread scrounged from job sites .....

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made a brake bleeder vacuum pump system last night to bleed brakes.
I took the home made soda blaster I made, tubing, glass jam jar, shop air compressor.
It works great too.
 
Just some of my usual crude shop work but it works great.

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Scrap rear swing arm, cut away the shock mounts and most of the axle plates, welded on two 1/2" nuts and a pair of legs angled out to improve stability. Turned centering cones out of some oddball 1/2 flange nuts I had in the bolt box. Cut slots in the end of the threaded rod so I can tighten it against the bearing races using a screw driver. this will fit most if not all motorcycle wheels.
Got that 73 rear wheel nice and straight now. Used nylon abrasive wheels to refinish the hub, 3 grits, gray, orange, blue. Then a coat of wheel clear. Spokes are Mike's XS stainless steel 18"rear which fit perfectly on the early steel 18" rim. 20 inners and 20 outers in the bag too! Rim is the factory chrome buffed up.
 
Shaking up cans of spray paint wear me out, and there's other prep work I'd rather be doing, so cobbled together a rattle-can shaker that mixes better than I can. Usually you shake a paintcan up/down to get the mixing ball loose to start the mixing process, then you swirl the can in a conical fashion, letting the ball swirl around the bottom to mix-up the settled solids. This gadget does the 'swirling'.

The base is just a 12" piece of 2x6. An old 1800 rpm motor with pulley is mounted on standoffs.
A foot of 1/2" allthread and thin (luan) plywood make the upright support.
Surplus ball-bearing aircraft control pulleys and the bottom of a tincan make the 'swirler' base.
A piece of shockcord, ends bonded with superglue and shrinktube make the pulley.

Hopefully, the pics show enough detail to give you the general idea.
 

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The tricky and critical part is to mount the rotating tincan paint holder such that its axis of rotation is inclined inboard of the main pulley and points to the center of the upright opening, so that the paintcan rotates in a conical orbit. The hole in the plywood upright needs to be about 2 3/4", and have low friction and not 'bite' into a paintcan plastic cap (hence wood), and adjusted to about 1/2" below the top of the inserted paintcan's cap. With a long enough piece of 1/2" allthread, you can adjust for taller paintcans.

Played around with different rpms, and found these give the best results:

Freewheeling = 500 rpm
1/2 full paint can = 400 rpm (like the video)
Full can = 300 rpm

The gadget wants to wobble around like an unbalanced washing machine, so I added some lead weights to counterbalance it. The counterbalance works best with 3/4 full paintcans, but I clamp it down to the workbench anyway.
 

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Now, here's the fun part, wasn't expecting this, but is a handy indicator of mixing progress.
Viewed from above, this gadget swirls counter-clockwise (CCW). When a new or unmixed can of paint is placed inside and the unit is turned on, the can will slowly creep/rotate CCW, same direction as the machine. As the paint nears fully mixed, the paintcan will start to creep/rotate CW, the opposite direction. Usually takes about 2-3 minutes to reach this 'reversal'.

Short video of the contraption in operation:


Edit/update: Here's Downeaster's paintshaker:

 

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Need a set of transfer points?

Buy set screws with the proper thread.

Saw off stubs from an Allen wrench that fits the set screw.

Chuck hex stub in a drill and grind a point. The spinning drill should have the point ground in the exact center.

Thread the set screws in the holes you need transferred. Drop in the pointed hex. Set the fabricated part on top of the points and smack with a hammer. The points should transfer the exact center of the threaded holes to the new part so you can drill accurately.

I first thought of using the threaded part of a bolt and grinding a point the same way but I worried the threads would get buggered in the drill chuck. It might be easier/cheaper/more accruate though.

I thought this up last night.

Tom
 
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Here's my cheap and weld free clutch basket holder

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I added a nut under the mole grip to make it protrude through one of the teeth
 
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TwoManyXS1Bs, How many cans of paint do you shake in a day? Or was this one of those just for fun projects?
 
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