Homemade and Unique Tools

I just enjoy building things from steel, lol. I was exposed to it and involved with it for many years in the building trade I was in (Ironworkers) but I specialized in the sheet metal part of that trade. We didn't do a whole lot of cutting, fabbing, and welding with heavy iron. But that didn't stop me from buying my own little welder and setting up "shop" in my back yard, lol. Pretty much all the steel I've used over the years I was able to scrounge off of job sites. It's just amazing the good stuff they throw in the dumpsters (or plan to). But, the party's over, so to speak, lol. I retired about a month ago after 39 years in the trade. I don't miss getting up at the crack of dawn but I will miss the scrounging, lol.
 
I wondered about how the bottle jack was going to fit in the picture. Now I see it is a separate accessory. And your bars hold the motor at an angle instead of parallel to the ground? This helps to work the starter mounting bolts past the frame?
Good job as always.
 
Even if you pull one of these by hand, you have to angle the top out (or in). I was hoping the arc of the pivoting lift arms would give me the angling I needed and well, it did. Key to the operation is having the height of the pivot bar set just right. Then the motor goes in easy and comes out even easier.
 
Great job as usual and congrats on your retirement......tim
 
5T the dumpsters are still open for business! Went diving in a new house dumpster for boards to make kindling this week and came away with 2) 2x6x8' and 3) 2x4 studs perfectly straight with no nails, in addition to the kindling cut offs. I could have taken several nice sized pieces of plywood....
 
We have a large trash pick-up around here 3 times a year. People start putting stuff out on the curb up to a week in advance. I'm going to have to start driving around and trash picking, lol. The good stuff goes fast, never makes it to pick-up day. I grabbed a beautiful old mechanics dolly about a year back. All nice hardwood in perfect shape, all metal wheels. Much nicer than the HF cheapie I have. It wasn't easy bungeeing it on the back of the bike though, lol.
 
While I had a head apart I wanted to polish them up some. I don't have the extension for my dremel and the short shank grind stones don't reach well for me.
It can be done but an extra 2 inchs would be handy. I wasn't wanting to do any shapeng just smooth the port. A 4 inch piece of 3/16 welding rod with a slot in the end. I didn't measure but the slot is about 3/8 inch. Then cut emory cloth into 4 inch long strips 1 inch wide. Fold them in half width and insert in the slot. The strips should be wide enough to cover the end of the rod. The 4 inch length allows them to wind onto the rod and not fly off. It works out kinda like a flap disc but will come to point to reach the valley at the base of the guide boss and port wall. Again this isn't to remove large amounts of material. Just to polish/smooth.
IMG_20161224_204421_975[1].jpg

IMG_20161224_204445_450[1].jpg
 
While refurbishing some brake calipers I wanted to clean the sealing face of the bleed screw hole. I whipped up this little cleaner out of ali on the lathe. In the photos it looks like I got the angle wrong but it did the job ok.
2017_0108fireplace0002.JPG
2017_0108fireplace0003.JPG
 
Any chance you could put a sketch up on the thread?

That would be a useful little addition to the tool box in Disaster Central.
 
5T the dumpsters are still open for business! Went diving in a new house dumpster for boards to make kindling this week and came away with 2) 2x6x8' and 3) 2x4 studs perfectly straight with no nails, in addition to the kindling cut offs. I could have taken several nice sized pieces of plywood....
And don't forget the local scrapyards, it's amazing what you'll sometimes find and they sell metals by weight..
My best find was a complete '76 XS650 (rusted, damaged, no papers but essentially complete)
Still a bargain at 17cents a pound.
 
I had to replace my crankshaft seal today. I have a brand new seal driver set that I haven't been able to use yet. The crankshaft sticks right through the middle of the seal so a traditional seal driver won't work. The usual trick is to use the appropriate size deep socket, but I don't have deep sockets that large. So I ran to Lowes and got some PVC parts and made a seal driver. Cost me $2. See below.
IMG_3855.JPG

IMG_3856.JPG

IMG_3864.JPG

IMG_3865.JPG
 
Any chance you could put a sketch up on the thread?

That would be a useful little addition to the tool box in Disaster Central.
Probably no need to do a drawing. Its a similar size to the bleed nipple with a hacksaw cut in the sealing end to give it a bit of bite. It could be improved by relieving the leading edge to make it more like a cutter.
 
SIGNAL - yup, wasn't thinking. Thanks.

MAILMAN - you've really got the bug here - well done!

Pete
 
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.
View attachment 19358

I did this last night except I used a crowbar clamped in my vice and a folded up piece of an old inner tube. This technique makes it SO MUCH easier to get the seals out.
 
This one cracks me up. We had bought a cordless toenail trimmer for our Chihuahua. We tried it once and realized it was like trying to groom an angry badger, better left to the professionals. So... this stupid trimmer has been taking up space in my workshop for the last year. Then one day I was looking at it and it and thought how much it looks like a Dremel.
I don't have one, so I was looking at one at the hardware store, the bits are the same size, it has two speeds and a lot of torque. So I ordered a box of 40 Dremel bits from Amazon.
Check it out. My Chihuahua Dremel. Works perfect!
image.jpg

image.jpg
 
If you do end up buying a real one, I recommend the Black and Decker offering. It has more power and is cheaper than an actual Dremel brand one.
 
Yeah actually I will probably get a real corded one. But I have plans for this. If you notice I bought mostly wire wheels, I plan to get after electrical connections with this bad boy! Haha
 
Back
Top