home made tools and equipment...

I posted one I modified to lift body shells to work on on this thread years ago I got told that I had a death wish...
One modification I did on my bed frame was a locking mecanism front and back to avoid any possible accidental collapse by way of 2 tubes between the lower and upper frame.
I lifted classic Porsche 911 shells with mine. Hospital beds are extremely sturdy.
I scavenged mine from the trash pile of a medical supply renting company.

 

From the Interweb

 

It appears that body hammers with a pick end have fallen out of favor. I purchased the majority of my bodywork tools from an old body man when he retired and have four of them but none with the blunt chisel end that I see everyone use on the internet. Therefore, I decided to convert one by cutting off the pointy end and welding on a chunk of spring leaf. Since I was at it, I also scrounged up a tree stump to pound on, made a wooden mallet out of a chunk of oak and a handle, and started working on making a dolly to clamp in the vise out of scrap. Hopefully, I will figure out how to use them.

 

I got somewhat inspired by watching a buddy trying to drill out dozens of spot welds on a car he is restoring. He was having a hard time keeping the spot weld drill from wandering around, and sometimes missing the weld-edge by a little bit.
I made this tool that clamps on the pinchweld flange you want to drill, then keeps the spotweld saw-drill bit from moving around.
I will find out next week if it solved the problem.... he was having such a hard time keeping it where he wanted it to be.

 

I'm going to do both of those last two!

 

That looks like a great problem solver!
Thanks!

 

I know it's a home made tool thread, but a hole punch is 10X faster than a drill.

 

If you could use a hole punch (to drill out a spot weld) on a car......

 

that would be cool to have like a miniature roper -whitney punch scaled down to spot size!

 

Best hydraulic fitting wrench a man can own , I have 2 .

 

I understand that it comes in different sizes,,,,,which ones do you have??
I only have the metric ones, from 6mm to 65mm

 

Right but that vise grip with the holes is good for new sheet metal, just like the hole punch. 99% of the time when I remove spotwelds it's because the panel's gonna be replaced : I just grind away the spot welds, again faster than a drill.

 

These match my individual skill set.

 

The whole idea of a spotweld drill bit that looks like a miniature hole saw is to
DRILL ONE LAYER ONLY, to separate the panels so you still have something to plug weld the new panel on to.
Drilling all the way thru to leave a gaping hole with nothing to weld to is not why they make those specialized bits.
You could use any ordinary drill bit if all you want to do is leave a gaping hole.

 

I know, but if you're replacing a panel the spotweld drill is just a fancy useless tool. You don't need to be carefull with the panel you're replacing, either you drill all the way through and don't punch holes in your new panel, either you grind the spot welds on the panel you're throwing away and punch holes in your new panel. Either way you don't end up with a gaping hole.
The only useful use of the spotweld drill is if you're separating 2 panels and are going to reuse both of them.
To me it's speed and cost : a quality spotweld drill is expensive and not that fast, why use it on something I'm gonna throw away?

 

My buddy (and a couple others on theirs) has/have been spending hours and hours drilling out dozens and dozens of spot welds.
ok, so I didn't ask if he was planning to spotweld two hole-less panels together or whatever plan...
I wanted to make that job that he was already spending hours and hours doing, a little easier. So shoot me.

 

I do the same. If the panel isn’t getting replaced hit it with 3” grinding disc on a straight line grinder. You can see when it gets close to through then hit with a putty knife&hammer to separate. Collision repair tricks that’ll save you hours(unless of course you’re reusing the panel, then drill).

 

Jeez; now you guys will have all the street rodders grinding the shit out of their mint stock firewalls when removing it to install their modern street rod firewall when they could be preserving it for someone that will use it to replace a firewall that was wrecked by a '50s hot rodder.

 

I just use a drill bit and drill thru the whole thing, then I already have holes drilled were the original welds were and just weld thru them.

.

 

I haves made from 6,8,10 and 12 in Adjustable wrenches .
Notice I did not say : Cresent Wrench

 

I really like this here idea, and though grinders and mini belt sanders are faster, there are times and places where it is inconvenient to grind away.

 

I'm not critisizing the tool you made or the intend. For someone who's drilling holes in a new panel it's a good tool to evenly space the welds. The thing is if it's to remove the old spot welds your tool is limited in it's use and I'm saying there are more efficient ways than to drill all the times and explaining what they are, that is it.
You can also use a center punch to mark the spotwelds you're going to drill so the drill bit doesn't wander around.

 

Simple but effective pinion puller.

 

Like street rodders are going to be working on their own cars.
If I’m cutting welds with a grinder it’s too far gone to salvage. YMMV. Pretty sure I said this was collision shop practice of mine. Not hourly pay in those, so time is money.

 

Since my puller didn’t get laughed at, here is another. Race/seal puller made from 2 cheap hobo freight pry bars. I cheated and welded a bead across face of race. Wasn’t much of a lip for puller to grab. One end hooks race/seal, the other gets the business end of a hammer. Works for me. Now back to Classic Rewind and the musical stylings of Heart.

 

Ah heck, one more. Blast cabinet I made from an old 275 gallon fuel oil tank. Nice and roomy. Bright as well, thanks to 2 halogen lights.

 

A while ago I posted a video of my new cnc plasma table which was a 2 x 4 table. I have now built my third and final table which is a 4 x 4. Here is a pic and a video.



Mtw fdu.

 

So I keep hearing that mini belt sanders are faster. Mine damn sure ain’t.
What brand of sander and belts are you using that’s faster at removing spot welds?

 

Try Norton blaze. They seem to work well. I have also found that 80 grit seems to last the longest.

Spot welds I usually use a hierarchy of tool starting with the dedicated spot weld remover, spot weld tool in drill, grinding belt and carbide burr. I have a couple Cornwell air belt sanders and they work very well.

Side note Cornwell is fast becoming my favorite air tools. Reasonably priced and very powerful if you go with the upper end line.

 

My min