TECH....Ten homemade hot rod shop tools.

GREEEEAAATTT friggin' TECH!!! Thanks Kev!! I love RR track! Have a nice little anvil from track and it has survived years of abuse!! Much nicer than anything someone could get at China Freight!

Thanks for sharin'!!

 

I just picked up a piece of RR track not a week ago, had the same idea to use as an anvil, thought I was being original.

 

I'm sure they've been making them since before I was born.

 

Great ideas, thanks for the great ideas...

 

Good Stuff

 

screw acme - KKLBT

TP

 

Yes, re-arching the main leaf in the opposite direction will effectively reverse the eyes. Works great on Model A front main leaf.
Instead of using the BFH, use your hydraulic shop press. Some experimentation on a scrap leaf spring is needed. Press a little at a time every inch and a half along the full length of the leaf to get the desired curve. Use the same pressure for each press. Hand operated seems to work better than electric - personal preference. Also, stay away from pressing in the center-bolt area. Pressing here will likely crack the spring leaf. Curve each subsequently shorter leaf slightly more than the previous longer leaf. The assembled spring will have the OEM springiness restored. I've even done a pair of Chevy II mono-leafs with excelent results.

 

kevin rules. He has helped me so many times over the years. He has a huge old magazine collection for ideas.. He has files of different models of cool built cars cut out of magazines. Very neat stuff

He is quick and good at making anything go together
great post kev

 

good stuff wiley--where the crap you finding rr track? I think of of the 38 trains that blow through my town daily would miss it if I acquired an easily locatable piece.

thumbs up on the inginuity

 

No offense to anyone, but THIS post should have been the TECH winner - HANDS DOWN.
Great Stuff.

 

Was searching for this thread, and thought it was well worth a bump.

 

Keep the tips coming. I love looking at and making some of this stuff.

 

Winner Winner Chicken dinner

 

I love the ACME touch on the anvil!

 

thanks Kiwi........

 

I'm going to make me one of those toe gauges!

 

Must be a lot of train track missing in California to make some of those tools.....

 

This is awsome!
Killer idea. you should see the cool ovals and eggs i make.

 

Thanks for the information. I have a old RR anvil past down from my dad.

 

Useful!!

Added to the homemadetools.net database: http://www.homemadetools.net/toe-in-gauge

Ken

 

if this is used on an A arm vehicle will lifting the vehicle off the ground affect the readings?

 

you should ALWAYS measure toe on the ground.

 

great post kev you sure excell at creative craftiness!

 

Damn, a seven year old post gets resurrected again for tech week...!!! Nice...

R-

 

So will I.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Love this kind of stuff. For sheet metal break I use 2 pieces of angle iron in my vice jaws with the angle on the jaws with the metal between the angle iron. then I bend the metal how I want it. Works good on small stuff. I got the idea from an old HOTROD mag tech article years ago. Thanks again.................

 

To the people that were looking for pieces of rail to make anvils out of, try your search engine like Google. I came up with enough answers to keep me busy reading for an hour.
Different sizes of rail have different heat treats. If you have a choice, get main line rail like 132 or 156. That's the weight for 3 feet.

 

Sorry I can not post photos but for a 3 rd hand when welding something that cannot be easly clamped. I use a upper control arm and the ball joint will hold the peace in place while welding.

 

Attached is a photo of a simpler toe stick that made while working for an alignment shop that used no computers. They used chalk sourced from a company that sold railroad supplies to give something to lay the scribe line into. I just use sidewalk chalk now. The yellow ended device has a slash tip figuring it would be more precise since the pencil tip could blunt. I made three of the second style 2007 to sell while I was getting my own shop rolling.

The important changes over what that shop was using include laying the cross bar right on the feet so it would work under really low cars. Cutting the feet short enough to slide under really low cars. The pointer is taller than theirs to get closer to axle height. And, the slider tubes on the pointers themselves are long enough to help keep them from tipping when you tighten the set screw. Also, putting the set screws on the top means they can only tilt the pointers one direction for more stable readings.

Jeff

PS, yes, this is posted in two threads. It relates to both topics, so here it is.

 

Hammer-Formed Floorboards:

I made a cardboard template of each floorboard piece, then a male buck from 1/2" MDF; slightly smaller than the final floorboard size to allow for flange thickness.

... and temporarily screwed & clamped 18 ga. sheet metal to the buck with a bit over 1/2" overlap on each side.


The buck's slots are for my "caveman bead roller"; I pounded a 1/4" diameter steel rod against the metal above each slot until it deformed into a nice straight stiffening bead.


...then clamped each edge with an angle iron brace (an old bed frame) and gently pounded over a 90* flange.


Finally, the flanges were trimmed and screw holes welded shut.

Right now, all the pieces are just press-fit into place. I'll plug-weld them to the existing subrails & cross-rails after all undercarriage work is complete.


Wife weight-tested with no deflection.