home made tools and equipment...

I can see the old gang of journeymen rolling in their graves, or waiting in Heaven or Hell for them to show up! "WE" had to be exact! even the store bought 4' steel rule you bought was "calibrated" against "Norm's " shop standard, well until Charley sheared about 8" off of it! good thing I wasn't anywhere around cause it would have been my fault!

 

Needed a variable speed control for my drill motor that I use for my bead roller
went to granger and price exceeded it
I was at Lowes and I asked if they had a speed control. I was given the electrical guru
the drill was 3.8 amps. he said you need a motor rheostat for a celling fan it is rated at 5.0 amps.
not one for a light
with an electrical box I bolted on I wired the rheostat in it worked perfect

 

OK..OK..OK....Sounds like when you buy a Motorcycle....everyone has got a neighbors brothers cousin that lived next door to a guy that knew a man that was hit by a bus on a Thursday when it was raining and got killed...........this is to see homemade tools.....lets see them

 

We are trying to get every piece of equipment we have on rollers so we can move it right up to where we are working. Last week my Son Dan took an old rolling cart we had, cut it up, and added some angle iron so it would hold all of our clamps, vice grips, and measuring tools that we have. It will save us from having to make trips back and forth to the racks we had on the wall each time we need one of these tools.

He is still going to add some stuff to it, like cup holders to hold sharpie permanent markers and tape measure holders. Now we can move it right next to where we are welding and have all the clamping tools we need right at hand.

The red trays can hold things like T squares, pieces of steel, etc.

Don

 

Nice one Don. Liking that idea a lot!

 

So then, was this motor rheostat that you got purchased from Lowe's? If so, could you provide a pic or part #? Thanks.

 

That's depressing.........

Joe H

 

The rheostat is only for brushed motors and will work fine with a drill. HF sells a version of what he built:

http://www.harborfreight.com/router-speed-control-43060.html#.UyC88KDyDRQ

 

I always said you can't have too many clamps.

 

I bought a pack of 3 led lights with head gear at Costco for well less than 20 bucks that are bright as hell, I know where one is going now., The damned things seemed a bit silly but they are useful as all get out especially when you are under a car and need both hands to work on something and can't be jockeying a light around.

 

Thank you kindly for the link.

 

Hmmmm, I'm gonna add one of those to my bead roller motor. Thanks for the link!

 

never have too many......ever

 

Got my YODER-GELL Power hammer further along this week .I built the tower from 3/4" plate and had it bent for the radius corners at Empire Bucket in Hudson Wisc. .2 big ass channels that when welded , make up a 24"x24" square tower to support the large Yoder and the large Pettingell . Lots of welding and drilling and now grinding and blending all the radius to look like the factory cast iron .

 

Dan,
you still have 2 sides, one for a Quickwork and one for a D&E hammer!!!! <grin>

 

I still have to put the stabilizer brackets on and the electrical. I still have a #1 Pettingell but think that is best used as trading material as I think I have the best of both worlds with these two . I set up the lowers with the same dovetails as I have a ton of dies and then I don't need to worry about maintaining two different sizes of them.

I will do mostly thumb nails and pin dies on the Pettingell and most shaping on the other side .

Back to grinding I go .

 

Man you guys are talented. When I use a brick for a hammer I think I being innovative.

 

Got the upper on to see if I measured correctly.

 

holy shit thats nice ^^^^^^^

 

Dan,
Even the person on your TV is impressed!

 

Dan...beautiful work on the tower for your hammers.
Mag drills are a luxury that few of us have in our home shop. I had the missfortune of witnessing a friend of mine loose his foot when the power went out. A few extra minutes spent tieing the drill to a support to prevent it from falling is a wise invesment.

 

Will get pic soon and PT#

 

I needed to cut a 6", 8", & 10" holes in a big cylinder, I decided to make a set cutting guide for it.

I marked and center punched for 1" increments, every 1/2" on the guide, but once I drilled for the plasma holes I realized there wouldn't be enough room in between, so on the other end I drilled another pivot hole, so the holes can be used for even and odd numbers depending on the end used. Stamped the pivots and the different sizes on, got one more hole to mark and drill and I will have sizes from 1" - 14" diameters.

I will make another guide for 1/2" sizes, 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3 1/2, etc. I will be covered for 99% of foreseeable hole cutting jobs I see for the future, and I've more than one person tell me adjustable circle cutting guides can be a pain. This way I mark and drill and I know everything is on center.

I couldn't have adjusted an adjustable cutting guide for the 3 different holes I needed to cut in the time I spent making this guide.

 

I dig the simplicity of this, nice work.

 

Great idea on the clamp cart - but it looks top heavy.
All of mine hang on the shop burglar bars made from rebar.

 

Pics of H/F Bead roller with angle drive & drill with Flex coupling Tractor supply
I put grease fittings in. also drilled and taped a set screw in to hold the up & down adjustment bolt. and it was still a little fast. was looking for a speed control to plug in. they were expensive
I was liking at Lowes and the electrical dept guy asked how many amps I told him 3.8
he gave me a Ceiling fan variable switch that is 5 amps put it in a box works good
do not use a light dimmer it will not handle the load they are not a true rheostat

 

Here are a couple of things I'm working on. A little more welding and a lot more paint and I'll be done in no time.

 

That's spot on mate! Pretty neat looking workshop as well.
RodL

 

How do you ever find the time to keep a clean bench? And do nice work at the same time.....