home made tools and equipment...

Sure, it was a long time ago. I can still find some links. Most of it was on the, now dead, Yahoo Groups. I still have a general idea how I did it. I built a 5x10 on an old tracer eye table that ran plasma for a friend's metal shop too. Much bigger and faster. He ended up going for a commercial machine to get easy software and support. I bought it from him and still have it's guts. I want to CNC my mill with them. Mike

 

An adequate alternative form of punishment, would be to force them to work on older English cars for a few years. That would teach them!
Bob

 

But wait at least a year before you mentioned "Whitworth wrenches"

 

Bob

 

In the pictures I was using a small sandpaper flap wheel but most of the time I prefer a little rubber drum with a slip on sanding roll on it. I find them to do a good job and follow the surface well. In a professional internal grinding set up, they would use a hard round grinding stone as you said, but I tend to stay away from them in my amatuer set up simply because of the high speed of the die grinder (25,000 rpms) and the possibility of chipping or breaking a hard stone. I always wear safety glasses too.........I had a lens in my safety glasses shattered many years ago by a broken drill bit when one of the guys who wrote N/C tapes put a decimal point in the wrong place and the machine hit the part in rapid travel......

 

That is why I use a variable speed die grinder. I am also very careful on the use of stones, and when finishing, I take my time, and always approach the finishing process cautiously. I take very small cuts, no more than .0005" per cut, and because this is being done in a home environment where time is not critical, I always make more than a couple of passes at each setting.
In over 30 years of finishing this way, I have never broken a stone. I always wear a safety shield, because I did have a new valve seat stone disintegrate on me. Because it was a high quality Sioux stone, I can only guess that there was a flaw in the stone itself.
I have a healthy respect for grinding wheels and all manner of grinding stones, because I know people that sustained major injuries while operating grinding equipment.
I was waiting in the ER because of kidney stone issues a few years ago, and within a 1/2 hour period, two people came in, from different workplaces, with ugly injuries sustained while operating a grinder. I couldn't believe what an amazing coincidence that was.
Bob

 

You'll be wanting to throw in a few BSF wrench sizes after that.

 

I always gave a severe talking to young guys I saw for not wearing safety goggles or a face mask. told them they only get one pair of eyes. Most older guys were waste of time though they should have known better.

 

When I worked for the government, there was a work area for each type of machine tool. The grinding section had an area for "surface grinders" They have a flat table that holds parts to it surface by turning on a magnet. The machine then oscillates back and forth under the grinding wheel with only the magnetism holding the parts to the table surface. The older guys always wanted to work on the right side of the work area.............because whenever anyone forgot to turn their magnet back "ON", the parts on the table always flew to the left. Sooner or later virtually everyone forgot at least once.
Skip the first 1:20

 

Every time I open this thread I get new ideas and think I need more time.. I need more space... more money wouldn't hurt too.

 

I wanted to tear down and rebuild an early Ford 3 speed top loader. I decided to invest an hour or so and knock up a simple pair of brackets to act as a stand. I'm part way through the rebuild and can say they work really well. They are made from 1" angle iron with just one weld per side.

You can use it down flat:


Or up on end:

The short legs allow the input shaft to be clear of the bench when on end.


It will also stand up on the back end when the case is empty, which can be useful.
It was an idea I wanted to try, I tried it and it worked really well so I thought I'd share.

Mart.

 

Great work Mart!

 

I have started to build my own "PullMax" type hammer machine with a 1/2" stroke and a lift mechanisim. The goal here was construct it with limited access to machine shop equipment, do it with redaly accessible materials and of course do it on a budget. So hopefully, anyone can build something similar without breaking the bank.

Now in all fairness I acquired a couple of "scrap" 4x4x.375 wall box tubing frames I intend to use for the machine's frame. So the actual cost of this portion (all be it a large one) will be free to me.

As for the rest of the device.... I started by making cardboard templates to figure out the appropriate geometry and dimentions all meanwhile using materials I can source on E-bay, Amazon or other online resources.

I ended up using 2 two 12x12x.500 A-36 plates for the sides of the hammer mechanisim. Additionally, I further used three 4x12x1.000 A-36 plates. For the cradle which is sandwiched between the 12x12 plates.

All internals were machined from additional A-36 plates. 1.000, .750 and .500 thicknesses as required.

All axles/shafts are to be constructed of 1.000 304 stainless steel. The eccentrics are 2.125 DIA 1018. These are offset drilled to create a 1 inch stroke for both the drive and lift mechanisims.

Lubrication will NOT be of an oil bath type, rather I have drilled the axles/shafts/pins to allow for zerk fittings to be installed and subsequently grease will be introduced into the ID of all the needle bearings. So yes, I will have lubricate the machine manually with every use or as needed. Realizing an oil bath is still a possibility should the necessity arise.

Bearings and bushings were resourced from Amazon. (Side note: For anyone not familiar with needle bearings, as a general rule, they are oversized OD for a press fit to an exact size hole. So any holes can be made using standard sized drill bits.)

The hammer shaft is 12x2.000 DIA 304 stainless. This will reciprocate within a 7.500 collar constructed from 3.000 OD x 2.250 ID .375 wall DOM. Additionally 2.250 OD x 2.000 ID bushings are to be installed in the top and bottom of the afore mentioned DOM collar.

To date I have much of the internals completed as well as the side plates and some of the cradle plating.

The following images show how the mechanisim will work as well as some of what has been completed. I will add more photos as I go.. Feel free to ask any and all questions.

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More pics of the housing

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On a simpler note, here are a couple of ideas.
When I use my hole saws to cut thicker metal, I save the centers and throw them in the washer drawer. Then when I need a thick washer or want to add some thickness to a frame so I can tap a hole, I grab these out of the drawer.


Bought some of those welding/soldering rods they advertise on line and needed a place to keep them and identify them......cuz I forget which ones do what. I used small PVC tubing and wrote on it. Now my memory is perfect

 

^That's a really good idea, and it also keeps the rod dry. Nice job.

 

I don’t have a home made tool for this post, but need one! And I wonder if someone has made one. I have designed a few in my head, but never put any thing to metal!
What I need is a powered hammer! I used to be able to swing a sledge hammer pertty good, but not anymore and a few swings , I’m out. Now I’m not talking an air hammer that you put bits in but something that hits with a force to “ drift” an item. I had a situation where I need to drive a pin about 1 1/4 inch diameter and about a foot long out of a rusted housing in an awkward position. A power hammer here would have been nice and I find I could use one more often as I stack up the years. Has anyone here made a device like this? Thanks

PS: I would have to be portable! Lol






Bones

 

Not much of tool; but a piece of flat stock bent to shape and welded to the table makes handy way to make multiple matching bends in round or square stock.

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Excellent Ideal!

 

I have said for many years that an engineer should have to work in the field/shop for a minimum of 5 years before being allowed to touch a drawing board or CAD to design anything.....

Lynn W

 

I don't remember where I stole this idea from. It may have been an earlier post right here but I finally got around to making mine. Who doesn't have some old shop lights, brake rotors and some pipe. These are super easy to move around to get more light where you need it and take up very little space.

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Hard to suggest something that would work without seeing the actual conditions/problem. Only thing that comes to mind is finding a used HF jackhammer and making adapters to fit it. Seems like it might be better/easier to make some kind of porta power adapter and just hydraulically push it out. Maybe something like a gear puller with a hydraulic cylinder.

 

Maybe get a Broco torch & rods, an oxygen cyl, and a battery then pierce the pin; they usually tap out pretty easily afterwards. Don't know what the rods cost now-a-days; but they were worth their weight in gold on many jobs in the past.

 

you need to just add a "head"

 

I'm sorta interested in this "head" cause @ 83 my hammer swinging is getting a bit weaker myself. Is this only a Porter Cable tool or do others also have it? What name does it carry other than "head"????????

 

It is a palm nailer, several companies make one. Easy to find at any Home Depot, Lowes, Or on line.

 

I had a dream last night that I couldn't swing a hammer anymore.

 

It’s called a palm nailer


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when I said "head" I was thinking of some attachment that would have to be made to pound on things. these will drive a nail but would need some sort of tooling added to create a face for hitting. I am not sure it would work, but it is a start.

 

I've seen these in the past with a home-made head being used along with a dolly as a planishing hammer.