home made tools and equipment...

Nice but we cant see the diagonal support to the legs?

 

What are they made out of ? looks like aluminum

 

Is there something special about that oil pump, as opposed to, say, a SBC pump??
.

 

I've been using a couple old computer UPS's as battery tenders for the last few winters... nothing fancy, just pulled out the old 12v lead/acid batteries, removed the buzzers from them and installed a couple extensions and clamps to the battery leads.

 

Here's one I "made" today -not much to it & I'm not even sure if I've seen this before or not - all's I know is that I needed it today - took 2 minutes to make - unscrew threaded rod when not needed.

 

Made similar set of vice grips with dolly knocker 7 years ago. I use them all the time for pulling stubborn shackle bolts, or king pins. Best homemade tool for parts that hard to get off.

 

Very nice. Thanks for the additional view.
Bill.

 

I like that. Good idea.

 

I'd add a flat plate on the bottom that the stand can rest on.
That will give you the sideways stability and not get in the way.
Nice design otherwise!

 

This is a post I did on the Garage Journal in my shop build thread. I would have retyped it here but I am being lazy. Here's the thread if you want to see the whole shop: My Fab Shop The crane is on the second to last page.

Jaysin

OK, so I have a bit of a big update for you guys with a bunch of pictures (so if you don’t like pictures then go away). As I have said in past about my shop, and in particular about the big post in the middle of it, I am going to build myself a crane. Why? Well for one it makes great use of the post that is otherwise in the way in the middle of the floor. And two, I work by myself almost all of the time and I really need something besides my back to do the heavy lifting.

I have spent several nights (lots) since the completion of the building itself doing research and working through calculations with my father (the civil engineer) on the design of this crane. What we came up with is a crane that we rate at 1 ton (2000 lbs.) which should be more then sufficient for most everything that I need to lift (engines, trannys, large weldments, etc…).

The post is already in, so my crane will need to clamshell around the post instead of the usual slip over the top. I cut these rings on my plasma table and then welded the rings into these collars. The rollers are made from 3” round bar with a ¾” axle made from a bolt.

The upper collar.

The lower collar.

All of the ½” holes that you see in the top and bottom flanges will have ½” rod dropped through them and be welded top and bottom.

This is a set of pictures from the mock up of the collars so that the vertical separator bar could be positioned and welded in place. We also fit the I-beam mostly just for shits-n-giggles but also to measure the length for the upper tie rod.






This next shot is of the underside of the thrust surface for the crane to ride on. Again I designed and cut the parts with the plasma table and then welded them in place. The bottom of the lower collar will sit on this with a bit of grease between them to aid in slipperiness.


Just a shot of the collars painted an awaiting their rollers and install.


And last but not least for this post is the I-beam itself, half painted (just primer)


In the next post I will show the assembly and “testing” of the crane.

Jaysin

 

Here's the second half.

Alright, now for the fun stuff.

I missed the shot of us hoisting the collar up in place, mostly because my father and I had our hands full and my wife hadn’t come out to shoot pictures yet, silly me. But here I am bolting the two halves of the upper clamshell together. The upper is a bit difficult to assemble because it also has extra clips over and around the joint that help to ensure a very strong joint as the upper is in tension instead of compression like the lower collar.


We decided to use the hoist (the one that will eventually end up in use on the crane) to lift the I-beam into place instead of trying to muscle it up there.




After I bolted the I-beam in place I threw a level up and using a spacer under the end of the level closest to the pole leveled it up. What was the spacer for, you ask? I wanted to give the I-beam about ½” slope from end to pole so that when there is a load hanging the trolley wouldn’t want to roll out to the end of the crane and when unloaded the trolley would stay at the pole end where I wouldn’t walk into it constantly.


With the I-beam in place the final dimension could be taken for the tie rod and I could weld the ends in place. Once that was done the ends were secured with ¾” grade 8 fasteners.




Now I just need to hang the trolley and hoist and it’s a Crane.


Here’s some shots of the whole thing finished up and working smooth as silk.




And last but not least. These things always need extensive testing before being put into service so we found something that wouldn’t be hurt too badly in the event of a failure…







At least not if I land on my head.


So there you have it and it only took me 3-4 months to do the design, and find the supplies, time and money to build it. But I guarantee that my back will thank me in the long run even if my brain hates doing the calculations to get this thing built.

I’m sure that you guys will have questions and I will do my best to answer them. However, if you ask for the design I will not give it to you simply because I am not an engineer and I wont be responsible for something falling on your head, so don’t bother asking. But I will be happy to answer anything else.

Thanx for playing along,
Jaysin

 

I made a cam bearing remover/installer using nothing but a piece of quarter inch plate to make the disc for removing and and installing cam bearings, and half inch threaded rod, sorry I don't have any pics available, drilled a hole in the center of each disc made, for the different size bearings put a nut on the other end so I could turn the rod to install them gently. worked great when I rebuilt my 360.

 

That overhead crane came out great, looks as though I'm going to have a new summer project for the garage. Thanks for the idea.

 

Holy shit that's nice!

 

A slapper I made out of a leaf spring and a tuck fork made from 2 punches and a piece of square stock.

 

Other than motivating teenagers, and keeping the neighbors dog in line,
What's a slapper used for?

 

used for sheet metal bumping

 

I like that. They sell some replacment bolts that thread into the back of channel locks for the purpose of connection to a slide hammer, but your solution is better. You have lined up the jaws to the hammer. I wish channel lock sold a straight locking plier. I am going to steal this idea.

 

Has anybody got any brilliant plans on how to make a real safe coil spring compressor. Not like the cheap junk ones that autozone sells made out of cheap 3/8" all thread. I usually borrow a real good one from a front end shop, but would like to make my very own. His has the lead screw made from a heavy duty piece of acme thread about 1 1/4" diameter with heavy metal plates. It is made by Moog but I've never seen one anywhere for sale.

 

I have used heavy duty u-bolts with a thick cross bar before. The main liabilities are finding one with a tight enough U that is of heavy gauge material and ones that have legs threaded far enough to compress the spring more than a couple of inches. Ag supply places seem to have the best selection.

 

Maybe cannibalize a scissors jack? Just sayin'..........

 

Yep, I thought of that after I posted this. I still need to make the funny lookin plates that are kind of offset cause of the angle of the coils.I'm borrowing the front end guy's compressor so I'll take lots of pictures and maybe make one from his.

 

I made a set of very sturdy adjustable jack stands that let me do all sorts of things with my four post lift, such as change the struts on my daughters Mazda. Shown here (poorly I know) in the lowest setting, they make a four post hoist very versitle.

B

 

Forget the jack stands, I'd be happy as hell just to have the four post lift!

 

i recently made my sweet wooden mallet from a ball bat. Build one your self, i posted my pics http://allmetalshaping.com/showthread.php?t=1252

 

A friend's father made this from an old scissor jack many years ago. Works on all kinds of springs.

 

Your friend got some bad info,as that tool is sold by Snap on and i am sure others .I have one I have used for at least 15 years.Dan

 

I suppose that's possible. I've been fooled before. But looking at it, it could very well be homemade. I thought Snap On used to stamp all their stuff but there's nothing on any of the pieces to indicate that. Oh well. Sorry for any misinformation.