home made tools and equipment...

No CNC, just manual machining on a Bridgeport and bandsaw. No tubing bender either, Assorted 304 SS bends, cut and pieced together with TIG.

 

Looking more closely, I guess I can see how you'd do that on a non-CNC mill and a bandsaw. Good work, to be sure!

 

I am a self employed trailer mechanic. Being that I work by myself most of the time, I had to come up with a way of checking TURN/STOP/TAIL LIGHTS, ELECTRIC BRAKES, AND THE BACK UP LIGHT CIRCUITS on horse trailers and boat trailers. I put together a fully self contained tester box to help me out. Just plug the trailer in, flip the switch and start testing. We power up the unit with a 12 volt dry cell battery, and can go several days on a single charge. We look at the amperage draw on each circuit in real time, test for open circuits, and shorts. I call this box my "money maker".

 

sorry, the pictures didn't load the first time

 

I'm a machinist by trade, I can also weld.



Ago

 

here's a couple of my genius ideas.

bottom half of a broken office chair, some scrap metal and 2 flourescent lights, added a plug for your drill or grinder or whatever and there you go, a roll around flourescent light fixture. you just have to remember to move it out from under the car before you lower down your lift. scares the crap out of you when your car is going down and those flourescent lights pop and shatter all over the floor!!

second one is my vice stand. $15.00 garage sale 1920 vice, and some free plate, weld it all together with some 4x4 tube from a construction site (not stolen). the key is the square bottom piece and the extreme weight with the extra 50 lb 3/4 thick round piece added to the bottom . I put the vice on crossways so now I can push it across the floor and it wont tip over because youu are pushing where the corner is out front instead of the flat sides.. I'm about 230 lbs, not sure if I weigh more than the vice stand or not, but if you are a 150 pounder you might not be able to push it. it is just as stable as it would be if it was bolted to the floor, of course bending thick long steel might spin it around, but for 99% of my use it is perfect.

 

i do like the trailer light tester,i have something like that i built also,but mines not as elaborate.indicator lights and fuses in case of short circuits.
great for testing without tow vehicle.
good for checking trailers that arent wired to industry standard.

 

The trailer light tester is pretty cool. We built a simpler one at work for testing military trailers for our Motor T guys. It sure as hell beats trying to get a truck and hope that the vehicle's wiring is good.

One Crusty One, your kicks ass with the ability to check amperage draw. Great job.

 

Now that is a clean unit!!!!

 

90% of the trailer problems relate to dragging the wiring off the bottom side or the vehicles "home" made trailer hook up under the rear of the car, truck. I wish I had a picture of trailer wiring I borrowed once, it had saftey pins, wiring clips and about two rolls of tape. I think he loaned it to me just to get it fixed.. I cringe at what a trailer connection like that would do to my tow vehicle. IF I get a vehicle the tail lights don't work on and it has a trailer hooks up? that'd the first place I look.

If I, as a old electrician was going to build one of them test boxes, I'd buy some of them Harley like-12 volt breakers to put into it. (saw them on sale several times) I sat on the tongue last time with a old motorcycle battery plugging a wire into each plug connection and checking the lights.. It worked.. thou not near as nice as that one.

A plug with "lights" to check the vehicle, and a power source to check trailers lights and wiring.
A buddy here had a 3 month old ford truck that the steering column melted down in by hooking a trailer that had been loaned to the guy who owns the one above there with all the saftey pins and junk in the plug.. It took a partial harness to repair his new truck.

 

Could you give some info on specs, part numbers, etc?

 

I could but I'd have to kill ya.
On second thought, I power this up with a 12 volt dry cell battery, commonly found on trailers for the breakaway system. All the toggle switches should be 15 to 20 amp capacity. The 12volt L.E.D. pilot lights are from Radio Shack. The box is from Home Depot. The gauges are from Allied Electronics and are 0-20amps for the Amp meter and 0 to 15 Volts D.C. on the voltmeter. A female trailer plug, Pollack brand. Wire, common over the counter at Radio Shack or NAPA. The flasher is a regular automotive electronic unit, then I added a couple of resistors so the flasher will work with L.E.D. tail lights.
I have built a few of these units and sold them to fleets that have several trailers.
The other day I was in VETCO Electronics and found a great waterproof box, some real nice meters, and a bigger battery. I'll be putting that together here during the Holidays and will try to document and share with all you.
As far as a schematic for the wiring, I don't have one, It's all stored in my head.
Gary Estes-Issaquah Wa

 

I see now. I wasn't clear on what is was used for until I re-read the last few entries. Unclee was fixing my brake/turn/tail lights this past weekend. If I hadn't been there watching lights he'd be in and out and under the dash a couple dozen more times. I have been trying to think of a way to fix /test tail lights when you can't see the rear of the car. Maybe a camera pointed at the bumper hooked to a tiny T.V. screen in the car? Any other bright(heh heh) ideas?

 

How about a larger door mirror, the type you tape to the inside of a bathroom door, laying on it's side so it's wide and set back far enough to few with the rear view mirrors? Something cheap and easy. Also, since you're looking at a mirror with a mirror the view will show the lights in correct placement.

 

I have done that in the past, be he was WAY up under the dash fixing the tilt wheel-only turn signal switch. Would not be able to see rear view mirrors.

 

I pulled buzzers out of toys/computers etc., soldered alligator clips to them, and then connect them to what I'm testing.

All the buzzers are different so I can test multiple circuits at once listening for different tones.

You can even get a feel for the voltage/resistance based on the volume.

 

i also have the power probe 3 and the power probe circuit tracer,both very valuable in tracing faulty wiring,and for powering circuits.i would be lost without them.

 

I needed a Planishing hammer and i liked the previous one i used,unfortunately this wasn't mine.The model is a 36" throat Proline model (shown in the first picture) retailing at $9300.There are cheaper models on the market,but not as well built.So i decided to build my own and here it is.


my weekly metal work blog www.themetalsurgeon.com

 

Just when you think there could not be much more out there in home made tools and then some more good stuff gets posted.

 

Thanks! here's a picture of the head.

my weekly metal work blog www.themetalsurgeon.com

 

Did you machine the dies for that yourself or buy them from somewhere?

 

Where did you get the parts to build this? and what is a ballpark number of total cost to build?

 

bought all the air parts on line and hammer head off ebay.It cost me under $1500 in parts and materials.

My weekly metal work blog www.themetalsurgeon.com

 

sweet hammer,but not redneck enough for me.(the closer to zero spent the more redneck it is.)
very nice piece,workmanship is nice too.bet your sheet metal work is nice too.
looked at your site....
HAH! i was right!!
all the time in the world,i couldnt ever come close to something like that.
that is definetly the meaning of craftsmanship.

 

Canu be more specific on the hammer head Doc? A link perhaps.
I agree with the tooljunkie, we don't all have a surgeon's income to build stuff
Nice work!

 

the dies came with the hammer head.I am going to machine some bigger dies and heat treat though.

my weekly metal work blog www.themetalsurgeon.com

 

certainly Sir.here's the link


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Planishing-...349?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cad6202b5

price has actually come down.i bought the head about 3 yrs ago for $800.Its now on there for $645.

my weekly metal work blog www.themetalsurgeon.com

 

I don't think $1500 is out of line, try to buy a tool like that, probably 3-4 times as much.

 

http://ccookenterprises.com/proline/proline36.html

 

yardstore.com has upper dies, in .401 and .498" shank.
They call them Flush Rivet Sets.

Michigan Pneumatic Tools sold the air motors separately.
They also had lower dies.