I like to use what's laying around when making stuff for the cars. Here's a few things I've made from common nuts and bolts. 1. Bolts: Replaceable tool pins made from bolts. Some rear ends have different sized holes to adjust the carrier bearings - otherwise helpful if you break or wear out a pin. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312911&d=1179879647 2. Bolts: Starter studs - couldn't find the right ones so I machined a hex on the end. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312912&d=1179879696 3. Sorta Nut: Don't ya just hate having to use multiple wrenches (I do) so for the digger's gas pedal a machined a groove for the hex to seat in - allowing you to take this apart with a single wrench. Overkill? Maybe, but I was making it anyways - why not make it easy to work on! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312913&d=1179879763 4. Bolt: Greaseable shackle bolt - couldn't find the "right" shackle bolt - so I took a bolt driled a cross hole in the middle then drilled the head for a grease fitting. Been in service for nearly 20 years now. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312914&d=1179879763 5. Bolt: Never seems like I have the right sized pin for my brake pedals of whatnot. I don't trust the local Hardware store's selection of Sum Flung Dung pieces parts so I do the next best thing. I take a "good Grade" bolt and remove the threads and bolt head material until it fits my application. Sounds like a pain, but I can get 'em modified faster than running up the the store. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312915&d=1179879822 6. Bolt: Here's a bolt from my English wheel - by slotting the bolt (just underneath the head) I can loosen it, twist it a quarter turn, and viola - a quick change method for swapping the upper wheel. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312916&d=1179879822 7. Bolt: Needed a way to tighten my whittled out Oil Fill Cap - so I took a allen head bolt (SS) and welded it into my Stainless steel (home made) cap. Machined the weld off and it nearly looks like a factory part. We don't need no stinkin' broach!!!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312917&d=1179879885 8. Bolt: Needed a "bulkhead" brake fitting - man were they expensive!!! Poor man's option take a bolt drill it through and add a brake fitting to each end. Been in service for 15 years now. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312918&d=1179879885 9. Bolt: Brake line fitting. Don't ya just hate stacking a bunch of fittings together for a brake line - better to save the factory ODD Sized ones but when ya can't I noticed that a regular bolt has the right threads - a carefully drilled hole - countersunk on the business end to duplicate a factory fitting - been leak free since I did 'em.http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312920&d=1179879964 10. Bolt: Adjustable trans mount - I wanted a way to easily adjust the trans for the digger - I drilled a big bolt and put the normal bolt through it - adjust to the right height - lock down adjuster nut - works great (so far). http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312921&d=1179879964 11. Nut: Steering Column Anti Pushback. Needed something for the digger - was pretty easy to drill the threads out of a nut and cross drill it. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312923&d=1179880026 12. Bolt and Nut: Drain plug. Sure drain plugs are cheap, but it never seems like I have one when I need it - late on a Friday night. So I typically do the next best thing - dig thorugh the bolt bin for a fine threaded bolt and nut - I weld the nut the the pan and volia. I used to weld the nut "as is" but found that the wrench would slip over them both during plug removal - kinda of a pain - so now I turn the nut down so it's just a threaded ring. I've also drilled the bolt for a magnet - press fit. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=312924&d=1179880026
A quick and dirty addition for indigent improvisers... You can do some primitive lathe turning of fasteners on your grinder head...I have a drill chuck that fits on the shaft threads on mine. Chuck in a bolt or a nut that is on a bolt, and carefully hold a file against it, moving file contiuously, and metal will go away rapidly and with adequate precision for many purposes. File should have a handle, and always be aware that it is not difficult for a slip-up to drive the file through your skull... This sort of improv and some dexterity with hand filing and use of taps and dies can accomplish a lot. Hacksaw and cold chisel also still have their places in the paleo-rodder arsenal...lots of metal can be moved without a Bridgeport.
Along the same lines.....I use my dril press as a poor man's lathe to file and shape stuff. Also works great for polishing round parts.
Important thing is don't throw any of that old hardware away, ya can always use it for something it wasn't made for, if only to throw it at the neighbors cat that keeps digging in your garden. Made a lot of reworked hardware stuff through the years, nice to know I'm not the only one.
An example of dirtball improv lathe work: I was thrashing to put a new exhaust on a collapsing heap of scrap 300,000 mile Nova that had to get through inspection...driveway, below freezing, everything rusted, working alone. I could not pull the evil headpipe flange quite close enough to the manifold to start the second nut no matter how hard I swore at it. Pulling as hard as I could, the nut would touch the stud but was a hair short of being able to catch one of the horribly rusted threads...I needed a part I could only imagine, an extension nut! I decided to invent the extension nut. Piece of allthread chucked into the grinder head, brass nut on that turning at a zillion RPM...I held a file against the nut and turned down about a third of its length past the hex, so that I had a short hexnut with a sort of tubular extension barely big enough to house the threads. My trick nut could now reach through the hole in the flange and start threading...I got the exhaust on and avoided freezing to death. Caveman machine work.
Man AIN'T that the truth!!! I was just over grandma's tonight sifting through the garage looking for something to fix her stopped up drain when I ran across these goodies tucked away in an old coffee can. These babies have "hot rod" all over them. Funny thing I have been looking for something like this for my '34 Plymouth for years - safety catch for the suicide doors. Patina and everything. Some days are definitely better than others!
Yeah, I've walked both sides of the billet line. Billet doesn't seem so evil when you carve it out yourself To further proove I have no morals here's some ....ahhh dare I say it....BILLET...I carved out for the digger.
Love the grade fives for brake fittings! Can't tell till you look hard. Nice machine work on everything!
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