home made tools and equipment...

what he said^^
but took some thinking to get there

 

the previous posts got me thinking ? what could i build with this p.o.s. .....

 

Bitchin' Mod, do you have shots of results on sheet metal? Are you using a air hammer or press?

 

what would you use that particular tool for? I get the edge/flange maker part. What does that rib do for you?

 

"repurpused" front end lift,for my mower repair shop...

 

i'll take some pics .....i'm still tweaking it ......it makes an awesome clean tuck but i'm still working on the hammer flat ....it is shrinking right now but to be honest it isn't pretty......i used a drill bit for the thumbnail and it is too brittle..it has broken twice ......next thing is a Chinese drill bit or a grade 8 bolt? .....next time i will leave more area in front of the thumbnail ......i'm using an air hammer.


voh ....its a thumbnail shrinker ....hammers sheet metal into itself to shrink an edge....

 

I would say to crease the edges for shrinking.

 

You want a bit of extra clearance in the thumbnail area. the only part that actually touches should be the flat area in front of the thumbnail. If that makes sense. that way the TN has enough room to pull the metal in from the sides. and oil the dies, it helps. but i think you may be unhappy with the throat of that tool. might work Ok as a flange shrinking tool. Make you some home made lancaster dies. that'd be cool.

 

Thats where that lift went,,,,, Under my bench.

 

I used to know a woman named Minnie Cooper.
She had no idea there was a car with the same name.

 

see i was wondering if they made different ones like fender edge and stuff maybe its possible to make inserts that attach to the orig flange area they separate far from each other i think another die could slide in

 

i was thinking you could make a die for beads by clamping the jaws together and drilling a hole in the groove, from the side , then weld in a piece of round steel for the male parts....but as mentioned ,....no depth....but for fenders edges and such i guess anything is possible .....you should draw a profile of what you are thinking....maybe i could help.

as far as other styles commercially ,,,,i have only ever seen the step flange. and thanks for the idea.

 

looking at this thread reminds of my tools at work.everybody laughs at me for making tools then ends up borrowing them.

 

Great and simple fabrication. I was under my car recently fighting the same issue. If I had seen this post, I would have made your tool. Thanks for sharing.

 

Scootermcrad,

I've built my own Bandsaw. It has a 24" throat and is suitable for metal cutting. It is a pretty easy construction as most of the base frame work is in a flat plane. Not a lot of pretty simple machine work. Here is what it looks like:

 

nothing ingenious like some of the other posts

 

Now this is something I like to see how everything works. Looks very interesting.

 

This is the framework for the saw. It uses 1-1/2 x 3 rectangular tube for the base"H" and the backbone. The rest of the base frame is 1-1/2" square tube. The table crossbars are 1-1/4" square tubing.



The wheels are 6" ball bearing caster wheels. By using them, you can make any depth throat that you might want. They also kill a bunch of speed due to the small diameter and makes the drive train simpler.

The lower left wheel is the driver and is connected to the large (10") pulley on the other end of the shaft. That is driven by a 1-1/2" pulley that shares a shaft with the 3 step cone pulley. This unit floats so that there is only one adjustment to tension the belts. The motor mount has an arm that is two piece and has an over center lock. The belt tension is controlled by the rocker arrangement and a couple of T screws. The three speeds can be changed in just a few seconds with this arrangement.



The upper left and lower right wheels control the tracking with simple screw adjustments and are made the same for both places.



The upper right wheel is the tension adjustment.



The blade guides use skate wheel bearings and flat head screws for taking care of that task.



The outer covering is probably the biggest problem. But it don't have to be sheet metal. Just something to keep you away from the rotating blade.

Any questions, let me know.

 

Very nice indeed.
Love the detailed drawings.

 

Wow! You are the man! That is fantastic! Do you have to be gentle when cutting or is it okay under some heavy blade pressure?

 

I'd say that I use moderate pressure on the blade. The small diameter wheels have not proven to be any problem.

 

And the motor that drives the band saw is ??

Metal capacity ? (thickness) Speed of cut ? Ability to cut shapes ?

This is interesting as metal cutting band saws are pricey.

 

I am in the process of building a saw using Georges' drawings. Because I have limited floor space I am down sizing it a bit. I found an old Northern vertical/horizontal saw with very few hours on it for $40 to use for parts. The motor is 1/3 hp, 1700 RPM with a 4 step pully. It will use a 64 1/2" x 1/2" blade, the same as my horizontal saw. This will give me a cutting radius of 7". Using the 2 large and a 3" idler wheels with 7" of exposed blade, it'll have a 13" throat. At this point it's about half finished. I'll post when it's up and running.

Ron

And yes, George IS the man!

 

I've been planning on building one also since its time to do brake and fuel lines on the truck. My plan isnt nearly as nice looking as yours though. Mine will be some skateboard wheels with different size grooves with one wheel on a screw adjuster all bolted to a piece of plywood.

 

Nice idea. Coulda' used one of these over and over. Can we see the inside of that?

 

hey now, that is sweet.
Can you dissect it for us?

 

Slap faced hammers





Body pick

 

Slap faced hammers



Body pick

 

compressor for Torqueflite front drum piston return springs...

 

Great ideas. American ingenuity is alive and well. From the small to the very large tool (fixture).