Reprise on a few simple tools

These have been posted before, but with all the new members, what the heck?

This first one shows a simple steering arm bending jig made to bend the right side arm.
Disregard the clamp stored on it.
In use, the clamp pulls the heated arm in sideways and it seats on the 1 x 2" vertical piece.

Basics are, bolt the arm to the two bolt holes shown, heat the arm to a dull orange, use the clamp to pull it into place and let cool naturally. Naturally meaning NO WATER.
Don't use the bolts you're planning to use for the steering arm installation. Get a couple of sacrificial ones.

A little thought will set you up with a bending jig that can do either arm.

 

This one is simplicity personified.
A short 1/2-13 bolt, couple flat washers and regular nut.
Stick it anywhere you like in the drill press table slot.

What it does is stop the spinning drill from grabbing the workpiece you're drilling.
If the item being drilled is long enough, holding it by hand will suffice.
If it's small use a clamp to hold the item down and let the bolt stop resist the torque.

Note as well the washers are quite thick.
That keeps the workpiece from going up and over a thin washer and perhaps creating a bind on the drill.

Be sure and keep downward pressure on the workpiece if you're drilling it by hand.
This little gadget goes a long way toward speeding up a project requiring many holes and safety is not compromised.

 

Here's a simple, but invaluable gadget made from a couple of 1/4" aluminum leftovers after a bit of angle sawing had been done.
File or belt sand the sharp corners off and you're in business.

What it does is allow the bandsaw vise to hold very short pieces securely.

To use, set the workpiece in the bandsaw then slide the angled pieces together until they match the width of the item being bandsawn.
Clamp and saw.

These can also be used in conjunction with short pieces of square tubing etc. to saw larger width, short length workpieces.
Set the square tubing spacer in and make fine adjustments with the aluminum angle pieces.

 

Here's a four part photo, but the item of interest is top right.

This is a simple axle holding device to use during construction. Whether initial or the final bit as shown here.

Very simple to make, use 1" square tubing, I think this one is .090 or so wall thickness.
A couple of lengths about 18" long for the base.
Couple more of the height you desire for the verticals.
Cut these off at an angle - maybe 20 degrees or so.
Drill a 1/2" hole about an inch down from the top of the vertical pieces.
Weld a vertical piece onto the base near one end.
Make sure the vertical piece is leaning in toward the center of the base.

To use, install the batwings on the axle, run a 1/2" bolt through the top holes of the verticals and the top hole of the batwing - finger tight works fine.
Install the same length bolt in the lower hole of the batwing.
In use, the batwing hangs from the vertical and the vertical in turn lays up against the lower bolt in the batwing. This will leave the axle in the proper vertical/horizontal orientation for the remainder of the****embly.

One big caution - after you get the spindles on, either install the tie rod or make a temporary one out of 1/2 x 1" rectangular tubing with half inch holes in the ends.
Set the temporary tubing up so the toe-in is square.
Close is good enough, you don't have to be too exact here.

If you don't install the tie rod - temporary or otherwise - when you install the brakes, disc or drum the spindle will tend to turn and you can get a finger or hand smashed.
It's worse with disc brakes, but with a little thinking no big deal.

Nice part about this gadget is you can****emble the front axle on the bench and two guys - or one guy with an engine hoist - can get it down and installed with no big deal.

I don't have photos, but I also have another axle holding gadget that's just as simple as the one shown and it's for axle****embly, but mounts through the perch holes.
If that's not a problem or you don't run batwings it could work for you.

Additional home-made tools available for posting are a big puller made to accept an 8 ton bottle jack or screw and it will pull the brake hubs from tapered axles.

Another is a Dzus*****on form tool that does a smooth rounded countersink in body gage sheet metal without using a hammer.

Lemme know what you want to see.

 

Great stuff C with all these tech items you are a shoe in for the week!!

 

C9..........kool tools

I needed a tool for a Ford******* last week to make my life easier.

After looking at the photo of the $90.00 tool, I built one.

It took longer than I wanted, but the words " measure twice , cut once " apply here. Thankfullly we had plenty of the material at work