TECH....Ten homemade hot rod shop tools.

#1....Anvil.
Find an old chunk of railroad track and cut out an anvil shape.


Spend a little time cleaning it up with grinding wheel and sanding pads.


Weld ACME on the side and drill 4 holes in the base so you can lag bolt it down to a tree stump.


Give it a quick paint job and you're done.

 

All you need now is Wile 'E' Coyote to drop that thing on....

 

#2....Rack for hanging small parts for painting with spray can.

It comes apart for easy storage when not in use. Made from 3/8" rod.

 

#3....Sheetmetal hand brake.
I have made a few of these in different lengths and use them all the time to bend things that don't fit in my brake. They lock on and work great. You have to hold the material down against a table or bench and bend up.

 

Dammit, why am I getting some links and some pic's?

 

Great idea for a rack! Quick, easy, and breaks down for easy storage. I know what I'm doing tomorrow! Thanks!

 

Hopefully this is a pic of the hand brake....

 

Got me an Anvil just like that one!

 

#4.....Here is my spring arcer [sp?]. A couple of pieces of railroad track welded together and a BFH. Draw the arc you want on the floor with soapstone. Then beat the spring into shape until it matches the line.

 

#5 Circle cutter for cutting torch.
I re shaped a small center punch so that it clamps onto the torch to become the perfect circle cutter.

 

#6....Straight edge for cutting torch.
Shape a handle on the end of a piece of 1 1/2" x 1/2" flatbar and you have the perfect cutting tool. Those things with the magnets are a pain in the ass compared to this.

 

#7....Toe in guage.
Saw a big version of this for use on semi-trucks at work so I decided to copy it for my own use. It works great because on alot of rods you can measure the front of the tire but the engine or radiator interferes with the tape measure on the rear side of the tire. To use it the car would be jacked up just enough so the front wheels would rotate. Then you could mark the tire where the pointer points, roll the tires 180 degrees and measure between the marks. You would have to know the measurement between the pointers before you put it in place.

 

#8....Flathead engine lifting plate.

 

#9.... Small hole deburrer.
Get a nice sharp 1/2" drill bit,grind the non drilling end into a soft radius and then slide a snug fitting piece of hose over it and now you can de-bur alot of 1/8" holes without wearing out your hand.

 

#10....Homemade Dollys.
The grey one is made from a piece of railroad track and the other one is made from a piece of cutting edge of a loader bucket.

 

The last thing i have to do on my truck is set the toe.....That gauge is the tits.....Thanks for the great tips!

 

Great ideas - I'll be copying some o them for sure.
Mart.

 

I'm getting the vague image that you work on or somewhere very close to a railroad - could this be right? My friend Steve runs the railroad for Kodak here in town and he has lots of "stuff" made from leftover track.

Thanks for all the useful ideas. I especially like the toe gauge.

 

Thanks for the tips. I have to make that rack ASAP!

 

This tech post gets my vote as the best seen to date. Some very clever ideas.

 

Post of the week, hands down!

 

There's some really useful stuff in here......VERY practical.....thanks!


Dumb question.....what do you do a lot of that you have to debur that many holes with a drill bit? Body work?

Edit: Do you own stock in a flapper wheel company? You seriously need to!

 

Not a single thing there that isn't extremely useful or easy to build!
Thanks for passing those ideas on Kev!
Gets my vote too!!!

ACME! LoL

 

Once again i'm very impressed! Kev rules!

 

The deburrer gets used alot on a job like this. I'm sure they make a great tool that does the same thing but I've never worked in a real sheetmetal shop or aircraft plant so I don't even know what it looks like. This has worked for me for years. This is also the kind of job where the hand brake comes in handy.

 

Thank you. Great ideas!

 

Kiwi Kev = Master Tech. I especially like the circle cutter.

 

Excellent.

 

Thanks, I was just thinking about a toe in guage. looks like I will be copying yours.