The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest What was the last tool that you MADE?

A bit of a spin on another thread.
I needed a hole saw to cut a 5" hole in a rather thick piece of sheet metal for the base of an oil bath air filter to fit on a Carter Thermoquad.
Harbor Freight sells one, but the "carbide" cutters are junk. I even tried to harden them to no avail.
So i scratched my head for a minute or so and got the idea to make my own carbide tipped cutters. I had an extra circular saw blade in my pointless inventory, so I cut a couple of the teeth and shaped them to fit the HF hole saw bit holders.
I hope my pic tells the story better.
The hole saw is in the vice. See the yellow carbide tipped cutters.
In the background you can see the circular saw blade with 2 missing teeth.
Also in the background you can see the finished product.

Being a retired manual machinist, I have made tools my whole working career.
And being a Cobbologist as long as I can remember, I don't remember the last tool I made.
Or the first!

Are you asking for cutting tools, pulling tools or anything you cobbed up to get a job done?
Don

Edit: By the way, looking at the tool you Cobbed up and it worked, you are a true Cobbologist!

I had to build this 38” long, flat bar, snipe, screwdriver, thing a ma jig to remove the adjuster plug on an ‘80s Saginaw power steering box. Even with the extra leverage it was still a hard grunt to back that bugger out. This tool was the 3rd attempt that night.

Edit: wrong photo link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bp6q7EnAARx3W3Ly5

Does my rotisserie count?
How about my stretcher for fixing the bumper splash apron?
Lots more stuff. Not necessarily for Stovebolts, but like Don, I've been building tools for years.
By the way Carl, Nice Job.

Here's another one. This is what I use to remove 70 year old clutch head screws. The air hammer provides absolutely zero rotational force. The handle on the modified tool bit is slowly moved back and forth by hand while the air hammer vibrates the rust accumulation loose. This tool works amazingly well without damaging the head or the threads of the fastener.

A question often asked, "method to remove stuck brake drum." A piece of scrap and long puller arms. Adjust to width of drum, Install until firm, lubricate, knock drum with hammer, go away for 4 hrs, tighten, repeat and then go to bed. Next morning drum is on the floor.
Not cosmic, but it has worked when needed.

I really didn't make it, but I re-purposed a precision tool that my father made while working at Boeing. It is a rectangular piece of steel with several holes in it. I put it in my vise and used a flat edge to tighten rivets.

Here is another one. It is for holding the yoke in place while tightening or loosening the pinion nut on a 12 bolt GM rear end.
It doubles as a zombie bludgeoner, should that problem ever arise.

I just made a tool to remove and reinstall the input shaft bearing retaining nut on a SM-318 transmission. I didn’t have any 1/8” plate wide enough, so I welded 2 pieces of 1/8 by 1-1/2“ flat bar together. I have a milling attachment for my lathe and used it to cut the jaws of the wrench. It worked perfectly!

Nice tool, but way too blunt for wielding at zombies. I guess you could sharpen the dogleg if you have time to do it before the apocalypse.

The tire jockey damaged my wheel stud by cross threading it with his air impact. The first two threads were crushed. You can't easily rethread it because the die won't start properly and I did not want to replace the stud. I bought a cheap chinese hex die and split it so I could place the two halves on the stud next to the wheel engaging the undamaged threads. By using a close fitting 6-point socket I was able to repair the threads by backing the die off the stud. The socket held the die together and the repaired thread area was completely renewed. Did not even have to remove the wheel.

Mark

Carl, your Zombie Wacker looks like something off the fiist round of "Forged in Fire"

Mark, that little hack could have saved me quite a few hours with a 3 corner file over the last 60 years.

Agree. That's genius, although that metric die won't work on a Stovebolt.
I've split a nut in two to use as a crimp tool for large gauge wire terminal. Stick the two halves around the ferrule and crunch it in a vice.
Here's the results. (The tool was disposable.)

It does not.

Concur with all above -- Mark's split die stud saver is brilliant! We should make a Tech Tip out of THAT one!

I'm in the process of building myself a rotisserie, does that count?

Sure, that counts.
What's that you're working on?

1930 Ferd Roadster.

I thought I recognized that as Ferd-ish. It has been a while for me, though.

Building two of the engine dollies this weekend, from the plans in the Tech Tips. First one is done, except for a coat of sealer and paint. Second one is about half complete... stopped to feed the dog pack their dinner.

Basically building according to the plans. I used 5/16" through-bolts for the cross pieces that secure to the 4x4s, so that I can change the span of the uprights for other engines by drilling a new set of holes in the supports, should the need arise. The screws into the uprights are 5/16" X 3" SPAX PowerLags.

Doug

Well in that case, no, it does not count.






Just messing with you. Of course it counts.

I've got my 235 sitting on that same dolly

Not made so much but modified. I am rebuilding my LM7 starter and the solenoid is held on with TINY torx male headed bolts. I have nothing that small. So I dug into my old Sears Craftsman socket set and pulled out the smallest socket I could find. 4mm 6 point with a 1/4” drive. No dice. The shoulder was too wide to allow me to slide the socket down onto the Torx.

Bench grinder anyone?

I beveled the snot out of that shoulder and it was enough for me to get a grip on those little Torx and back them out. Perfect? No. Work? In a pinch, yes. 😃

Move to the head of the class. That is "made".
(My thread. My rules. )

Well i made a brake pedal movement/adjustment tool to set the brake pedal in the right spot to adjust brakes and i made a one sided rear spring spreader for a 28 model A. I also made a two sided spring speader for a 47 banjo also. All 3 tools were for the enemy here, Ford products.. eeee.. not sure they count on this site tho.

Since a reprieve was granted for off-brand blasphemy committed by a MNSmith, I have no choice but to extend the same to you. "Of course it counts."
BTW, we dig pics if you have them.

Well, I cut a 21mm wrench in half. I cant tell ya where i used it . I,d be breaking the rules

Heres a pic as requested. Thanks for the ,"of course it counts". Wood gets wedged between seat and brake pedal at different intervals, 1 inch at a time. Adjustments are made accordingly to each brake per wheel. Top spreader was for the 47 banjo axle, spring is actually behind axle. Middle spreader pushes off the center section, then to the spring. 1 side at a time because the spring is over the axle and the center section is in the way. On both spreaders they extend by turning the jam nuts. Both worked surprisingly well to say the least. Well considering i made them all out of stuff just laying around. Ha

My old Rockwell drill press came without the table elevation rack and crank. I used it as it came for 40 years and “discussed” the thing every time an adjustment was needed. I have known all along the accessory was available, but hobby money had higher priorities. Now with the covid adventure I needed another project to keep busy with. Got to searching YouTube one afternoon and found a guys remedy for the problem. It was a modified trailer jack. I found one at HF on sale for less than $20. Following his instructions to do a couple of cuts, repositioning the pieces and welding them to new locations on the jack assembly it works even better than expected. I did change one feature. I added a salvaged, sealed roller bearing to help the crank do its thing. That and a couple of spacers, salvaged pipe, and some washers, used to center that bearing were the only additional hardware needed.

ditto on making a Tech Tips motor cart for my 59 235

A very nice/simple/inexpensive Tech Tip - Engine Dolly/Caddy

Are your radiator/battery/etc add-on/extensions your own good ideas?
Have you started the engine on the base/dolly?

1.0 yes, the cart mods were something I had incorporated during the initial build.

2.0 yes Tim,I did a full run in to check for oil/water leaks, 12volt generator electrical system performance, vacuum check, set timing/points and a cursory cylinder compression check ...but my main intention was to bed in the piston rings. Everything went off without a hitch. No vibration either on the stand!
I retorqued the cylinder head bolts after all the tests also.
This was my first Stovebolt type motor build so I wanted to ensure I didn't screw something up prior to dropping into the frame.
Thank you for your positive remarks.

Mike

Very impressive, Mike

Yes very impressive. Good job.

I couldn’t buy the gaskets for the Grease deflectors that attach to the backside of the axle flanges so I bought some 1/32 paper gasket material and fabricated my own. I don’t own any hole punches so I made a 5/8” punch on my lathe. Basically 3/4” round stock, drilled out to 5/8” then cut a taper. I finished by grinding the edge. It’s not hardened but for cutting paper it worked perfectly.

Nice, Phil

I’m in the process of assembling my newly rebuild engine, and I'm installing the timing cover. The Shop Manual calls for special tool “Timing Gear Cover Centering Gauge“, J-966 to be installed over the crankshaft to center the cover. Well I don’t own such a tool and I not sure I could even buy one. Once again my lathe to the rescue. I didn’t have any stock large enough so I used a piece of hardwood and turned a sleeve to fit over the crankshaft with the OD the same as the harmonic balancer. Before I put a micrometer on the OD, I cut it a bit too small so I added a few wraps of the painters tape. Now its a perfect fit. Ready to install the timing cover!

Not really a tool but more of a fixture. I made it to originally make an easy way to pinstripe my wheels... Hold/fixture the brush and turn the wheel but then decided that pinstripes were "not me"...too much bling for a truck. However it did come in handy when I painted the wheels. Easier to turn the wheel than fan the spray gun in a tight curve to get the proper coverage. Used a $ 6.00 McMaster Carr turntable bearing. The rest was scrap wood. Let me say that I really enjoy this continuous posting.. A lot of good "special tool" ideas floating around out there.