Home made tools and equipment
- Thread starter Youngster
- Start date
Cool Bill!
With my best Tim Taylor "ARRRRR RRRRR RRRRrr"
My test stand was built just to do R&D wile fabricating the ITB injection system (originally intended for a Northstar Fiero I own). I had no car in mind for the engine at the time, but that developed, a couple years later, into deciding to build a car to put the finished product into. so by a simple twist of fate, the Northstar T turned out to be the most rewarding automotive project I've ever done.
As far a strictly tools, this is one of the dozen or so jigs that I built to fabricate the injection. this particular one helps me form the manifold tubes. not 'purdy', but functional
Russ
With my best Tim Taylor "ARRRRR RRRRR RRRRrr"
My test stand was built just to do R&D wile fabricating the ITB injection system (originally intended for a Northstar Fiero I own). I had no car in mind for the engine at the time, but that developed, a couple years later, into deciding to build a car to put the finished product into. so by a simple twist of fate, the Northstar T turned out to be the most rewarding automotive project I've ever done.
As far a strictly tools, this is one of the dozen or so jigs that I built to fabricate the injection. this particular one helps me form the manifold tubes. not 'purdy', but functional
Russ
rbsWELDER
Active Member
How about a picture with the body off?Pretty common item but dad built this cradle for my bodywork and paint. Worked out great with some garage sale $5 casters too.
donsrods
Member
About 5 or 6 years ago I was working on a 39 Dodge pickup I had at that time and I reached down and lifted one corner of the body to put a shim under it. I heard something snap in my arm and it felt like a spring had let loose. Found out I had torn the bicep off of the arm bone and had to have surgery to reattach it.
So my Son Dan decided I needed something to make my lifting easier and he surprised me by building a gantry crane that has four large casters on it and four tall posts. We fitted it with two 450 pound capacity electric winches so now all we have to do is hook the cables to whatever we want to pickup and press a button. It has become a real workhorse in the shop and we use it to lift bodies, engines, frames, and anything else that needs hoisting or turning over. We just used it this week to lift the body and frame of my other Son's 46 Ford Tudor about 3 feet into the air so we could put a body dolly under it.
Here is a picture of it lifting off the body of my Son Dan's rpu when we had to remove the transmission last year.
I can now do things in the shop when I am alone that I would have had to wait until one of my Sons were around to help with before having this thing.
We even used it when we built the frame for my Son's rpu. We were able to flip the frame and jig over so he could get a good welding position on all sides. The whole thing had to weight 1000# and there was no other way we could have done it without the gantry.
Don
So my Son Dan decided I needed something to make my lifting easier and he surprised me by building a gantry crane that has four large casters on it and four tall posts. We fitted it with two 450 pound capacity electric winches so now all we have to do is hook the cables to whatever we want to pickup and press a button. It has become a real workhorse in the shop and we use it to lift bodies, engines, frames, and anything else that needs hoisting or turning over. We just used it this week to lift the body and frame of my other Son's 46 Ford Tudor about 3 feet into the air so we could put a body dolly under it.
Here is a picture of it lifting off the body of my Son Dan's rpu when we had to remove the transmission last year.
I can now do things in the shop when I am alone that I would have had to wait until one of my Sons were around to help with before having this thing.
We even used it when we built the frame for my Son's rpu. We were able to flip the frame and jig over so he could get a good welding position on all sides. The whole thing had to weight 1000# and there was no other way we could have done it without the gantry.
Don
donsrods
Member
Those engine lift brackets are a lot prettier than the ones I built to put the sbf into my 27, but sort of the same idea. I didn't want to bolt a chain to the aluminum heads so I did what you did, made a bracket for each side that bolts into each of the exhaust header holes. It worked great, but yours looks like something that would have been professionally sold...........nice job.
I also made up some wooden body carts that we use when our car bodies are off of the frames. I went to Home Depot and bought some 2 x 6 lumber, some 4 x 4 posts, and a bunch of carriage bolts. Mounted them on Harbor Freight dolly wheels and made some pins to go thru the wheels so you can lock it from moving around when you are sanding or working on the body. Cost me about $ 100 per dolly.
Don
I also made up some wooden body carts that we use when our car bodies are off of the frames. I went to Home Depot and bought some 2 x 6 lumber, some 4 x 4 posts, and a bunch of carriage bolts. Mounted them on Harbor Freight dolly wheels and made some pins to go thru the wheels so you can lock it from moving around when you are sanding or working on the body. Cost me about $ 100 per dolly.
Don
EX JUNK
Moderator
Love that gantry crane Don! Aren't those HF winches the cats meow? Just a couple years ago I was buying the 440s for fifty bucks on sale. now they are closer to eighty, but still a heck of a bargain!!
Russ
Russ
ellis8500
Member
No pics of my crane. I built a "Swing Set" frame with 2x6's and a top beam designed for 1 ton capacity. Had it ready before I bought an engine. It is easily assembled/disassembled and stores along the back wall of my garage. When lifting the Ford 302 with tranny attached, no creaks nor groans, solid as can be.
I guess it's my turn to contribute. I bought this bandsaw fron Northern Hydraulics in '96. Always had to chase it all over the shop with the original stand. Made a new stand out of 1x1 tube. The casters on the back legs are nothing more than some 3" tube with a center welded in for a 5/8" bolt. They where 1/8" off the floor, probably 1/16" by now. To move it you just pick up one end and walk off with it.
I don't have a workbench in my shop so I needed a place to mount my vice. Originally the top, where the vice is mounted, swiveled so I could use it for welding. It worked well for that but would swivel when I didn't want it to so I welded it.
I have a small shop so space is at a premium. I built some shelves and got some bins for nuts and bolts and etc. Hung it from the ceiling saving floor space.
This is the part of the shop where I cut, drill, grind and weld so I keep my most used tools on that little rack on the bottom of the shelves above. Saves running back and forth to the tool box ... sometimes.
Ron
I don't have a workbench in my shop so I needed a place to mount my vice. Originally the top, where the vice is mounted, swiveled so I could use it for welding. It worked well for that but would swivel when I didn't want it to so I welded it.
I have a small shop so space is at a premium. I built some shelves and got some bins for nuts and bolts and etc. Hung it from the ceiling saving floor space.
This is the part of the shop where I cut, drill, grind and weld so I keep my most used tools on that little rack on the bottom of the shelves above. Saves running back and forth to the tool box ... sometimes.
Ron
donsrods
Member
Those winches are amazingly good. They are rated for 440 pounds each but we have gone way over that a bunch of times and still no problems. Ours are about 5 years old or more and still work great.
As much as people say HF has crap (and some of it really is) they also have some very good stuff for cheap. Their gold high speed drill bits are very good for the money, as are their unibit drill bits. You have to just pick and choose there to get the good stuff. One time I went behind their store after closing time looking for some cardboard boxes and found a dumpster full of returns that they had processed and tossed. I dug a bunch of stuff out of there and when I got home I was able to take 2 and 3 of an item and make one good one. I am still using a lot of those items today.
Don
I noticed Ron had some die grinders hung under a shelf, and that remindecd me of a VERY handy item I made a few years ago. just a block of wood with a bunch of holes drilled in it to hold all my die grinders and tools. it saves a lot of space, as well as time digging around for the one I need.
Keeper
Active Member
Last couple of weekends I have been making use of wasted shop space. The two that came to mind are my drill press, and band saw. The bandsaw has the standard base that takes up a lot of room and offers very little storage. So for that I built this:
This will hold most of my metal as well.
The next item was the drill press cabinet, I rarely use the full depth of the floor model, but I was not going to shorten it to a bench top. So this weekend I built this one:
Slides right over the base, if I need the full depth it just rolls out of the way.
Come spring time they will be painted to match the toolbox in the garage.
This will hold most of my metal as well.
The next item was the drill press cabinet, I rarely use the full depth of the floor model, but I was not going to shorten it to a bench top. So this weekend I built this one:
Slides right over the base, if I need the full depth it just rolls out of the way.
Come spring time they will be painted to match the toolbox in the garage.
GAB
Member
I love to build tools and have built a bunch of them over the years...and have several that I still want to build. Most aren't really practical from a financial standpoint when there are so many on the used market...but it's just plain fun. At least it is for me!
Here is a real work horse in my shop. Motorized flame cutter with electromagnetic attraction for the tracing rotor. I realize that it has some drawbacks when compared to RPM's CNC plasma setup but this critter doesn't come with a mortage or payment book. The materials and parts that are used in the build are commonally available items.
I like the quality of the cuts that the oxy-acetylene torch produces when operated properly.
For people who anticipate that this hot rod building thing might become an addiction, tools can be a very good investment.
Here is a real work horse in my shop. Motorized flame cutter with electromagnetic attraction for the tracing rotor. I realize that it has some drawbacks when compared to RPM's CNC plasma setup but this critter doesn't come with a mortage or payment book. The materials and parts that are used in the build are commonally available items.
I like the quality of the cuts that the oxy-acetylene torch produces when operated properly.
For people who anticipate that this hot rod building thing might become an addiction, tools can be a very good investment.
