Jockey Journal Forum banner

Home made workshop tools

1M views 362 replies 161 participants last post by  richbob 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Just wanted to see what kind of homemade tools and stuff you guys have... I've already heard of a few.

One guy said a washing machine motor for a buffer.

Also saw a drill in a vice and a grinder become a lathe.

What else ya'll got?
 
#141 ·
Here is a basic valve spring compressor made from a C clamp and a socket with a window cut into it. It works on Triumph heads, at least. The other tool is a 9/16 deep socket with 2 flats ground into it so you can fit a wrench. This with a thin flat blade screwdriver makes clutch adjustments on Triumphs easy and it's still a good socket.
 

Attachments

#143 ·
So this is not so much as a workshop tool, more like a workshop tip. I got fed up with having trouble filling up my battery to the correct mark using a funnel. It was too easy to over fill it.

Now what I do is I have a bottle of battery water with a tight fitting tube through the top to the bottom of the bottle. That way I just need to place the other end of the tube in the battery cell and squeeze the bottle to deliver the water till it gets to the max level and then just stop squeezing and it stops immediately. But maybe you guys already do this!

Cheers Dan.

 
#153 ·
Technically a tool, even if it's disposable.

I've seen too many people baffled by setting up ignition timing over the years, playing all sorts of games with measuring piston movement and using specialty timing plugs and crazy schemes.

I find a part that rotates with the crank and do it the easy way. Fuck trying to figure out cryptic timing wheel marks or getting oil in the face.

If you don't have a degree wheel, you can make one in two minutes with a sheet of paper.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4QLXhlozBk

Jason
 
#158 ·
Awright, I'll play.
Not because I'm any good at this, but I thought this was kinda funny:
So, I'm taking apart my '47 WL motor & I get to the lifter blocks. I know enough not to use a screw driver to try to pry 'em out, & all my hammers were out getting calibrated, so I was stuck. I puzzled for a while & came up with this nifty little tool to pull 'em out. Worked like a dream! I was pretty proud of myself - I got 'em out cleanly & didn't even wreck anything expensive!
Imagine my chagrin a few days later when I'm paging through the catalog of a commonly known supplier of vintage H-D stuff & there right before my eyes was a tool exactly like the one I made! Well, OK, the one in the catalog was much nicer than mine & prolly worked much better, but imagine the surprise I felt to see that someone else had thought of this already!
Ah, well, I thought it was kinda funny, me thinkin I was so clever & all...
Speaking of being clever, let's see if I'm clever enough to post a pic...
Hmm, apparently I'm clever enough to attach a pic, but not clever enough to resize it down from ginormous. My apologies, I'll work on that.


 
#159 ·
I made this simple tool to be able to remove these after-market rocker box covers, and adjust the valves, without having to take the gas tank or carbs off. Sure, I could have just bought a 30mm wrench, but I had this 30mm socket lying around that I had to modify (destroy) to work on a BMW back in the day anyhow. This simple tool is also much lighter than its store-bought counterpart, so would be better to carry in a tool roll too. And there is enough left of the socket to make two or three more, if need be, since this one will go with the bike to its new owner. When finished, I also zinc-plated it for durability.
Cheers, Dan.



 
#168 ·
great idea.

not home-made, but one of the maintenance shops here at work has a frame that mounts a portaband on a pivot turning it into the same as the band saws you cut lengths of pipe/tube/angle iron/etc. it wouldn't take much imagination or work to make something similar if you're lucky enough to own a port-a-band.
 
#169 ·
Here is the truing stand I built a few years back. I used 3/4" threaded rod and turned the inside ends down to .500". Then made two different sets of cones, pointed ones for the brit wheels. I turned down the outside ends of the threaded rod, rethreaded, and bought the cast handles from McMaster Carr. I welded up the frame and painted. I use the brass "gauge rods" for the indicators and finish the truing with a magnetic base dial indicator. I put bearings on the top and got a piece of .500" drill stem and use it to static balance tires (or hubs if I'm lightening them). Have about $35 into it.
KeV


 
Top