Hot Rod Forum banner

show me your home made tools so I can copy them!

290K views 238 replies 67 participants last post by  OneMoreTime 
#1 ·
home made tools that worked

I just thought it would be cool to hear of peoples home made tools that worked to do the job, or even better if it worked better than the actual tool did.
 
#2 ·
Here are 2 that I made, the first is a "hole saw" for nylon carpet made from a 2" piece of 5/8" SS tubing with a washer welded to the end and a long bolt (cut off head and grind to a point) nutted tthrough the washer. I heat it up with a propane torch and use it to drill holes in carpet for seats, consoles, etc. Use the "point" to locate the saw through the carpet (into the bolt hole).

The second is a pressurized brake bleeder that uses ~ 30# of air pressure to force brake fluid through the lines, making brake bleeding a one man job. Use a large "C" clamp to hold 'er down.

Russ
 

Attachments

#5 ·
Very inventive.

S10xGN said:
Here are 2 that I made, the first is a "hole saw" for nylon carpet made from a 2" piece of 5/8" SS tubing with a washer welded to the end and a long bolt (cut off head and grind to a point) nutted tthrough the washer. I heat it up with a propane torch and use it to drill holes in carpet for seats, consoles, etc. Use the "point" to locate the saw through the carpet (into the bolt hole).

The second is a pressurized brake bleeder that uses ~ 30# of air pressure to force brake fluid through the lines, making brake bleeding a one man job. Use a large "C" clamp to hold 'er down.

Russ
Top job. By tomorrow they will be made in China. I will give you a top score on the one man brake bleeder.
Cheers
Al.
 
#6 ·
Spot painter - for very precise BC or CC coverage.

I needed to do a very small repair to my BC/CC paint job and wanted to limit the fan size but also wanted the atomization to be about the same as the original shoot. The solution...a shroud. I cut the bottom out of a plastic 35mm film canister and mounted it to the gun tip of my detail gun. Note - the gun tip had to be wound with a few turns of black electrical tape to get the canister to fit snug. It worked well...but you won't want to paint too long with it since the paint will collect in the shroud and eventually drip out the open end. It did the trick for my purposes and the cost was $.00



 
#7 ·
Credit card filler applicator for pin-holes.

Due to some poor bondo mixing on my part, some pin holes were visible when I applied my 2K primer. I tried filling the holes but every applicator I used simply pulled the filler or primer right back out of the holes.

The solution, I used an old credit card (photo 1), cut off a small strip and shaped the end (photo 2) and then used it to press thick 2K primer into the pin holes. Worked very well but use the flat part of the credit card not the sharp edge (per picture 3). Cost $.00





 
#8 ·
Light stands from speaker stands and shop lights.

I needed more movable lighting for shooting my paint. The solution...some old speaker stands from a home theater setup (photo 1). A pair of inexpensive 4' shot lights bolted to a bracket (photo 2). And some pretty nifty movable lighting (photo 3). I made a pair of these lights and used them extensively during the paint shoot. Cost...$20 for the shop lights.





 
#9 ·
Sanding in tight corners.

On almost any car there will be some very tight corners that need sanding when doing your paint prep. I made this little tool for getting into those corners. It's a length of 1/8 x 1" steel, bent slightly, handle wrapped in closed cell upholstery foam, and a piece of stick-on sandpaper attached to the business end (photo 1). Photo 2 shows the tool's use in a tight corner of my pickup bed.



 
#11 ·
Cutting and buffing in tight quarters.

Typical buffing wheels (3" to 7") are great for the big flat parts of your car, but what about all the little nooks, crannies, and tight spots? Where's what I came up with for buffing out all the bracketry on my chassis. I used an old foam wheel that had lost it's velcro mounting pad. I cut it up into various sizes and shapes and then used various dremel type pads and wheels and either hot glued the foam to the mount or used velcro to hold the foam in place. The last picture shows a typical area of the chassis where I used these mini-buffing/polishing pads.





 
#13 ·
Remote pot paint gun...for shooting upside down and in tight quarters.

This is another "tool modification". My HVLP gun would not work for painting under the visor or in some of the other tight spots on my sedan delivery. So I took apart an old detail siphon gun and made this "remote pot" gun. Full details of the conversion are here.

Here's a shot of the finished product and a shot of how it was used. the arrows show where the gun and pot were originally attached to one another. Worked well but the pot needed to be located above the gun head so it would feed properly. I used it for shooting primer, BC and CC.



 
#14 ·
Square tube bending die for Harbor Freight pipe bender.

When I fabricate my bodies I have to bend a LOT of 1x1 square tubing. To do this I use my $89 H.F. pipe bender along with a die I constructed for bending the tubing. Step by step construction of the die can be found here. Below is a shot of the die in the H.F. pipe bender and a shot of a 90 degree bend made using the die. This same die construction technique could be used for other tubing shapes and sizes.



 
#15 ·
Sheet metal curve bending tool.

This may belong more in a thread about "technique" rather than "tools" but it is a very crude tool.

To make uniform curved bends in sheet metal I use a length of PVC pipe (diameter varies depending on the curve I want to make). The pipe is clamped to a table and the flat sheet metal piece is clamped down it's center line to the top of the pipe (as shown in the first photo). Then you hand bend it around the pipe as far as you can followed by hammering with a plastic headed mallet (or small steel headed mall) until it conforms to the curve of the PVC pipe.

Then you reverse the process, hammering from the inside of the sheet metal while using a length of steel well casing as your "form", as shown in the second photo.

The last photo shows this length of curved sheet metal attached in place about the door. Further details of using this tool are shown here.





 
#16 ·
Rear pan roller.

Here's another very crude "tool" for rolling a rear pan. It's fairly similar to the tool/technique I showed above but operates upside down. The flat piece of sheet metal is laid on the table and the PVC pipe is laid down it's center line and clamped in place. A 1x2 length of tubing is clamped directly behind the pipe to help hold the pipe and the sheet metal in place. A length of angle iron is placed along the front edge of the sheet metal and is clamped in place in necessary. This piece of angle iron is used as your lifting point or prying point so that the sheet metal is bent fairly uniformly across the entire length (otherwise you'll get some pretty ugly warping and waving in the sheet metal.) I use a combination of lifting or prying on the angle iron while smacking the sheet with my plastic headed mallet.

You then turn everything over and do your final shaping around the PVC pipe with a plastic mallet. (Photo 2)

And a final shot of the rolled pan welding onto the pickup bed.





 
#17 ·
Tool for sweeping bends in square tubing.

Talk about crude tools...this is the one I used for bending the ribs for the body of my roadster. The tool consists of a "form", 3/4" particle board cut to the inside shape I want the ribs. The form is then bolted to the side of the garage and a length of 1x1 tubing is then clamped to the top of the form. a come-a-long is then attached to the other end of the tubing and secured with a bolt to a garage stud. Then just crank.

Here's a shot of the "tool", a bunch of ribs that I bent with it, and a shot of how these ribs were used to form the rear section of my '31 roadster body. More info on the bending process can be seen here.





 
#18 ·
cboy said:
Tool for sweeping bends in square tubing.

Talk about crude tools...this is the one I used for bending the ribs for the body of my roadster. The tool consists of a "form", 3/4" particle board cut to the inside shape I want the ribs. The form is then bolted to the side of the garage and a length of 1x1 tubing is then clamped to the top of the form. a come-a-long is then attached to the other end of the tubing and secured with a bolt to a garage stud. Then just crank.

Here's a shot of the "tool", a bunch of ribs that I bent with it, and a shot of how these ribs were used to form the rear section of my '31 roadster body. More info on the bending process can be seen here.
Now that's downright creative! BTW, how's Dan doing on your interior? Haven't heard any progress reports...

Forgot about my circle cutter. When I bought my plasma cutter, the first thing I needed to cut was a round hole. I made this jig from 1/8" aluminum, it cuts holes from 2" through 16" diameter in 1/8" increments...

Russ
 

Attachments

#20 ·
Electrical plug connector gizmo.

crussell85 said:
I just thought it would be cool to hear of peoples home made tools that worked to do the job, or even better if it worked better than the actual tool did.
I have the job of removing the pins from a steering column connector plug on a 67 Mustang. The pins have barbs on the tips to prevent them from coming out so a small piece of steel was turned up on a lathe with a 2mm hole drilled through the centre. If you push the hollow steel tube into the plug and over the pin, the barb can be compressed and the wire can be withdrawn from the other side. You can also use the 2mm drill to insert into the tube and push out the pin if it is stubborn.

Cheers from downunder.
Al.
 

Attachments

#22 ·
For God's sake Dewey do you buy ANYTHING? :) You're making the car from scratch with tools you make from scratch, did you cut the friggin trees down and mill the lumber for the garage too? :D

Brian
 
#26 ·
trees said:
You guys make me feel like taking my stool and dunce cap to the corner and face the walls!!! Great ideals that I will just have to copy!!! I'll get a shot of my big tool (PG 13) and post tonight.

Trees
Just a thought. Has someone invented a tool that can finish the body of this 67 Mustang so i can shuv the engine in it.
Al.
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top