SMALL TOOLS AND FITTINGS.
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Ideas Put Forward by Our Driver and Mechanic Readers.
li r_TOME-MADE tools and fittings not only help in the everyday task, but often give much pleasure in their manufacture. For the small user in particular there is the added advantage that saving money is helping to make the business a more paying proposition. This week we give a selection of ideas for " gadgets " of this type, "
of Rotherham, obtaining the prize of Most garages have a stock of small drills, but those sizes above about 14 ins. cannot always be kept in hand, owing to the amount of money which has to be locked up in buying them, The suggestion of " HA.II." takes the form of an adjustable fiat drill. The first operation in making one of these tools is to turn a steel bar of in. diameter to the shape indicated in the following lines. The length should be about 10 ins., the upper end being turned to fit a No. 2 Morse sleeve. At the oppo
site extremity is cut a slot in. wide and 2 ins. long. Two holes are drilled and tapped to take -prin. countersunkhead setscrews for holding the drill point. The last-named part of the device is drilled to take the two fixing screws and hardened. The cutting edge of the point has a front clearance of five degrees and a top rake of three degrees.
The cutter, which makes the correct size of hole to be drilled, is made of tool steel, with its cutting edge ground on the underside. The cutter itself fits loosely in the shank, but is locked by means of a taper wedge made from mild steel; this is merely" driven in and tightens the cutter. If a different sized hole be required, the wedge is removed and another cutter is substituted.
SPARE sparking plugs are often
damaged by being carded in the tool box, where they are liable to be crushed or chipped by such items as jacks, spanners and chains. A simple means of avoiding such damage is suggested by "E.P.R.," of Lewisham. The first requirement is a piece of wood 14 in. thick, and, when two plugs are to be carried, about 4 ins. long. The shape of the wood depends largely upon the type of tin which is available as a housing for the wooden block.
Holes slightly smaller than the screwe-1 portion of the sparking plugs should be drilled in the wood. As wood is fairly soft, the plugs can be screwed in, making their own threads as they go. Place the plugs in the block and then take a suitable tin of any convenient shape and slip the block into it, together with the plugs. To hold the two parts together all that is necessary is the insertion of two or three small wood screws through the tin into the block.
.Another method is simply to attach the wooden holder to the vehicle cab in some position where the plugs are not likely to be stolen or damaged by impact or the action of the weather. Many places suggest themselves in this connection.
Incidentally, " H.F.R." states that many old plugs are scrapped, due to loss of the side electrode. When an emergency arises one of these plugs may be handy as a get-you-home device. The central electrode should be bent over gradually until there is a normal sparking gap between the central electrode and the plug body; the latter should have a small flat filed on it.
TRACING noises is not an easy task,
and the locating of knocks, squeaks and the like proves a serious object to many. "&W.," of Wolverhampton, describes an instrument which he has made for the purpose of tracing the origins of sounds.
He uses a piece of copper or brass tubing some 7 ins, long and about in. diameter. This is pushed through a suitable hole in the deep lower portion of a boot-polish tin, the top of the pipe coming level with the top of the tin. The pipe is soldered in position, and a hole about A in. diameter in drilled in the tin lid, not, however, in the centre, but just away from it. When in use the lid is held against the ear and the end of the tube touches the crankcase or other part from which the suspected sound emanates.
pARTICULARLY in the case of vehicles having a water circulation on the therum-siphonic principle there is much danger of trouble if the water level be allowed to fall too low. When the water in the radiator header tank falls below the level of the pipe, bringing the water up from the cylinder block, steam will be generated, due to the water around the cylinders boiling, and " G.H.M.," of Frdington, makes Ilse of this fact in designing a water-level telltale.
He drills the filler can and fixes a diameter tube through it, The tube extends downwards to some half-inch above the tube plate, that is, just clear of the tubes or honeycomb. When the steam is generated, as mentioned previously, it will issue through the tube, and the driver, seeing this, can stop before damage occurs.
THE cleaning of files is usually accomplished by means ofwire brushes, but these are not always durable and are somewhat expensive. "R.H.," of Trowbridge, suggests the use of a piece of hard wood or a small length of copper tube.
The wood or copper is drawn across the file, and after a few strokes it will he found that the part in contact with the file becomes serrated similar to the teeth of a saw. The projecting portions will clean the interstices of the file and remove ally deposited metal or dirt which may have lodged there.
THOSE who have much quenching and
tempering to do know the necessity for a useful tank. According to " W.J.H.," of London, E.C.1, the familiar household dustbin forms a useful appliance when a sieve is fitted which can he raised from the bottom by means of wires with hand loops. These loops will be, normally, outside the bin, and thus can be kept clean and dry. The purpose of the sieve, of course, is to recover without trouble any small parts, such as screws.