1. BUYING AND USING HAND TOOLS

Transcription

1 1. BUYING AND USING HAND TOOLS GENERAL TOOLS Flat screwdrivers 3.0 x 75, 5.5 x 100, 6.5 x 38, 6.5 x 100, 6.0 x 150 & 8.0 x 150mm Phillips screwdrivers #0 x 75, #1 x 75, #2 x 38, #2 x 100, #2 x 150 & #3 x 150mm Allen keys 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 & 10mm Torx keys T10, T15, T20, T25, T27, T30, T40, T45 & T50 Pliers combination, long nose & curved jaw locking Cutters diagonal Adjustable spanner 250mm Hammer ball pein 450g To this you would add: general purpose electrical multimeter fuel pressure measuring gauge torque wrench a hydraulic trolley jack and jack-stands oil filter tool spring compressors To be able to do basic fabrication, add: hacksaw set of files digital calipers centre punch bench and bench vice To do bodywork restoration, add: bodywork hammer and dolly set In most workshops, you d also add welding equipment, a power grinder or linisher, and drill press and drill bits but we ll get to those in later chapters. If you don t have all of the tools shown above, don t feel disheartened. It took me a long time to build my collection of tools, and it s usually impossible for people to immediately afford all the tools that they d like. Rather than laboriously work through how to use every hand tool (how to use a screwdriver, how to use a spanner, etc ) I will now look at some key tools and techniques, including those that are frequently overlooked. BENCH VICES A bench vice is the single most valuable tool you can permanently mount in your workshop. If you can hold whatever you re working on firmly and steadily, you ll find the outcome vastly better in terms of results, ease of use and safety. Types Bench vices come in a variety of shapes and sizes. There are two primary aspects that determine a bench A good quality vice. This one has a width of 115mm (4.5in) and replaceable jaws. (Courtesy Irwin) vice s size: width and opening depth. The vice is normally specified by width alone (eg a 100mm (4in) engineer s vice). The engineer bit means that the vice is designed for metalworking rather than woodworking, while the 100mm (4in) refers to the width of its jaws. Vices are available that are fabricated through welding, or cast in only two main pieces. My preference is for cast designs. Many people like the idea of starting off with a small vice that screw-clamps to the bench. In short: don t. In operation, you ll find it unhappily sloppy typically, moving around when you try to file or cut an object held in its jaws. These vices are generally only low in strength, so you will also not be able to apply sufficient clamping pressure to the workpiece. Instead, a 100mm (4in) vice is an excellent beginner s vice. Its cost will be low, but it is still large enough to perform many useful functions. Even a relatively small vice like this should have a base that allows it to be bolted to a bench and I have a Dawn offset vice like this mounted at one end of my workbench. Mine is slightly larger than the one pictured it has a jaw width of 125mm (5in) and opens 145mm (5.7in). I use it in conjunction with a much smaller 100mm (4in) vice that s also mounted on the bench. (Courtesy Dawn Australia) 11

2 WORKSHOP PRO SETTING UP A HOME CAR WORKSHOP File handles All files should be fitted with handles. Without a handle, a file is difficult to accurately use and the sharp tang is dangerous. I prefer traditional wooden handles that give excellent control. Match the handle size to the file large handles for large files and small handles for small files. Light filing removes less material and is more precise. Not the changed handhold on the far side of the workpiece. Heavy filing takes off a lot of material. Note the hand-hold on the far side of the workpiece. Use this filing approach until you approach your marked line. TAPS AND DIES Anyone who makes things will come across threads all the time most frequently, external threads on bolts and internal threads on nuts. But, although perhaps you ve never thought of it, there are also lots of other threads that you re constantly in contact with. Take an engine inlet manifold almost certainly there are some bosses cast into it that have been threaded to take bolts. Or even the engine head itself the manifold bolts to the head using studs screwed into holes tapped in the head. It doesn t take much thought to realise that having the ability to form threads yourself could be very useful. Sound hard? It isn t and you need only a cheapish set of hand tools. Types A tool that forms an internal thread is called a tap. A threadforming tap looks a bit like a threaded bolt, except the thread is not continuous around the diameter (there are Draw filing has a polishing action and removes only a tiny amount of material. This quality tap and die set also contains a thread gauge. Always keep the taps and dies well-oiled, or they will rust. (Courtesy Toolstop) 20

3 4. WORKBENCHES So, what are the key points to look for if buying a workbench? Firstly, is the bench an appropriate height for you? If it is too low, can it be easily raised for example by bolting or welding additional supports to the legs? If it is too high, is lowering a straightforward job? Can you wriggle the bench try to push it sideways and back and forth. If the bench immediately flexes, imagine what it will do with a piece of steel clamped to it a piece of steel that you re trying to bend! If the bench is sturdy but slides along the floor, can large weights be added to it? For example, is there a shelf beneath the bench that is strong enough to take 100kg (220lb) of added weight? Can the bench be easily bolted to the floor? Is the bench top stiff? The material from which the bench top is formed needs to be thick and not springy, so that when you hammer on it, the material remains dead. If it springs back, then working on it will be difficult. The best commercial benches use thick timber or composite board. A thin steel top with nothing underneath will be useless beware benches with thin stainless-steel tops that look great in the shop! Does the edge of the bench top overhang sufficiently that G-clamps (sometimes called C-clamps) can be used to clamp items to the bench? If the edge of the bench is flush with the supports, it will be hard to clamp items to the bench. Furthermore, what will the clamps hold on to under the bench top? If the surface under the overhanging edge of the bench is cluttered with brackets or braces, it will make it more difficult to use the clamps. Will it be straightforward to bolt a vice to the bench? Again, when you look underneath, some benches have supports and brackets that are placed in the way of the bolts you d use to mount a vice. If you can find a bench that matches these criteria and is less than your available funds, buy it. However, chances are that you won t be able to find a bench that s really good, so you ll need to build your own. That can be easy and cheap, will give you a bench that will last and be good to work on. In the sections below I cover three different benches that I have made over the years. All are still in daily use. MAKING A SIMPLE STEEL AND TIMBER WORKBENCH To reduce cost, it makes most sense to find some cheap materials, and then develop the workbench design from there. In fact, the incentive to build the bench I am covering in this section came when I went to a local garage sale. On sale were four lengths of 51mm (around 2in) square steel tube with a hefty 3mm ( 1 8in) wall thickness. Each had a foot welded on it I think they d previously done duty as veranda posts. In addition, there were two 3m (10ft) lengths of heavy 242 x 46mm (9.5 x 1.8in) timber planks. These had A well-equipped bench suitable for smaller work. It uses a solid oak top and the supports are made from cut-down cabinets. Note the false upper drawer on the right that houses power outlets and an extendable air hose. (Courtesy Jack Olsen) perhaps been used as roofing rafters or something similar. These items made up nearly all the materials I needed to build the bench and at garage sale prices! One of the beauties of building your own bench is that you can tailor the design to suit the materials you have available for example, if the steel and timber are thinner than desirable, you can build in more braces. In fact, thinking I d probably need some braces, I sourced four An island workbench. This workbench, that I first built about 25 years ago, has followed me to five different home workshops across the country. It uses an angle steel frame supporting a thick wooden top with a working surface of replaceable Masonite hardboard. Extra weight and stability are provided by storing heavy power tools on the internal shelving. I do nearly all my work on this bench. 55

4 5. STORAGE projections on which you can hang the cable reels. Always secure high-mounted items really well I typically double-up on the fastenings, just to be sure. Extra storage located above the entrance doors, utilising an old farm gate and chains. There is extensive storage space in this workshop, but it s been integrated so well it needs a second look to see it. (Courtesy Jack Olsen) 69

5 13. TIPS AND HINTS The upper part of the bead-forming tool. At left is the thick and strong washer that forms the bead depressions. The washer is mounted on a bolt, and the bolt welded across the base of a tube that, via two lock-bolts, attaches to the ram of the press. The arrow points to the gusset that prevents the bolt from bending under load. The lower part of the bead-forming tool. It is made up of part of a U-clamp, with the arrow pointing to the curved rest that holds the tube square as the bead is being formed. The bead being formed in the press. Form this section, turn the tube slightly and form the next section. If the tube is kept pressed up against the gusset (arrow) then the bead will be formed parallel to the end of the tube. SOFT VICE JAWS Bench vices use hardened steel jaws that are embossed with serrations. These jaws very firmly hold in place items clamped in the vice, but they can also mark your workpieces. To avoid this when placing softer items in the vice, slip a pair of extra jaws over the standard vice jaws to provide protection. Soft jaws can be bought new, or you can simply cut to size Soft jaws for your vice are useful in holding objects that would otherwise be marked by the standard hard steel jaws. These plastic ones are held in place by magnets. two pieces of aluminium angle and slip them over the jaws as needed. I use soft jaws whenever I am holding brass, copper, aluminium and plastic items. RESTORING EQUIPMENT I am always on the look out for new equipment for my workshop. There are lots of items I d really like, but, as is the case with most people, there are many pieces of desirable equipment that I simply cannot afford. Buying secondhand is one way to drop purchase costs considerably, but in many cases the newly-acquired equipment will need some restoration. That was just the case with an old sheet metal folder that I bought. It worked okay, but looked pretty terrible with its rust and congealed grease. The first step in restoring the folder was to disassemble it. As with many old tools of this sort, it was very heavy, being formed not from welded steel fabrications but from strong castings. However, using my engine crane, I was able to completely disassemble the folder. Then it was a case of using a high-pressure water spray and detergent to de-grease, a wire brush in an angle grinder to remove old paint and rust from castings, a benchgrinder wire brush to clean up the fastenings, and plenty of effort! I painted the main body components using a metalspecific epoxy spray. Be very careful in your paint selection as many paints designed for use on metal are quite poor, and will scratch off easily, especially on a tool that invariably will be subject to various bumps and knocks. Reassembly of the folder was straightforward, and, as is often the case with older tools, plenty of adjustments could be made to bring tolerances back to as-new. The folder should be good, now, for another 50 years! 155