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tools, jigs, fixtures, and other neat stuff

Darrel can we assume that you are retired :lol:

I was going to post my favorite custom tools but I can never find all 3 hammers at the same time :roll:

Glenn
 
Yup, very retired. When I showed up at Darrell Bolduc's shop with the test cowl mounted on my engine, Darrell just shook his head and said "you obviously don't have enough to keep you busy".
Another Darrell Bolduc statement -- the engine was to run on a stand out in the open air. Darrell, Larry Cassem and I were standing pretty close to it just as the operator was about to crank it up for the first time. I asked Darrell how far away we should stand. He replied "Depends on how far you think the parts will fly".

Thanks for your comments Tim & Steve. I'll head for Texas right away.
Darrel
 
Steve Pierce said:
Darrel, If you ever get board at your place I have many projects for you here in Texas. :D

That wood gantry................T, T, Too much time on my hands!!!
 
for got this one on the fabric patches stuff on page one.... for when you have two round rings close together like on wings, adjust to fit over them then trace onto your patch material....

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neat stuff everybody, keep them coming!

.
 
Have to keep this thread alive - here is my fuselage tail mount jig. Uses a 3/4" extension and a universal welded to a metal plate. Bolts onto tailwheel spring holes. Has two positions - high to allow complete rolls, low for just 135 degrees each way. Front mount is a cross made with 4 6ft 2x4's.

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Interesting, they are doing the diagonals at the bottom longerons just like Univair. I wonder why they deviated from how Piper did it?
 
Oh My! That wagon is too cool.

Has anyone out there built a gas powered Margarita mixer? I've seen two of them at our airport over the years. The last one I saw had twin engines, two mixers and a throttle quadrant from a twin engine plane. So -- anyone make one? I think the engines come from a weed eater. I think I'm going to need one.
Darrel
 
I found the Twin Engine Margarita Mixer today in the hangar where guys are working on Sawbones, the Seafury Racer.
I hope this meets Mike's criteria for Neat Stuff.
The engines come from weed eaters & the throttle quandrant comes from a Lockheed Lodestar. The throttle controls work and the engines are shut down with the mag switches. They intended to hook the mixture controls up to the choke but never got around to it.
Darrel
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They need to talk to Wilbur about those wimpy looking blenders they are using. :lol: Anybody got pictures of Wilbur's water jug/garbage disposal blender that John Mead modified with a blow dryer motor for proper cooling?
 
It was bugging me about the Sea Fury "Saw Bones". Finally figured out that used to be George Baker's "Sky Fury". Help build up several R3350 powered Sea Furies at my previous job and use to go to an airshow every weekend in the back seat of a dual control Mk20. Awesome airplanes.
 
There is no mistaking the sound when Sawbones lights off -- you won't mistake it for a T6. They missed Reno this year and are in the process of installing another engine. The owner, Robin Crandall, is a doctor.
Darrel
http://sawbonesair.com/
 
Dad has been doing some 0-320 cylinder work so it has given me an opportunity to take some pictures of our cylinder holding clamp.

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This was built by another A&P friend of my dad's and was given to dad in the early 1970's. Pretty sure it was built in the late 50's.
For some reason, dad has the cylinder mounted in backwards...it is usually mounted with the exhaust/intake ports toward the user.

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The clamp is adjustable so you can work on cylinders as small as a A-65 to as large as 0-540's

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The jig rotates around so you can do valve grinding or cylinder honing. It is also moved into this position to set in the valve retainer tool.

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This is the valve retainer tool.

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And this is the tool inserted into the cylinder to hold the valves closed.

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This is the valve spring compression tool used to remove and install valve springs.

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This is how the compression tool is used....you just have to imagine the cylinder in the correct way to see how easy it is to pull the tool toward you and compress the springs down to install the retainers.

Brian.
 
Every shop should have a 60 year old Logan lathe.....(hell, this one is probably 70 years old or more.......:))

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I also use this old valve grinder a lot.....

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This thing is indispensable when it comes to doing valve work...

Brian.
 
Ok I had never seen one of these before this thread and your post. Within 24 hours it had moved it to the front of the must have list in my brain. Upfitting the police bikes as I do, has turned into an full time job and each bike has about 200 crimp wire connections. I have permanently creased the inside of my right hand in the last 2 years from squeezing the crimping pliers several thousand times (I had to re-write that last several times trying to remove the joke potential. Can't seem to do it.. I digress) . Soooo. I saw this machine and decided to get one and modify it to crimp wires. There are purpose built power crimp machines but I have decided as usual to have a more universal machine that I can use in many other ways. I am envisioning "shrinker" heads for aluminum, 90* angle die for small brackets, etc. Well I spent a little more $ and got a "new" surplus one off ebay and could not be happier with it. The guy has more of them but he keeps going up in price. Mine was 400 I think. The first crimping dies I have modified work beyound expectation. Using a "flattening die it removes/erases bends from sheet aluminum, I also scored an air powered wire stripper and that will really help with production of the next 17 bike/wire harness backlog I have. Thanks Dave


Darrel Starr said:
Here is one of my favorite tools. It is a Chicago Pneumatic CP0351 - Alligator Jaw Rivet Squeezer with a 9.125 inch reach. Almost all of the riveting in the interior, boot cowl, etc for our Super Cub was made with this tool. Once the rivet sets are shimmed to create the correct squeeze, you can rivet all day long and each squeeze turns out perfectly. These riveters can be bought new for about $2000 BUT they have been around for decades and are available on eBay, Oshkosh Flymarket and other places in rebuildable condition for about $300 to $400. Rebuild seal kits are available. Mine required disassembly and rebuilding (beware of the loose needle bearings that might end up on the floor). The hard steel jaws on mine were a little rusty so I cleaned them up and reblued them. I had an old engine stand so I used it as the base and welded up some rectangular tubes to mount the squeezer. The pedal is one of those $10 Go Cart brake pedals that are widely available. All the other parts in the push cable system were custom made. The bracket holding the squeezer in place is a 4 inch exhaust pipe clamp from Fleet Farm with some shrink tubing around it.
Besides using it for normal riveting, I created a tool to make the indentations required around the flat head Lion fasteners in the lower cowl. That tool set consists of an SM214 flat rivet set machined with a 0.250 hole in it. I pressed an MS20470AD-8-10 rivet (.250 dia, .625 long) into the SM214. The matching set is an SM200-47010 normally used for a .312 dia MS20470 (AN470) rivet. With this setup, I can create the indentations needed for the lower cowl fasteners as the test pieces show.
Darrel
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That is great, Dave. Please post your adaptations. Very interested. This is the great thing about the web site. One good thing leads to something better.
Darrel
 
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