Sooo I am working on another project. But I need to order a couple small parts before that build progresses, and I start the build project.
However in order to order the parts I needed to order (whew) I needed to do a little disassembly..
In order to do that I needed a tool I didn’t have.... (of course)
SOO In good Madmodder form I decided to make the tool instead of buying it for 150 DOLLARS!!!
The tool I need is often listed as a pin wrench, pin spanner, or some derivative of that with a weird proprietary code name. It also carries a hefty price tag depending on where you buy it from. So I was annoyed with that so decided to make TWO of them myself.
The two nuts have 4 radial slots in them, and are tightened against each other. So therefore I need two wrenches. They also need to be (trying to remember the dimension) .2" wide max with a .1 pin IIRC (If I remember correctly)
We begin this task with two cheap Chinese Vice grips from our local ultra cheap closeout junk store Big Lots. 4 bucks each.
Add in two 1/4-20 by 1/2 inch long bolts with square heads, and were on our way.
For starters I needed to drill a hole through the head of the vice grips to thread for facilitating the bolt placement. In order to do that I needed to mill off a flat spot on the head of the vice grips.
However its hardened.. so I needed to anneal it first.. which consisted of heating it with a propane torch till it was putting off a orange flame, and faintly glowing.. then letting it SLOWLY cool back down, by reducing the flame over 2 minutes till it was off.
Once cool I was able to mill a flat spot on the head of each wrench.
Pre- annealing
After the annealing and flat being cut, I was able to spot drill it with zero issues.
From here I was able to easily drill right through it, and then run my 1/4 -20 tap right on through.
At this point.. I needed to mill down the heads of the bolts, as they were too thick, and too tall… so I needed to take them in the mill and make them smaller.
SO thinking like a mechanic.. not a mechinist.. I put them in double nuits, got them Ultra tight, and chucked them in the vice so I could just machine em on down with the carbide single sided mill I have.
Now looking at that picture below.. do you see any issues with that concept?? Potential failure points???
After standing there scratching my head listing to that voice screaming at me in my head.. I was thinking… what a minute… if the mill comes in contact with that… it will impart a rotational force… and the bolt will TURN.. and then its clearances will suddenly change radically.. causing the ¾ inch indexed carbide bitted mill to likely explode all over me.
Using my brain for a second.. I decided that was stupid.. and thought like a mechanic for a few instead.
From that point… feeling refreshed from almost being a dumbass. I moved to milling the teeth out of the vice grips, and making them the proper radius for the nuts I needed removed.
Enter the 3” boring head!
Initial setup I decided to change….
The final setup post machining.
The wrenches.
Welded the top of them.
Ground them down on both sides taking the shoulder off of the jaw opening.
Heating and quenching them to re-harden them.
Clipped onto the rear nut nicely.
Double jaw…
TADAAAA
So now to remove that little pin that sticks up.. and take measurements for the thrust bearings on each side….. and begin posting another thread for that main project.
Scott
