Show What Tool You Made*

[Midniteoyl]

Thats cool :thumbsup:

 

[Mendonsy]

Better hang on to those photos! Vise Grip will want to patent that!! :thumbsup:
I have seen a similar but nowhere near as elegant tool make by welding two pieces of angle iron to a vise grip.

 

[PILOON]

Cool idea. I see how that could be real handy.
My method usually a length of angle stock and 2 pairs of vice grips

 

[graydog111]

jjmarotz that would really be a useful tool. I have several HF type Vise Grip copies without the pads. They are almost useless if they do not have the pads, so I think I will try to use them to make pipe welding clamps. Great idea. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Jeembawb]

Need a way to hold two pcs of round pipe together to weld? There are ways of using angle iron, hose clamps, etc etc, but I wanted something that held 4 places and allowed access to tack weld in multiple places without it pulling out of square. I had seen pics similar to this but no measurements or instructions how to build one or where to buy. So here we go....
1-Vise Grip brand 11SP clamp
2-1" flat washers
4- 3/8"x 6" round bar
2- 1/4"x5/8" roll pins, or stove bolts would work too

Drill/grind off the rivets holding the pads on the clamp.
Cut 2 washers in half, I used a thin cut off wheel on my angle grinder. (ya I was a chitdip and in the pic, I had cut 4 washers before I realized it, dumb moment)
drill 7/32" hole in cut washers in the center
drill 15/64" hole in the clamp existing hole (where the pads were riveted on)
Trim the washers to allow the round bar to recess into the washers a bit. Die grinder works well here.
Install the washers, 2 per side, and allow some space between them and the clamp with the roll pins or bolts, to allow them to swivel.
Line up and weld the round bar to the washers keeping an eye on them staying strait.

There you have a clamp with a wide variety of sizes available. Also keep the original swivel pads as they can be reinstalled if needed to turn the clamp back to original if needed.

Awesum - I gots to make me one of these jiggers - reckon u can use with square tube too

 

[weldingisfun]

Brilliant! Thanks for the detailed photos, I will be building one for myself soon.

 

[Mendonsy]

Here's one that is kinda simple but comes in really handy at times.
It is a panel jack that I made using a large scissors jack. I use it to hold large electrical panels in place while I fasten them to a wall. That process is almost impossible to do alone without it.
The scissors jack was made for an RV stabilizer and is rated for 6000# so you can hold almost anything with it. The outriggers are just for stability when it is raised made from 1-1/4" conduit.
The scissors jack will lift 36". I use an impact driver with a 3/4" socket to raise and lower it to the exact height that I need.

 

[jwmorris]

I have always just used angle iron. I like the vise grip mod.

 

[graydog111]

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Stainnless Steel scrap from salvage yard



Work in progress



Finished product



In Use

Several years ago I had Sony PDA in my pocket while working under my wheat truck. When I rolled over, I heard the crunch of my screen breaking. I needed a belt case for my iPhone and didn't want that to happen again. I was inspired by an instructable by Phil B's iPhone Case of Polished Metal to make a metal case.

Yesterday i made this stainless steel belt case for my newly acquired iPhone. Like most of you, I wanted to protect it from screen damage, but I have an affinity for SS, so I made it out of scrap SS I had picked up some time back at the salvage yard for just such a project.

Stainless is a difficult metal to work with, but well worth the effort. I tack welded it with my MIG wire welder using SS wire and ground down the tack welds. I was having trouble getting the front "mirror smooth" so I did some "engine turning" on the front. I used a sandpaper roll on my milling machine and it came out better than I expected.

I lined it inside with thin leather on the front, sides and bottom. A trial fit told me it would be too tight using the .070" leather, so I use a cloth backed vinyl upholstery on the front that measured .040. I used contact cement to glue the lining inside. Funny that .030" would make that much difference. After using .070 inside on the front and .040 inside on the back, the phone fits perfect with a little bit of drag and it is easy to remove using the tip of my finger through the hole in the bottom. iPhones uses it's aluminum frame for an antenna, and as long as 1/8" or so sticks out the top of the metal case, it receives calls fine.

Click on thumbnail photos to enlarge them.

 

[Jeembawb]

Redneck cable drum

Ok, so I figured if it takes any more than 5 minutes to plan, source parts and make it - then it would be just as quick to roll it out. Luckily the 2 main parts were in sight in the planning stage and then a quick trip to the cable tie storage area and it was done.