This is a quick & easy way to clean 3-jaw crankshaft grinder and lathe chuck scrolls. - Make a stubby chuck key driver for use in a cordless drill; quickly remove the jaws. - Insert a toothbrush in one of the jaw slots, then run the drill-driver…
Tom Nichols Automotive Machine & Supply, Inc. Joshua, TX
We modify small plastic bottles, purchased on-line, for cutting oil, tapping fluid, assembly lube, etc. We've tried bottles with dispenser tips, however those with metal "needle tips" can scratch parts, while the plastic tips are usually too short, or dispense too much and cause excess usage and waste.…
Tom Nichols Automotive Machine & Supply, Inc. Joshua, TX
Sometimes a machinist's protractor is too cumbersome in cramped spaces to compare angled surfaces on a part. A feeler gauge set works very well as a protractor in tight spots. Modify the gauge by adding a screw and nut to lock it in position. Tom Nichols Automotive Machine…
Tom Nichols Automotive Machine & Supply, Inc. Joshua, TX
Checking and calibrating your installed height gauges is something that should be done occasionally. If the height is off, simply reference mark where the scale ring needs to be, heat, remove and reinstall in the correct position. Ron Flood Cedar Machine North Branch, MN AUGUST, 2023
Ron Flood Cedar Machine North Branch, MN
To boost efficiency on a job using a manual lathe, making custom valve cover nuts, we set up a center drill in a separate tail-stock chuck. Swapping the two chuck/drill is much faster and less work than swapping drill bits in and out of a single chuck. Fit…
Tom Nichols Automotive Machine & Supply, Inc. Joshua, TX
With the proliferation of so many different engines, it seems you just don't have the correct length (LS engines) or metric pitch that you need to make the lifting and fixturing task easier. Being the pack rat that I am, I put my extra bolt drawer to…
Timm Jurincie Tuf-Enuf Performance Avondale, AZ
To precisely shorten bolts in the lathe I made slotted collets for each bolt diameter. They are fractional in length to measure off the end, so you know where to cut for your length. I've used large o.d. valve guides and aluminum round stock. Just make the collet…
Randy Torvinen Torvinen's Machine Shop Menahga, MN
Improve the grip on cast parts or multiple parts in a milling vise by inserting Gasket Paper between the vise's moveable jaw and the part. Gasket paper is thick enough to conform to irregular cast surfaces and/or compensate for small differences in multiple parts; yet it still…
Tom Nichols Automotive Machine & Supply, Inc. Joshua, TX
I can't be the only one who opened a brand-new can of carb or brake cleaner, set it on a workbench and it gets knocked off and “snap”, the nozzle is broken and it's useless. I started taking the nozzles off the popular yellow and blue canned Water…
Big Don Kincaid Big Don's Racing Engines Point, TX
This helps save me time, money, and storage space. Honing oil is not just for honing, it is a cutting fluid. I use it on taps and dies, for cutting lifter bushing and machining on my lathe. I also use it for surfacing aluminum heads on my CBN…
Darrin Anderson Don Gross Warehouse Kansas City, MO