Making your own tools

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Once again, I’m back at it modifying spare & cheap tools to make them work for another purpose. This Villiers I did a full restoration and rebuild on was made in England. It had imperial hardware but nothing I had would fit it.

Turns out I needed 11/32 & 17/32 spanners. I went to loads of shops to no avail. Decided to modify the closest two and made them fit beautifully. Tried my best to keep the faces square and parallel and then filed all the edges to remove the sharp edge too. Took my time using marker pen as a reference.

Now they fit beautifully :) no Picasso or Monet, but it does the job.

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edit to update! Lucky I didn’t order 11/32 and 17/32!! They aren’t actually the right size! I was told apparently they use “whitworth” sizes on Villiers which is a whole other scale? Anyway, makes sense now, makes no difference because I filed the spanners to a snug fit on the bolts rather than to a specific size haha.close enough to 7/32 and 11/32 that I’m not going to modify the nomenclature I had dremelled into them
 
Anyone that works on anything old and British that is mechanical knows all about things like tappet spanners, magneto spanners and Whitworth fittings.
If anyone should know this best, it should be the British.
There will be thousands of old British standard spanners floating around Aussie that fit old obsolete nuts and bolts used on old obsolete engines and such, easily picked up in secondhand stores, charity stores, auction sites, garage sales and estate sales.
 
I always appreciate folks who make there own tools. I have several and find myself using them on more than just the object they where created to fix.
Having welders is great for that kind of thing. I'm always bodging something together, whether it's a jig or a tool or some bracket or whatever that I'm too cheap to buy...so I spend half a day making something that I could buy for $20 ... at this rate those welding machines should pay for themselves in -- what -- 10,000 years or so?
 
I couldn`t imagine working on machinery without welders, had my first at age 15. Have boxes of specially made tools and even Whitworth wrenches have found their way to me. I was good friends with an older British pilot that gave me all his hand tools 20 years back, some neat stuff in that lot.
 
Anyone that works on anything old and British that is mechanical knows all about things like tappet spanners, magneto spanners and Whitworth fittings.
If anyone should know this best, it should be the British.
There will be thousands of old British standard spanners floating around Aussie that fit old obsolete nuts and bolts used on old obsolete engines and such, easily picked up in secondhand stores, charity stores, auction sites, garage sales and estate sales.
Good call, thank you - just checked ebay and lots of different sets available. I just need to confirm for certain before purchasing a set is if they really are whitworth or if in fact they are bsf. The guy wasn’t certain about Villiers using whitworth, but thought they could be.
 
Good call, thank you - just checked ebay and lots of different sets available. I just need to confirm for certain before purchasing a set is if they really are whitworth or if in fact they are bsf. The guy wasn’t certain about Villiers using whitworth, but thought they could be.
They dont have to be new, most old British spanners were never chromed anyhow. Whitworth usually has a fractional size and then a W ie: 1/4W or 5/8W, BSF spanners will not go astray if you keep fiddling with old motors, nor a set of Magneto spanners and Tappet spanners are handy getting into tight spots.
Sidchrome made some really nice sets of excellent quality chromed made in Australia Whitworth spanners, or Siddens if you go back before Sidchrome.
 
They dont have to be new, most old British spanners were never chromed anyhow. Whitworth usually has a fractional size and then a W ie: 1/4W or 5/8W, BSF spanners will not go astray if you keep fiddling with old motors, nor a set of Magneto spanners and Tappet spanners are handy getting into tight spots.
Sidchrome made some really nice sets of excellent quality chromed made in Australia Whitworth spanners, or Siddens if you go back before Sidchrome.
Thanks Bob, great advice. I’ll google / eBay tappet and magneto spanners too and see what I can find. Much appreciated.
 
Thanks Bob, great advice. I’ll google / eBay tappet and magneto spanners too and see what I can find. Much appreciated.
Terry made some nice sets of Magneto spanners- some of which came in self contained leather pouches.
Indeed I believe they STILL make such sets, but you will be after the older imperial sizings.
 
Made up plenty of different spanners, sockets etc
put a few grooves in it and you can turn it into a flank drive spanner ;)

Here is a crowfoot spanner I made up out of an old spanner, it had already had the other end cut off it when I got it at a g sale, so cut off remaining handle and tidied it up, then drilled 4 small holes and then the larger hole in the middle, and hand filed out a 1/2" drive point, and opened up the jaws to the required size.

tightening pipes.jpg
 
Made up plenty of different spanners, sockets etc
put a few grooves in it and you can turn it into a flank drive spanner ;)

Here is a crowfoot spanner I made up out of an old spanner, it had already had the other end cut off it when I got it at a g sale, so cut off remaining handle and tidied it up, then drilled 4 small holes and then the larger hole in the middle, and hand filed out a 1/2" drive point, and opened up the jaws to the required size.

View attachment 919662
That whole setup looks enraging.
 
Made up plenty of different spanners, sockets etc
put a few grooves in it and you can turn it into a flank drive spanner ;)

Here is a crowfoot spanner I made up out of an old spanner, it had already had the other end cut off it when I got it at a g sale, so cut off remaining handle and tidied it up, then drilled 4 small holes and then the larger hole in the middle, and hand filed out a 1/2" drive point, and opened up the jaws to the required size.

View attachment 919662

Easier to keep an eye out for the Peugeot ones if you want flank spanners- most inheritors have no idea what the heck they are for, so you can get them real cheap. ;)
 
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