Tool Talk

speaksgeek said:
There's plenty of abrasives like that available for angle grinders, die grinders, bench grinders etc. I haven't seen one in that form factor, but it's probably around somewhere.
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Ok, I will have a good look at total tools and the like. Wanting to clean up under the R17 while I have the rear end out. Are there variable speed angle grinders?
 
You can buy variable speed 125mm angle grinders in the trade tool shops (De Walt, Metabo, Makita), but you may not expect the price. Depending on the job size, it might pay.
 
robmac said:
Clipsal light dimmers work well as a speed control on most power tools.
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Need to remember that there are several different VA ratings of these light dimmers, so need to check the power rating of the tool you are going to control.

Not sure how much torque they deliver at low revs either as I have never tried them out on power tools. They do work well for lights and fans though.
 
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COL said:
Need to remember that there are several different VA ratings of these light dimmers, so need to check the power rating of the tool you are going to control.

Not sure how much torque they deliver at low revs either as I have never tried them out on power tools. They do work well for lights and fans though.
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They work fine. Any phase control dimmer will work well on a universal / brush motor. The only slight downside is poor linearity in the speed versus knob position. In practice it's not a problem.
 
robmac said:
They work fine. Any phase control dimmer will work well on a universal / brush motor. The only slight downside is poor linearity in the speed versus knob position. In practice it's not a problem.
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Thats good because they are reasonably cheap and not hard to wire up.
 
bob said:
Pipe flarer

G'day,

here's one to steer clear of, Haron HFT250.

View attachment 105609

Saw this at the green shed and wanting one that I can use in confined etc spaces, I opened the wallet. Wow, have this lot taken a quality brand name and trashed it, the design is pathetic.

Someone must have told them that if they reduced the section of the anvil block they could save 20 cents a unit. The block is about 27mm wide, which reduces to about 25mm as they have kindly taken off all the sharp edges. The holder it "sits" in with the screw & flare former has a gap of 35mm, yep, that's 8mm of "slop", and the open gap is 20mm.

Which means that you have to juggle this bloody thing with 2.5mm of holding grip on each side of the mogrel.... :disappr:

All for the sake of extra 5mm width on the anvil.... :rolleyes:

At least the look like it's hardened former is loose on the screw and has a drop of grease in it, they got that bit right.

And, as Murphy will tell you, the screw forming bit wont fit onto their old time bash it anvil, that anvil has lots of meat.

cheers,
Bob
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Its got to the time to make new brake pipes for my TA, ages ago I bought 6m of 1/4" stainless steel pipe plus the flare nuts online. Also bought an 'AmPro' double flare tool (made in Taiwan) good for many materials including mild steel according to the label. Already had a tube bender so the only thing missing was a tube cutter which I got from bunnings. So all ready to go I read carefully what to do, set the thing up and pressed down on the tube end with the adaptor in place - all that happened was the tube pushed through the clamping block. At the end of the process I could just pull the flarenut straight off the end. tried several more times with the block nuts done up as tight as I could get them - same result. Just for the sake of experiment I dug out an offcut of the stainless tube I used to make a new fuel line for the 404 in case it was the hardness of the material that was the issue - no more success with that (& that tube proved very malleable in making the intricate shape for the new fuel line). Now a bit stuck - I've ordered a 'Titan tools' 1/4" flaring tool online - may have wasted more money - we'll see. Does anyone know one that definitively works on stainless steel? PS I broke the old line getting it removed from the rear axle when the flarenut rusted to the tube so much that the tube twisted & sheared as I undid the nut so that ones never going back in.
 
Stainless steel is very tough...try drilling through it sometime !
I would have thought that tube made from more malleable metal would be the way to go......but I am no expert on brake lines. Somebody else will be along soon with a definitive answer
 
The cutter may have worked and hardened the metal, by pressing and rolling. Try sawing a piece gently and seeing how your tool goes.
 
G'day,
crikey, brake lines, that was a very long time ago.... I used steel bundy[?] tube and a manual gadget - it had a gauge to check the length of pipe pushed through the anvil, and I reckon that it was two operations to form the double flare. All hammer work with tongue sticking out... :)
It'll be in the shed somewhere, could take pix if required.
Always the best way to make a fantastic flare is to leave the bloody nut off....
cheers,
Bob
 
Hang on ... Are you guys making brake lines with stainless.... won't they fatigue and fracture :confused:

cupro-nickel. The stuff is like playdoe to bend and flare. Absolutely brilliant, the only stuff you'd bother using on a hydraulic Citroen :dance:

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?...TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=cupro-nickel+line

This stuff is very popular to replace citroen hydraulic lines with in the salty soggy pommy UK.... as it wont' rust like normal hydraulic lines.
 
G'day Shane,
like the flare tool in those adverts, looks like it's the same system as my elderly punches - except you can't see what's happening.
cheers,
Bob
 
Thanks Beano, Seasink, Bob, Jo & DC,

That 'flare tool' in the linked ad looks same as the 'Titan' that I have on order. In the meantime I'll try a sawcut before flaring just to see. I realise the stainless is way harder than the copper but hell, if they sell it as 'bundy' brake line (www.brakehose.com.au) it must be possible (somehow) to produce a flare. Also realise that copper would be a lot easier but for my ancient single-circuit system I'm really keen on as much of a corrosion proof installation as possible (have also tracked down somewhere local that can stainless sleeve the wheel / master cyls for me). Now I've forgotten most of what I ever learnt in college but one thing that has stuck is that it was and is a really bad idea to have an assembly made of different metals due to galvanic reaction (ignore that for anything that gets to be swilling in engine oil so ally heads on iron blocks get a free pass). By the way I remembered to put the nut on before my attempts (even got it the right way around!) - still no success.

As for needing to drill stainless - I've been there - on my previous TA the water distribution tube in the head had 'dissolved' (common problem). As my cunning plan I bought some stainless tube of the correct OD, cut it to length without difficulty then tried to drill four pilot holes at the correct locations. Hours later after multiple visits to the hardware store for replacement bits where a combination of leaning on the drill with overheating busted them I discovered by accident that using the blunted crusty end of a broken bit I made much better (or at least less worse) progress than with a brand new sharp one. Once pilot holes were done it became at least more possible but I still had to go incrementally through every drill n the set to get to the eventual size. Now much older than those days, not necessarily wiser but read more books anyway, I know that drill chamfers need to be set at a different angle for stainless - and best be made of some exotic material so not your bunnings universal set. All this makes me more than happy to outsource the sleeving of the cylinders as each needs a hole set at exactly correct location (yet another thing that was tricky in getting that water tube into the head).

All the best,
Rob
 
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