BALANCING TIMESAVER In the past, I balanced individual parts like everyone else; match all to the lightest, piston to piston, rod to rod, etc. But a few years ago, I started following this procedure: Assign all parts an identifying letter, then weigh and record all...
CLEAN CUT When cutting O-ring and receiver grooves for top fuel hoops, it’s important to have plenty of cutting oil to get a nice clean cut in the heads and block. Instead of spraying penetrating oil all over the bench, we do them in the honing tank and flood the work...
REMOVING PIPS Often when parting off a work piece in the lathe, the tool may leave a "pip" or thin ring attached to the work piece....even when using a right-hand cut-out insert or blade tip. Here's an easy, quick way to remove the unwanted "pip" or thin material:...
TRAVEL DIAL For lathes without a DRO, a 2" travel dial indicator to measure carriage travel is handy. I quickly made this simple compact indicator mount clamp from two pieces of scrap aluminum. To eliminate the need for a wrench to tighten or loosen it when...
BACK TRACKING To save my old shoulders and back I had to come up with a way to get the big diesel blocks in and out of the spray washer. This track, with short pieces of angle iron welded on, catches on a brace. It lets me pry them in and out until the chain hoist can...
MAGNETIC INDICATOR On my surfacer, I use a simple popular universal magnetic base with a dial indicator to tram my work piece or index fixture. This dials the actual head in dead-on and works great for machines without an indicator rail. It also allows you to tram...