What’s the Best Penetrant? A recent online article provided some information on various penetrating oils. A subjective test of all the popular penetrates with the control being the torque required to remove the nut from a “scientifically rusted” environment resulted...

FOR MORE THAN JUST ROTORS AND DRUMS Our brake lathe does not see as many rotors and drums as it once did but we are finding new uses for this great machine. With its large assortment of adapters and cones, it becomes a natural for mounting hard to hold parts for...

QUICK CHANGE HOLDER Many of our company’s jobs are short runs, with setups that needed to be changed sometimes every two to four hours. Work holding setup time was something that became necessary to improve as our volume of work increased. By investing in a...

Measuring Concave Objects If you need to measure a concave object such as a lifter or push rod and don’t have a ball mike, or don’t have one large enough, you can use a bearing ball in the concave part and subtract the diameter of the ball from the overall...

NO BUGS I put an aquarium bubbler in the coolant tank on my crankshaft grinder to keep the coolant moving. This keeps the algae from blooming and keeps the coolant better to work with. I used a pair of old main caps wired to the base to form a stand. When I don’t...

SPARK PLUG PLUGS Most popular engines have 14 MM and 18 MM spark plugs. The paper cup type from engine equipment suppliers, or tape, will pop out when engine is turned over. I discovered a cute economical way to plug the spark plug holes. 1/4 pipe loosely threads into...