Home-made Tools and those you've adapted or modified. And also "tips and tricks".

[ahebron]

Well Colin is so close and it is a lot simpler than your idea.
I needed to buy some spire clips and walking into Spireclips R Us and asking for Triumph Vitesse headlight retaining spire clips is going to get me blank looks. 
I thought why not draw on paper the hole and notch with dimensions, then it went to placing a piece of paper behind the headlight recess and draw around the metal and finally I ended up with a piece of scrap metal drew around the holes and notch and cut them all out.
Off to the the spireclip shop with my metal template and bought the exact size I needed. The staff at the shop told me it was the first time anyone had come in with a template like that and it made the job easy.

[Bfg]

Here is one for those who like to up-cycle scraps into very useful tools .

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I must admit for all the expense of this particular tool, it has worked very well, has avoided a great deal of hurt, and made the job in hand so very much quicker and easier. . .

 

Anyone guess what it has been so very useful for ?

 

. . .

 

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no.. ? 

 

a clue is in the photo . . .

 

. . .
 

. .

 

- well here's the answer . . .

 

  (click on it to view)

 

. . .

 

. .

 

in short ; a backing support for cleaning wiring terminals of grime and their many years of oxidation ...so that the connection reverts back to having minimal losses due to electric resistance. This tool is handy when working in-situ as well as at the bench, and saves the power brush from taking the skin off my fingers ! Useful for cleaning the connections, if they are sound, and/or the stripped bare wires before soldering or crimping. 

 

Pete

[PeteH]

Ingenious, I usually just grip the offending item with pliers.

Pete

[JohnD]

I'm quite disappointed!   A chip of waste wood, that is a useful tool?   I was sure this was an April Fool!

[ahebron]

Hijacking your thread Bfg.
I was given a box of bullet connectors and joiners, they all looked like standard Lucas type but there are 2 different sizes. The larger being the type for our cars.
What is the smaller version for, not much difference but you cannot fit the larger male into the smaller female and the smaller male rattles a bit in the larger female.
 

 

[Bfg]

both bullet and spade terminals come in a range of sizes. Japanese motorcycles and Chinese clones generally use smaller diameter bullet connectors.

Conversely old British motorcycles frequently had larger types where the bare wires fed through the hole in the end and then folded back ..to be sandwiched between the bullet and the terminal.  I noted today that the earth connection within the Triumph's front Lucas indicator (glass type) had this size of bullet with the wired folded back.

Of course bullet and spade connectors are used in all sorts of electrical equipment, from washing machines (where things like the front panel have spade connectors so that panel can be removed easily, to emergency lighting, and they're in a million other things too.  As electrical loads &/or the space within a house gets smaller so too do the connectors. 

hope that helps,

Pete

[Peter Truman]

Just had to buy another dozen double (4way) bullet bayonets as my last foray under the dash of the Vitesse resulted in the old bayonet inner spring clips breaking! I also where I could cleaned the bullets with the Dremmel and small wire brush then copper grease for easy installation & hopefully longlevity.

luckily found a local supplier at 70c ea a lot cheaper than last time ex UK with postage

[PeteH]

The one`s Pete describes when used on British Bikes, where notorius for corrosion!. The percieved wisdom was to take them apart clean by immersing in Acid, washing, and quickly applying Vaseline to (hopefully) prevent further corrosion, not helped at all by living close to the sea at the time!. The Crimp "kit`s" you can get usually come with 3 sizes, yellow, blue, red, to cope with a range of Wire Sizes.

To be fair, If I can, I prefer soldered connectors, But it`s never always practicable, and older cable is a sod to get clean enough to make a good join.

Pete.

[Colin Lindsay]

10 hours ago, Bfg said:

both bullet and spade terminals come in a range of sizes.

I've found that out recently, where before it was simply a case of walking into a shop and buying some over the counter and they were always the correct size - is it 6.4mm or 8mm? All in the past, it seems. Everywhere has those coloured crimp versions but not the others that I prefer. I've recently run out - and that was a huge box of spades that came with a Herald I bought about 2007 - so am trying to get more. One local shop had them way in the back of a drawer, but no plastic covers; no-one else has them at all and I've been waiting ten days for an online order to appear.

[Peter Truman]

Colin a pity I'm so far away about 10 years ago I brought packets of 500 brass solder/crimp 6.4mm spades and a pkt of 500 slip on clear plastic covers, I reckon I still have a hundred left after supplying members of my local club here. Hate those coloured crimps, not protected enough, and look cheap and amateurish. 

Must admit since buying a good quality crimper I have been crimping some the brass spades, where the two wings fold into each other as per originals, failure rate about 1 in 5, so then I solder!

[PeteH]

£15 a (mixed) box from E-Bay, Free 2 day postage, (made in China!).

(link won`t link)

 

Pete

[ahebron]

Utilux spade connectors should still be available from an electrical wholesaler.
I still have some with screw terminals in my kit.
Be careful with the online sites as some of the crimps are thinner gauge metal but they do have the different sizes as well so it is a catch 22 situation
I do not like the coloured crimps as I cannot see under the insulation and do not like the fact that people use sidecutters to crimp them. But even though I do not like them some times you have to use them so I have a ratchet crimper for them or I will pull the insulation off and solder then cover with clear heatshrink

[Peter Truman]

I buy from a wholesaler over the counter so I see the product.

like you I use eyelets that have been crimp plastic after removing the coloured plastic cover and solder them with shrink on to reinforce joint.

[68vitesse]

Recently made a new loom for my J type overdrive and after looking on line, which suggested crimping is more reliable, used crimp connectors using a ratchet crimper.

I have crimpers for different styles of terminals and various wattage soldering irons, so availability of tools did not influence my decision.

Soldering Vs. Crimping: Advantages & Disadvantages (peigenesis.com)

Regards

Paul.

[Bfg]

4 hours ago, PeteH said:

I prefer soldered connectors, But it`s never always practicable, and older cable is a sod to get clean enough to make a good join.

Likewise I prefer soldered connections.  Again I use a power rotary wire brush to clean the bare wires.

I'm not teaching you how to suck eggs Peter, but for the sake of those who are new to old-vehicle wiring, the follow illustrations might clarify the steps taken . . .

^ This was one of the wiring connections to Katie's  voltage regulator, where the connector (..an incorrect big yellow-sleeved home-crimped type) was loose and very easily pulled off.  Usually I would just cut the end off and strip back the insulation to reveal uncontaminated wire ..accepting that the wire's length would then be some 3/8" shorter.  However for sake of illustration . . .

^ without further ado I used the wire brush on it to both comb and clean the wires ..seen here as 'work' in progress.  A power wire brush is better even than Signal toothpaste for cleaning into the cavities   

This particular wire was not as badly oxidized as many I've cleaned up using the same, very quick to do, technique.  Of course rather than using a scrap of wood to support the wire as it's being cleaned, one could lay the exposed wires over a steel vice or whatever else.   Still, this broken end of a batten of softwood is very portable wherever I'm working and so has served me very well as I systematically go through every connection on the car.

^ cleaned and loosely twisted to keep the wires from flaying as I solder them. The bare wire end has been cut square but the wire's insulation is as it was.

^ And tinned with solder ready for the cleaned or new spade connector.   Note the solder has been taken most of the way up the bare wire but it is not necessary to go all the way into the insulation which then is damaged by the heat. 

If the wire is very black from oxidation then it really ought to be replaced, as that is a sign of the wire having previously overheated due to electrical current.  In such cases it may be wise to change the wire to the next thicker gauge and to fit a correctly rated fuse.!  This car only had 35amp fuses, this (horn) wire ought to have rated at 5amp.  

It may be that just the first few inches of the wire has really bad oxidation, in which case I find it perfectly acceptable to solder another wire in, to replace just the derogated length. I keep old looms for the purpose of donating their parts, so I often find another length of wire, with a good (factory fitted) terminal already on its end, hopefully with the right coloured insulation too. Then a simple splice with heat shrink some inches away from the wires end is an easy fix. 

Pete

^ As fitted..  it's the wire going to the in-line fuse, and you can just about see its connection to the regulator now has black heat shrink, with a clear insulator cover over that and the terminal itself.  Before with the home-crimped connector the LIVE terminals were exposed to being shorted out &/or corrosion and grime.

 

[Badwolf]

I know that the advice by many here is not to solder as it makes a joint brittle, but I still run a small amount of solder in after I have crimped. Not had any problems yet.

[68vitesse]

Not a criticism, I do what I consider is best for me with the tools available and others presumably the same.

Regards

Paul.

[Bfg]

8 minutes ago, 68vitesse said:

Not a criticism, I do what I consider is best for me with the tools available and others presumably the same.

Regards

Paul.

Likewise .. let's compare how well different techniques have lasted ..in 50 or so years ?

Personally I have no issues with properly crimped connectors ..that have been done with the appropriate ratchet type or hydraulic tool.  However I will not have home-crimped with flat-plate wire strippers on my vehicles.

[Peter Truman]

Re soldering of spade or bullet connections question what do you do when you splice a new wire in I twist the two wires together and solder then shrink wrap.

 

[Bfg]

2 minutes ago, Peter Truman said:

Re soldering of spade or bullet connections question what do you do when you splice a new wire in I twist the two wires together and solder then shrink wrap.

I used to twist and then solder, but now I don't bother, not least because it's quicker and neater not to have done so. 

But the real reason is that a splice in the wire can be 3/8 - 1/2" long and the bond between the two is already many times stronger than it will ever need to carry.  Of course, the wiring on any vehicle ought to be appropriately supported throughout it's length (not least to protect against fatigue from vibration).  Also wires are rarely run on their own, and so their tension between supports is shared by a number of wires.  Any unsupported wires are best carried within an outer sleeve, as is originally fitted where wires are run to a isolated lamp, such as an indicator or front side light, or else pass by a hinge ..like the sub-loom to the bonnet lamps on a Spitfire, Herald or Vitesse.

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

35 minutes ago, Mathew said:

When using crimped or screw in connection i allways use the tug test, you will be surprised at a number of even crimped connections that fail that and require connection again!

Very true; I bought some of those terrible 'gold' spade terminals online recently (needed in a hurry) and no matter how well I thought they were crimped, once the clear cover went on, and it required very little effort to slide on, off came the spade again. I ordered the more solid steel-coloured versions from another supplier and am still waiting... yawn... although I never thought to solder the two wires together, the black wire from the electronic ignition to coil requires extending, and solder plus heatshrink would be neater.

[Bfg]

For those who haven't drooped in to read the long and twisty tale < link > of Katie  (my TR4A 'garden ornament' ..until now) ..  Here is a quick extract ..re how to position an oil pressure warning lamp equidistant from two others.   The same technique may of course be may be applied to a number of similar positioning issues around the car. . .

 

 

^ To very easily & accurately position a hole equidistant to two adjacent lamps, even though a (now obsolete) fastening hole was already almost but not quite there, I used a large washer as seen above. 

This dished one happens to be the centre of a drill's sanding-disk pad.  It is 1-1/2" outside diameter. Pushed against the bezels of the existing lamps, you can see how its centre hole is equidistant (same radius) from those lamps.  It's hole is 3/8" dia, and so a 10mm drill-bit being guided by the washer would also be equidistant.  I first drilled very shallowly, to leave a centre indent, and then drilled that indent through with a 3mm drill. This helped guide the 10mm drill bit to cut through the steel, without drifting into the old dashboard fixing hole. 

Once that was done, the 10mm hole simply needed to be opened up to the size required by the warning lamp. For Katie,  I'd already decided to move the indicator tell-tale lamp to the lower position, and so a 3/4" hole was required. A stepped-size drill soon did that.

Pete

 

[Ian Faulds]

While doing the brakes on my daughters modern, I was changing rear wheel cylinders, I couldn't shift the brake pipe and didn't want to cut it, I didn't have a brake flare spanner either so I rummaged around in my old sockets box found some 11mm, slotted them out so the 3/16 brake pipe went in, welded a bar onto the socket and it worked a treat. I've since made a 10mm one as well.

Edited June 19, 2022 by Ian Faulds
Forgot to add pic

[JohnD]

Nice design, Ian, with plenty of length for the weld line!

[ahebron]

Headlight recess alignment tool.
The new Lucas headlight lens locating legs do not line up with the recesses in the mounting rings on my Vitesse 6.
I decided I need to know where vertical was on the mounting rings as the lens has an arrow pointing up which I assume is vertical.
As it is two circles one bigger than the other I thought about cutting it out of mdf or ply but do not have a holesaw the right size and can never cut good circles with a jigsaw. I decided to 3D print it and designed it on Fusion 360 and after several false starts printed this with PLA. The PETG has absorbed moisture so wasnt laying down well. I added a  horizontal surface for a level/bevelbox and 4 notches 90 degrees apart starting at the top
A bit of filing down the inner circle diameter and it is a snug in 3 out of 4 headlight rings, the 4th seems to be a slightly wider lip.
Take a reference level from the top of the bonnet across the peaks, set the bevel box to zero and this will give me my reference top and bottom marks on the ring. 

 

 

Headlight aligner v2.stl Headlight aligner v2.stl