Thread: Home made tools

Originally Posted by bee utey

You make the lathe to suit your job. Give a (traditional) blacksmith a red gum log, a file, an axe and a couple of railway spikes or similar, he can forge a couple of centres and turn your shaft to any degree of precision needed for a vintage car. Accuracy is determined by hand made go/no-go slip gauges, all it takes is skill, time and Will (sorry, I mean will)

BTW a blacksmith made his own files, too.

Geez i don't know what kind of restorations you've been around but everything on our cars is done to 0.025mm, thats the original precision (it's Italian so all metric). In the original manufacturing they had access to similar machinery as what we have today but anyway...

Cheers
Will

Originally Posted by MR LR jnr.

Geez i don't know what kind of restorations you've been around but everything on our cars is done to 0.025mm, thats the original precision (it's Italian so all metric). In the original manufacturing they had access to similar machinery as what we have today but anyway...

Cheers
Will

I don't do vintage cars, not my thing, no patience for fussy detail. I spent 20 years making and using off-road dune buggies though, yes I have a lathe but it's only a baby and all the long shafts I needed to make were spun between any centres available. Proper tools are cool, but you are better off sometimes just knowing what precision is important and hand making the part. Two vee blocks on a solid bench and you can check your shaft straightness to any accuracy you like.