Whirly Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Ok, in my last "Tools" post ('More Tongs, Well of course') I floated the idea of tongs with inter-changeable jaws/bits/what-ever-ya-wanna-callems, and posted a drawing; So, today I thought I'd have a go at making them a reality. They're forged and fabricated, as in I used an arc welder to join and attach the 'sockets' I'd made the tongs up and when I wanted to tap in the bolt thread, I found someone needed the Tap and Die set more that I did, and it weren't there, so had to oxy weld on some nuts to make it work. I then thought , well now I've got the tongs I thought of, better make some other bits to make them useful, so made a 'crimping' set for edge of light sheet metal (not that I need them, more to show the idea of the Tongs) I made the centre of the bolt hole 15mm back from the front of the sockets, so when I made bits/jaws, I put them in to the depth I wanted and used a chisel to mark where they came out of the front of the socket, then measured back 15mm and drilled an indent for the locking bolt to sit in, then locked them in and made whatever shape I was wanting, or welded on the holders, etc. Just for the thread, I made up a couple more jaws and as VaughnT suggested in the last post, a hole drilled through the bits to take some wire to keep those together what belongs together So there ya go. Something for those 'one-off' jobs. Instead of making up a full set of tongs to do the job, just knock up a set of 'bits' (which only take a few minutes, if you have things like a welder and oxy set on hand) I know it's not the answer for everything, but...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iron woodrow Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 good onya mate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry H Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Pretty good, when I made mine, it was more like just transferable reins, and was eventually abandoned, hope this way works better ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 VERY COOL WHIRLY!!!!!!!!! Wow those are awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRigoni Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 very cool idea, keep us posted on upgraded bits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I am genuinely honored that you thought to include my idea for controlling the wayward bits. Excellent bit of work there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Very clever, thank you for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam2519 Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Mate, that is gold! Well done. No end in sight for attachments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 Thankyou All. I'd thought long and hard on how to make these out of spring or similar, but I'm not far enough along with my skill levels yet, so settled for using mild. The bits will be made as required for whatever job comes up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Trez Cole Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 good to see a vision come to life great job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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