Following on from the my home made cambelt tensioner tool, here's my ultra simple home made cam sprocket / vernier locking tool: I made it first in cardboard, and then marked it over to steel and cut it with an angle grinder. In use: Obviously it's specific to this vernier, but can be made to suit most installs with spokes in, where nuts/bolts can be inserted The reason I made it is I wasn't prepared to start stressing a cambelt just to undo or do up the vernier. Obvious to most, yet a corner which is tempting to cut. New centre bolt also fitted. FWIW, 16v, 65NM.
^^ Engineer in total shock that a desk pilot could come up with such a thing Elephant Engineering* made that, don't you know 5mm thick steel at least, and in such a hurry, I couldn't be bothered to clean it up. I might later feed it to an acid bath, and then neutralise with caustic soda** before paint * TM ** Chemistry guesswork
I don't believe that it is Elephant Engineering at all. It is, IMHO, well on its way to Elegant. If I may be so bold, as one designer/craftsman to another: Would you consider replacing the nuts, which locate in the sprocket, with Capscrew Heads. You could tap the bar and make a cylindical spacer, under the head, to give you the correct outset, by: Fit a nut under the head of the capscrew. Fix your electic drill into the vice, as a lathe, and, hold the threaded part of the screw in the chuck. Using a file, turn down the nut to the same diameter as the capscrew head. Screw the capscrew/turned-nut assembly into the lever. Cut off excessive thread. Peen down the thread into the bar.
This could become Elegant, but I have a stumbling block I quite liked the flats as they gave 3 pressure points in the spocket, as opposed to 2. Also I can file the flats into an arc / elipse (depending on side) and get even pressure throughout! What does 'peen down the thread into the bar' mean? If I were doing it in less of a hurry, I agree that tapping the bar would be a nice touch (and painting it!). Any amateur chemistry advice from the Engineering Boss?
Engineer's Hammers have a hemisherical back-end on the head. This is called a 'Ball PEEN' hammer. Peening is what you do with this bit. It is not just a pretty shape to look at! Peening is where you thump the end of a rivet, or bolt thread, where it pokes through the joint. For rivetting, you should really have a, 'Setting/Heading' punch as well. As you are very, very, very, prone to instruct me. GOOGLE IT. I only got a C in O-level Chemistry! So I used a wire brush, and Bilt-Hamber Deox products for all my de-rusts.
