Bicycle Mechanics - Shop made tools - what have you made?

With the price of good pro bike tools, the home wrencher can save a lot of $ or a trip to the LBS by improvising. What tools have you guys made / improvised for bike assembly / disassembly?

I'll start with the obvious that I have

Headset cup press -- four correctly sized flat washers (that fit into your headset cups), a length of threaded rod or a long bolt, and some nuts. Simple, cheap and effective.

Bearing Race setter - a 1 1/4 inch female threaded PVC coupling (the threaded part down against the bearing race rides on it perfectly), a piece of 1 1/4 inch pvc pipe. Put the coupling on, then the pipe, wack it once or twice with a rubber mallet and you're good to go (grease the crown first).

What else have you guys done?

Most tools I use are either general purpose tools like hex wrenches or very specific like lock ring tools, neither of which are worth trying to fabricate.
That said, I did make my chain whip after borrowing a friend's and seeing it was nothing but bar stock and a chain.

Frame building jig: Used thick aluminum plate, aluminum "angle iron", drill press, dowel pins, lathe turned steel locators for headtube & bb shell, fork bender, dropout holding fixture .....
Headset press

A headset press pretty much like the OP described. An adjustable pin spanner using some 1/4" steel square stock hinged together as the legs and 4-40 bolts as the pins. A clip bent out of clothes hanger wire to hold the loose ends of a chain together so the pin or master link can be inserted.

I attempted to make a headset cup remover ("Rocket Tool") out of 3/4" PVC pipe slit lengthwise and flaired out. It worked well removing one headset and died trying on another.

Headset press as well. But mine uses steel slugs I had laying around turned to size to fit road and MTB headsets. The slugs are about 3/4 thick and I used my lathe to turn steps to fit the cups on all four faces to fit the two different types.

Used two of the same steel slugs (they were parts for some old surplus equipment that were being thrown away so I grabbed a couple of dozen for raw material) to make my own slide hammers for installing the lower race on forks. Just had to bore open the existing hole in the middle of the slugs to fit the two sizes.

Made my own wheel truing stand too. Welded up from 1 inch square tubing with 1/4 inch V notches screwed on so they could be trued up.

Bent a V with hooks on the end as a chain holder for when I'm installing and riveting chains so the ends don't keep trying to snap away.

Did my own chainwhip as well. But in that case it was done because I needed it, it was late in an evening and it only took 15 minutes to make and let me carry on with the work.

Somewhere along the way I plan on making my own hanger testing and bending tool. In this case it'll be better than the Park one since I'm going to have the threaded part extend farther through the hanger and add a jam nut from behind that tightens securely. That way the hanger threads won't be forced to withstand the bending loads like with the Park version.

Did a few other little things too like modifying the tool tray on the bike stand to better hold my usual tools and other little things I don't remember at the moment

A headset press pretty much like the OP described. An adjustable pin spanner using some 1/4" steel square stock hinged together as the legs and 4-40 bolts as the pins. A clip bent out of clothes hanger wire to hold the loose ends of a chain together so the pin or master link can be inserted.

I attempted to make a headset cup remover ("Rocket Tool") out of 3/4" PVC pipe slit lengthwise and flaired out. It worked well removing one headset and died trying on another.

Since I sold most of my frame tools years ago, I might need to make a rocket tool someday. I was thinking of using copper pipe....

The wrench I go to made all his own tools save for hex wrenches. He designed an incredible collapsing truing stand for taking to races. He also made a great tool for measuring the exact distance from a pedal to the seat in order to put your seat back in the exact position it was in if he has to remove it.

Homemade truing stand out of wood.

Improvised headset press from two large, thick, flat wrenches and a quick release skewer through the small hanging holes in them.

A bent spoke used to hold chain together when assembling.

Chain wear gauge.
Crank nut holder.
Tire levers.

I'd love to see pictures or procedures for making some of these!

chainwhip (a bar with chains attached)
truing stand (a fork with extra legs welded on to fit rear hubs, welded to a base with supports for dial indicators)
tensiometer (dial readout gauge + spring clip + a base to put it together)
headset press (aka. threaded rod, nuts and washers)
crown race setters (well, they're just pipe nipples.)
headset remover (the current one is electrical conduit with 3 slots. Don't bother with softer materials.)
spoke driver (swiveling offset screwdriver with the end ground)

Since I sold most of my frame tools years ago, I might need to make a rocket tool someday. I was thinking of using copper pipe....
That was going to be my next project except Nashbar had a sale on a real one for $14.

Homemade rivnut setting tool

Ok, wth is a rocket tool.

Ok, wth is a rocket tool.

Headset cup remover. Kinda looks like a rocket, see?

I made a chainwhip and a bottle opener from the legs of a fork I bent in a 30 mph crash. The chainwhip is too short. It works OK for removing cassettes, but it's not so good for disassembling freewheels.
I made several workstands. The best one is simply 2 hooks that catch the left side chain stay and seat stay. You can buy those for $15, but mine holds the bike higher, and stores in a smaller space, which is important to me.
I made several truing stands, including a horizontal one. The best one is just an old fork, with both dial indicators and straight edge indicators like the ones shown in Roger Musson's book.
I made a spoke tension gauge that's as accurate as any gauge you can buy.
I made a dish gauge with a fixed stop at the center and an adjustable gauge at one end. The center stop is offset so that I can use it without removing the wheel from my truing stand. Moving the adjustable stop to the rim made it easier to build, and it's easier to use as well. It's my favorite tool because I was able to improve the design of a simple tool that's been around a long time.

em

Headset cup remover. Kinda looks like a rocket, see?

Depends on your imagination:D

Depends on your imagination:D
If you've ever seen the commercial version of one of these, you wouldn't have to use much imagination to see a toy rocket.

What do you think it looks like? :rolleyes:

lets see some pictures!

Cone tool for Bendix 2-speed hub, made from an old ATD peanut butter wrench (the socket cracked and it was headed for the trash anyway), a washer, and a piece of welding rod:

http://os2.dhs.org/~john/bendix.jpg

lets see some pictures!
Of the aforementioned "rocket tool? Ok, here it is, ready for lift-off:

http://os2.dhs.org/~john/rocket.jpg

I welded a piece of square onto a cassette remover tool. Don't have to mess with getting out the crescent wrench out to swap cassettes

Has anyone made a dropout straightening tool? I really need a pair and would rather not spend the $85!

Thanks.

Tom

Of the aforementioned "rocket tool? Ok, here it is, ready for lift-off:

http://os2.dhs.org/~john/rocket.jpg

First thing that comes to mind about that is not "rocket", well to me anyways.

Headset press, chain whip, derailleur hanger alignment tool, bottom bracket pin wrench.

Has anyone made a dropout straightening tool? I really need a pair and would rather not spend the $85!

Thanks.

Tom

I bet you could do that job with a pair of M10 bolts, but it would be hard to make something that matched the leverage and accuracy of the proper tool. I've used a spare rear wheel to check the derailer hanger alignment. that's easily accurate niugh, but not so good for bending the hanger.

em

First thing that comes to mind about that is not "rocket", well to me anyways.
That's what i thought you meant. :roflmao2:

I bet you could do that job with a pair of M10 bolts, but it would be hard to make something that matched the leverage and accuracy of the proper tool. I've used a spare rear wheel to check the derailer hanger alignment. that's easily accurate niugh, but not so good for bending the hanger.
You need M10x1.0 and that's a specialty threading. It's not the common M10x1.5.

You need M10x1.0 and that's a specialty threading. It's not the common M10x1.5.
You're referring to the derailleur hanger; I think eddy m was referring to the dropout face alignment tool (e.g. Campagnolo "H" tool):

http://www.velobase.com/VeloImages/Tools/D3203523-A9EB-43EC-9EDE-E24A193E54CF.jpeg

But re: M10x1.0 threads for the derailleur hanger -- these are readily available in the form of rear hub axles.

I didn't come up with this and many of you probably have a version of this, but I had a BB cup that I thought I would never get out until I used this even with several apps of penetrating oil. The important thing is to get the cup REALLY clean. Slip the bolt and large washer through with lock washers on the inside and tighten as hard as you can. I used a waste bin MTB handlebar to slip over the end of the ratchet for more leverage.

- Headset Cup remover using some older aluminum stock
- Race crown setter using PVC per the OP
- Lock ring pliers using a pair of $4 bargain bin 12" offset pliers and 20 minutes total between a bench grinder and die grander to shape the "jaws"...works fantastic on single speed lock rings or BB lock rings.

But re: M10x1.0 threads for the derailleur hanger -- these are readily available in the form of rear hub axles.
Right, but Home Depot and Ace Hardware don't sell rear axles either.

DO you have any pictures or drawings of your frame jig?

Dave

Bottom bracket tool with 0.5" square for torque wrench (requires some math).
Set of 15mm-17mm thin cone wrenches.
All made from titanium for no good reason.

I've made lots of other one-off tools, but these just happen to be in the top drawer of the tool box.

Speaking of homemade tools, can anyone identify what type of clamp this would be called? Or would this be custom made? It seems to me the clamp is fairly normal, its just the jaws that seem custom. Anyone know what kind it is?

132241

You're going to love this one:

I made a set of legs to hold a 24" 2 X 4 vertically from the floor. I used to do quite a bit of tandem work and I built it to hold up the front bottom bracket. An alternative use is for setting fork crown races - it's super solid and there's no danger of bending the dropouts on the floor.

DO you have any pictures or drawings of your frame jig?

Dave

Were you asking me ? I don't have any pics. It's down in the depths of my basement. I made it back in 1982 or so when I was young & had free time. Nothing fancy to look at anyway, but it worked for me.

Made a chain whip years ago from a bit of stainless bar; it had a couple of holes which came in handy when I realised I'd just need to grind it down a little to double as a tool to disassemble cassettes (slips into the slots in the hub bearing cup, screwdriver or something through the hole, voila).

Ground a bit of thread off the thumbwheel in a large shifter so it'd open a bit further and fit onto headset locknuts and BMX BB locknuts...

Just ground up an 8mm socket into a four-toothed tool to disassemble STI levers; it still works as a socket too : )

...And not bike-related, but I turned a $5 pair of longnose pliers into a pair of circlip pliers to rotate a turbo compressor housing; not a bad trick for something so seldom required...

As long as this thread is back;

I've made several metric allen bits for both 1/4" and 3/8" square drive ratchets by cutting pieces off of L-wrenches with a cut-off wheel in a Dremel and super gluing them into cheap sockets. It's much cheaper than buying ready made bits and replacement bits for the smaller ones that wear out quickly are easily made. In fact, you get two for the price of one by removing the worn bit (acetone dissolves the super glue) and reversing it in the socket.

Just feed the L-wrench into cut-off wheel slowly and with little pressure so as not to overheat the metal and dip it in cold water every few seconds to preserve the temper.

Speaking of homemade tools, can anyone identify what type of clamp this would be called? Or would this be custom made? It seems to me the clamp is fairly normal, its just the jaws that seem custom. Anyone know what kind it is?

132241

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Sorry! I'll repost now.

Speaking of homemade tools, can anyone identify what type of clamp this would be called? Or would this be custom made? It seems to me the clamp is fairly normal, its just the jaws that seem custom. Anyone know what kind it is?

http://www.tacx.com/dotAsset/14666.jpg

An alternative use is for setting fork crown races - it's super solid and there's no danger of bending the dropouts on the floor.

If you're using a crown race setter in a position where you are smashing downwards with the fork legs taking the impact, you're doing it wrong to begin with.

Grip pullers I made from BMX stems, grips, bolts, and some customized plastic bits. Beats running a compressor.

Grip pullers I made from BMX stems, grips, bolts, and some customized plastic bits. Beats running a compressor.

Wait, I MUST be missing something. Whats is the intended use of of your "Grip pullers"?

Wait, I MUST be missing something. Whats is the intended use of of your "Grip pullers"?

Lol.

"Beats running a compressor" is the clue. I'm guessing that Drakonchik tightens the stem clamp faces around the grip to be removed and uses the added leverage provided by the custom tool to muscle the grip off .

". . . . tightens the stem clamp faces around the grip to be removed and uses the added leverage provided by the custom tool to muscle the grip off .

That is correct. The heads of the bolts that you see in the stems clamps (one a 2-bolt system, the other has 4) are permanently fixed; while the shanks of the bolts protrude through the other half of the tool. To operate, you slap the two halves together around a 22.2 handlebar, then jam the custom plastic shim onto the protruding bolt shanks (which prevents the two halves of the tool from backing off). This takes maybe 5-10 seconds. Then is takes about 1-2 seconds to yank each grip off. The only grips that don't work well are soft gummy ones that tend to roll up on themselves. Any reasonably stiff grip, no matter how ancient, encrusted, or glued, comes off in 1-2 seconds.

I handle and salvage hundreds of old bikes a year and work in my small shop where space is a premium.

People who are willing to run a compressor (and deal with the set-up, maintenance, fussy cord and hose, and pay the power bill) -- or who are just an employee in a shop -- most always "Lol" when they see this tool. Thus missing the point, or the value.

These tools have been a huge boon in flawlessly pulling off old grips in an efficient manner, and actually require minimal muscle power -- even the most recalcitrant, stiff, old grips just fly off.

I dig it when muscle beats power tools. Sort of parallels my love of bicycles over motorized vehicles.

I like having a compressor.

Means never having to pump (tires).

I have a "cone spinner" for dealing with hub cones:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJpupGjkd_0

I also modded my TS-2 with a flywheel and an indicator gauge showing the relative opening of the uprights, which is endlessly useful at the shop:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_vkvKWdQLE

Of course, a chainwhip, and a headset press, and a rocket.
Also, because I had some obscenely hard 1/8" stainless steel plates lying around, I ground myself some headset nut wrenchs. It is damnably hard to find an affordable 32mm or larger wrench, where I am at least...
The tip on a pair of needlenose pliers snapped off, so I filed both tips down to be really skinny, and now I can get stubborn SRAM-style chain masterlinks apart (well, together, then subsequently apart)
A four-toothed freewheel remover from a 3/4" to 1 1/2" steel pipe adaptor, ala grinder.

I also made something for the crosscontinent tour I plan to do someday: an adjustable conewrench, from a road-found crescent wrench. More grinder work. The thing is too heavy to be worth commuting with, but it would (and will, methinks) be a lifesaver in the desert, forest or prairy.

And in the event of a snapped tirelever, a half-round file makes a slightly shorter tire lever.