Chombi1 

So, after considering buying yet another FW remover tool, because the Park tool I have does not fit over the Campy Record locknut so I cannot get at the freewheels to remove them from my wheelsets with Regina FW vane Campy Record hub combos.
Mulled over it some time, then I decided to just go for it and grind the inner wall of the Park tool with my Dremel, using a drum shaped grinding tip. Really thought I was gonna mess it up , but by being careful to apply even pressure, while rotating the tip inside the FW tool and stopping once in a while to make sure I was not grinding the walls of the tool shaft to thin at any spot....... just 15 minutes of careful grinding and testing, the tool fits over the Campy locknut and I was able to remove the Regina FW that was on the wheelsets normally. It saved cheapskate me from having to find (they don't make it anymore) and buy a thin walled Phil Wood tool that people always recommend for solving this problem common to C&Vers. I also do not have to bother pulling off the drive side half of the axle of my Phil Wood rear hub to get at the freewheel on it anymore, cause now my Park FW removal tool also fits over the axle flange on it.

jimmuller 

Good move. A cheapskate like me never bought a Dremel.

Michael Angelo 

Phil wood tool work just fine.

top506

+1 for Phil.

Top

Chombi1 

Never bought a Dremel either, ...........the Dremel I have was just inherited from my older brother......
It's over 25 yeaars old but still works good after many years of use. Very basic model from the mid 80's, but at least it has a rheostat for speed control....

Drillium Dude 

Hmmm...I can see this from both sides. The Dremel-guy in me would do this in a pinch, but I'd still like the unmolested, original Phil or Zeus removal tool. The early thin-wall removers had a habit of caving in over time; milling one out with a sanding cuff going by nothing more accurate than feel would perhaps duplicate the probability of failure.

So, the DIY approach for a save-the-day one and well-spent-money on the real deal for the to be relied upon one. I've learned over time (with a corresponding amount of damaged fasteners) that you use the best tool you can find. It just makes sense.

DD

Road Fan

Set up as 5 speed, or wider? From bitd I'm sure I never removed a locknut unless for an overhaul.

qcpmsame 

Dremel tools pay for them selves, and no self respecting man would pass up buying a new or even used tool. I'm with DD on this one, get the correct, quality tool, and them enjoy its being right at hand, knowing it will do what is needed.

Bill

Michael Angelo 

Or you can use a later lock nut which has a smaller OD

Chombi1 

But Noooo! Those later nuts are not period correct
As for my old Dremel tool, I had just be hundreds of projects done on it already. From the shorty projects like this last one or literally boilers of cutting and grinding metal and plastic to make project parts for my car and motorcycles. Lately, the switch/speed control wheel had been falling off when I use it, and there sometimes seem to he an intermittent loose connection within the plug wires where it goes into the tool so I'm trying to convince myself It's a safety issue that could justify finally replacing it with the really slick model 4300 Dremel kit I had been eyeing during my last few trips to the hardware store..... but my wallet still does not want to open up to that idea...

dddd

I remember overhauling one rear hub where I decided to grind the corners off of the locknut(s) so that the tool would slip over them in the future, whenever I wanted to pull the freewheel.

I didn't know that later hubs had reduced-diameter nuts. Was it just that the corners on those were trimmed, or did they use a smaller size across the flats?

John E

Another vote for the Dremel, particularly the multi-speed variety, as opposed to the single-speed (gave that to one of my sons after he kept borrowing the multi-speed one). I have a couple of the big assorted attachment kits, including sanders, grinders, cutoff wheels, etc. Mine gets a fair amount of use.