Lister Generator Fuel Dipstick

The fuel tank on my Lister generator has a fuel gauge sender but no gauge is present on the generator. Turning to that age-old standby, the dipstick, I decided I'd make one out of a steel rod. A rusty steel rod to be more precise.

Lister Generator - Making A Camshaft Extension Safety Guard and Repairing The Air Cleaner Stud

The old Lister workshop manual I found online showed a guard for the camshaft extension that pokes out the front of the engine. I thought that was a very good piece of gear to be at the top of my list of things to do to this generator. Here's the finished product:

Lister Generator Hand-Start Crank Handle

It didn't take long for me to decide to attempt to make a starting handle for my new generator. I looked online and saw that the handles are still being sold in the UK, where Lister engines were originally manufactured. It would probably be $60 or $70 to have one shipped to my door so I figured it wouldn't be too terribly difficult to make a handle. And, bingo, here's a photo of the finished product:

AMMCO (Not AAMCO) Metal Shaper - Reunited

When my mother-in-law decided to clean up her basement 30 years ago, she had a few metal working machines there that her late husband had acquired during his all-too-short years on this earth. Among them was this AMMCO (two "M"s) 7" shaper, circa early 1940's. (For those that may not know, AAMCO (two "A"s) is a transmission rebuilding company but I've seen people refer to AMMCO shapers as AAMCO.)

Vises........ Vices? No, definitely Vises.

One of the definitions of "vice" (with a "c") in the Oxford English Dictionary, and probably the one that most folks associate with a hoard of items, is this: "a bad habit." In a lighthearted vein, a lot of guys (and gals) have 'vices' in which they collect things. I am one of those guys. Take my sewing machines. Please. (ha ha) Seriously though, I have way too many sewing machines. A lot of people would say I have a bad habit of buying old, decrepit sewing machines. It's one of my vices. I am trying to thin the herd though, and have made progress, and most importantly I haven't purchases a sewing machine in a very long time. Another possible vice is collecting various types of tools, say, vises (with an "s"). Prior to two years ago, I had but one vise, fairly inexpensive and similar to the photo below, that I bought 20+ years ago. Rugged, Chinese import no doubt, and heavy enough to take a beating.

Converting my Lincoln Weldpak 100 Wire-Feed Welder to MIG

I don't remember when I bought my Lincoln wire feed welder but it was many years ago, and I bought it used. For all these years I've had it, it's been a nice upgrade from my 45-year-old Sears Craftsman buzz box stick welder.

As nice as my wire-feed welder is, it has come time to upgrade it to MIG. I've had the idea to do the update for many years but finally decided to bite the bullet. There are many videos online on how to purchase the parts necessary, or you can just buy the Lincoln kit for $188 at Home Depot. I was able to purchase the parts for $60. The HD kit comes with a .025/.030 liner and a 2lb roll of welding wire, so it has a couple more things than what I bought, but I intend to buy a 10lb roll of .030 wire, and I'm not swapping out the .035 liner in my welder, as I heard I can use my liner with .030 wire. I also got 10 .030 tips and two nozzles, whereas the HD kit only comes with two tips and one nozzle. All in all, I think it's a lot better choice to buy the parts individually.

Here are the parts I bought:

Champion Porta Champ Air Compressor - Head Gasket Problem

My detached garage needed an air compressor. I could have purchased a new one but for someone such as myself, older is usually better when it comes to tools. This Champion air compressor showed up on the local Craigslist and I was able to pick it up for $50. I wasn't willing to pay more because it didn't have a hose or regulator (or safety relief valve for that matter), so it was in need of some TLC. Right up my alley.

Wilton Model 656 6" Vise

My wife and I were staying at a "Boondockers Welcome" site in our camper this past week. The host, Jack, is also a metalworker who makes a wide assortment of yard art items. He and I were talking about his new-to-him vise to replace the one he'd been using for many years. Here's a photo of the old vise:

Garage Sale Score - Wright N-370 3/4" Ratchet

Most garage sale days come up empty, or at the very best, some small trinket is found. But last weekend my dear wife and I each scored majorly. At one particular "guy-stuff" sale the seller had a bunch of old wooden military boxes full of tractor parts and hydraulic fittings. I didn't need any of those but then one other box caught my eye. It contained an assortment of tap handles and a couple pipe threading handles. I didn't really need any of these items but they looked cool. The seller had remarked in passing that he'd make me a deal on any of the wooden boxes, $5 to $7 each, so when I ran across the box of tap handles, I just kind of figured they weren't in the same league as the tractor parts and I figured he would hit it out of the park with a $ figure for the box I was craving. I was very pleasantly surprised when he said, "How about 10 bucks?" SOLD.

Homecraft "Hex Key" chuck disassembly

The "hex key" chuck on my "new" Homecraft 11-110 drill press is pretty simple, in terms of how many separate parts and ease of disassembly. Simply unscrew the outer sleeve and the parts seen below just drop free. The only remaining pieces to the chuck are the main body and the cam in the main body used for final tightening. A very simple chuck. Oh, and notice how nicely the drill press table turned out after cleaning it. I scraped off the heavy rust, then took 320 grit sandpaper and WD-40 to it. See the previous blog entry for a "before" view of the table.

Delta/Rockwell Homecraft Drill Press from the '40s

I needed... OK, "needed" may be a little strong. I desired to have a drill press for the garage because, well, you know, everyone needs (oops, there I go again) a drill press in their garage. This one popped up on the local Craigslist, and was advertised as made by Montgomery Ward. I took a look at the photos and tried to determine what model of Montgomery Ward it was. No joy. I then did a search using one of the casting numbers on the main body of the drill press (HDP125) and got many hits regarding Homecraft/Delta drill presses. Hmm. Is that what this one was?