The Home Machinist!

Hello,

I decided to build my own spanner wrench after ordering one that was the wrong size. It was a pretty quick project and except for the welding, I am happy with the resulting tool.

Here are a couple of 'before and after' MIG welding photos:

My intentions were to fill the holes with weld, then file. But the web at the hole edges was too thin and some of that metal melted away. So this is the result after lots of filing.


Handle and Body 2 by gregrycm, on Flickr


Welded by gregrycm, on Flickr

I thought about drilling smaller holes in the same location and pinning, but I was concerned about things loosening after some use. Any suggestions for the next tool that I might build?

Thanks,
Greg

Nice job,
I need to build on of theses for my lathe. How about, instead of welding just using some hard pins press fit in the holes.

Craig

gregrycm wrote:Hello,

I decided to build my own spanner wrench after ordering one that was the wrong size. It was a pretty quick project and except for the welding, I am happy with the resulting tool.

Here are a couple of 'before and after' MIG welding photos:

My intentions were to fill the holes with weld, then file. But the web at the hole edges was too thin and some of that metal melted away. So this is the result after lots of filing.


Handle and Body 2 by gregrycm, on Flickr


Welded by gregrycm, on Flickr

I thought about drilling smaller holes in the same location and pinning, but I was concerned about things loosening after some use. Any suggestions for the next tool that I might build?

Thanks,
Greg

Craig,

I thought about pinning, but was not sure if the holes would loosen up after some use.

Greg

I do a lot of this sort of wig welding myself, where you want it to look like it wasn't welded.
For this I would have drilled into the flat of the spanner and plug welded that side instead. This way it would have been easier to finish to the flat surface instead of the round.

Getting the wire speed and heat right are important as well, so it's best to have a practice on a piece of scrap. With todays electricity over here welding delicate stuff, one setting on the welder at lunch will be a lot different at night etc, so it needs adjusting at the time your doing it.

Still a nice job on the spanner.

Dave

I forgot to add,
If there is room, I usually drill the hole with just the end of the drill bit so the sides are tapered. This way it lets you get the mig wire in easier.

Dave

Thats a very nice looking tool.

I might be a bit old fashioned but for fixing something like that I usually rivet it. If carefully done the result can be almost invisible.

Why not pin and silver solder? Ooop! Looks like you used tubing instead of a steel rod for the handle or did you? Still the tool looks fine to me the way you did it, if it works good that is what matters.

Two 1/8 or 3/16 roll pins would have worked fine. Plenty of strength. There are a lot of different ways to skin this cat.
Fine job.