When U need a little push or to spread it out

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Hello folks, there are those times when you're fitting something up and it pulls in a bit too much and you possibly need a little something to spread it back out just a bit. In this case by using a bit of pipe or square tubing you can gain that little bit of an edge in adjusting the width without having to invest in porta-powers or other rather expensive tools. Either a bolt with full threads or a jacking bolt possibly can be utilized. Along with that, a length of appropriately sized pipe or square tube can do wonders for adjusting the width of your particular application. If you have various lengths of the pipe or square tube around you can be ready for just about any spreading challenge. In these two examples I have used a 3/4" jacking bolt and a 3/4" full threaded bolt, the jacking bolt in the square tube and the 3/4" bolt in the pipe. I prefer the jacking bolt and the 1" square tube because with a little bit of grinding on the square end of the jacking bolt the tube will keep the jacking bolt from turning while you are adjusting the length of it with the nut. I have included a couple of pictures to show the basic set-up and principle of this. If you have any variations of this sort of thing please speak up and possibly include some pictures. Best regards, Allan Attached Imagesaevald
Reply:Very good ideas. Was the jacking bolt a normal bolt head grinded down to a square, or was it purchased? If the latter, purchased from where?
Reply:Hello JohnR, it was a square-headed jacking bolt that came from Fastenal, I reduced it's size slightly so that it would slide easily inside the tube. This particular one is about 3" long. Best regards, Allanaevald
Reply:You've been puting up some neat shop built solutions latelyNow here's the 64,000 dollar questionWhaddya do when you got so much special stuff that you forget about it even existing???Now, I'm not drooling in my Wheaties yet, and I still seem to be able to put my underwear on in the right direction, but I got so much crap that I sometimes forget I have itCase in point:  I was cutting some 3/4" holes with the torch, blotted out the marking lines with the preheat, and generally made a mess of things.  Get done, and REMEMBER that I have a whole set of templates that I made for cutting small holes with the torchAND, it's now taking me at least a half hour to get out of the house and go somewhere.  KEYS.........WHERE'S THE GD KEYS?????This, and the fact that it's Summer here, early 20's babes are sporting Daisy Dukes, and all I can think is how I would rather put a gun to my head than sit and listen to what comes outta their mouths for more than 5 minutes  They seem to think that the word "like" is proper punctuationAnd AND, I'm starting to ramble at timesOh yeah, one of the above gloriously half nekid cuties called me SIR not too long ago  THAT'S LIKE, REALLY LIKE, UNCOOL "Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Hello farmersamm, I do that all the time, I often tell myself and others that I'm on a sliding scale: I'm starting to forget way more than I learned since I started all of this. I am also hoping that others will remember things for me and remind me quickly before I forget that too. Best regards, Allanaevald
Reply:The 20 somethings comment made me laugh really hard and im still in my 20's.Vantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:Cool idea! What is the dohicky you are spreading in the pic? How did you cut it out? Edges look very nice........With the bar tacked across both pieces and the spreaders applied as pictured, would it not produce a wavy effect on the finised product?Miller TrailBlazer 251Miller HF-250-1Miller MaxStar 150 STLHyperTherm PowerMax 380 plasmaLincoln PowerMig 180Millermatic 252Miller Diversion 180
Reply:hi alan, i've always called them little "swrew jacks"....got a little assortment of them too. They'r called "bolt jacks" though.?- daisy dukes & screw jacks.......hmmm "like"        thermal arc 252i  -  millermatic 350P -   miller XMT, cp300ts, 30a 22a feeders, buttload of other millers, handfull of lincolns, couple of esabs  -   Hypertherm 1250 G3
Reply:hmmm.. 20 somethin's in Daisy Dukes, and spreaders. Don't want to go there.
Reply:Hello wagin, I actually put the spreaders on an example that I had set-up to show some fitting techniques. I probably wouldn't be using these on this particular set-up unless I had welded it out and it had pulled in too far to allow for the proper application of the parts. As to the cutting of those pieces, we have a Bug-O programmable cnc shape cutting machine that I used to cut these parts out with. I teach welding at a community college and this is part of some of the various hands-on demonstration models that we have in our shop. We try hard to include real-world type mock-ups to show the students some of the sorts of things they might run into in industry. I also try to included as many "tricks of the trade" as possible to provide options for them in their future work. Best regards, Allanaevald
Reply:Thanks for posting Allan, these are the kind of tips that can benefit everyone, whether they knew about them and forgot or never knew at all. Simple fixes, I love'em.