Poll

Do you own Whitworth tools ?

No Whitworth here
10 (35.7%)
I have Whitworth spanners
7 (25%)
I have Whitworth sockets
1 (3.6%)
I have both Whitworth spanners and sockets
9 (32.1%)
A pipe wrench will do
1 (3.6%)

Total Members Voted: 24

Voting closed: December 13, 2008, 12:26:43 AM

Author Topic: Lets try a tool poll  (Read 13281 times)

contaucreek

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Lets try a tool poll
« on: December 06, 2008, 12:26:43 AM »
Thought it would be cool to try a poll. I bet a lot of anxious CS owners make do with whatever tool they can get to go on a fitting but how many actually own Whitworth spanners or sockets (I do)
L.E.F. Dip #1 Threadstopper Extraordinaire

MacGyver

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2008, 01:49:26 AM »
Well... that depends.
Do you include the cheap set of spanners that came with my 'roid?


Steve

JKson (PS) 6/1 'roid & ST 7.5

Stan

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2008, 02:27:57 AM »
A buddy of mine used to own a couple of very old austins.  Not sure of the models but he hasn't had them for years.  He still had the whitworth wrenches though and offered them to me.  I have them on semi-permanent loan, cant' get rid of them just in case he finds another austin (not likely he's into steam engines now).  Don't have a full set but what I have, and what I have in metric and imperial that are very very close, I get along OK.
Stan

nobby

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2008, 04:13:06 AM »
Both is my answer.  I spend half my time working on British and other European machinery and nothing frustrates me more than nadgered hex heads from incorrect spanner sizes.  Oh that and the bright sparks who decide to retap 1/2" BSW in brass or bronze with 1/2" NC (because it's only one thread different so whats the harm) to then use NC bolts that one really gets me going.

cheers
Nobby
« Last Edit: December 06, 2008, 04:46:00 AM by nobby »
2 x Lister CE's
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compig

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2008, 05:38:05 PM »
I have quite a good collection of Whit stuff , but I have the advantage of living in the country or origin.
DON'T STEAL , THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T LIKE COMPETITION !!!
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Petter A1
Villiers C45 industrial
Continental flat six powerpacket
ANOTHER Lister 6/1 CS SOM , temporarily !!!

contaucreek

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2008, 06:11:30 PM »
I keep the big Lumsden grinders maintained at work, any guess's as to how many thread forms are used on them !! Even Lumsden Services shakes their heads at the array :o
L.E.F. Dip #1 Threadstopper Extraordinaire

compig

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2008, 09:50:31 PM »
Would love to get a look a those !! Mystery tools are fascinating !!
DON'T STEAL , THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T LIKE COMPETITION !!!
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Onan W3S Genny
Petter A1
Villiers C45 industrial
Continental flat six powerpacket
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rcavictim

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #7 on: December 06, 2008, 10:59:09 PM »
Tools are very personal IMO because the owner, if an active builder/mechanic will spend a lot of hands on time with them.  IMO it takes nearly a lifetime for most of us so inclined to collect a decent shop's worth of tools.  In the past 5 years I have really accelerated the rate at which I spend and aquire tools (including machine tools)  because I am running out of time to use them and having them now will really benefit me in what I am able to make with my imagination and skills acquired through a lot of hands on experience to this point in my life.

Now, all that said....I don't own any Whitworth wrenches to my knowledge as I have never sought to acquire or purchase any.  I have had to make the occasional custom wrench however.  My VW diesel engine requires oddball 'special' wrenches because of deliberate anti-logical design by German Engineering.  VW gets a prize for designing their stuff so it is really illogically difficult to service!
-DIY 1.5L NA VW diesel genset - 9 kW 3-phase. Co-gen, dual  fuel
- 1966, Petter PJ-1, 5 kW air cooled diesel standby lighting plant
-DIY JD175A, minimum fuel research genset.
-Changfa 1115
-6 HP Launtop air cooled diesel
-Want Lister 6/1
-Large DIY VAWT nearing completion

rcavictim

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stupid design conspiracy
« Reply #8 on: December 07, 2008, 12:24:53 AM »
VW gets a prize for designing their stuff so it is really illogically difficult to service!

Actually, there is a lot of logic hiding beneath the apparent lack of logic ..... it keeps the customers going back to the dealer for service work.

Jens

Jens,

I don't buy that for the fact that 99.92% of cars, regardless of manufacturer, will be taken to stealerships and service shops to get fixed because only a very, very small percentage of the population does their own vehicle repairs.  By making the vehicle hard to service just makes it harder for a service mechanic to be competitive and less of a joy to work on. It tries one's patience and greatly increases the risk that a bigger hammer will be used to make the repair possible.

VW isn't the only one guilty of stupid design.  I have a GMC Safari rusting away out back.  My level of patience when faced with stupidity is really short. Rather than spend an hour to remove the engine cowling from the interior to replace the air filter the way GM designed it, I discovered that I could replace the air cleaner element by mangling the shit out of the new replacement and force it in from under the hood.  If the engineers had left a 1/4" extra height to the front access it would have been easy.  But hey, what is the chance of an air filter element needing to be changed right?!   ???
-DIY 1.5L NA VW diesel genset - 9 kW 3-phase. Co-gen, dual  fuel
- 1966, Petter PJ-1, 5 kW air cooled diesel standby lighting plant
-DIY JD175A, minimum fuel research genset.
-Changfa 1115
-6 HP Launtop air cooled diesel
-Want Lister 6/1
-Large DIY VAWT nearing completion

mobile_bob

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #9 on: December 07, 2008, 12:34:43 AM »
amen to that

my 96 g30 van has a 454 in it, less than 1% of g vans have a bigblock engine

to change the airfilter i have to remove the passenger seat and dog house as well, no way of getting in there otherwise

it takes 4 hours to change the friggin spark plugs, needless to say it got bosch double platinums last time
and hopefully i will have it gone before it needs them again.

one of our customers bought two new 550 superduties with powerstrokes,, i don't think you could drive a toothpick
in with sledgehammer anywhere under the hood.

would bet it is a 3 grand proposition to change injectors,, labor alone!

it has become obvious to me, that this stuff is not built to be worked on
basically use it up and trade it in?

bob g
otherpower.com, microcogen.info, practicalmachinist.com
(useful forums), utterpower.com for all sorts of diy info

xyzer

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2008, 02:19:23 AM »
After acquiring and restoring a 1951 MGTD in the late 60's I gathered up a few whitworth sockets and spanners to wrench under the bonnet of my motorcar... stupid me high school kid didn't really know what a bonnet was till then..windscreen I could figure out..gundgen(sp?) pin ...not!  Good thing there was a picture in my manual. I had to dig up my tools when I became a Listeroid owner.
Dave
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Power Solutions portable 6/1
Z482 KUBOTA

SteveU.

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #11 on: December 07, 2008, 04:42:06 AM »
I have none of the Whitworths left from my MG sedan days. That was two cleaned out tool thefts ago.
As a flat rate auto tech I do have the willingness to take anyone of my tools to the torch and grinder to get the job done. You learn quickly to scrounge the garage sales to always have some medium quality modifiable wrenches and sockets in common sizes. Save the high quality tooltruck brands for worn out warrantee returns.

Only took me 45 minutes to supplement my Lister/iod tool kit to have a complete made up set.
Metrinch (spline type fluted -- grabs on the flats not the corners) sockets work great with the open clearances on these engines.

No auto manufacturer designs any servicability into thier designs any more. Everything is designed for the absolute minimum amount of human manufacturing labor and the maximum robotic assembly. That is why all of the special self centering fasteners and special quick to connect, hard to disconnect, easy to leak hoses and lines. Servicablity has no priority and is a figure it out later with no reguard for cost by every manufactuer. GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Saab, BMW, MB, VW, ect. Yes, even Saturn. Been there, done that and have the scars too prove it. The mechanical side of things can always be figured out somehow. It's the software side of things that WILL drive you back into the dealer. And that IS intentional. Even with $2000-3000. personal and $5000-15000. shop electronic/info upgrades a year and we were still always 3 years behind and never more than 40-50% as capable in an Independent shop reprogramming as I could do in a dealership shop. Its just the dealership pay/reward systems were so . . . brutally mercenary, even as harsh and hardnosed as I am; I could only take it for 7 years and have any humanity left.
So I'm back where I began: cutting and selling firewood. What you see is what you get.

SteveU.
Use it up. Wear it out. Make Do, or Do Without.
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NoSpark

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #12 on: December 07, 2008, 02:46:30 PM »
I don't have any Whitworths but a lot of modified and homemade stuff, like SteveU, cut off wrenches with extensions welded on, notches in sockets and so on, "Git er done". Friday I worked on an F350 V10 with a misfire in the last cylinder back on the passenger side, buried under the dash like a van and under a mess of hoses and lines >:(. The spark plug boot broke of in the plug hole which is about 6 or 7" deep. Took me an hour and a half just to get the broken boot out of that hole  >:(. Now I have another homemade tool, A piece of 3/8 fuel line "half piped" and sharpened on the end to go down the center of the boot and cut it away from the plug, worked like a dream on the rest of the 9 plug boots  :).
Anand Powerline 6/1 ST5

Combustor

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #13 on: December 11, 2008, 02:49:07 PM »
       Years ago an Australian tool store imported 1/2" drive socket sets which included Metric, Imperial and SAE sizes including the odd 1/32" SAE sizes that are rarely seen
now. Price and quality were excellent, so 20 years on, I still guard that set with my life! A former MG owner gave me a set of BS swivel wrenches and o/e tappet spanners
and I still have the larger BS ring and o/e spanners from my years maintaining British built cable excavators.Also scored a set of Whitworth and BSF taps and dies at auction
recently, so now that I'm almost too old and arthritic to enjoy using them, I've got the full kit. Guess that/s how life goes------ Regards,  Combustor.
Toys include- Lister CS 8/1, Lister VA SOM plant and some Aussie engines.
   "Old iron in the Outback" Kimberley, West Australia.

tigger

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Re: Lets try a tool poll
« Reply #14 on: December 11, 2008, 11:09:02 PM »
got sockets, really old spanners and a tap & die set
you should treat the old engine with respect and propper tools