Troll Hunter Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 I have recently had to drill out a seized bolt in my bulkhead. Not the easiest to get aligned, and, of course, I failed. Consequently I ended up with a slightly off-centre hole that was not aligned with the axis of the bolt. So, I was faced with a significant amount of filing with a rat-tail file to recover the original hole dimensions. I decided that a power file would be a great help. I believe that these are available in UK, but I've been unable to find one over here, so I decided to make my own. I already have a reciprocating saw, so I took an old saw blade and a rat tail file and started from there. After trimming both and slotting the file I had this, and after welding, and tidying the weld, it was far too crappy to show, my new tool was ready for use. And it works a treat. A very good time and effort saver at virtually zero cost. Mike 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 Very nice, these sorts of things can save hours and make you feel very good about yourself all at the same time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Nice idea... that's one for the custom tools collection, I'll be "file"ing that idea away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy_SP Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 Excellent stuff - well done! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escape Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 I've uses a (shortened) rat tail file in a drill to speed things up. That worked pretty good as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troll Hunter Posted February 4, 2019 Author Share Posted February 4, 2019 Escape, I haven't tried that, but it sounds very interesting. It's on my to try list the next time I need to enlarge a hole. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharp Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 No way, I was thinking about this the other day while I was filing a partiularly bad stone nick out of a pretty new chainsaw chain while the reciprocating air saw sat on the bench. Looks like it worked a treat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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