Author Topic: Another overkill tool build (Read 5729 times)

jgary · « **on:** September 13, 2006, 06:10:04 AM »

Last spring I bled brakes for the first time in 15 years or so. I had brake fluid everywhere. Tried a bunch of different things, eventually had my wife come out into the garage and help me. Even then, I still have some air in there. I have two other bikes that need brake work this season, so I spent all winter thinking about a tool to make my job easier. Forget those $8 speed bleeders, I wanted something worthy of posting on this forum. So, here it is!

John.

jgary · « **Reply #1 on:** September 13, 2006, 06:11:28 AM »

It's pressurized with a garden sprayer, seen here.

J.

ProTeal55 · « **Reply #2 on:** September 13, 2006, 06:12:10 AM »

Nice work !

jgary · « **Reply #3 on:** September 13, 2006, 06:13:47 AM »

Before pressurization, of course, the canister is rotated 90 degrees to pour in brake fluid. I'm sealing that plug with teflon tape each time it goes back in.

John.

jgary · « **Reply #4 on:** September 13, 2006, 06:17:10 AM »

Once it's full, rotate back. There are two bolts on the rotating face that the canister mounts to. They just go through the plywood and act as stops to hold it in position. The line coming out of the bottom goes directly to the bleed nipple. There's a valve on the air side, and a valve on the fluid side, to control both air pressure and fluid flow. I think I spent more in gas driving back & forth to Home Depot than I actually spent on materials.

John.

Klark Kent · « **Reply #5 on:** September 13, 2006, 06:42:46 AM »

first, i gotta say, as an amatuer macguyver myself, i LOVE what you have done. but...

rebuilding and installing my stuck front caliper was the very first thing i did to my bike (or any bike) and did not have any trouble (and nary a bubble) am i missing something about the difficulty of this procedure. i did end up having to replace the bleed screw because it had a very slow leak a couple days later, this may have gotten any air i left in there out??? i am just asking because i want to be confident my single disc is operating as best it can.

excellent piece though
-KK

jgary · « **Reply #6 on:** September 13, 2006, 07:05:12 AM »

In my case, I was trying to avoid having the wife come out to help me. Her job was pumping the brake while I worked the bleed valve, but she would only be available during commercials on Dancing with the Stars or American Idol. So, before I asked her, I tried a bunch of mickey mouse ways to do it myself, and made a mess each time. She didn't really look at it as quality time together, and I wanted to be able to get this job done quickly, by myself. I made it harder than it had to be.

John.

ProTeal55 · « **Reply #7 on:** September 13, 2006, 07:18:34 AM »

It's like a mighty vac from hell

brockj · « **Reply #8 on:** September 13, 2006, 07:24:19 AM »

Quote from: jgary on September 13, 2006, 07:05:12 AM

In my case, I was trying to avoid having the wife come out to help me. Her job was pumping the brake while I worked the bleed valve, but she would only be available during commercials on Dancing with the Stars or American Idol. So, before I asked her, I tried a bunch of mickey mouse ways to do it myself, and made a mess each time. She didn't really look at it as quality time together, and I wanted to be able to get this job done quickly, by myself. I made it harder than it had to be.

John.

I know the feeling! I recently got a 84 nighthawk with dual discs and hydraulic clutch, so there was 3 bleeding sessions, I think she is glad it is all done now, but by the end, she was a pro!

fanaticbr · « **Reply #9 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:56:41 AM »

That's awesome! Looks like an IV... Good work!

nickjtc · « **Reply #10 on:** September 13, 2006, 12:13:20 PM »

Nice ingenuity; good job. I like Speedbleeders....

mwohlenhaus · « **Reply #11 on:** September 13, 2006, 12:18:23 PM »

I think I understand now, is it a reverse bleeder. where it pumps the fluid from the caliper up to the master?

putnaja1 · « **Reply #12 on:** September 13, 2006, 01:55:34 PM »

YES! Home made tools rock!

On this note, has anyone made the homebrew carb balancing vacuum gauges, as listed in the back of the Clymer CB 500/550 fours manual? I think they use like soup cans, glass jars, and tubing, water with food coloring dye, and a wood frame to build your own vacuum gauge set!

I wonder if it is worth building, or if it is much cheaper to just buy ready-made.. Of course, as with my wheel holding fixture, just because something is cheaper, better, and ready-made, I won't let that stop me!

nickjtc · « **Reply #13 on:** September 13, 2006, 02:13:07 PM »

Quote from: putnaja1 on September 13, 2006, 01:55:34 PM

On this note, has anyone made the homebrew carb balancing vacuum gauges, as listed in the back of the Clymer CB 500/550 fours manual? I think they use like soup cans, glass jars, and tubing, water with food coloring dye, and a wood frame to build your own vacuum gauge set!

If you can build it for less that $25 or so, go for it. Otherwise that's how much the least expensive balancers cost. If you do build it, post pics!

jgary · « **Reply #14 on:** September 14, 2006, 05:49:51 AM »

There's a $25 limit? I think I may have gone over that...

J.

putnaja1 · « **Reply #15 on:** September 14, 2006, 08:17:34 AM »

Quote from: jgary on September 14, 2006, 05:49:51 AM

There's a $25 limit? I think I may have gone over that...

J.

I think he just meant that you could buy a vacuum carb balancer tool for 25 bucks, so unless you could build that tool for <25 bucks, easier to buy one.

cbjunkie · « **Reply #16 on:** September 14, 2006, 08:22:02 AM »

you got a site for that 25 dollar tool...? LOVE to see that...

DammitDan · « **Reply #17 on:** September 14, 2006, 08:22:48 AM »

Not to mention the fact that you won't have to store toxic liquid metals in your house...

putnaja1 · « **Reply #18 on:** September 14, 2006, 08:53:42 AM »

Here's one I found at JC Whitney..

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/tf-Browse/s-10101/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2004169/p-2004169/N-111+10211+600014252/c-10111

But it's 52 bucks, and check out the review- not very good. I do remember seeing the "stick" type of mercury gauges a few years ago.. I wonder how much these cost? I think I might build my own carb sync tool- it will give me another excuse to "pull a mcgyver", it will look like total shadetree nonsense (but probably work pretty well), and I don't think any mercury is required- a plus!

cbjunkie · « **Reply #19 on:** September 14, 2006, 08:57:11 AM »

100 bux, minimum. that's why i called you on the 25 dollar claim...

there's a thread straying around here somewhere with a couple of sketches for making your own...materials list, etc...
let us know if you decide to do it - i am putting it off until i have to do some serious engine work, myself.

putnaja1 · « **Reply #20 on:** September 14, 2006, 09:22:14 AM »

Quote from: cbjunkie on September 14, 2006, 08:57:11 AM

100 bux, minimum. that's why i called you on the 25 dollar claim...

there's a thread straying around here somewhere with a couple of sketches for making your own...materials list, etc...
let us know if you decide to do it - i am putting it off until i have to do some serious engine work, myself.

Agreed, I don't think they are available for 25 bucks.. Maybe a single gauge, which would make it difficult to sync efficiently.. I think nickjtc might know of a 25 dollar one?

Quote from: nickjtc on September 13, 2006, 02:13:07 PM

Quote from: putnaja1 on September 13, 2006, 01:55:34 PM
On this note, has anyone made the homebrew carb balancing vacuum gauges, as listed in the back of the Clymer CB 500/550 fours manual? I think they use like soup cans, glass jars, and tubing, water with food coloring dye, and a wood frame to build your own vacuum gauge set!

If you can build it for less that $25 or so, go for it. Otherwise that's how much the least expensive balancers cost. If you do build it, post pics!

I haven't been able to make a good arguement for homebrew is worth the money anyway- my wheel holding thing cost me 50 bucks to build! The wood wasn't so bad, it was the (20) 3/8" bolts, washers, nuts, lockwashers, etc. But the satisfaction of using homebrew! Priceless!

nickjtc · « **Reply #21 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:22:45 AM »

Here's the one I bought. Very crude, and only does one carb at a time, with the 'reference' carb. It's very quick to use, though (less than half an hour to do all four carbs), and seems to work well. I notice the difference in smoothness before and after.

http://www.sohc4.us/forums/index.php?topic=12365.msg118280#msg118280

There are none for sale on eBay at the moment.

Nick

putnaja1 · « **Reply #22 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:56:54 AM »

Cool, Nick, the vacuum gauge thing you used looks like it operates on the same concept as the DIY model listed in the Clymer manual, only yours looks refined as it is factory made. It's good to hear that it works, I think I'm gonna build one now. Clymer lists soup cans, jelly jars etc in the parts list! Which is cool, as it will then double as an abstract recycled food container art piece when I not in use!

Back to the brake fluid pressure bleeder by jgary:
I have a dumb question here- do you just start out by removing the fluid in the reservoir with a turkey baster or similar device, then hook up the pressure bleeder, load it with dot3, pressurize it, and then open the bottom bleeder valve on the caliper, and close the valve on the caliper when the reservoir has the right amount???

Man, this would be great!

mwohlenhaus · « **Reply #23 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:58:22 AM »

I think what you do is drain all the old stuff and then fill it from the bottom up.

jgary · « **Reply #24 on:** September 15, 2006, 06:34:32 AM »

Drain the old fluid first out through the bleeder valve, then pressurize and pump new fluid back up through the same bleeder valve until it's at the right level in the master cylinder. The valve to control fluid flow into the caliper is critical here. Learned through experimentation, if you don't control the fluid it blows a bunch of air up first, that catches little droplets of brake fluid, and then erupts like your own little DOT 3 volcano through the holes in the master cylinder, spraying fluid droplets everywhere, but mostly on your paint. Having learned this the hard way, when I use the pressurized brake bleeder now I take a manilla file folder and tape it around the outside of the master cylinder to contain any spray.

John.

techy5025 · « **Reply #25 on:** September 18, 2006, 12:39:12 AM »

I think some of the hospitals in southeast asia still use IV drippers that look like
that....not sure about the pressure pump though.

Jim

paulages · « **Reply #26 on:** September 18, 2006, 02:40:37 AM »

cbj: i bought mine from my local m.c. shop for $30. if they're selling them for that retail, they've gotta be out there on the web for cheaper...

jgary · « **Reply #27 on:** September 18, 2006, 06:43:19 AM »

I used this contraption this past weekend, and had a learning opportunity. The metal line coming into the caliper has to be the highest point in the caliper when pressurizing, otherwise a little tiny bit of air can still get trapped in there. Either that or use more air pressure. Even with that little hitch, this was still a lot easier than what I've done in the past.

John.

DeLuxe · « **Reply #28 on:** September 18, 2006, 06:45:22 AM »

Hey J, love the pressurised bleeder!
I 'reverse bleed' but with a big syringe that I was given free with a bottle of Motul Dot 4 at my local. It's only about 150ml, but it's enough to fill the whole line on my CB400f (I have a custom braided line) and the master cylinder, which is off a Spada - ( same MC as on a CB250R). I guess it would cost about $2 to buy one at the chemist.
I hate to think what they use that syringe for medically...ouch!

Boomologist · « **Reply #29 on:** September 18, 2006, 07:09:52 AM »

I did build one that I saw on the net a few years back. It was simply a jar with colored water, 4 tubes that ran up a board and back down to the engine. It worked good. My shop is heated with wood so it goes below freezing on most winter nights. So I decided to fill it with antifreeze. Next time I used it I made the mistake of reeving the engine and closing the throttle. It sucked antifreeze up the tubes and into the engine! Not good.
Incidentally, the board these tubes ran up was 8 feet long.

I now have the style filled with Mercury and it does a nice job. What is really nice about this style is that you have the tubes for all four cylinders mounted side by side so it's easy to get them exact.
I also acquired a couple of the style that you hold over the carb throat and read a small ball that rides up a tube. These also seem to work good but the best is the mercury, in my opinion.

OldSchool_IsCool · « **Reply #30 on:** September 18, 2006, 04:32:44 PM »

Here are some pics of a carb balancing tool I built with some aquarium tubing, "T" connectors, tape, a paint stir stick and some water dyed with food color. I have less then $5 into it so far. I haven't used it yet as I'm trying to find the right nipples to screw into the vacuum ports. Anyone know where I can find some nipples with 6x0.8 threads?

mwohlenhaus · « **Reply #31 on:** September 18, 2006, 04:44:54 PM »

you wanna screw silencers onto the ol nipples?!?!

seriously though, I have no clue. could you use a presse in tube made of brass, or something to that effect?

OldSchool_IsCool · « **Reply #32 on:** September 18, 2006, 06:49:08 PM »

Hmmmm I wonder if the valve fittings from the kit with the T connectors would seal tight 'nuf. I'll give them a try!

Klark Kent · « **Reply #33 on:** September 18, 2006, 08:21:01 PM »

a friend of mine had sticks with no adapters so i was looking for a hardware company that could supply 5mm to hose barb adapters. my friend found the adapters before i ended up doing it, but they said they could order them from a company called airpro "in europe." ive never heard of an airpro that makes brass fittings. they also said they would cost $4.20 a piece and the next order was going out in two weeks. so that would screw up your low-budge effort. the place i found was called maryland metrics, and you may have a similaar hardware source near you. hopefully they can get them to you cheaper and faster than maryland metrics said they could.
-KK

OldSchool_IsCool · « **Reply #34 on:** September 18, 2006, 09:19:04 PM »

you are right, they are 5x0.8mm nipples. See this thread.

http://www.sohc4.us/forums/index.php?topic=13511.0

Boomologist · « **Reply #35 on:** September 19, 2006, 11:44:05 AM »

It wouldn't be too difficult to take a 5mm bolt, cut the head off, and drill a small hole through it. Just be sure to use a bolt that isn't threaded all the way to the head so you will have a smooth surface to push into the tube.

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Author Topic: Another overkill tool build (Read 5729 times)

brockj

fanaticbr

DeLuxe

Boomologist

Boomologist