Time to recreate another long lost patent! This patent focuses on a design for a spoke wrench that is meant to adjust spoke nipples on bicycle rims. You can see the original patent here: patents.google.com/patent/USD...
I believe these were put into production by the Buffalo Specialty Mfg. Co. of Buffalo, N. Y., U.S.A and called the Neverslip and Baby Neverslip, which is hilarious because that's exactly what they DON'T do. These wrenches seem to be quite rare.
I used a piece of 1144 steel and machined it using a variety of different tools and techniques, which is always way too much fun. The "V" slot along the length of the whole wrench was cut using a custom end mill and insanely light passes.
I actually broke a part of my lathe making this tool and you can see the deterioration in my lathe both physically and acoustically throughout the video.
Once finished, it did work on modern spoke nipples, but not very well. Spoke nipples of the time period this wrench was produced for were much larger and the wrench seemed to work MUCH better with fasteners of that size.
I'll add this tool to the patent remake collected and never insert it inside myself (most likely).
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Podcast (with @jimmydiresta and Andrew Alexander) - anchor.fm/fitzall
Former bicycle wheel factory worker here: In the 90s I built wheels at a major manufacturer and in fact, made all of the wheels for the US Olympic team one year. We had a tool almost identical to this one, but the outside grip was rubberized. The tool wasn't used to put the wheel together... instead, there was a machine kind of like a hanging electric screwdriver that constantly had a nipple hanging in it spinning... you'd stick a new rim in it, then the spoke into the nipple, and it would spin them on most of the way really quick. As soon as you took one away, a new spinning nipple would drop into place, so you could get all the spokes on the wheel fast. Where this tool came in was after that... you had to adjust the tension of each individual spoke so they all were within a specific range of tension. There was a caliper like device with a needle that had to read between a couple of red lines, and you'd use this tool to fine adjust the nipples tension back and forth until it was correct.
That is interesting and awesome! So you are one of the handful of humans that can assemble and true a wheel in, like, a minute. Impressive. I have heard of Japanese women doing it really fast in the motorcycle factories. Truing a spoked wheel is a serious skill. Not easy. It's like tuning a huge guitar, for a rock star, before a monumental concert.
@@jlucasound that Comparison at then End, i imagined someone listening to the Wheels and tuning them 😂
@@watchyahead2Funny you should say that... I was a professional bicycle mechanic at a small shop for a few years. Although we didn't have the dedicated wheel production equipment Charlie had, I hand built several pairs of custom wheels for various high-end customers. We had a spring-arm spoke tension gauge, but once you were in the correct range, the easiest way to compare and balance tension between spokes was to pluck them like a guitar string and listen to the pitch, and tighten the low ones and loosen the high ones. Of course, this had to be done according to certain patterns to keep from distorting the wheel's shape. Yes, I tuned wheels...musically. A common road racing wheel was correct when the spokes played about a G above middle C, although asymmetrical wheels would have one side higher and one side lower.
@@Spott07 lol that’s great and I know what you are talking about, funny how all this gets together. Maybe Customers can Order their Bikes tuned to their favourite Band 😁
oh hey you're the feller who invented Beer!! cheers for that
A man so good at what he does, he modifies his bandsaw for closer cuts to the vice as he's working on a project.
Just trued it up.. :)
MY LEG
Это гомно-гуано не работает 😅
lol
I thought he was judiciously shaving off a thin slice to plant in his garden to grow a new one.......
3:54 Fractal vise, fractal vise. Holds your round stock very nice. Have an odd shape? It will hold it there. Just don't turn it into a chair.
Was this meant to be sung to the tune of Edelweiss?
@@anonymousaccordionist3326 I would assume to the tune of "Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man" AKA The Married Man theme song from The John Boy and Billy Big Show.
I think Adam Savage just made one too. Made me think of this channel
@@frankierzucekjr I saw when he bought one and cleaned it up, made some mods to it, did he make one too?
turn it into a chair
In the 1900's spoke nuts were nuts. And by that i mean, they were all over the place. Some designs were long (i've seen some that reached about 2 cm out of the crown of the rim) some were incredibly short, barely poking out. There's a 1903ish wheel where the nuts are the classic barrel for about 4 mm, then they turn to slits for the next 4. Saw a two part nut, one part was the classic nut, but with a truncated pyramid end, the other was a socket with a knurled exterior that would be put on the spokes before assembly and left in place. Once you were done hand tightening the nuts, you'd use a small, thin wire wrap around the nut (has a negative ring around the base) and then loop it around the base of the socket around the spoke itself. And there's likely a thousand more nutty goodness. This wrench is the least weird thing of all. :))
This channel is primarily focused on nuts. :)
So what you’re saying is that you could use the spoke wrench on imperial and metric size nuts?
Yes@@rossbusher4412
Good to see the fractal vise you restored being used for further work. Such things give your channel a sense of continuity. Well done.
Thought the same. A good old product no one uses that is actually pretty clever
I would like to see him manufacture and sell that vise. That is by far the most interesting tool I've seen.
I'm gonna watch that one after seeing the vice.
My thoughts are also about the vice, and what a sharp bit too!
I believe this is after Adam Savage modified the fractal vice. I suppose he sent it over, and Adam sent it back, which is really cool if that's the case
Cutting into the bandsaw right out of the gate was unexpected. 😂 Awesome video as always...
That fractal vise was mesmerizing when you featured it, and still is. We need a "yule toothpick" style video of you just clamping all the things in it...
If you're itching for fractal vise content, Adam Savage acquired one and made a couple videos about it (after seeing it on HTR)
I worked in bike shops all through school and then some. While modern nipples are fairly standardized, old bikes had nipples in all different sizes. We'd typically have some old combination spoke wrenches around, and old wrenches of various sizes in a box. I'm sure in ye olde days it was even more varied. That's what this is for. It's a universal spoke wrench, one wrench to rule them all... It's a dumb idea, sure, but I can see where the inventor was coming from.
I can't help but feel like the intended spoke nipples must have been huge compared to modern examples.
Hardly a dumb idea if it works, and it probably would work on just about everything. Which when you have no idea what you will be working on next in a world without much in the way of standards... This sort of thing could have been the go to tool. Though the geometry might want a little tinkering with, and IMO it probably wants to be rather soft - there is so much metal at the working face it will still be very hard to damage to it with the nut, but being softer might just help that stubborn nut get a little bit more bite when you need it. Ultimately the tool doesn't have to last forever and in theory you can and would just resurface that grove quite a few times before you run out of metal at the thin point.
I thought it was for... never mind
@@foldionepapyrus3441 Just IMO, but I have spent thousands of hours truing wheels. It's pretty easy to round off a brass nipple if the spoke wrench isn't a good tight fit, and that's with proper spoke wrenches, er, nipple tools. I suspect Hand Tool could come up with an _adjustable_ nipple wrench that would be more effective.
@@gregmuon Indeed, but I don't think that invalidates this tool concept at all, as a good enough fit should be possible - might even be easier than the adjustable once you get the hang of the tool and perhaps tweak that geometry a little. As I expect with this concept you'd be able to feel if it is seated well and not have your only warning the adjustment has slipped being when the stubborn nipple is suddenly destroyed...
Here I am, taking a lunch break from machining...to watch a video on machining...and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Fool! You finish machining, go home, shower, grab a beer, and then watch machining
@@GenoAlbright bold of you to assume that I'm not doing that as well!
The fractal vise never ceases to amaze me, it's so freaking cool
i have one they are freaking expensive
I do enjoy the patent remake videos. You have presented some interesting and unique tools.
12:30 I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but as a recent workshop injury victim I have to caution the use of the emery cloth on a piece rotating with an interrupted surface like that. My injury didn’t have anything to do with my lathe, but accidents happen FAST and they can take a loooong time to recover from. I want to see you keep making these awesome videos!!
Order of operations is important. The V groove should have been your last feature in order to avoid all those interrupted cuts. That had to been especially hard on the knurling tool. A fantastic build nonetheless!
I was thinking the same, wondering why the groove was done so early.
If he's anything like me he does things in the order that releases the most dopamine, which is typically not the "right" order.
I'm glad it's not just me. I was only a machinist for a year, but I was distracted by trying to justify the order during the entire lathe sequence
Im a simple man. I see Hand Tool Rescue. I watch in full. Its a good day!
Well put.
The slow-mo machining was both fascinating and oddly satisfying. As was the fractal vise - possibly one of my favorite projects you’ve done. Good to see it in action!
Nipple twisting, knob polishing, Rip Van Handtool; this video has everything!
fuck, thank you. i thought i was loosing my mind, scrolling tru dozens of comments and no one talking about this guy literally making a ...."nipple wrench"
You had me at “nipple”
And what a vice! Surprised youtube lets him get a way with it.
...wrench!
Nipple Wrench... Sounds painful! 😂
@@RaxaPKXD I mean. Some are into stuff like that.
@@RaxaPKXD I came to the comments to leave this comment. lol
The twist of the nip and the flick of the tip! Love these patent remakes.
I can only reiterate: Very few excellent, game-changing inventions ever get forgotten. The forgotten ones are usually forgotten for a reason...
Excellent remake. Maybe it's because I can't "unsee" what a spoke nipple wrench actually looks like, but this looks like a crazy complicated solution.
I did not know what a "Spoke nipple wrench" was... So, I Google it... Pro tip: activate "Safe Search" mode first.
All in a day's work for Bicycle Repair Man!
LOOK! Is it a stockbroker? Is it a quantity surveyor? Is it a church warden? NO, IT'S BICYLE REPAIR MAN!
See how he uses the spanner to tighten that nut!
Spot on
The fractal vise put to good use and in all its glory. ❤
I work as a bike mechanic so this was really interesting! I think a modernized version with the stepped slit could be pretty useful, on bikes today theres commonly like 5 different sizes of nipple and having one wrench for them all would be real neat!
I'd love to see two tools that have a narrow outside slot and a wider inside so you slide it over the spoke then drop it onto the nipple and pull into the correct size. If it's under 1 degree of angle you might not even need steps. Otherwise, stepped for 15 and 14g, and another for ebike gauges 12 and 13.
I played bass for Nipple Wrench back in the 80's. 😐🎸
How ironic, I played drums for Twisted Nipple!😲😆
Sweaty Nipples appeared at the OK Hotel in Seattle.
people have told you many times, Eric - you need to do an episode on your lathe, it's in a dire need of rescuing.
Then it wouldn't be a hand tool 😅
HTR is the channel I know I can turn to for good unbiased info on modern and contemporarily-relevant patents in this changing world. I can now maintain my unicycle with the upmost of ease.
That lathe sounds like it is less than a year away from catastrophic failure. I am by no means an expert on such things, but that sound coming from a machine tool is terrifying.
Coming from a Lada on a frosty morning would be bad enough...
I really love your enthusiasm for the odd obscure and obsolete tools lost to history! I too enjoy such similar things, but your comment to bring them back to life is very encouraging! Thank you!
Self clearancing bandsaws are hard to find .. you have all the cool tools! Thanks for sharing 🇨🇦
Looks like you might need to do another newer lathe restoration. Would love to see it
Yeah, the current one is knackered. Mind, when all the tools look filthy I’m not surprised.
poor thing is beggging to be put out of its misery at this point
and a decent cooling fluid system
Your lathe needs some love.
There's something calming about the slow pace on the lathe
I was just talking about you yesterday. Mustie1 picked up a Maytag washing machine motor, and while he managed to get it running, it wasn't running well, and it kept flooding after it had run. I hypothesized that the fuel bleed screw in the mixer wasn't adjusted correctly; allowing the engine to keep sucking up fuel, even after the spark plug had been grounded. You had done 1 or 3 of those things, so I left a link to one of them on his page.
Mustie1 is the one that linked me to this channel. i think he was working on a gas powered skill saw that came from this guy. I really want one of those. I'd call it the kilsaw.
You discovered it, made it and tested it, I'm thoroughly impressed. Looks great, finished meticulously as are all your projects. Cheers
I love these videos. It's so fascinating to think way back about folks designing tools for their needs back then. I've recently been really into 18th century gunsmithing, if you needed a tool back then you had to make it. Hard to imagine nowadays.
When you say “nipple” wrench do we need a safe word before watching?
Safe word is "wd-40"
I scored a very old Portass small lathe last week, all complete, spindle bearings with zero play and the cross slide works perfectly. Just amazing level of quality to its construction and its a 1930's machine and just the right size for me to make model steam parts and watchmaking.
Nipples come in many shapes and sizes...thanks for that educational video from Handtoolrescue! Whether you prefer your Nipples greased or twisted is a matter of personal preference too!
Next up from Hand Tool Rescue is a 1901 version of a self-leaning shovel.
This was awesome, I’m glad you picked this patent remake. Seeing it brought back memories of my grandfather teaching me how to work on my bicycle as a kid. He had one similar to this that we used.
Man, your 3000 years of machining experience really paid off with this one. Impeccable job my good man. I now challenge you to a duel.
Every time I see a machining video they're sped up. I think to myself, I wonder how much time this actually takes. Seeing the portions of this video turning in real time gave me a deeper appreciation for the amount of time and effort that goes into these projects. As well as an appreciation for the video editing that speeds it up so us simple viewers can see all the action with just a fraction of the time investment. 😁
You know things are going great when the swarf turns into a paste. I wish i had your courage to try new things, i'll get there one day.
There is something wholesome and heartwarming about your content. I really appreciate you.
Your lathe tools bits are truly something special. And I mean special. Cheers!
Thank you for great toolmakingness and makin me laugh while starting my day, so while you aged 600years you made me at least FIVEHUNDRED years younger, thank you! Moar patent remakes!
Bandsaw gained a little more clearance 😅
Just came across your channel. That fractal vise is the first I've ever seen. And I spent forty two years in a machine shop. One of the comments states you restored it. That's a video I've got to go back and watch. Over the years I had to come up with some off the wall setups but that vise is amazing! Got yourself another sub today
Having drilled the first hole, you could have removed the remaining material with your band saw. Back in the day, they would likely have used a horizontal shaper.
Really cool to see an old tool like this come to life. EDIT: As it turns out, "Penny Farthing" is a lot of fun to say.
I enjoy it when you bring the past tools to today's 😊
Leon M. Cabana died in 1901 at the age of 32. He got typhoid fever then pneumonia. He left behind his wife and small daughter. Thank you for inspiring me to read up on L. M. Cabana.
DAMN!
Never seen a lathe throw sparks before! Maybe because in high school tech class we all understood "this is the only lathe, and if you break it, all the shop kids will hate you".
You won’t read this and I won’t remember writing it, but you’re a kewl guy. Just keep striving for what ur striving’ at. Bye
@@saladealerit real real yap
I read it. And I will reply so that you remember it.
Well at least 210 ppl have read it. Happy now?
Big read
At least 225 people have read this.
Tool making: First step, set your lathe to a gentle canter, then off you go.
It's great to see some more video's of yours!! Thank You!!
13:00 I'm enjoying the sound of the metal just getting peeled off in strips, it has this zipping noise, really satisfying for some reason.
Keep in mind that at this point in time, automotive tires often used spokes also, so this may have been for those. But maybe those were much larger and this was just a prototype for a bigger version.
Cabana's company did specialize in automotive stuff.
Now you know that the face of that bandsaw vise is perfectly square to the blade 🤣
Another fantastic remake by the great one. Good stuff. Love the precision bandsaw modifications.
Another great job of frabrication with just the right amount of humor. Please, more videos with less time between them. They are habit forming to watch.
The spoke wrench I have isn't much bigger than the drill bit you're using.
Why not cut out the slot with your saw?
OMG, my grandparents owned a large bike shop in the south and I spent 4 summers working on truing up bike wheels with spoke wrenches... good times. As an aside, I saw "Nipple Wrench", knew what it was, but still did a 14 y/o chuckle inside.
That was a rather interesting re-creation. I will say, watching a clapped out Bridgeport lathe and what have to be worn inserts mash their way through some hard steel gave me the willies.
Congrats on 1M subscribers! Well deserved. A rare channel that combines great talent with great humor.
They did actually make something like this. It was called an acorn spoke wrench.
I love that you eat what you kill, using that fractal vise you built. Solid.
Dude, you are a hoot! Love the antics, keep up the good work!
You make mistakes too!! One of us, one of us. 🤣
Congrats on breaking a million! Also, sure you saw, but you got another call out on Tested - Adam is enamored with that fractal vise because of you
I agree that it is designed for 6-sided spoke nipples instead of the modern 4-sided. I used to build and straighten bicycle wheels and would often turn the wrench both directions while working on a single spoke. When tightening a spoke, I would turn it back just slightly in an effort to "pre-slip" the nipple on the spoke. I would also go on a path of 8 or 9 spokes alternately tightening and loosening spokes. It the jaw had teeth in it for gripping, I would be constantly flipping it over to tighten or loosen a spoke.
Question. Did you find and buy that mini plug-in fireplace just for this purpose of fireside chatting with us? Did you have a huge smile as you put this thing in your vehicle? Excellent as always.
Jesus I’ve never clicked so fast when notification said nipple
Well, that's because Jesus never owned a computer
I absolutely love your fractal vise! I’ve seen other versions,mostly plastic, but they can’t compare to your original one!
The best lathe work I have ever seen. Bravo!
"My leg!" I actually lol'd.
It may not be very functional, but it really looks good.
Glad to see you're still rocking the mini electric fireplace....Edit: Im digging the fractal vice you restored a while back to. Thanks for creating and sharing the video with everyone.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻. And that fractal vice is just awesome! I saw the video of the restoration🤗
Congratulations, Eric. You engineered a hundred and twenty year old butt plug.
Not going to lie, I was expecting more nipple related puns and humor.
I knew he would try it on himself. At least he left his shirt on.
*- I am so pleased. I was thinking of Nickel Plating...and then you did it. Thanks, Eric.*
A cool little wheelbuilding nugget from the past; thanks for digging this patent up; some interesting stuff :-).
wait a cotton-pickin-minute. NO opening Montage???? 🤨🤨
This is, Indeed, The Nipplest Wrench
Big fan from Ireland. Great video, Eric. Thank you. Good grief, that fractal vice is sooo cool
The sheer number of 97 years that you've gone through on this channel is monumentally mind blowing! I'm pretty sure your estimate of 600 years old was just being humble, that's what I like about you 😋
I mean they had rubber at the time, very easily could’ve made the gap a bit wider and installed some rubber as to not gouge the spokes.
That would cause it to slip, theres a lot a torque happening in a very tiny area towards the end of trueing a wheel.
Way more work than was needed. I made something like this for a project a few years back. Simply drill out the bottom of the V = 2 minutes. Chop saw with disk to cut out the V. 5 = 5 minutes. File saw marks smooth = 5 minutes. Perfect V groove in bar stock.
The fireside chat intro was sublime.
There is already a multispoke key similar to an alligator wrench for larger motorcycle and car wire wheel spokes which has jaws on either end with a series of parallel flats. They work very well but are not truly universal as they still rely on the nipples being specific sizes to match the wrench.
Always worth the price of admision. Very cool tool.
Eric Never stop putting in the random sounds! (MY LEG!!) 😂Been following a long time. LOVE the silliness 😂
That was surprisingly satisfying to watch, thanks!
Can’t wait to see the new shop
I used something similar in the Air Force to replace a certain part on KC-135s. Access was difficult with a standard wrench, so someone designed the "silver dollar" wrench. It was a 1/4-inch slice of an aluminum bar with a 5/16 slot cut just past center. Slide it on the nut and spin the dollar wrench to remove/tighten the nuts.
That conical bit action is one of the most satisfying things I've ever seen
Yes! Glad to see you're back making vids!!!
*Excellent man, thank you for sharing your work, God bless you*
Nice work! We shared this video on our homemade tools forum this week 😎