| Cable engine oil dipstick version 2 [message #80510] |
Wed, 14 April 2010 02:01 |
Ken Burton
Messages: 10030
Registered: January 2004
Location: Hebron, Indiana
Karma: 10
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Well tonight at Two Wheeel Tuesday I decided to make an improved cable dipstick for myself. I used a 5 foot or so piece of 1/8" stainless cable. I gave it to my resident welder and asked him to do his magic on the end. This time he just welded the very tip of it to keep it from fraying.
Then I placed a 3 OR 4 inch piece of green shrink tubing over the end that goes in the oil. Well, it did not work. You can not see the oil very well on the slick surface of the shrink tubing.
So I took the shrink off. I found I could see the oil better on the rough surface of the cable. At this point I decided to use shrink tubing to mark the end of the ADD mark and the FULL mark while leaving the space between the marks bare cable. I then lightly sand blasted the surface of the exposed cable, That dull finish made reading the oil level even easier. OK that end is finished.
On the other end I wanted to make one of Kens H's plastic handles. I could to find a suitable piece of plastic, so I took a rubber handle that is normally used for a rope pull starter on a small gasoline engine. The inside diameter was slightly under 3/8". I drilled the end about 1/2 way up to 3/8" which is the OD of the oil dipstick tube. Then handle now fits tightly over the dipstick tube. I then put a 3/8" washer inside the hole in the handle to make a solid stop when the handle is installed on the dipstick tube.
The other end of the handle had a steel insert so it was a simple matter to install a collar with a set screw as a cable stop and then insert it on the backside of the handle under the steel cover.
It is installed and works beautifully. I still need to calaibrate it. I intentionally made it about 1/2" too long. Tomorrow I'll go back, read the oil level, and calibrate it to the old distick which was right on the money.
I probably have about 1.5 hours in designing and building this one.
Note: Colonel Ken's handle design is much simpler than mine. If you are going to do this you might want to look at his handle. I like mine better because it tightly fits the tube and seals any air leakage but it is more work to put it together.
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
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