Thought I'd share some pic's of a tool I made

[Adam Baker]

I own an Iwata HP-CS airbrush, and like all airbrushes (I think) it came w/ a small wrench for removing the head cap. I dont know whether i was overtightening the head cap, or what, but all I know is that the wrench that came w/ my airbrush crapped out pretty quickly, to the point of rounding off the corners of the head cap.

So for a long time, I've resorted to using the smallest adjustable wrench I was able to find at the hardware store, but it was still way overkill.

The new job I started at the end of May, one of my responsibilities is to babysit the water jet when its cutting parts, and it got me to thinking about maybe modeling up something that I could use to remove the cap on my airbrush, and this is what I came up w/ using Solidworks.

And today I was finally able to get a chance to cut it out. Its made out of 1/8" thick 6061-T6 aluminum. Its about 3" long.

First thing after I got home, I gave it a try, and I have to say that it works perfectly. It grabs the head cap w/ very little wiggle, and it spun right off.

I'd originally planned on putting Iwata HP-CS on the handle, but unfortunately it was just too small, and the program on the water jet freaked out when I output the program to run it, so I had to remove the text.

 

[SA Dave]

Very cool

 

[Sherman 18]

Now that is working smarter

 

[jknaus]

Brillinat idea
James

 

[Gator]

Very cool!

 

[Duke Maddog]

Awesome! I wish I could get something like that! I' still have my small channel locks at least.

That's Brilliant Adam! Way to go!

 

[Adam Baker]

Thanks guys. I was really thrilled when I saw how well it fit onto the airbrush. I was worried that I'd made the opening too tight. I think I only made it .005 or .010" larger than the fitting size on the head cap, which was pretty close, but it worked perfectly.