My favorite hand made tool is the Sheldon Brown fixed cup remover. It is basically a big bolt with a bunch of fender washers and a huge nut at the other end. The washers are just big enough so that it gets a good grip on the fixed cup but not so big that the polished bearing surfaces get touched. Simple... you just grab one side with a big socket wrench and one good push - bang off it comes. Brilliant! Thanks Sheldon. I also use a cut rubber inner tube to hold the front wheel straight when I have the bike on the stand. It ties the downtube to the rim... no marring of paint either. I have two short bolts I attach to my rear dropouts. I set them so the tips almost touch and then I can judge if the dropouts are parallel. I have a dishing tool I made from plywood. It has a mark on it so that I can take a steel ruler and measure from the mark to the axle face to judge for dish. It's just as accurate for dishing as a Park tool but way cooler.
Garth Libre In Miami Fl USA