- Joined
- Dec 15, 2008
- Messages
- 6,944
- Reaction score
- 1,240
- Location
- Port Elizabeth
- Bike
- BMW R1200GS Adventure
After a recent disappointing purchase, I decided to give up on looking for what I wanted locally (prices for what I want from over the pond are just ridiculous), started some research, did some planning (mostly in my head), did a bit more research on materials, made a few phone calls and went shopping.
Its been a bit of a lengthy process to get to this point (been at it since November 2018) but I am progressing. I will leave the project a mystery for now. :biggrin:
So the materials I have sourced are EN36 for the critical hard wearing part, and for the weight saving components, 6063 T6 Aluminium tube, and 6068 T6 Aluminium Round bar.
There are multiple threads (the screw kind) in this project, so went down to the local plastics supplier and rummaged through their scrap bin for suitable off-cuts to practice on. Having successfully mastered that, I began on the actual project. I unfortunately didn't take photos right from the beginning, but I have some to post here.
First part was to set the lathe up to be able to turn a 1.25mm Pitch thread. You basically just follow the thread/gear chart on the lathe and as long as you get it all right, you will have a 1.25mm pitch thread. Many lathes have a series of levers on the front to select the various gears to get the right spindle to leadscrew ratio. Unfortunately in my case, I have to do this manually and physically remove and change the gears in the gearbox every time I want to change the pitch. Gears were rearranged and the test was done on some of the offcut plastic.
All was good, so the first part of the actual project was to put an Aluminium cap on the end of an Aluminium tube. So the tube was threaded internally first. The tube wall is 3mm thick, but much of that was removed as I needed the maximum capacity I could get on the inside of the tube.
Next was to make the cap to fit the tube. I didn't get the entire process, but here the cap is virtually complete.
And here the tube has been test fitted onto the cap whilst still in the chuck.
The inside of the cap was also bored out
The semi-complete cap.
More to follow.
Its been a bit of a lengthy process to get to this point (been at it since November 2018) but I am progressing. I will leave the project a mystery for now. :biggrin:
So the materials I have sourced are EN36 for the critical hard wearing part, and for the weight saving components, 6063 T6 Aluminium tube, and 6068 T6 Aluminium Round bar.
There are multiple threads (the screw kind) in this project, so went down to the local plastics supplier and rummaged through their scrap bin for suitable off-cuts to practice on. Having successfully mastered that, I began on the actual project. I unfortunately didn't take photos right from the beginning, but I have some to post here.
First part was to set the lathe up to be able to turn a 1.25mm Pitch thread. You basically just follow the thread/gear chart on the lathe and as long as you get it all right, you will have a 1.25mm pitch thread. Many lathes have a series of levers on the front to select the various gears to get the right spindle to leadscrew ratio. Unfortunately in my case, I have to do this manually and physically remove and change the gears in the gearbox every time I want to change the pitch. Gears were rearranged and the test was done on some of the offcut plastic.
All was good, so the first part of the actual project was to put an Aluminium cap on the end of an Aluminium tube. So the tube was threaded internally first. The tube wall is 3mm thick, but much of that was removed as I needed the maximum capacity I could get on the inside of the tube.
Next was to make the cap to fit the tube. I didn't get the entire process, but here the cap is virtually complete.
And here the tube has been test fitted onto the cap whilst still in the chuck.
The inside of the cap was also bored out
The semi-complete cap.
More to follow.
