HAMB Auction: Brass Shifter Knob with stainless threaded inserts

I thought I'd give a little back to the good ol' HAMB. I know I'm not an Alliance Member (I'm broke), I can make stuff and this is a good way to support it.

Up for auction is a cool solid brass shifter knob. It was made on a manual lathe with a taper attachment and a radii cutter. It is unpolished, but the finish is very good. With time it will have a nice patina to it or someone can polish it and clear coat it and it will stay shiny. It is drilled and tapped for a 1/2-13 UNC-2B and I will include 2 stainless steel (18-8) keyed threaded inserts (called Key Serts or Keen Serts depending on who you ask). One is a 3/8-16 UNC and the other is 3/8-24 UNF. I will also include the tool for setting the keys. Stainless key serts aren't cheap and neither is the tool for inserting them. Also included are two stainless lock nuts (3/8-16 and 3/8-24).

The weight of the shifter knob is 14 oz so it is heavy. It may not be the best for really tall shifters, but should be okay for normal or small ones.

Payment should be sent to Ryan and once he is paid and PMs me, I'll mail it out to you. Let's make this a two week long auction because my key serts are still in the mail. They should be here today, but just in case...

I'll post pics of the key serts when I get them in. Sorry for the crappy pics, but all I have is a camera phone.

Moderators: Please Sticky!!!

 

$15.00

 

20 Bucks.

 

$25

 

$30...nice work

 

Cute!

$40

 

Sorry, can't bid on the shifter handle as I am also broke. BUT , I want to give you a nod for great attitude. Good stuff my friend.
All the best,
Dale
Cleveland OH

 

$45 - nice looking knob - brass is so cool.

dj
"ruminating and cogitating for over half a century"

 

$50.....................

 

Neat! $55.00

 

Very neat! $65

 

$67.00

 

Really? Okay $100 for the knob & an Alliance membership for the fabricator: that's a $150 cash value to the support of the Hamb.

Go big boys, or go home. =oP

 

Dang, Brandy! You ROCK!!!

I have some good news and some bad news though. First the bad news: I accidently dropped the knob and dinged it, but fortunately I had my lab assistant machine another while I was teaching lab. It isn't just like it, though. Personally, I think it is better. If ya'll want to withdraw your bid, I totally understand. I just want to be straight up about this. Here are the pics of the new one. It is alot lighter (which is good) at 10.80 oz and has a greater radius at the end which I believe fits your hand better.

Here are the pics of it and pics of the key serts.

Since the bidding has gotten good, I will machine another brass shifter and throw it in for free! This one, will be a different design. If anyone wants me to replicate the first one I can (I can't guarrantee on hitting 14 oz exactly though. That was just blind luck. LOL). Hopefully these two knobs make up for my screw up. Sorry guys, I'm clumsy sometimes. I guarrantee whoever wins will like this. They are f'n sweet and no one will have another one like yours. These are not mass produced.

 

Stop dropping the goods! Lighter is good for me, I've got small hands anyways....ha ha! =oP

 

Sorry about the crap pics. Photography isn't my strong suite.

Here are pics of the stainless steel key serts and the installation tool.

Keyed threaded inserts (sometimes called key serts, king serts, or keen serts depending on how bad their Texas drawl is) are IMHO way better than helicoils. Sometimes in industrial plants, we had machines that were made of aluminum and the operators would consequently strip out the threads and so we would install these key serts. These don't back out like helicoils sometimes do. I will show you how to install them.

Included in the auction is both key serts (3/8-16 and 3/8-24) AND the installation tool, so not only do you get TWO shifter knobs but a cool tool to use from now on.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT TO USE KEY SERTS IN THE FUTURE: These are the thin wall key serts. With thin wall key serts you don't drill for 75% thread engagement only about 50%. A normal tap drill for a 1/2-13 (this is what the outside threads of the key sert are) is a 27/64", however for these you need to use 29/64" instead. With a 29/64" tap drill tap it for 1/2-13.

FOR THE REST OF YOU:
To install the keysert, just thread it in there like you would a normal bolt. If it gets a little hard to turn with your fingers, you can just take a small screwdriver and turn it between the keys with your hand. This is usually just at the top when you can't hold onto it with your fingers anymore. Be gentle. You don't want to break the keys.

Once it is flush with the surface you can then take your tool and insert the small diameter of the tool into the inside diameter of the keysert. The large part of the tool slides freely. Once inserted, you just lightly tap on it to seat the keys. Once the keys are seated, that bad boy ain't coming out.

 

Sorry, Brandy. I'm gonna blame it on my athritis! LOL.

Now, I didn't install these because I don't know what your thread size is, but if you want me to, I will. No worries, just tell me which one you want installed.

I'll machine the other knob in the next couple of days and post some pics.

 

Ha. Okay I'll bite...........assuming somebody else doesn't pony up more than my current cash value of $150 greenbacks, I guess it doesn't really matter because I'm just collecting parts for my heap of rusty shit.

Fun huh?! But oh my god, it'll totally fit the color scheme of the car......once it gets that far in about 30 years.

 

What kind of car is it? What are your plans for it?

 

Brandy Great job I guess you put the boy's on the trailor. Go fast or go home

 

Ummm it's a late 20's Pontiac roadster that I bought off the HAMB several years ago in Wisconsin. It's been there since, but will be coming home this summer. The idea behind buying the WISCONSIN WARRIOR *watch out boys*, is to build as close to ABSOLUTELY possible, an all Poncho roadster. It's picture is under my profile, in an album.

It's going to be a CHALLENGE, to say the least...........what I do know, is that it will have a 389 with tripower, 50 Poncho tail lights, ribbed radirs with whites. I'm going for an early 60's California roadster look. Gold engine *standard Brandy*, with the light metallic Pontiac blue body and white interior.

I've got it down, I just need to collect all the fun bits so I can mock it up and start getting it done when I get it here. My brother Robby is a CNC operator, so he'll be a great help and my brother ScooterMcRad here on the hamb is a mechanical engineer.

I'm in good hands.

Dirt T: When it comes to the boys, I ALWAYS put them on the trailer.

 

HAHAHAHAHA that's awesome! She has more sand than most of the guys on here. I love it!

 

How much for the 'dinged' one? I dig battle scars...

 

Dang, Brandy. That sounds too cool. If I had any Pontiac parts, I'd throw them in the box, too, but that is a rare car around here.

Too late, TeeJ. One of my students wanted it, so I gave it away. I didn't really want to auction off one that wasn't in perfect shape. I figure it wouldn't be right.

I have a cool dinged up one that one of my favorite students made for me, but it's not for sale at any price. It's sitting on my desk right now.

I'm sure I'll make a few more and if I have any dinged up ones (which happens sometimes), I'll see what I can do. This semester, my students in my Metals class are getting done very quickly with their work, so I might show them taper turning and radii cutting on the lathe. If that's the case, there will be a few mistakes on some. LOL. I usually only show that to my students that show a high interest in this stuff simply because I don't have the time in class.

 

Here is the other shift knob. It's much smaller than the other one. Perfect for small hands! LOL.

 

My brother is a CNC operator, he and I made one on his computer system and I got to watch it do it's thing. That's some neat stuff right there! Of course then I had to watch his videos of making drill bits for the oil patches.

I'm excited........... =O)

 

I do all of my machining on manual lathes and mills. I learned NC programming a long time ago on outdated software even then and I just never had the opportunity to keep up with it. I was always doing "on offs", small batches, and stuff. It would be nice to learn that again. It's alot different now.

 

It would be real cool if you made Brass Balls too. Dirty reference wasn't really intended.

 

Like a trailer hitch? I can do that. I have another brass shifter knob that I made that is more rounded. It looks like a mini trailer hitch except with some cool grooves in it. I can also do concave cuts as well.

The real trick is doing spherical surface generation on a manual milling machine. Now that is tricky.

 

Ummmmm brass balls?! WTH!?!

Brass doesn't seem like a smart trailer hitch...............since red bronze is such a soft material, it would seem that if the trailer started to fish tail, then that brass would just twist up and give up the plot.

I could be wrong...........I've never tried it with brass. =O)