Thanks fellas. I will try the local welding supply. Here is why I am asking..... I will start a thread on it when I finish. Its an old model a Banjo I had laying around. Thanks again for the inspiration
The axle tubes on my narrowed 10 bolt started to seep oil after 5 years of service. When I built the rear end I pressed the old tubes out, shortened them the proper amount and pressed them back in and welded them in the GM plug weld holes. An attempt to weld them only cracked. I had some stainless rod and thought I'm not out anything. This has worked for the last 14,000 miles and no sign of cracking. It was done with a tig and produced some really amazing looking welds and stopped the seeping out of the joint. I have since bought some bronze tig rod but haven't had a opportunity to try it out on anything similar. Greg
I have a banjo sitting on my work bench, hopefully I'll get started on it in the next month or so. Jethro your writeup has been inspirational for getting me started on this, I appreciate all the information you've provided so far.
Not really but sort of. I've been trying to come up with a good design for a cover like the Speed Demon but I'm having trouble making the cover and housing as one. Along the casting route I've been trying to build an oil burner to use up some of my waste oil. I fired it up the other day and it worked pretty good. Melted the aluminum faster than using the propane tiger torch. I Poured a couple dozen alloy muffins. Still working out a cover design....I'm wasting a lot of MDF in the process......maybe I should make an MDF burner to melt aluminum.
MDF That's some pretty amazing material! Applications for it are (nearly) endless. Can you imagine all the old growth timber Halibrand (and others) wasted over the years making molds.
OK, I'm back at this thing that has been hanging over my head. It's a project that has stumped me and the anxiety of not knowing how to proceed has given me well , anxiety. So I started to do a little sand casting and I have had some failures as well as some good results. The failures are education, I've learned a few things from my mistakes. I was going to make a rear cover and housing as one piece but instead I am making a more traditional style with the housing and cover separate from each other. I have only just got the patterns made and still have to make flasks to cast them in. I can't believe it's been 6 years since I started this....sheesh!
Wow Nice work, and I know less than .02 about casting but I'm a retired machinist and I'll just say don't cast more than one set before the outcome of the prototype machining says to move forward. If you have machining capability and/or know a good machinist that can check finished dimensions and walk you through it I'm thinking you're on your way.
Thanks Denny! , yeah prototyping is going to see lots of castings going back in the pot. I'm making this up as I go , so cast , trim , measure , machine , assemble , disassemble , re machine , remeasure , re machine , throw away mistakes , recast , retrim , remeasure , remachine.. ......on and on until it's right. Might be another 6 years before it turns a wheel.
Just dug this out of the sand. Trimmed and cleaned off , I still have to machine and measure. Don't ask me how my morning went. Anyone who has poured concrete knows what a "blowout" is and how much of a pain in the ass it is. When it happens with aluminum , 1300 degree liquid metal goes everywhere and starts little fires and makes your shop floor have tiny explosions
@Jethro damn, weld spatter is bad enough, can't imagine how hectic it can get dealing with liquid aluminum splattering everywhere. I hope it didn't get into your boots!
Are you going to heat treat the aluminum? When I made a new rear cover for a quickchange I had it heat treated to T6 before machining. I don't know if it was needed, I just did it because all the other highstrength parts are treated like that. I haven't run the part yet so I don't have any on-the-road reports.
Probably not going to heat treat partly because I don't know how and the castings are extra beefy so there shouldn't be any strength issues. The pieces that I've made so far seem plenty strong. When breaking up the old castings to go back in the pot they take some pretty good hits before breaking apart. Not scientific but if they can take direct hits, some thrust or radial stress should be ok.....we'll see!
I haven't done that either. I machined the shaft from a 9inch axle shaft which was induction hardened. I'll have to research it before I ruin my work. Funny, I'm willing to thrash this thing to see what it will take but I'm a bit hesitant to ruin it by heat treating. I guess I'm a little "gun shy" after ruining a few knife blades from heat treating.
I sent my aluminum casting out to a heat treatment place for the work. I don't remember what it cost, but it only took a few weeks from my schedule. I figured if my bearings came loose in the rear cover it would ruin a lot more than just the cover. Like buying insurance.
When the time comes for machining the bearing bores use a boring bit with a 1/32" RADIUS (min.) on the point, should cut down the chance of "stress risers" there.
If the bearing does not press in clear to the bottom of the bore the tool radius could easily be doubled.
Great work and innovation. I'm sure it won't take the next inspired hot rodder anything like 6 years to get one of these done, Looking at your pic's and detailed explanations I figure I could be convinced to have a go at one in the future. Well done. What axles are you using or did I miss that bit...
I still think this thread is as cool now as the first time I read through it all those years ago. Keep at it, man! Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I've looked at a lot of rear ends in my lifetime, and that's one of the prettiest ones I've ever seen. Still want to put in my book, which I have been working on longer than you have been making that one. Great Job!!! Bruce