TECH: How I drilled my dropped axle

Cool! And you can get the piece of wood at homeless depot when you get the hole saw! Fabulous!

 

Nice man! Thats gonna look great all smoothed out.

 

When can I drop mine off?

 

HAHA! Yep!

 

Nice job!

I remember doing mine that the web was 1/2" thick. If my calculations are right, fifteen 1" holes adds up to 1.67 pounds of steel, plus a little extra for any chamfering.

It looks cool to paint the holes a contrasting color to make them really stand out.

 

I checked your post several times for ideas on what direction to go! It was a big help! Glad you posted that!

 

Nice job, I'll be referring to this post when I drill my Econoline axle.

 

Tune in next week when Scooter builds a chrome vat...

Nice job bubba...

 

great job...d32

 

Nice detailed explanation, man. Nice work, looks great!!

 

Impressive write up and photos.....thanks

 

Bwaaahahahahahaha!! A chrome VAT?? HAHA!!

You guys are too nice! Thanks for all the nice words!

I have to say, I was sweatin' bullets setting this up. The fact that Chassis Engineering is apparently not going to make these anymore and the price of heavy 32's are going through the roof scared me into really thinking this through carefully! I don't like redoing stuff (even though I'm guilty of redoing things several times), so I knew I couldn't screw this up.

Oh! And, my Dad looked at this and wondered how I attached the plywood to the table. In case anyone else is intersted it's only held on with a clamp in the middle. Self-supporting otherwise. Just has to give an area for the axle to lay flat. Clamping it down while drilling was the hard part because sometimes the clamp wouldn't reach. This axle is pretty heavy and won't swing away, but it will have a tendancy to jump around when the hole saw first takes a bite. I used a screwed up Optima battery to keep it down flat when I couldn't simply clamp it. I'm sure there was a better way, but I had that sitting there and used it.

 

Nice work, Scott!! Thanks alot for detailing the process and posting it...



Malcolm

 

SWEET! Great job.

 

Hey, I got caught up in the minutia of all the weight saving discussion and forgot to tell you what a nice job you did. In the end, the racy appearance is what it's all about. Weight savings are a distant second. You got talent and your write up is gonna send a lot of guys to their drill press to drill an axle that may have not been done otherwise!

Bob

 

Nice Job and great thread on this.......

 

thanks alot, your axle looks awesome. I always wondered how to get the holes centered.


mike

 

Thanks Bob! I appreciate it! You were right about the weight anyway! HAHA! Silly! 7 pounds?? HAHA! Would have to cut out the entire web or MORE for that!

Anyway, YEAH! Seriously guys! If you have a drill press or a friend that has one and pick up some of these tools you can totally do this at home! You don't have to have a Bridgeport mill or anything special. I'm guessing this was done back in the day by people that didn't have a mill in their garage. Of course a mill would be nice, but you don't HAVE to have it!

One day I WILL have a mill though!

 

Nice tech article ! Do you still run into people that dont believe you can use a holesaw on metal? I do.

 

nice tech thread. you axle looks great!

 

thats alot of trouble to make them spacers..
when a stack of washers would work out the same way..

oh oh oh
its the axle with whistling holes that was the desred item .... not a dozen or so thick spacers ...

was a larger dia. hole ever -even in your initial plan?

and how much grinding / beveling will you be satisfied with?...
a completly smoothed rounded over edges?

sill playing devils advocate was the axle checked for true and straight first ?

i like it very much and you have only a few hours work and minor tool expense to show for your idea and follow through...
and a great tech here thanks
even planning your pictures show ya care about ...the rest of us ..

 

Well thought out thread,Scooter.Thanks for taking the time to share this info.

 

I've got a box full of those slugs from hole sawing. Never throw them away. They make great spacers or heavy duty washers.

Bob

 

GREAT JOB - As a retired wood and metal pattern maker for a very large foundry with lots of layout experience, all I can say you did all the "right steps" for laying out something like this. For everyone doing this a bit of work and time could have been saved with a simple grade school kid's compass. Set the pointer and felt tip pen (or pencil) to the approximate center distance and draw the center line on the tape TWICE without changing the width of the compass legs.. Once from each outer edge to draw two lines on your tape in the middle of the web. The exact center is in the middle between the two lines you have drawn. Simple and accurate - but make sure the compass doesn't slip. Certainly nothing wrong at all with finding the center the way you did, using a compass (or divider) is just a quicker way to do it. The desired outcome is the same and that is finding the center.

Holding the workpiece securely is critical and you did a fine job of that too. The pilot hole is critical for this operation.

The next thing you did right was to run the drill press slow!!!!! Oil definitely helps lubricate and remove the chips, but with the right speed and a decent quality tool you can drill all day long with out burning up the tool. Speeds and feeds for any machining operation are critical and must be calculated for each operation for optimum performance and or tool life. For something like this, slow is the way to go!

Again, Great job and photos to show how to "get er dun!"

 

HAHA! Thanks man! Them damn washer stacks...

Not sure on the beveling yet. I kind of like the crisp looking hole, but thinking I will take a real big counter sing we have and just touch the edge of each one... maybe. Not that I'm too worried about it, but from a stress point of view, it's better to break the edges to begin with. I would at least like a little more bevel just for a more finished look. I don't think I'll roll them though.

I DID check for to see that the axle was flat and straight before I started. Mostly out of curiosity. It was mostly just a visual inspection for any obvious issues. Looks straight and flat! That IS a good point though! I should have brought that up! Would suck to go through all the trouble of making those spacers out of crooked axle!

As for the finish, I have no intention of smoothing it out at this point. I like the natural texture of it. Well... at least I hadn't really PLANNED on smoothing it out. I wouldn't smooth the web, but would consider the top and bottom. Hmmmm.... Got me thinking now. Dammit.

1" was pretty much always the plan. Saw someone do 1-1/4 and it looked real good though! I'm happy with the 1". I think realistically the holes are more like 1-1/8" once you account for the swing/orbiting of the hole saw itself.

Thanks for the nice words!

 

Thanks! And YES! The divider way is another great way to really get a good accurate center as well. Just didn't have anything great layin' around the shop to make a big compass that didn't require anymore work than what I was going to do here. Very good suggestion! A person could use the spindle stop holes for that as a center point.

Can't stress enough to take your time and use the appropriate speed and LOTS of oil!!! The oil NEVER stopped flowing as I drilled. You don't need a $40, crazy hole saw to make holes.

 

scooter is the bomb because he has roots from IOWA!!!! lol

Awesome tech man. it looks like your well rehearsed in the drilling so I'll just mail you my axle and just get it done in your free time jk.

sweet man.

 

Scooter, Was that American made wood or Chinese?
Does the hole saw have to be an Orange Rigid?
What if I could get the hole saw to match the pink knife, could I use 5w-30 oil instead?
If I use my consumer credit card at Home Depot and buy everything on your list and tell them you sent me, will I get a discount.
Very nice work there bud!

 

Good job as always...

Kevin
Ooltewah Speed Shop