Fun with the mini lathe
- Thread starter Darkside
- Start date
Thanks Jimmy.
Second try. Rushed this one a little bit, so it's not as clean. Also forgot to account for heating of the axle from machining so the final measurements were off and varied by about .001". Maybe 3rd time will be the charm. Think I'll run it down to within a few thousandths, let it cool, and then switch over to a sharper tool for the finishing passes.
I hope I'm not boring and/or annoying everyone with my tedious nerdiness, but I've gotta share it somewhere. When I show the wife she just looks at me like I'm insane... She might be right.
Hey if we are here on this forum and passionate about racing 7” little wooden cars then it’s safe to say we are all into insane, tedious nerdiness! Yours truly especially. I wish I could remember where I saw this but somewhere there are actual specs/dimensions of a typical grooves speed axle. Either one of the vendor sites or I found it by googling it. I just remember seeing a detailed pic showing the dimensions.
Your handiwork is nice. Now we need to see how they perform .
Keep up the good work.
Jimmy
Your handiwork is nice. Now we need to see how they perform .
Keep up the good work.
Jimmy
The temptation is great indeed! If I could spring for a lathe I certainly would.
Hey Darkside how bout some info on your lathe? Maybe a pic?
I'm using a 7 X 12 mini lathe from Harbor Freight. I had toyed with the idea of buying one for years, but was hesitant for fear of quality. Either they are just nice little machines or I got really lucky, but I've been really happy with mine. The run out on the spindle is .0002" in the bore and on the flange. With an ER 32 collet chuck and some fiddling I can get the run out on a work piece down to .0001". Only modification I've made to the machine was the installation of a quick change tool post. The tool post it comes with is usable but not user friendly. Other than that just the standard tooling and accessories.
I'm not a professional machinist. It's just one of my hobbies that keeps me from zoning out on the TV. And yep I did just buy a lathe and give it a try. I've never been smart enough to know that I can't do things, so I tend to just dive in and see what happens. Some times it works out well and other times not so much. But either way I learn something.
I'm not a professional machinist. It's just one of my hobbies that keeps me from zoning out on the TV. And yep I did just buy a lathe and give it a try. I've never been smart enough to know that I can't do things, so I tend to just dive in and see what happens. Some times it works out well and other times not so much. But either way I learn something.
Both. Depends on the application. For the axles I'm using carbide inserts.
Thanks for sharing the lathe info. Has it been a while or is it still a current product they carry?
At some point I want to get a lathe so I can true/cut my own wheels. Can’t buy one now but always keeping track of pricing.
Did you ever think of doing wheels too?
At some point I want to get a lathe so I can true/cut my own wheels. Can’t buy one now but always keeping track of pricing.
Did you ever think of doing wheels too?
Yep, they still carry them. They usually have the 7 x 10s in the store. You can get the 7 x 12 and a 7 x 14 online. Amazingly when I got mine, the 7 x 12 was less than the 7 x 10 for some reason. And with a 20% off Harbor freight coupon it was around $500 shipped to my door. I wouldn't recommend getting the 7 x 10 anyway. The 7 x 12 has just enough room to work with easily. I can't imagine it being 2" shorter. The 7 x 14 would be even better, but they cost quite a bit more.
Keep in mind though that that is just the start. Once you start buying tools and accessories you can easily increase your initial investment by 50 - 100%... BUT, once you're set up, there's all kinds of stuff you can do. Theres an online store, littlemachineshop.com, that carries nearly everything you could need. Certainly everything you need to get started. Great resource.
And yep, I have cut wheels. I made 3 sets of 1.5 g wheels for my son's scout cars. He actually turned the outer surfaces, but I did the inside work. Hardest part about turning the wheels is I had to make the tools to hold them so that everything would be concentric to the bore. Once that was done, and everything was set up, the actual turning goes pretty quickly.
Keep in mind though that that is just the start. Once you start buying tools and accessories you can easily increase your initial investment by 50 - 100%... BUT, once you're set up, there's all kinds of stuff you can do. Theres an online store, littlemachineshop.com, that carries nearly everything you could need. Certainly everything you need to get started. Great resource.
And yep, I have cut wheels. I made 3 sets of 1.5 g wheels for my son's scout cars. He actually turned the outer surfaces, but I did the inside work. Hardest part about turning the wheels is I had to make the tools to hold them so that everything would be concentric to the bore. Once that was done, and everything was set up, the actual turning goes pretty quickly.
May be a few minor tweaks from here, but I've pretty much got the process dialed. And it only took me an hour and a half to make... Whaaa ha ha ha!!! And that doesn't include the finish work that still needs to be done on the head... I guess there's worse things I could do with an hour and a half and then some... Now I just have to see if I can make a matching set.
I will run a set in my next BASX. All we need to do is pre cut the DF axles bending groove. Positive camber and shoulder the head. Beef up and relocate inner shaft shoulder. Round off the point.
The rears.... slightly lengthen the shafts about 1 3/16" total, round the points, loose the shoulder near the head and build it into the head with a slight chamfer growing to the head with a flat shoulder at the head. Decrease head diameter to clear outer bore diameter well. Here is the tough one...cone the inner head contact loction to hub small in diameter as possible while being larger than bore diameter plus shoulder to bore clearance and allowance. That should do. I can sketch it out if you like.
The rears.... slightly lengthen the shafts about 1 3/16" total, round the points, loose the shoulder near the head and build it into the head with a slight chamfer growing to the head with a flat shoulder at the head. Decrease head diameter to clear outer bore diameter well. Here is the tough one...cone the inner head contact loction to hub small in diameter as possible while being larger than bore diameter plus shoulder to bore clearance and allowance. That should do. I can sketch it out if you like.
LOL!! Is that all? Send me the sketch and dimensions PLEASE!I will run a set in my next BASX. All we need to do is pre cut the DF axles bending groove. Positive camber and shoulder the head. Beef up and relocate inner shaft shoulder. Round off the point.
The rears.... slightly lengthen the shafts about 1 3/16" total, round the points, loose the shoulder near the head and build it into the head with a slight chamfer growing to the head with a flat shoulder at the head. Decrease head diameter to clear outer bore diameter well. Here is the tough one...cone the inner head contact loction to hub small in diameter as possible while being larger than bore diameter plus shoulder to bore clearance and allowance. That should do. I can sketch it out if you like.
This is my concept. Length to resemble a full axle rigidity, the shouldering to remove all frequency wobble, head shoulder to minimize head to bore face contact, 7 tens thousands valleys to prevent hydrostatic pressure increase at speed with oil, and other propietery reasoning included by design in the homogeneous interaction of individualized design components.
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