How to: Making a metal ring spacer

1948 Pontiac Hydramatic needs a spacer so I can install non-original seals between the transmission output shaft housing and the drive line.

Spacer: Outside diameter 2.017" +0, -0.05: Inside diameter 1.500" +0.05, -

0: Width approximately 3/8".

How best to make this on a lathe. Material would be a 3" square of alumini um about 3/4" thick. Have 3 jaw and 4 jaw chucks available. Mind you, thi s is simply a spacer. It will not rotate or have anything moving against i t. I suppose I could buy a bunch of large washers, bore them, place on an arbor and reduce the diameter and then stack them up until I reach approxim ately 3/8".

Any advice, especially lathe procedures would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary
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s between the transmission output shaft housing and the drive line.

-0: Width approximately 3/8".

nium about 3/4" thick. Have 3 jaw and 4 jaw chucks available. Mind you, t his is simply a spacer. It will not rotate or have anything moving against it. I suppose I could buy a bunch of large washers, bore them, place on a n arbor and reduce the diameter and then stack them up until I reach approx imately 3/8".

McMaster-Carr

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Reply to
Gerry

Is absolute concentricity an issue ? How accurately will your 3 jaw center ? I'd grab it in the 4 jaw to bore the ID , then move it to the 3 (with inside jaws) to bore the OD . Then you can use either one to machine it to length , whichever works best for that length . You might consider using a hole saw to remove most of the inside and a bandsaw to trim the OD . Save a lot of machine time ... Oh , and your tolerances , did you really mean .05" ? I'd think .005" might be more in line with the application . -- Snag

Reply to
Terry Coombs

Yes I meant 0.005". No, concentricity totally unimportant. BTW, I misspoke. I need a 1.5" spinning shaft to clear free of the spacer. Ergo, any diameter larfer than 1.5" will do.

Thanks, Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary

Ivan Vegvary fired this volley in news:231bc238- snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

It's a simple boring (both lathe and ho-hum) job.

Chuck it in the 4-jaw with more than 3/8" overhanging. Bore, turn to o.d., face, cut off a little long.

Mount 3-jaw. Flip the work, and face the other end to get the right thickness. (index the faced surface against a block to get the piece square to the axis)

It's a huge, thick piece. There's plenty of meat to chuck both times.

Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

"Terry Coombs" fired this volley in news:BMJXv.266817 $ snipped-for-privacy@fx01.iad:

Terry, how do you 'bore' an o.d.? Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh
1948 Pontiac Hydramatic needs a spacer so I can install non-original seals between the transmission output shaft housing and the drive line.

Spacer: Outside diameter 2.017" +0, -0.05: Inside diameter 1.500"

+0.05, -0: Width approximately 3/8".

How best to make this on a lathe. Material would be a 3" square of aluminium about 3/4" thick. Have 3 jaw and 4 jaw chucks available. Mind you, this is simply a spacer. It will not rotate or have anything moving against it. I suppose I could buy a bunch of large washers, bore them, place on an arbor and reduce the diameter and then stack them up until I reach approximately 3/8".

Any advice, especially lathe procedures would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Ivan Vegvary

==========

Do you have a faceplate? If so it's a simple job if you mount plywood on it, true the face flat and attach your blank with screws through the waste area to rough it and then finger clamps inside or outside to finish. The wood lets you cut across the full thickness of the ring and the finger clamps don't distort it. Cut the 3/8" dimension before you break down the roughing setup.

The piece is small enough that you could improvise a faceplate from a chucked pipe nipple and flange, preferably the largest that fits your chuck's center hole for more rigidity and less chatter. It wouldn't hurt to pin the threaded joint or lock it with a conduit nut.

I remove central cores like this in brass or aluminum with a hole saw after loosening the leather drive belt. Steel is too demanding for my MT2 tailstock.

-jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Wrong term ... and I knew it as soon as I posted . Shoulda been "turn" the OD .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

Fender washers make good DIY finger clamps. Support their distal side with a flathead screw driven in to the height of the work surface. They should be safer than bar stock if they contact the tool bit or your hand.

-jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

I'd grab an aluminum rigid conduit coupling, chuck it into the 3 jaw, turn down the exterior diameter, bore out the inside diameter, and then part it off. Install in the housing with loctite sleave locker.

Reply to
clare

Why make all those chips from a solid block instead of using a "pipe" to start with??

Reply to
clare

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

BECAUSE, he's GOT a block. He doesn't HAVE a pipe.

Chips (and time) aren't his issues. Materials and methods are.

Sometimes I think you don't read the OP before you post.

Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Besides... aluminum conduit coupler? Really? Did you even BOTHER to read the OP?

" Spacer: Outside diameter 2.017" +0, -0.05: Inside diameter 1.500"

+0.05, -0: Width approximately 3/8". "

That would be a pretty thick-walled 'coupler' even in 1.5" size, now, wouldn't it? 1/4" walls? Really?

Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

I read ir. The proper material is easily available and makes the job a lot easier., but then some guys never do anything the easy way.

Reply to
clare

A latrobe 1532 is going to be pretty close. Mabee not quite thick enough - I don't have one at hand.. Sched 80 1 1/2" is a wee bit too small.

If you need to start with solid, round would be my choice - and even if I needed to start with square I'd DRILL the center out. Being it only needs to be 3/8" thick I'd more likely start with a chunk of plate instead of a block. Hole saw a blank 2 1/4" or whatever, chuck it in the 3 jaw, drill out the center, bore close to size, chuck onto the 3 jaw, finish the outside diameter, rechuck in the 3 jaw and finish the ID. His required accuracy is not terribly high.

Or rough out the blank from plate with band saw, drill out center and continue as above.

But yes, there are many ways to do it. Likely as many ways as there are guys who would try it - -

Reply to
clare

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Oh, well, then! I'll just tell him to run down to the Latrobe Parts Depot and just pick one up! What was I _thinking_?

Oh... wait... you don't have one, either. 'Guess you will have to run down to the LPD, too, huh?

SOMEtimes, it costs less worry, trouble, time, gas, and pissed-off-edness to just use WTF you have lying around, instead of RUNNING around trying to find exotic "almost done" parts to re-machine.

Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Project finished! Thanks everyone. Scrounged my shop and found a piece of

1.5" ABS pipe that had a coupler glued on. Cut through middle of coupler, c hucked 1.5" pipe, bored to 1.6"(plenty of clearance), turned down to 2.17" and parted off to 3/8". It's just a spacer, nothing rubbing against it, sim ply keeping me from driving the seal too deep. Thank you! Ivan Vegvary
Reply to
Ivan Vegvary

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