need thick AL tubing

McMaster Carr has some 1/2" w/.120" wall. Gives you a .260" ID, but if it's just an air line, it ought to work. The .120 wall will give you more meat than what you currently have. They sell it in 3' and 6' lengths. Page 3370 in catalog #111, P/N 1968T23

Matt

Online metals has some sizes that are close.

They're easy to buy from in small qty, like a 3 foot piece, and they'll probably ship next day if you want to pay for it.

You could probably find something at Discount Steel & Aluminum in Mnpls, but ya never know for sure -- might be worth a call.

McMaster Carr has some 1/2" w/.120" wall. Gives you a .260" ID, but if it's just an air line, it ought to work. The .120 wall will give you more meat than what you currently have. They sell it in 3' and 6' lengths. Page 3370 in catalog #111, P/N 1968T23

Matt

Could you be a little more specific Matt?

JB

Sure:-)

It's 2024-T3 Aluminum. Hardness is 120 Brinell, Yield Strength is

39-40k PSI. Conforms to ASTM B210. Straightness is +/-.010"/ft, and Length Tolerance is +1.0"/-0, so if he needs exactly 3', he should be OK.

Oh, almost forgot. It's Import material, but they could check into getting domestic if that's what he needs!

Have a great day, John!

Matt

Thanks for the suggestions, but no joy. The 1/2" tubing is .065"to small on O.D. None of the 0.625 tubing at online metals will leave me enough to put a

1/2x20 thread on. I could use this in a real pinch if I could find some way to weld a round on the end of the tube and turn to make the part

Get .625 OD .375 ID, turn down OD to .562, make a stub/plug out of

1/2" barstock with a nub .375- to fit the hole, have "the kid" weld them together, drill out an air passage in the 1/2" stub. That'd be an easy weld.

Idea: have online dropship the ally tubing to me. I have 1/2" barstock. I'd leave the OD machining to you but I could weld on the stub and mail it to you -- while you're finding that defunct Branson cleaner!

I'm going to go with that .625 tubing and attach a solid rod piece to the ends, somehow. I just checked the forces on that pushrod, its a bit over

1000 lbs. and I need it to cycle about 100,000 times before a failure. I'm a bit worried about just welding a rod to the end of the tubing - it will fatigue crack and fail quickly. Also, the rod to be attached must be a bit over 1/2" as this piece must be turned down to 0.500 and be dead on the exact same center as the .565 O.D.

I'm leaning to making an interference fit between the tubing and rod. Heat tubing and drop rod end in, then turn to size and add 1/2 x 20 threads. Is this the best design? Other ideas?

Karl

Since it's a pushrod, assuming more push than pull, I'd machine the stub out of 5/8" barstock so there's a full OD flange against the tube. I have 3/4" barstock (probably 6063T6) in the rack that can become 5/8" (or .585) real quick. Then the only holding force you need worry about is to keep it from falling out unless there is significant tension as well. I'd then press it in and make an autogenous weld at the interface between boss and tube. I'd turn the tube and projecting part of the insert down to maybe .585 before welding to leave you some metal for machining to dead nuts.

No problem leaving the half inch part at .550 or so, or full dia for you to turn down to size.

I'll be batchin' it for a coupla weeks starting Thursday, so I'll have plenty of time.

I also have that battery dingus and regulator in an envelope ready to go. Sic "good looker Julie" on that inop Branson! Heck, if she finds it and I do your tube, I might even drive out to Dassel on a nice day next week.

----

Tomorrow's project is to install a new gas stove. Mary's cookies burned on Sunday. That is not good, not at all good. She thought maybe the oven was running a bit hot so she "drove" manually to finish the (big) batch for neighbor Con who had bladed our driveway twice during and after the snowstorm, whattaguy. I got the carbonized ones, perhaps as motivation. Hey, burnt cookies beat no cookies...

Awright, so I set up my laptop, a little DAQ box and a thermocouple amp on the counter so I could log oven temp. I got that patient "geek loose" look -- but she liked the 20-minute plot of the oven temp ramping right thru 350 and eventually cycling between way too hot (520F) and even hotter (535F). Yup, oven control is definitely kaputski.

Called Appliance Parts. No parts available. Geez, that Caloric is only 35 years old. So then we went stove shopping. Gawd, I've bought some pretty good cars for what a decent gas stove goes for now. Oh well! Gotta have an oven that works.

BestBuy will deliver the new stove and haul the old but they wanted another $200 for a suitably licensed, bonded, certified and sanitized tradesperson to hookitup. Uh, no! Geez, that's a dirt-simple five-minute job including leakchecks. I'll do the hookup, and if the delivery guy or guys won't stick around to help move it in place after I connect the gas line and plug in the cord then Mary 'n I will get 'er done. Stoves aren't heavy but I don't wanna barf up the floor.

Milady is practical. "Perhaps we could employ maglev, or maybe compressed air and ground effect..." "Yeah ... or we could put it on a rug and slide it, then you tip the stove while I jerk the rug." "Oh... yeah... that'd work too."

Don,

I'm going to take you up on your very kind offer. "The Kid" just took a job in the cities and moved to Apple Valley. I won't be seeing him much for a while. I can't weld AL for beans, gave up after watching that kid do it perfect.

BTW, this is for a pruning shear. I've hired four people and I got three good shears and three shears that need this part.

I'll drop you an email with more info.