Hello U.K. Engine List
Just wanted to take this opportunity to thank each of you who have responded to my inquiry concerning my efforts to remove the broken gib key in my Petter Engine. This morning I went out to the shop armed with a slide hammer, welder, drill bits, taps, Grade 8 bolts, drill motor, etc. I was determined to get the key out.
I was going to make a drill guide from new 3/8" key stock but once I saw that the width of the gib key was 3/8" but the thickness was a little more than 1/4" at the front end of the broken part and tapered down to less than a 1/4" at the end of the key I knew that what I had in mind would not work out. I decided to have a go at just free hand drilling. I took a 1/8" bit and first drilled about three fourths of the way through the broken gib key and I followed this with a #7 drill. I had planned on then tapping this hole for a 1/4-20 Grade 8 Bolt but soon realized that the bottom of the hole that I had just drilled was too close to the crankshaft keyway and the tap threads might have cut into the crank so I abandoned this idea. I then decided to just try and weld a 1/4" Grade 8 bolt to the top part of the remaining broken gib key.
I removed the hook attachment off of my slide hammer, I purchased a large nut that had the same thread pattern as did my slide hammer, I found a 1/4" drill bushing in my tool box (lucky here). I welded the drill bushing to the large nut and then welded the 1/4" grade 8 bolt to the drill bushing. Once I completed this I then screwed in my slide hammer to the pulling apparatus I had just made and gave it a go. The key moved about 1/8" on the first blow and two blows later it was out.
You can go to the URL address below and see pictures of how I got the key out:
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Thanks Guys, you are a great group of people.
Paul