DIY Counterweight Bushes

[SnakeyJ]

I need to knock up some stainless steel counterweights for CGE, having found a couple of reasonably priced 7" 304 grade billet ends.    Nothing too smart, but should be able to get a decent finish and polish them up.     Given that the shaft diameter on the CGE is 32mm, I'd like to find flanged bushes to open up a little wider and will probably drill and tap the weights to accept an M6 nylong tipped bolt to lock off.

Commercially they seem to use a hard plastic material, but I was considering olite bronze or similar - any suggestions, or should I simply bore out and chamfer and save the pennies and fuss?

 

 

[MarkAR]

That's a nice little project. Oilite bushes would be overkill, they are really meant as bearings for slow rotating shafts. Delrin or maybe nylon would suffice as it only really needs to be for reducing any scratch marks on the shaft. 

[tooth_dr]

I have opted for nylon bushes. I thought about no bushes too, or even aluminium, but nylon was available and is suitable for the job.

 

[SnakeyJ]

2 hours ago, MarkAR said:

That's a nice little project. Oilite bushes would be overkill, they are really meant as bearings for slow rotating shafts. Delrin or maybe nylon would suffice as it only really needs to be for reducing any scratch marks on the shaft. 

Thanks Mark, that sounds sensible - I did look at alcatel, but it looks expensive in tube form especially if I cant find a suitably sized off cut.

1 hour ago, tooth_dr said:

I have opted for nylon bushes. I thought about no bushes too, or even aluminium, but nylon was available and is suitable for the job.

 

Nylon sounds good - I wasn't so sure about aluminium and stainless due to galvanic corrosion.

[tooth_dr]

4 hours ago, SnakeyJ said:

Nylon sounds good - I wasn't so sure about aluminium and stainless due to galvanic corrosion.

Here are what mine look like so far. Centre hole widened, nylon bushing and shot blasted.  SW EQ6 -> Mesu 200 

 

[MarkAR]

5 hours ago, SnakeyJ said:

Thanks Mark, that sounds sensible - I did look at alcatel, but it looks expensive in tube form especially if I cant find a suitably sized off cut.

Nylon sounds good - I wasn't so sure about aluminium and stainless due to galvanic corrosion.

I've got some offcuts of solid round bar acetal,  what sort of size did you need? I can have a rummage to see what I have.

[SnakeyJ]

6 hours ago, MarkAR said:

I've got some offcuts of solid round bar acetal,  what sort of size did you need? I can have a rummage to see what I have.

Thanks Mark, OD would need to be 36mm+  and around 70mm long would do both weights - happy to make a donation + pp if you find anything suitable.

[tooth_dr]

I looked at acetal too, didn’t think it was too bad for small bits

 

[MarkAR]

Got some.

37 x 160 in white, might be a bit tight on the OD for what you need for finished size.

50 x 100 in black

50 x 140 in white.

PM me what you would like and your address.

 

[SnakeyJ]

On 17/02/2020 at 10:14, MarkAR said:

Got some.

37 x 160 in white, might be a bit tight on the OD for what you need for finished size.

50 x 100 in black

50 x 140 in white.

PM me what you would like and your address.

 

HI Mark, thank you for sending some over so quickly.    I've had a bit of a busy weekend so have only just started the job, facing and turning the 17/4 ss billets.   Really nice material to work with and decent surface finish without resorting to suds.

 

I'll polish the whole thing up once I have bored them out, then machine the inserts from the acetal and drill and tap for the locking screws.

[JamesF]

1 hour ago, SnakeyJ said:

That's a bit weird.  Was it meant to be an image?

James

[SnakeyJ]

41 minutes ago, JamesF said:

That's a bit weird.  Was it meant to be an image?

James

Hi James - It worked on my screen, not the best photograph - I had copied and pasted from Google images, but lets try and upload properly....

 

 

How's that?

[JamesF]

That looks very lovely and shiny

James

[MarkAR]

No worries mate. 

[SnakeyJ]

Still a work in progress - just need to turn up and bore the acetal and then drill and tap for the clamping screws.

 

Truing up the second billet

One bin full of swarf later .... Comparison - the colour difference is poor lighting rather than a difference in materials, but I like the almost gold anodised impression.    My CGE shaft diameter is 31.72mm, so I will probably bore out a little more to allow for 3mm tube thickness for the acetal.