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Looking for machine shop for minor lathe work on large bike wheel


mello dude
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Hey - I'm looking for a machine shop with a lathe large enuff to do some very minor machining on a cruiser wheel around Dayton or in the area. 

I have a scrap one so first I want to cut it in half via band saw to check material thicknesses in the hub area, and then with my good wheel, 

just clean up a chamfer in the casting transition on the outer edge and center - hub area still, and then just kiss the raised cast letters off the hub. Very simple job, but a little care required. 

 

 Pics are the junk wheel. 

Wheel1.jpg

wheel2.jpg

Edited by mello dude
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It'd be just as easy to use a mill and a rotary table - and you'll have a better chance of finding one that can handle it.

But any machine shop should be able to do that with no problem.

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Once the piece is indicated in on the rotary table the center will be just as true.

This.

About the same amount of work on a lathe. You would be amazed how far out of concentricity that wheel could be. On the mill you would only be dealing with the side being cut. be specific with your instructions when you get it done. Like what you want "zero" to be. And what you want that face being milled parallel to.

If I was still at my old job I would be able to help you out. I had the freedom to do that kind of stuff. New job not so much.

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Best way I can think of to do it would be to use 3 ground blocks or 1 large ass dowel to register on a machined face on the opposite side and t-clamp it down through the small gaps in the spoke type area. Here's my big question....are we looking at wwhere drum brake will go? If so, then won't the lettering you want to machine off be covered once the bike is assembled? If that is inside the drum then I'd take the cush drive out of the other side and register on that with above mentioned ground blocks....1 2 3 blocks might be a good choice.

Much easier than indicating 2 axis on a lathe with a 4 jaw.

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I'm cleaning it up because that whole surface is exposed. Its butt ugly and has been bugging me since I have owned the bike. Stupid Honda did a beautiful job making the right side of the bike look nice and blingy and pretended that the left side didnt exist. So I want to clean up the inner hub area and then I'm going to polish it out. ----Brakes are disc brake, the rotor is a donut and bolts to the outer bolt pattern. (Rotor polished, brake plate has been chromed, caliper TBD) 

 

On material thickness the area I most wanna verify what is there is the OD ring or step on the outside of the lettering. By the fat finger approach it looks around a quarter or 3/8 inch, but I got the scrap wheel for free, and cutting it is painless, may as well take a look. 

 

-You got it right that the cush drive is on the other side...... 

 

rearrotor2-1.jpg

Edited by mello dude
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This.

About the same amount of work on a lathe. You would be amazed how far out of concentricity that wheel could be. On the mill you would only be dealing with the side being cut. be specific with your instructions when you get it done. Like what you want "zero" to be. And what you want that face being milled parallel to.

If I was still at my old job I would be able to help you out. I had the freedom to do that kind of stuff. New job not so much.

Okay this made me giggle, didn't you get in trouble for doing 'government work'? Uh, no freedom in a weeks pay dear!

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Not to say it can be done on a mill but what you want is basic lathe work.

Are you a machinist? This job would be a nightmare on a lathe. Exactly where would you chuck it? ID chuck the cush drive bore? Good luck indicating it true. Unless you have a monster lathe that can chuck 16 inches OD or however big this wheel is you're gonna have a hell of a time holding it, and even then you still have to indicate it true in both x and z axis AND not crush/otherwise Marr the bead surface of the rim. I guess if you had a lathe dog you could drive it by one of the spokes, but who even has one of those anymore? And you'd still have to find a live and dead center big enough to register the bearing bore without getting in the way of your tooling.

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Are you a machinist? This job would be a nightmare on a lathe. Exactly where would you chuck it? ID chuck the cush drive bore? Good luck indicating it true. Unless you have a monster lathe that can chuck 16 inches OD or however big this wheel is you're gonna have a hell of a time holding it, and even then you still have to indicate it true in both x and z axis AND not crush/otherwise Marr the bead surface of the rim. I guess if you had a lathe dog you could drive it by one of the spokes, but who even has one of those anymore? And you'd still have to find a live and dead center big enough to register the bearing bore without getting in the way of your tooling.

Yes i am a machinist . As far as were or how i would hold onto it (without having seen the other side) i would most likely start by chucking on the O.D. and see where that got me. The reason i would go with this on a lathe is that with him being worried about material thickness i would be shooting for minimum clean-up on all machined surfaces. That and the floor of the pocket doesn't look flat and i would be willing to bet that the walls have some sort of draft to them being that its a casting.

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Ok, if you can swing 16" without mashing it then more power to ya. Seems like he wants things done with the least amount of TIR, so a 3 jaw isn't gonna cut it. The odds of the surface he wants machined being true to the OD of the wheel are pretty low Imho. I'd indicate the bore closest to where the work is being performed and just G02 the fucker and be done with it.

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20th is lathe/mill/UG master flash. Would out do anyone by having someone else do the work. One of the perks of his position.

But seriously 20th knows his way around a lathe and a mill. He has probably done, or was party too dumber on both.

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What he is wanting done is pretty easy compared to wheels i have done before.  I personally made the wheels for this out of solid billet aluminum.  Definatley one of the cooler parts i've made before and makes going into work easier when working on stuff like this.  The best part if it was having to freedom to process and machine them how i wanted to. Basically here's a print and there's the material.....make it happen.

 

 

Buckeye%20Bullet%202.jpg

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What he is wanting done is pretty easy compared to wheels i have done before. I personally made the wheels for this out of solid billet aluminum. Definatley one of the cooler parts i've made before and makes going into work easier when working on stuff like this. The best part if it was having to freedom to process and machine them how i wanted to. Basically here's a print and there's the material.....make it happen.

Buckeye%20Bullet%202.jpg

Sounds like my apprenticeship. Came up through small job, tool & die and mold making shops. Had to cobble together some pretty interesting fixtures etc on Bridgeport and devlieg mills....good times. Then I went to the big league aerospace job where it was all setup, prove the program and run....then I bid out of my machining job to learn the overhaul mechanic job because it was safer due to the outsourcing happening.

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