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I make my camshafts out of O-1 drill rod and the lifters from 12L14. The lifters are the softer material and would wear before the camshaft. The camshafts are unhardened.
Any chance of a copy of your cam milling table Steve Jo
Glad you are enjoying it Bill. Don't just copy me though as I don't know what I am doing. I just make it up as I go along!The time is ripe for putting the holes through the crank case, a job I have not been relishing. I started off by making up a boring bar. Of course, I didn't have a piece of 7/16" long enough so I turned a bit of 1/2" down. This was the excuse I needed to try the travelling steady. I have had it for years but not used it until today!I set the crank case on the vertical slide and bolted it on making sure that the nuts were below the hole. Then secured the sump using all of the bolt holes available.Centred and the drilled through the first part with a nice new 5/16" drill.I had previously made an extended centre drill for which I deliberately used 5/16" rod so that it would closely fit the hole. I very gingerly drilled the centre bearing by feel alone.I drilled gently through, centred again and then used the extra long drill, kindly donated by a pal, to go right through.As you can see, it did wander a bit.Then I went through with the half-inch. This followed the hole as you might expect.Then it was out with the boring bar. This followed the correct aligmment so if I bore it out enough, I will pull the exit hole back into line. However, it is proving to be a horrible thing to use, chattering terribly. Whilst trying to adjust the bit, I flicked it out and dropped it behind the lathe. Now, my housekeeping behind the lathe is not very good but as this is the only piece of 1/8" HSS I have, I had to find it. The space behind the lathe is now spotless! The HSS had bounced off the wall and landed back in the lathe bed and I found it after I had cleaned up. Oh well, it needed doing.I shall persist with the boring bar but it is ghastly. The hole will end up oversize for sure but at least they will be in line. The next problem will be the camshaft hole (5/16"dia) and the only thing I can do with that is drill it through. I will start at the timing gear end as at least the gears will mesh properly.Not enjoying this bit.Cheers!Steve
Dave,You slowing down, or what? Mike