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  1. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    melbourne
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    14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pete F View Post
    It’s just a length of brass with a slot cut in it, don’t over-think it. Chuck some brass in a drill, take a double cut file and eyeball a taper. Hacksaw off and reverse in chuck, tidy up end. Cut slot, cross drill. Open beer. The end.

    For light weights jump online and buy some adhesive golf club weights, they look better as they stick to the rim and won’t fall off.
    Thanks Pete.

    Yep, I'm sure I could knock these up with a drill press and a hacksaw, but that's not my aim, I simply thought it would be a simple project to get started with.

    I currently use wheel weights and place them under the rim tape before the tube even goes in, I have a working solution, but it's not as much fun, and I'm not learning anything new doing it

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    melbourne
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    14

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    Quote Originally Posted by BaronJ View Post
    Hi Gjws,

    Everything that you have shown it that picture can be easily done with a lathe and a bit of thought !

    Material: Brass round bar. Buy a length of the right diameter.

    Cut to length. You could use a hacksaw, or a parting tool on the lathe. I'm lazy and would part bits off to length.

    Making the tapered end: This is a bit more difficult, however a cheap carbide wood router bit used as a lathe tool would do that job.

    Now drilling and tapping for the grub screw: You could do this on the lathe, in the absence of a drill press, by putting the drill bit in the chuck and using a jig to hold the work using the tool post holder. Something simple like a block of wood, drilled so the workpiece can be held firmly. Drill the hole in the workpiece deep enough to go past the centre line without going right through. Swap the drill for a tap and start the tap then finish tapping the hole off the lathe. Doing the tapping by hand makes it less likely that you will break the tap.

    The through hole: Put the workpiece back in the lathe chuck and drill right through.

    NOTE: Remember to stone the sharp cutting edges off the drill. This is done to stop the drill grabbing the brass and breaking.
    Just a couple of rubs with a fine stone should be enough.

    The Slot: This is the most difficult part. You can either use a hacksaw, or band saw, even a file. A mill would normally be the tool to use for this job. On the lathe you could make a mandrel to hold a small circular saw blade and a jig to hold the workpiece. Using the lathe to turn the saw blade cut the slot with the workpiece on the crosslide. Again a wooden jig clamped to the crosslide would do the job, with the crosslide giving you fine control over the cut.

    Obviously there is a lot of detail that needs knowledge of your skill set and the tools at your disposal. But I hope that the above helps you.
    Thanks very much for the details response BaronJ, I really appreciate to time you have put in to it! Some great tips in there.

    I'm going to get one of the small Sieg lathes, but every time I look it like "hmmm, for a few extra dollars I can get this one.....no wait, what about this one....ooooooohhhh look at that one!"

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    3,112

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    They possibly are good projects to begin with, and that's the whole point of doing them by hand. When somebody first begins their apprenticeship the projects done in trade school are all using hand tools. The reason is that using hand tools is the most fundamental skill set, and unless you were working in a production setting punching out widgets, will be essential in the field.

    Unfortunately these days instant gratification amateurs rush in with a wallet full of cash and want to know what machine they should buy, expecting a widget to drop off it at the end of the process. Unless the skill of using hand tools reasonably well is gained it will be a very difficult and expensive area of interest.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    melbourne
    Posts
    14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pete F View Post
    They possibly are good projects to begin with, and that's the whole point of doing them by hand. When somebody first begins their apprenticeship the projects done in trade school are all using hand tools. The reason is that using hand tools is the most fundamental skill set, and unless you were working in a production setting punching out widgets, will be essential in the field.

    Unfortunately these days instant gratification amateurs rush in with a wallet full of cash and want to know what machine they should buy, expecting a widget to drop off it at the end of the process. Unless the skill of using hand tools reasonably well is gained it will be a very difficult and expensive area of interest.
    I've got 30 years experience as a sparky, I'm pretty good with hand tools and can cobble together pretty much anything with what I have in the back of the ute. Time for the next iteration.

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