The Oakes Family

The brass for the wheels has arrived - soon it will be time to cut it up and machine them.Bushings: This month has started slowly, with little free time and even less spent on the clock. I did manage to get a 0.246″ drill bit for the bushing holes and spent a while working on the bushing techniques.

Huckabee uses undrilled bushings, pressed into the aluminum plates. Later, after the wheels are made, the pivot holes are drilled into the bushings to fit the arbors.

My best results, on scrap, have come from using the parting-off tool to shape the bushing before parting it off to length. Carefull drilling, sanding the bushings to exact size has yielded some good results. A little more experimentation and I think I’ll be ready to drill and bush the two front plates.(3 hours)

I picked up another length of bronze 0.25″ brazing rod. ($2)

I clamped down the front two plates onto the mill table and step-drilled the bearing holes. I started with a center punch, then the small center drill, and worked up until the final 0.246″ bit. All six main holes are now complete and looking good.(1 hour)

Next comes the bushings themselves. I also need to finish the plates well before I press the bushings into place.

Great Wheel Bearings: Jumping ahead as usual, I decided that the great wheel bearings might be fun to make. I used a 1 inch rod of brass from the scrap-yard ($4), turned a length of it to 0.75″ and center-drilled it. After carefully boring out to 0.25″ I started to cut the step and then part off the four parts needed.

These parts then need some sanding on the hidden reverse to unsure they lay flat against the plates and later, two small though holes drilled for fitting. (3 hours)

This was a fairly straightforward task - and certainly good practice for a new machinist.

Total for February: 7 hours + $6
Total so far: 42 hours + $63