Who makes axles?

[zephyr9900]

I've been turning small batches of fine-scale wheels (and Delrin muffs) for a while now (and am in the process of beefing up my homemade lathe CNC attachment so I can do larger batches)
[img width= height=]http://www.prototrains.com/misc/P1010775.JPG[/img]


[img width= height=]http://www.prototrains.com/misc/IMG_6355a.jpg[/img]


 but am stumped at getting cone-point axles.  Does anyone know a maker of axles that I could go to for custom lengths?  I have no idea whether to look for Swiss turning vendors, or centerless grinding vendors, or what?

Thanks for any pointers.

Randy

[Sokramiketes]

You'd want a swiss turning shop.  But, if you're talking about a relatively small (personal use) quantity, stripping the axles from FVM wheelsets is probably going to be cheaper in the short run versus set-up costs.  FVM has three axle lengths to choose from if you can match your wheels and bushings to their axle size.

[zephyr9900]

Thank you for the reply, Mike.  These would be a custom length and not to fit existing sideframes...

Randy

[Sokramiketes]

You've got me intrigued now, scale width trucks and side frames?

[PGE_Modeller]

The spoked wheel looks like a 50" driver designed for a 2mm diameter axle.  Nicely done!!

Cheers

[victor miranda]

you can make a tool that will cut the points at the same time
in n-scale that is a viable option... the adjustment on tool height is the only concern

I have a suggestion however.
Give up on making one piece axles with points?

Make the point and use a plastic center.

The points should an even distance from the wheel tread
and thus will go into the truck without tram issues.

as a plus you can skip the plastic insulators.
Also, electrical pick-up gets easier.

BTW ABS is probably a plastic better suited to the insulators.
axle centers and wheel collars.

victor

[zephyr9900]

Mike, yes, that is something I've been thinking about for some time.  Scale or near scale width wheels are nice, but when the sideframes are cantilevered out a foot from the wheel face it lessens the effect.  It's a pipe dream for now but if I beaver away at the different technologies needed one day it will all come together.

PGE_Modeller, thank you.  The spoked wheels were samples for Nn3 D&RGW C-16 36" drivers, .225" actual diameter over the tread.

Victor, thank you.  I have a current job to turn a few wheels with integral pinpoints and stub axles for use with an insulating muff.  I can't do them in one chucking due to deflection, so I plan to try turning the wheels axle side out, then chuck (collet) on the stub axle and face and turn the pinpoint in the second operation.  I just hope I can keep the concentricity, but we'll see...  Delrin/acetal is standard for 2mm scale muffsand is easy to work with--why do you recommend ABS?  I could try it if it has provable advantage over the acetal (which I can get down to 1/8" diameter rawstock)

Randy

[victor miranda]

hi zephyr9900,

ummm delrin will slip? where ABS tends to hold?
and it is available at 3mm/8th inch...
and is lower cost...  not that that matters much in n-scale.

deflection issues...
yup, I can see that.  for the few I have turned, I cut lightly.

when I was cutting plastic one piece MT wheelset flanges...
I put a bearing in the tailstock and used that to hold the wheel concentric
while the other wheel was in the collet driving the wheelset.

kinda like a reverse turning on centers.

You have a concentric 1mm collet?   I ain't found one yet...

victor

[PJPickard]

You have a concentric 1mm collet?   I ain't found one yet...

Any good watchmakers 8mm collet should be very close to 0 runout. Mine are anyway!

Paul

[Iain]

Ooh, now I am interested.  My issue with doing narrow gauge steam has come down to lack of affordable drivers.  If you can make drivers (and maybe gears) then that would mean I could get on to several projects I want to do.

[zephyr9900]

Victor, my 1mm collet (it's a 5C) is marked "Crawford" and seems concentric enough for my uses.

Iain, making wheels is why I bought the lathe (it's a used Feeler FSM-59, a Taiwanese clone of a Hardinge second-operation lathe) and made a little CNC attachment for it.  Between that for turning the blanks, and the Tormach for machining the spokes, I can make the spoked drivers, at least in small batches.  It took about 20 minutes to machine the spokes on one of the little C-16 drivers.  I had to use a .009" milling cutter, which even at 20000rpm takes a very slow feed...

Randy

[peteski]

I had to use a .009" milling cutter, which even at 20000rpm takes a very slow feed...

Randy

WOW!    The smallest milling cutter I own is 0.025"!

[Iain]

How much are we talking for you to do me a set of six drivers?

[zephyr9900]

Sent you a PM, Iain.

Randy