punching a splined hole

[tapkoote]

I want to match a splined hole in a foot shifter from a motor cycle.
It's aprox. 5/8 OD the splines about 1/2 inch long.
Too short to grind a broach.
Thought I'd case harden an old shaft, drill a hole in some 1/2 bar. Heat and punch it in like a black smith would.
Any one done anything like this?

 

[rsanter]

If you are going to spline aluminum this may work ok. You will likely end up with a slightly undersized splined hole verses what you need but give it a shot

Bob

 

[OccupantRJ]

If you have a lathe, you could machine a small amount of the spline away from the end, leaving a sharp edge. You would want to leave about half the depth of the spline on this section. On the very end, machine until the spline just disappears, to act as a pilot. Then machine the shaft behind the spline undersize to allow you to push the shaft through your part deep enough to obtain a full spline. Your broach would start out as the pilot size, have a sharp edge, be half the spline depth, then a sharp edge, then undersize past that. This would give a progressive cut, which is how a broach works. I make broaches at work, but they are of tool steel. You may be lucky enough to get one shot out of this. Broach before splitting the part for clamping, or it will spread during the process. I have repaired stripped splines on motorcycle shifters by drilling and tapping on the joint line, then installing a setscrew to act as a key, if this helps.

 

[908Jim]

While I have not tried your proposed method, I am not confident in the fit/quality you would obtain from doing this. I have faced a similar problem in modifying a shifter to fit a stock CBR shaft in the past and the methods always ended up coming down to modifying a stock lever or another lever with the same splines.

We had tried the cut-your-own broach method and it failed for us because of the fixture, we simply could not hold it straight through the process. If your part is flat bottomed, you may have good results with OccupantRJ's method.

Jim

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Rookie2]

what about using a socket and weld your pedal to it

 

[tapkoote]

Your broach would start out as the pilot size, have a sharp edge, be half the spline depth, then a sharp edge, then undersize past that. This would give a progressive cut, which is how a broach works.

RJ: I do have a lathe, but would this allow for chip clearance?
Think I'd try some casonite too.
This is not a repair, I'm trying to build a heel/toe shifter
for a sporster, can't find anyone who makes them.
Thanks Pat

 

[Milan]

Could you weld a heel kick to the regular toe shift base?

 

[tapkoote]

tried that
cast aluminum--junk

 

[OccupantRJ]

Actually, an undercut should be made right before the size changes, but you are dealing with a really short "broach". If it is long enough to undercut for chip clearance between sizes, this would be better. We broach a part at work that is 3/8" thick, and the broach is about 1-1/2" on the cutting section of the broach, with 3 stages involved. This is used on 360 alloy brass, dry. I make a larger broach used on 12L14 steel, dry also. The parts are used to mount an electrical heating element, so no oil can be used, as it will cook to the surface of the metal later, and cause undesirable issues.

 

[OccupantRJ]

RJ: I do have a lathe, but would this allow for chip clearance?
Think I'd try some casonite too.
This is not a repair, I'm trying to build a heel/toe shifter
for a sporster, can't find anyone who makes them.
Thanks Pat

Sounds like you have the possibility of a niche market. Invest in having a broaching die made so you can produce the shifter for others. Seems like the mid 70's Sporster shift pedals were steel that I was doing the repair on. You could weld on them and replate, if they are available and would work for you.

 

[deere2210]

I did quite a bit of research on the broaches for HD gear shifters. Had a real tough time finding the exact geometry. I contacted a number of the broach makers and they are willing to have a part sent to them and they will spec it out and make a broach all for a fee.. Combined with the potential liability on gear shifters I opted out..

As an alternative, I made a set of custom forward controls for myself on a Sportster hard tail I'm building. I broached a keyway and used a key, and then the original linkage from the Sportster.. Here is the link on the controls/shifter http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=161227&page=12 Glad to help out if you have questions..

 

[bullnerd]

You have a lathe,make the whole broach yourself? If you are planning on making multiples, which it sounds like, it may be worth the effort.

 

[tapkoote]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=161227&page=12 Glad to help out if you have questions..

Deer:
One thing I haven't found out, are the old shovel head
shifters interchangeable?
Nice work on those controls.

"Sounds like you have the possibility of a niche market."
RJ: This is one off. your welcome to it, I'm retired-mostly tired.
Thanks for the input guys, I'll have the shaft in hand next week- possible to grind a single tooth gear tool and broach it on the lathe, it really needs to be longer for chip clearance. Could also grind it square and broach a square hole.
Pat

 

[deere2210]

Deer:
One thing I haven't found out, are the old shovel head
shifters interchangeable?

I'm not 100% sure on the shovel's.. I believe the same shifter works on the EVO and TC's.

 

[Kevin54]

Do you know anyone that has an old splined shifter shaft laying around? If so, you could probably make a broach out of it. You would have to chuck it up in the lathe, turn a pilot on the end, then fo into it with a narrow square tool, maybe .032-.040 wide. Then starting back where you had the pilot, turn each segment down just a few thou from the next one, making sure you don't hit the sharp edges. This should let you broach at least a few pieces before it dulls.

Well, I decided to go back up a little farther and read. Occupant already had it covered. My bad!!!

Deere2210.....Did you get that new machine up and running?

 

[Big Pete]

go buy another gear lever, cut the splined chunk off, weld it to the new assembly, that what I do for forwards and rearsets fairly routinely. second hand levers are cheap enough, or cheap aftermarket ones.