Making a six spline shaft.... more or less fluting

B

Black Jack

CGN Regular
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Location
Ottawa
Hello guys, not really gunsmithing but not far off. Just wanted to show how I made a six spline shaft that broke in half. Couldn't get the part anymore, company no longer exist so with my limited knowledge and very limited machines :) I decided to try it anyways. It was going on one of those "Terrajets" or something. It has two snowmobile tracks side by side like a small bulldozer. This shaft is linking both tracks and hooked to the tranny system. I don't remember what # of steel shaft I used but it's suppose to be the same strength as the original or stronger. Here are some pics of the setup I used. Ended up working great and was an interesting experience for future projects.

testbar.JPG


Tested on a piece of aluminum to see if it could be done with what I have.

shaft_turned_to_diameter.JPG


Adjusted the "prototype" and went ahead, bought a shaft, turned it to diameter and grooved for snap rings.

first_spline.JPG


Centered and made my first set of splines for one end.

straight_cut_setup.JPG


Last_spline_first_cut.JPG


offset_setup.JPG


Offset setup to mill the side of the spline to make it square.

finished_shaft.JPG


Done deal, so we have the prototype, finished shaft and the broken one. I know the middle is rough. I had technical difficulties with my carbide tip. Fortunately, it doesn't affect anything in the middle except the look of it. :rolleyes:
 
nice work.

Piece of advice. Take some better pictures. Make really accurate notes. And since they don't make the parts anymore, charge 3x what you think they're worth on Ebay.
 
nice work.

Piece of advice. Take some better pictures. Make really accurate notes. And since they don't make the parts anymore, charge 3x what you think they're worth on Ebay.
 
othe than splines normally being cut on a horizontal mill i fail to see anything other than a dividing head. what is special here that i am missing?
 
Thank you guys. Broncoo, I know it's not like inventing a light bulb or something but it's still more complicated than just cutting the splines. When ever you just cut the spline with the end mill, the splines are going to be shaped like a triangle a little bit (see pic #4). So then you have to offset your endmill so you remove the small triangle section without removing too much or your splines will be too loose. The way I did that was to rotate 30 deg then moving .230 off center to just shave what i needed. So 18 cuts later, swing the shaft around, line it up so your splines have to match the other end and your good to go. :) Of course if you are a machinist or been doing it for a while this is childplay but not in my case. This is top notch busy bee equipment barely 15 years old imported straight from somewhere. :) Just teasing
 
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