Handy Tool

[WB2]

I purchased a used and somewhat abused MSC rally car.
This thing had awfully soft axles that were the dickens to remove. The wheels also had undersized holes when I tried to put them on SlotIt axles.
What to do? Hmm. Looking at the SCC website, I noticed a 3/32” reamer. Viola!
SCC part number SC-20010. Highly recommended.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I bet its cheaper than the set of chucking reamers I bought a decade ago for the same purpose, too. For me, it was because I make my own axles from precision ground drill blanks, and wheels are not as precisely made as those axles. Interestingly, the wheels, plastic or metal, were always too small. Never too big. It is good to know that there are folks out there thinking up new tools just for us in the slot world.

[Fathead59]

Hey Way , I have been looking for drill blanks to make axels out of , could you point me in the right direction to be able to get a few

[Fathead59]

And by the way , I also have the reamer from SSC , so I am not trying to hi-jack the thread

[waaytoomuchintothis]

There are several categories of drill blanks in several types of steel. You need to talk to the vendor on the phone rather than guess what you need. Below, you read that mattb bought "oversize" (whether he knew it or not), and was sorry he did. We're talking very small increments here, so an oversize can be chucked in a drill and spun with sandpaper or carborundum ribbon (my favorite) to get a precision fit in a few seconds. But there is also "undersize" and "tight". Tight will get you near perfect diameter axles, and its so close tolerance that you have to be careful not to get it too hot when cutting or you'll have to spin it down in a drill. From a 36" piece, you get 13-15 axles.

[Fathead59]

Thanks Way , the first 1/24 scale cars I got I figured to use brass rod as axles since the bushing were also brass . I turned the axels down using emery cloth and WD40 , using my Dremel to spin the rod down to fit the wheels and bushing

[mattb]

Aren't drill blanks slightly larger than a standard axle? I always thought they were. I've never got drill blank axles that would fit thru Protrack wheels or Cox gears. I have always had to file out the holes and then was not satisfied with the fit. I now buy axles not drill blanks.

[HO RacePro]

I have been buying high-precision, undersized hardened steel rods -- also known as drill blanks -- from www.mcmaster.com. They are hardened to Rockwell C60 (very hard!), diameter toleranced at 0.0000" to -0.0002" and straight to 0.001". These are industrial-grade products and fit slotcar components beautifully.

https://www.mcmaster.com/drill-blanks/hardened-undersized-high-speed-m2-tool-steel-rods-9/diameter~0-0937/

If you have never shopped at McMaster-Carr, take some time and scan their website. You will be amazed at what you can find there. Not always cheap mind you. But they offer a gigantic selection of industrial products. Something north of 300,000 items, if I remember right. So if there is something you need you can probably find it there.

Ed Bianchi

[PetesLightKits]

Love McMaster-Carr, but you must be a commercial/business owner in order to create an account and order from them.

Peter

[dinglebery]

I order from them every now and then, without having a business or commercial account. Perhaps its because you're in Canada?

[RichD]

I use the same drill blanks as Ed does. They are a perfect fit in the axle bearings that Slot Car Corner sells and they are just a smidge larger in diameter than Slot.it axles. Sometimes they are a bit too snug in some wheels, so the proper reamer is a good thing to have.

[mattb]

Thanks Rich and Ed. Good and bad, I certainly thought that the blanks wouldn't fit some products without the holes being enlarged. Now I know it wasn't my imagination. That is a real problem when I am at the track working on somebody else's car and doing a wheel change or gear change and find out my parts won't fit until I take them home and enlarge the holes slightly. the other problem is if you use parts over and over like we do, those enlarged holes cause run out issues when they may get put on an axle that is sold as an axle. I take care of 20-30 cars the guys race and there are all sorts of mis-matched components.

[HO RacePro]

The good news is if you have to ream wheels/gears to fit on a precision axle it is more likely that you'll have zero 'slop' in the fit, meaning said parts should run exactly on center.

That does not mean there will be zero run-out at the OD. The part itself may (WILL!) have some eccentricity. But that should be the only source of run-out.

If you have aluminum wheels that are, as RichD says, "a bit too snug", you might try heating them before sliding them into place. Aluminum expands 0.001" for every 77 degrees Fahrenheit increase in temperature. The hole will get larger too. Once the parts are assembled and the aluminum cools down you should have a perfect press-fit.

Hot assembly is a common industrial process. The inverse also works -- you can chill the axle to get it to shrink. Steel expands/shrinks only half as much per degree Fahrenheit as aluminum. But if you happen to have some dry ice around, or better yet, liquid nitrogen, chilling the axle might work.

Do be careful. Dry ice (-109 degrees F) and liquid nitrogen (-320 degrees F) can give you instant frostbite.

At one point in my education I got to work with liquid nitrogen. Fun stuff if you know how to play safe. Dangerous stuff if you don't.

Ed Bianchi

[waaytoomuchintothis]

There are 3 outfits I order metals from, McMaster-Carr being one of them. You need to compare prices carefully, as they change and you can get a bargain now and then when the outfits are adjusting their inventories.

[Fathead59]

All good things to know for the scratch builder in us

[mattb]

McMaster is good site to have saved on your computer. Microfasteners.com is another good one.

[HO RacePro]

I've bought a lot of fasteners from MicroFasteners, but of late I buy my fasteners from McMaster-Carr. They have an extremely broad selection of fasteners in all sizes. In general I buy fasteners made of 18-8 stainless steel -- plenty strong enough for hobby purposes, stainless, and not that much more expensive than carbon steel.

That said, I never buy stainless fasteners for my motorcycles. They are not quite as strong as normal carbon-steel fasteners, and I'm not about to compromise strength for shininess when it comes to my rides.

'Nother point about stainless fasteners -- they are non-magnetic or only mildly magnetic. Can be useful when working around motor magnets.

Also there are other grades of stainless fasteners besides 18-8. You can often find fasteners made of 316 stainless steel. They're usually a bit more expensive than 18-8, and also a bit more corrosion-resistant. I've never had a reason to spring for 316 fasteners except in industrial applications where the extra corrosion resistance was a must-have.

If you need high-strength fasteners or MIL-SPEC fasteners, McMaster has 'em.

Ed Bianchi

[mattb]

Ed, I like plain steel! They stick to my magnetic screw driver! Makes it a lot easier for an old person!!