- First Name
- Cliff
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2021
- Threads
- 4
- Messages
- 1,381
- Reaction score
- 2,398
- Location
- San Angelo
- Vehicle(s)
- Bronco
- Your Bronco Model
- Wildtrak
LOL nah, I usually don't have a problem with it, but sometimes you do everything right and then, banana (or tasty bacon!). I've never made a mistake, but I have made some knives a lot smaller than intended. Bladesmithing is one of the dark arts I've decided, and I simply don't know all of the spells yet. Most of my stuff is 1095, O-1, or 52100, and when I hate myself, I'll throw in a scavenged mystery metal that passes a coupon test. I'd love to have a HT oven, but currently using the forge with a flame diverter that heats evenly as long as you flip occasionally. Using Parks 50 for most cases, water for hamons. I've got a decent setup if you ever want to check it out or make a knife or something.What steel are you using, what are you doing to get even heat through the blade, and what are you quenching with?
I think that line boring it and running a tapered roller bearing on both sides along with a anti-deflection brace along the outside of the housing would likely be a means of significantly strengthening these racks.
I think that you are on the right track with this line of thought.
I'm trying to understand how a tapered roller bearing would function in this case though. Wouldn't something like a silicon bronze or babbitt bushing be better? The ft/min speed of the rack alongside the reciprocating motion in the bushing would put it squarely in boundary lubrication mode, and that's really where silicon bronze excels, and manganese bronze, to a lesser degree. Babbitt would be a much softer metal by comparison but you certainly wouldn't have to worry about premature wear on the rack.
I have considered a bolt on brace for the housing to help strengthen the portions of the rack that seem to have the most stress, notably a set of clamps over the bushing areas on each end to keep the housing from splitting open, and another clamp over the steering yoke preload area to keep it from popping out so easily. I suppose they could all be tied together and made into a single brace that would add some rigidity and strength to the aluminum housings. ideally, if the design allowed, utilizing the existing frame mounting points and not having to remove the rack in order to get the brace on.
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