Hi Guys,
After being a member of this forum for some time, I thought it was time I put something up myself, instead of commenting on others efforts.
Have you guys noticed that once it is known you have a workshop and some idea of how to use it, that people find "little jobs" for you to do for them. I don't mind when they do this as it often gives me chance to do things a little out of the ordinary. To cut a long story short, a mate of mine rang up to ask if I would look at a crank from a Manx Norton that belonged to a mate of his. Although my mate has a workshop of his own he did not feel able to fix the problem, hence the call. As with all such calls I said I would have a look but would not commit myself till I knew what the problem might be. So the story moves to the Norton owners house a few days later, and all was revealed. The problem was the end of the crankshaft had been beaten severely about its end with a club hammer. For those interested in why, well, the owner had fitted new main bearings and to over come slight wear on the shaft he had used Loctite, as recommended by the bearing suppliers. Only trouble they had recommended the wrong grade and supplied a permanent one, not a bearing fit one, now this would not have been too much of a problem had he put the cases back together quickly enough but he didn't. The outcome was that the cases would not close fully because the bearings were not where they should be and the Loctite had set. Said owner was almost in tears when he was explaining all this, how he had tried to get the crank out with a hammer and how the previous owner of the bike would be spinning in his grave at the way he was treating his old treasured classic.
Photo ! shows what a Manx crankshaft looks like.
Photo 2 shows what the damage looks like (not good). After sympathizing for a while, I could see a pathetic pleading look in face, so I said I would fix it for him and with luck he would not be able to see the damage.
Photo 3 shows the crank set up in the lathe. The timing side was held in a collet chuck and the drive side was first set in a centre, and the crank was checked to see if it was still true, which unbelievably it was despite the damage. I then set the fixed steady up to hold the crank while the repair was done. You can't see it in the photo but the con-rod is attached to the ceiling by two bungee cords, so it would not flap about while the lathe was turning.
That's all for now as the pixel limit is running out, and as "they" say always leave them wanting more.
Ned