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Car Shock

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Darren:
Uh Oh, he's at it again.... :D

I was looking at this old car shock, pondering, thinking......that shaft is precision ground hard chrome plated,
Not only that but with bearings and a ready made housing too...umm

I feel a plan forming here...... :)



Slotted the plastic end cap cos I was too weedy to pull it off.....!



I then cut around the old tubing and this is what was inside
Here you can see I'm removing the end cap/bearing housing with a C Spanner



The end cap was just pushed on, not threaded, you can see the sintered bearing in the middle.



The other end of the shaft held the other bearing....




I can see a plan forming here, alas I need two identical shocks and I have 3 odd ones.
I understand these shafts are nice to turn on the lathe as well, so that should help.

Bernd:
Those look strangley like strut shocks out of a front end. :scratch:

You say the shaft will machine nice in a lathe? Ok what are you up to?  :dremel:

Bernd

Darren:
Something like this Bernd, with a sliding section in the middle......can you guess what it is  :lol:

I think I'll be ok with just the one shaft cut in half.

The idea is no lift on the movable jaw no matter what it holds.
Could have removable sections on top of the jaws for longer stuff.

What ya think, is it a goer?

Rog02:
Yes, those old McPherson struts do ante up some great possible materials.  The shafts are ground and hard plated for wear resistance but most turn rather well.  I use them frequently for such things as custom drive punches and bushing installers.  Best part of it, they are generally free for the asking at about any repair facility that does suspension work.

Also do not overlook the regular piston shock absorbers.  The are a good source of smaller rod.

The other neat trick is to gut them and use the cylinder sleeve and rod to make up you own little air cylinders or low pressure hydraulic applications.  You will need to make the piston and end caps to suit your needs but the expensive parts are there.  I used a VW shock for the basis of the hydraulic downfeed cylinder for my 6X7 horizontal band saw. 

From time to time we needed special application pneumatic cylinders for fixtures at the helicopter company.  The owner was refusing to build one such fixture due to the cost of the cylinders.  You should have seen the look on his face when I came in with a couple of old shocks, procured at the shop next door, and proceeded to build the needed cylinders for basically the cost of labor.  Since we needed 16 of the cylinders and the owner wasn't about to pay my wages to stand and turn out that many simple parts, I went back to the fiber glass department and grabbed a kid that was sanding parts for the minimum pay scale and brought him up to the lathe and showed him how to do the first couple of parts, then turned him loose making the rest of the parts needed.  The young man had expressed interest in learning something about machine work and this was his introduction to the trade.  He was permanently transferred to the machine shop and became their apprentice/goffer, which was a promotion for him.  Last time I spoke with the guy, he was working at a shop and was programming CNC and doing CAD work.  Not a bad life for a kid that walked in a door with no experience and asked for a job.

Darren:
Really nice story about the kid Rog, great stuff  :headbang:

Please tell me more about the air cylinders and what you would use them for.... :wave:

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