Ok, That little brown truck showed up this moring at 9:44AM, or at least that's what the tracking info said. Checked outside and sure enough it had showed up and dropped off the prize.

First thing I saw wrong was the drill. No way that was going to fit into a 1/2" drill chuck. Time for a little Madmodd.

Stick the drill in the lathe. Make sure it runs true and have at it.


Ok, it's a good fit.


On to the drill press and some manual labor.

First drill out a small amount of stock. The pipe dosen't seem to be exactly 11/16" ID.

First I did the left hand threads......

then I did the right hand to unwind myself.

(it's hot here in NY, so you'll have to parden the goofieness).


And ta da, all done.

@ Don - He's a good freind of mine so I drop what I'm doing to help him out.
@ Kjelle - I knew there was another name for those things. Just couldn't remember. Thanks. There's going to be some time taken out as I see some jig's and fixtures that will need to be made in the process of builfin this Shay. I'm just hoping for a nice steady pace.
@ Dave - Thanks for the advice. It looks to me he had shortened the bars. I pretty sure he knows what he's doing since he's a tech inspector at Empire Dragway here in NY.
On to the second project. It's the same as
75PLUS's Thread I'll post a thread on that as I go.
Bernd