# Shrink fit



## Gordon (Aug 16, 2020)

I am trying to shrink fit a steel cylinder into an aluminum sleeve. Drawing called for .001 to .002 press fit. I put the aluminum sleeve in my toaster oven at 200* but it was still a very tight fit. I think that the temp was too low. Any input on temp for shrink fit.

Gordon


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## Cogsy (Aug 16, 2020)

If your aluminium part doesn't have any other material on it (seals, bearings, etc.) then you can get it as hot as you like, short of it becoming plastic or melting. No reason not to get it up as hot as your oven will go. But if it's thin then the aluminium will cool very quickly when exposed to the cold steel. In my experience of shrinking crank bearings into dirtbike cases, if it's not lined up exactly and won't just drop-in instantly then it will freeze within 2 to 4 seconds and need a press to go all the way home.


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## Gordon (Aug 16, 2020)

Cogsy said:


> If your aluminium part doesn't have any other material on it (seals, bearings, etc.) then you can get it as hot as you like, short of it becoming plastic or melting. No reason not to get it up as hot as your oven will go. But if it's thin then the aluminium will cool very quickly when exposed to the cold steel. In my experience of shrinking crank bearings into dirtbike cases, if it's not lined up exactly and won't just drop-in instantly then it will freeze within 2 to 4 seconds and need a press to go all the way home.


So the steel part should just drop in to the aluminum? 2 to 4 seconds does not give me time to even walk over to the arbor press. I have never done this and the plans call for more shrink fit parts.

Gordon


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## Cogsy (Aug 16, 2020)

Sorry, I mean 2 to 4 seconds once it contacts the steel. You do want to be as quick as you can once you get it out of the oven but it gets critical once the two parts come together.

For the dirtbike cases I would heat the case to around 150 C (no hotter because the crank seals couldn't handle it) and freeze the bearings to -20 C overnight in the freezer. Once I was ready to go, the bearing was sat onto the bore and at the very slightest tap with a hammer handle the bearing would fall to the bottom of it's seat - as long as it was near perfectly lined up. If it wasn't lined up I needed to give it a few raps with the hammer handle and it would invariably freeze in place long before it seated.

What size is the bore in the aluminium? I can work out the amount it will grow to give you an idea of how hard it will be to get the cylinder in.


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## Gordon (Aug 16, 2020)

The bore is 15/16" . The drawing calls for .001 to .002 press fit. Is there some formula to determine how much the ID will expand? I would assume that there is a point where more heat has a diminishing affect. That is like perhaps 400 F is not going to expand much more than 300 F. Sorry us yanks have never wised up to the much superior metric system.


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## Cogsy (Aug 16, 2020)

There is a (fairly) simple formula based on the change in temperature and the coefficient of thermal expansion for the material (which changes depending on the material). Until you get close to melting point, the relationship holds so 400 will expand more than 300.

I did the sums based on 350 F and got an expansion of the bore of about 0.003 inches. So in theory the cylinder would drop in but in practice, almost as soon as the steel touches it it will be cooling down to an interference fit again. If you heat it to 450 F then you will have about 0.0045 expansion so it should go in relatively easily.


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## Gordon (Aug 16, 2020)

Cogsy said:


> There is a (fairly) simple formula based on the change in temperature and the coefficient of thermal expansion for the material (which changes depending on the material). Until you get close to melting point, the relationship holds so 400 will expand more than 300.
> 
> I did the sums based on 350 F and got an expansion of the bore of about 0.003 inches. So in theory the cylinder would drop in but in practice, almost as soon as the steel touches it it will be cooling down to an interference fit again. If you heat it to 450 F then you will have about 0.0045 expansion so it should go in relatively easily.


So apparently my main problem was just not getting it hot enough. I have them together at this point and I do not want to take them apart or remake them to find out at this point. The parts went together with a LOT of pressure on the Arbor press so I would assume that my heating to 200 did almost nothing. Thanks for the input.


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## bobm985 (Aug 17, 2020)

You can cool the liner in a mixture of dry ice and either acetone or MEK, about -100 degrees F., and measureable shrinkage.  Wear gloves and use tongs. Should drop right in the hot sleeve.


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## Richard Hed (Aug 17, 2020)

bobm985 said:


> You can cool the liner in a mixture of dry ice and either acetone or MEK, about -100 degrees F., and measureable shrinkage.  Wear gloves and use tongs. Should drop right in the hot sleeve.


MEK?  Isn't that the explosive dehydrant?  That's too dangerous to use in any case!


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## Noel Gordon (Aug 17, 2020)

Placing you steel liner in your freezer for 8 hours plus heating the ali it will just fall in....trying to heat the ali in a toaster or in your cooker is simply not hot enough,,,you need to buy a small gas heating torch THEN you will find everything happens so easy.. Keep trying..


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## stanstocker (Aug 17, 2020)

Richard Hed said:


> MEK?  Isn't that the explosive dehydrant?  That's too dangerous to use in any case!



MEK is Methyl Ethyl Ketone.  It's a very common solvent, the explosive air mix ratio is well past the point where you would leave the area due to the irritation caused by breathing.  If you've ever used the water thin liquid plastic model solvent / plastic weld you've used MEK.  Many serious scratch builders of styrene models buy MEK by the gallon.  It's about like acetone in terms of health issues, I wouldn't breath the fumes for 8 hours a day every day, or bathe in it, but small occasional exposure to minor fumes or a small bit on the skin is not a big deal.

It, like some other common chemicals including acetone and sulfuric acid, is on a precursor list for drug manufacturing.  No big deal in the quantities a small shop person is going to buy at a big box store, but if you need 55 gallons of it you'll need to fill out some forms.  Odds are MEK is somewhere in some explosives manufacturing process stream, but then lots of things are (like charcoal, ammonia, all sorts of things you use all the time).  It also can be used to smooth old convertible plastic rear windows that have gotten all scratched up and nasty, a friend used it on his MG back in the 70's.

Cheers,
Stan


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## Richard Hed (Aug 17, 2020)

stanstocker said:


> MEK is Methyl Ethyl Ketone.  It's a very common solvent, the explosive air mix ratio is well past the point where you would leave the area due to the irritation caused by breathing.  If you've ever used the water thin liquid plastic model solvent / plastic weld you've used MEK.  Many serious scratch builders of styrene models buy MEK by the gallon.  It's about like acetone in terms of health issues, I wouldn't breath the fumes for 8 hours a day every day, or bathe in it, but small occasional exposure to minor fumes or a small bit on the skin is not a big deal.
> 
> It, like some other common chemicals including acetone and sulfuric acid, is on a precursor list for drug manufacturing.  No big deal in the quantities a small shop person is going to buy at a big box store, but if you need 55 gallons of it you'll need to fill out some forms.  Odds are MEK is somewhere in some explosives manufacturing process stream, but then lots of things are (like charcoal, ammonia, all sorts of things you use all the time).  It also can be used to smooth old convertible plastic rear windows that have gotten all scratched up and nasty, a friend used it on his MG back in the 70's.
> 
> ...


I'm not sure if it was MEK or some other similar material, but we used it to mix solid propellants (explosives if under pressure).  It was dangerous enough to have to be covered and it drew the water out of your skin/lungs/eyes, etc.  At the end of the mix, it had to be recovered and not allowed into the air.  It was used like we might use water to dissolve sugar and salt, flour in bread but then baked out.  In small quantities, I suppose, like many chems.  it is not so dangerous.


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## davidyat (Aug 17, 2020)

*Cogsy,
   You mentioned dirt bike restoration. This got my attention. Did you ride off road? In the early 70's, I raced a Yamaha 175 MX in California Mojave Desert organized events. My only claim to fame was that I finished a point to point desert race called Barstow to Vegas. 165 miles with NO roads! This was the Indy 500 of desert races. Just to finish this brutal race was an accomplishment. A couple of pictures of me taken during an actual race.







Grasshopper*


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## Richard Hed (Aug 17, 2020)

davidyat said:


> *Cogsy,
> You mentioned dirt bike restoration. This got my attention. Did you ride off road? In the early 70's, I raced a Yamaha 175 MX in California Mojave Desert organized events. My only claim to fame was that I finished a point to point desert race called Barstow to Vegas. 165 miles with NO roads! This was the Indy 500 of desert races. Just to finish this brutal race was an accomplishment. A couple of pictures of me taken during an actual race.View attachment 118651
> View attachment 118652
> 
> Grasshopper*


I'm jjust curious, didn't you have to get a gas fill along the way?  How did you do that?  What about dringking water, food?  how didded you do that?


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## Richard Hed (Aug 17, 2020)

Gordon said:


> So apparently my main problem was just not getting it hot enough. I have them together at this point and I do not want to take them apart or remake them to find out at this point. The parts went together with a LOT of pressure on the Arbor press so I would assume that my heating to 200 did almost nothing. Thanks for the input.


I know that one has to do this very quickly and that it seems that 5 seconds is a very short time--but imagine if you had 5 seconds to save your life or someone elses, and imagine that it only takes 1-2 seconds to do so.  You have time to spare--or do you?  You going to walk to save yourself?  You going to run or hop like a frog?  You're going to act quickly, precisely and effeciently and there is no problem.  In this case of your shrink fit (I hope we are not talking about yours or my psychiatrist here), you have a couple extra seconds, enough to position the thing and slide it on.  Goo luck!--Oh, and have all your stuff prepared before hand (I know you already know this, but just saying . . . .), have your path as short as possible with no obstructions, plenty goo light, etc. etc. etc.  Practice in your mind what you are going to do.  (My psychiatrist says that's actually about 80-90% as goo as actually DOING it.)

As an after thot, I realized that you can have some glass wool handy, (use the paper side) in order to help keep the hot alum hot as you take it to the other part.  But you can also keep your "frozen" steel in a foam container to help keep it cool as you are working.  Every little bit helps no matter how little.  It always adds up.


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## davidyat (Aug 17, 2020)

*Richard,
   The way it worked was this. I rode with a club. If you broke down during any race the club would tow you back to your camping area. Typical races on a Sunday were 65 to 80 miles broken up into two loops. Your gas would last 1 loop. You came into the pits, your club would gas you up, clean your goggles, give you some water and send you on your way. You drank about a quart of Gatorade before the race started. If you want to see what it was like, find the movie, "On Any Sunday" and go to part 18. I remember racing along side a few of the people in the movie, even the guy who raced with his dog between his legs. They were really good and passed me a lot in races! Here's a photo of that guy and his dog. 




For the Barstow to Vegas race there were 3 gas stops. My Dad and I would drive my van to Barstow. Camp overnight and on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I would start the race. My Dad would drive to gas stop 1 and wait for me. Then after the club gassed me up, Dad would drive to gas stop 2, then gas stop 3. I raced 4 times and only finished once. If I didn't come through a gas stop, Dad would wait til the club towed me to the gas pit and we would load up the bike and drive to Vegas and drown my sorrows.
Grasshopper*


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## rklopp (Aug 17, 2020)

Just remember 6 and 13. Typical machine steels expand at the rate of 6 millionths of an inch, per inch, per degree F. Aluminum expands about twice as much:  13 millionths of an inch, per inch, per degree F. Therefore, a one-inch steel shaft will expand 6 ten-thousandths for every 100 degrees F temperature increase. An aluminum shaft will increase 1.3 thousandths under the same 100 degree F temperature increase. A two-inch shaft will expand twice as much, and a quarter-inch shaft will expand one-fourth as much. It's all proportional to size. 

While it may seem that if you want to shrink-fit an aluminum hub on a one-inch steel shaft, you just have to make the aluminum bore 0.001" smaller than the shaft and heat it less than 100 degrees F more than the shaft, think about how hard it can be to fit a 1.000" shaft in a 1.001" hole even when you don't have to do it fast and with hot parts. Thus, you need to heat more than you think and it's best to provide a way to guide the parts into position quickly, such as by putting a pilot on the shaft, or holding the shaft in the lathe tailstock while you slide the hub off of a smaller, preheated pilot shaft held in the lathe chuck. 

Shrink fits are much easier on large parts, because the heat transfer is much slower. This is because the surface-to-volume ratio is much more favorable on large parts. Small parts lose heat quickly, and, as soon as the hub and shaft contact, the hub loses heat to the shaft, the hub shrinks and the shaft expands, and at some point they lock together. 

You do not gain much besides frost and dew by chilling the shaft. It's a whole lot easier to increase the temperature by 300 degrees F than it is to decrease the temperature the same amount. I would avoid heating aluminum much above 400 degrees F to avoid ruining the age-hardening.


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## SailplaneDriver (Aug 17, 2020)

Here is a shrink fit calculator. Plug in the data and it will tell you more than you want to know including required pressure to fit the parts for a given temperature differential.



			Interference (Press - Shrink) Fit Calculator


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## TSutrina (Aug 17, 2020)

Gordon said:


> I am trying to shrink fit a steel cylinder into an aluminum sleeve. Drawing called for .001 to .002 press fit. I put the aluminum sleeve in my toaster oven at 200* but it was still a very tight fit. I think that the temp was too low. Any input on temp for shrink fit.
> 
> Gordon


have you done the calculation???  Aluminum  6000 series 13.0x10^-6 in/(in*F)  cast 13.7 to 9.0 x10^-6 in/(in*F)  stainless steel 10.4 to 8.3 to 6.4 cast x10^-6 in/(in*F)  steel 8.3 to 8.0 x10^-6 in/(in*F)  example air 80F measured and steel temp  heat aluminum to 250F  Say 1 inch OD steel ID Al  1in x (1 + 13x10^-6 in/(in*F) * (250 - 80)F) =  1*(1 + 13*170 x10^-6) in = 1 + 2210 x10^-6 = 1.00221 in

heat the aluminum to 200F   Al ID x (1 + 9.0 x 10^-6 *(200-80)) = ID * (1 + 0.00108) = 1.00108*ID  cool steel by ice  OD x (1 + 8.0x10^-6 x(32-80)) = OD x (1-0.000384)=0.999616*OD   will work for about .0013 oversize steel 1 inch diam cylinder

Gordon have pushed steel motor stators into aluminum housing.   Did it for a OD the size of a 1 lb coffee can.    Cocked the iron so had to remove it and start again.   Typical approach is to put it into an oven but the insulation would not take that heat.  You can by doing using the above calculation determine the temperate where the steel can be pushed out.   For motors a torch is used to heat the aluminum.  Must be heated uniformly.  we used a record player to have a slow but constant speed.  The aluminum just dropped off the stator sitting on a block.  The steel is a poor conductor so it is always cooler then the aluminum but difficult to calculate.


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## Cogsy (Aug 17, 2020)

davidyat said:


> *Cogsy,
> You mentioned dirt bike restoration. This got my attention. Did you ride off road? In the early 70's, I raced a Yamaha 175 MX in California Mojave Desert organized events. My only claim to fame was that I finished a point to point desert race called Barstow to Vegas. 165 miles with NO roads! This was the Indy 500 of desert races. Just to finish this brutal race was an accomplishment. A couple of pictures of me taken during an actual race.
> Grasshopper*


I just rode dirt bikes in the dirt in my youth. I had a nice (to me) 1974 125 Elsinore that I wish I'd never got rid of (very sort-after and valuable here nowdays). But most of my repairs were on later years 90's-2000's 2-strokes. I still have the last model KX250 2-stroke they made taking up room in my shed. It's been a long time since I rode it but I'm hoping for one more blast before I gt rid of it.


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## Charles Lamont (Aug 18, 2020)

One of the most impressive events to be seen at the steam railway workshops where I volunteer is the fitting a of cylinder liner. A cast iron cylinder liner, about 20" diameter, 3ft long and 1/2" thick, is lowered into a bath of liquid nitrogen. When cold, it is lifted out with a fork-lift, over the side of the bath, and put down, white with frost, on slides or rollers fixed to the front of the cylinder, unhooked, and shoved down the hole by hand (with special gloves). The liner already has ports cut out in the end, so it has to go in at the right angular position. The only thing is, the guys need to concentrate on the job, so spectators are not welcome.

Here, a valve liner has just been fitted:


			http://www.4930hagleyhall.org.uk/images/210120_-097-copy_600px.jpg


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## bobm985 (Aug 18, 2020)

Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide is the explosive substance.  It's also used as a hardener for polyester resin; like Bondo and fiberglass repair kits.  MEK is the solvent of choice in the aviation biz because it's slightly less volatile than acetone.  It will wash the crud off the workpiece instead of just shifting it to another area before it evaporates like acetone.


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## bluejets (Aug 18, 2020)

Gordon said:


> I am trying to shrink fit a steel cylinder into an aluminum sleeve. Drawing called for .001 to .002 press fit. I put the aluminum sleeve in my toaster oven at 200* but it was still a very tight fit. I think that the temp was too low. Any input on temp for shrink fit.
> 
> Gordon


When you think about it, the liner doesn't really need to be a shrink fit as the head holds it in place as do all the OS style commercial engines so a slip fit would suffice.
Avoids things like the liner getting distorted when shrunk in and having to do heaps more work to get it straight again.

If water cooled jackets are involved, my normal approach is 2 slightly different exterior sizes, maybe 5 thou.
It allows the liner to be installed to perhaps 95% and the last bit is pressed in by hand and sealed in place with a few drops of loctite.


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## davidyat (Aug 18, 2020)

*Cogsy,
   I remember a lot of guys having Elsinore 250's racing in the desert. I just couldn't understand these guys racing in the desert with big rocks and their expansion chambers slung UNDER the chassis with no protection from those rocks which you were going to bash on!!!*


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## William May (Aug 18, 2020)

I used to use dry ice and alcohol to shrink install the horizontal stabilizer pin in Learjets. There is only one pin, that holds the entire tail together. It was about 15" long. We let it chill for 4-5 hours. Once everything was set up and aligned, the cooler box with the pin was brought to the aircraft. We used cloth gloves to handle the pin, to keep warming to a minimum.  The pin came out of the solution, and we had 10 seconds to have it installed and driven home with a rivet gun.  Failures were rare. 
So handle your parts with cotton work gloves or paper towels. 
In aviation, we used MEK for ALL solvent uses. It was one of the few that left absolutely no trace after evaporation. Now they are trying to switch to MPK (Methyl Propyl Ketone) instead of MEK  (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) but we have noticed that there IS a residue with MPK, and it has a greasy feel to to.  MPK DOES NOT clean as well as MEK
Another chill material to use is liquid nitrogen. This is available at any welding supply place. It boils off quickly, so you can't just put it in a bucket. What to use?
An ordinary thermos. 
You will only need a small amount.  Buy a pint, or maybe a quart. Have them put it in a thermos bottle. DON'T SEAL THE BOTTLE!!! In fact, drill hole in the lid!,  I made a plywood case to carry a 3 gallon Dewar flask. It was made of glass, so it needed a surrounding housing to carry it around and keep it upright. I made it out of plywood. The cover was another piece of plywood, and I DRILLED A 1/4" HOLE IN IT FOR VENTING PURPOSES. Liquid nitrogen will boil off continually from when you first pout it into the thermos. Put your part on a piece of wire, and lower it into the liquid nitrogen.  Give it 10 minutes or so, and it will be as small as it can be shrunk to.  Remove it from the nitrogen when you are ABSOLUTELY READY for everything to be assembled. Once again, cotton work gloves work very nicely to manipulate the part. Slide it off the wire and put it in position, and you are done. There is no pressing involved.  When we put wheel bearing races in Lear wheels, we just dropped them into the cavity and they went in with a "Clink".  Other parts were a similar "Drop In" fit after being chilled in liquid nitrogen.  When we put strut axles into aluminum strut forgings, you had about 10 seconds to have the axle in place and aligned. We slid the axle into place and instantly used an alignment rod to put it in the right position.  (There were holes drilled in the axle that allowed the anti-skid wiring to exit the axle at the strut area. These had to be in the proper place, or the axle would have to be hydraulically pressed out again, and the process repeated. )  We used welding gloves for the axles. Clean cotton work gloves for all the other small parts.


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## Richard Carlstedt (Aug 18, 2020)

There is always a concern about getting the Aluminum part Too Hot
a easy thing to do is to make a mark on the part with Magic Marker
When heated to 400-450 F  the mark goes transparent so you know
you are 300-350 F over ambient temp (room, temp) for your calculations
In this case, a 1.000 hole will be  ( 350 x.000013  x 1 ) = .00455 " larger

Added benefit this technique for Aluminum is also that the stress relieving point is reached
and that means brittle aluminum sheet can then be rolled / bent with a radius.
We have all bent Aluminum sheet and had it crack at the bend. !
Draw a straight line with magic marker  where the bend will occur.
Take your pencil torch and only play it on the line---when it disappears , you bend it
Rich


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## SmithDoor (Aug 18, 2020)

Here is a chart on heat shink

Dave

PS: It does have copyright but it is ok to post per copyright holder.


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## Steamchick (Aug 19, 2020)

When I was a teenager..... in the 1960s - one of my "Saturday morning" jobs was to press fit liners into the engine blocks of Diesel (truck) engines. It was pretty easy, 2 blokes put the upside-down block on the press (I wasn't big/strong enough to be considered "Safe"!) then I aligned the block under the press ram, inserted the drift (machined to slide in the bore of the old liner, and clear the OD size), the pump the hydraulics to press the old cylinder out. The new cylinder was the revers, but had to have everything spotlessly cleaned and a wee drop of light oil put on the bore of the block so the liner would slide-in easily, without "seizing" and needing excessive force to fit it.
Then the block was taken to the boring machine, where I bored it, before finish honing on the vertical honing rig.
Surely normal appropriate fits will enable you to do the same process? - and with a model, the pressing loads should easily be within the capabilities of a good vice - if you haven't got a press? (Who has?).
K


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## awake (Aug 19, 2020)

Who has a press? Why ... I do. I made a 20-ton press - it works quite well, though I doubt it can actually get all the way up to 20 tons. The main thing was acquiring some heavy steel c-channels; that came courtesy of a friend. I also borrowed his radial drill to make it easier to drill the holes for adjusting the table height. After that, just a welding job and a 20-ton hydraulic jack.


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## Steamchick (Aug 20, 2020)

Lucky You! But I don't, and I don't know anyone who does have a press of that sort of size. Most model assemblies need so little pressure to press fit anything, that I use my 3in vice. A lot of pin-to-rod-eye fittings I can assemble using the Drill press, as barely a few pounds of force are needed. Well withing the capability of that tool, and lots of control. Just fit a blank rod in the chuck and the job on the bed and the regular alignment of the drill-press is good. But people - probably you? - who make bigger models may need something bigger. Well done! (Actually, the 6" ram press I used as a lad was almost too big for pressing piston pins into press-fitted piston/rod assemblies! - The weight of the handle of the pump was almost enough to fit a small pin into the con-rod, so we removed it and used a large ring spanner for better feel! But occasionally we used it with a good heave of the handle on larger - I.E. 10~20" diameter - press-fits.).
Cheers!


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## Steamchick (Aug 20, 2020)

Withing? Where did Spell-check get that one? Sounds like a village in Suffolk or somewhere? e.g. "Much Withing in the Bind" - But it actually means making something with Withies! - You learn something every post!


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## Steamchick (Aug 20, 2020)

Charles Lamont said:


> One of the most impressive events to be seen at the steam railway workshops where I volunteer is the fitting a of cylinder liner. A cast iron cylinder liner, about 20" diameter, 3ft long and 1/2" thick, is lowered into a bath of liquid nitrogen. When cold, it is lifted out with a fork-lift, over the side of the bath, and put down, white with frost, on slides or rollers fixed to the front of the cylinder, unhooked, and shoved down the hole by hand (with special gloves). The liner already has ports cut out in the end, so it has to go in at the right angular position. The only thing is, the guys need to concentrate on the job, so spectators are not welcome.
> 
> Here, a valve liner has just been fitted:
> 
> ...



Interesting! But "from my engineer's seat"... I wonder at the corrosion from the trapped condensation between the liner and the bore of the housing? - I would expect this to rust with time so getting the liner out after decades of use will be a bit of a B#1"£$%^&r! But it is obviously manageable, or people would learn not to do it.
THANKS!
K


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## Cogsy (Aug 20, 2020)

+1 on the press for me. Similar to Awake, it's a home made affair although I did get the legs already pre-drilled from a scrap yard so it made it easy. Very handy for things like changing wheel bearings or just making things come apart that don't want to. 

For model-size jobs I use my 2-ton arbor press for most things. I might use my vise on occasion but I wouldn't consider using my mill or drill press.


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## awake (Aug 20, 2020)

K, just to be clear, my post was meant in the spirit of, "if I can do it, anybody can." (You didn't suggest anything different, but I just want to be sure I didn't come across as boasting or anything of that sort.)

Al, I have a little arbor press - 1/2 ton, maybe? 1 ton at most - that handles most of the pressing needed for models. I'd love to pick up a somewhat larger arbor press, but haven't found the right deal yet. Meanwhile, the 20-ton press mostly gathers dust ... but when I need it, it is sure nice to have it!


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## SmithDoor (Aug 20, 2020)

The only time I have a 20 ton is bending steel plate.
Today I have a 4 ½ ton arbor press that does everything.
It is sized to broaching.

Dave



awake said:


> K, just to be clear, my post was meant in the spirit of, "if I can do it, anybody can." (You didn't suggest anything different, but I just want to be sure I didn't come across as boasting or anything of that sort.)
> 
> Al, I have a little arbor press - 1/2 ton, maybe? 1 ton at most - that handles most of the pressing needed for models. I'd love to pick up a somewhat larger arbor press, but haven't found the right deal yet. Meanwhile, the 20-ton press mostly gathers dust ... but when I need it, it is sure nice to have it!


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## awake (Aug 20, 2020)

Oh, a 4.5 ton would be nice ... even better if it has a ratcheting handle!


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## SmithDoor (Aug 20, 2020)

The one I have had ratcheting handle.
Great for brochures

Dave



awake said:


> Oh, a 4.5 ton would be nice ... even better if it has a ratcheting handle!


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## Steamchick (Aug 21, 2020)

Hmmm. I have simply not needed such big tools for my models. But I haven't needed to broach anything, or use a present as a press-brake for bending or folding big stuff. But I am "jealous" that you have such fun! Do post more stuff, it's interesting! (Or do I nod a frontal lobotomy?). I'll have a ride on the Guzzi for my fun.
K


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