MetalworkingFun Forum

so a few months ago I was given 3 bits of metal 2.5 inches diameter x 4 ft long .my question is these are rams out of hydraulic cylinders an have a chrome on them .I want to cut an turn them to make some arbors for a English wheel im making for my sons panel shop.i know case hardening makes it hard to machine but have been told to make a big fire an put them in but leave them in the fire till it goes cold an wait for the metal to cool then I should be ok to cut in my bandsaw an turn on my old lathe ..does this sound right ?

next is I have a lot of brss and want to make some bushes for a windmill I got how can I make brass stronger an a bit longer lasting ?


cheers in advance for the help

the cylinder rams shouldn't be case hardened, if chrome plated it can give some problems but but can be cut pretty easy with proper lathe tooling.

not really anyway to make a brass alloy harder then what it already is except to change the alloy, bearing bronze would be a better choice for the application.

(08-17-2016, 08:20 AM)dallen Wrote: [ -> ]not really anyway to make a brass alloy harder then what it already is except to change the alloy, bearing bronze would be a better choice for the application.

Ditto.  The brass will seize up very quickly.  You need the porosity of cast bronze so the lubricant will be infused into the bushing.

good info thanx fellas .I made the bush outta brass but left a 2thou clearance its a old windmill and had no bushing just a castiron bigend cap held in with a bolt and bit of 1inc x 3/8 thick barso the whole setup just sits in place . I drilled 2 oil feed holes and made a small oil feed/escape passage on the inside of the bush .before I got my mini mill from my sons I took the gearbox to local[60mileaway] engineering shop an they wanted 1700 dollars to make the one bush
atleast now im getting more confident using the mill and lathe plus having the knowledge in this forum is great an saves me a lot of expense
cheers

And when it breaks again, you now know a guy who can fix it! :)
Love this stuff, thanks for posting.

thanx for the confidence building comment lol its all together and back up pumping water again no noises and rattles so will see how it goes .I spoke to a fella at a place called vintage windmill repairs an he said bronze would've been better but the cost in au is ridiculous .I showed him what I did an he said it should last a few yrs longer than me with my health issues hahaha oh well time will tell I spose