hoping to hear from some of you who've done this. I have no experience in cutting metal except by hand (like hacksaw or dremel). I need to cut down some spacers and figure they better be near perfectly square to distribute the load and work best.

So, what is the best way to cut them? I don't mind getting a tool if reasonable, as a last resort I can take them to a machinist but prefer learning some useful tip. Any help appreciated, thanks.

bill

 

lathe?

 

Depending on the amount of material that needs to be removed start with a hacksaw after scribing a line all the way around the spacer. Finish with a file and or a belt sander.

Autoteach, I'd love to own or have access to a lathe, but a lot of us don't.
But I've used a drill press in lieu of a lathe......
One thing I've learned over the years though is how much you can do with just a file and a hacksaw.

Kai Ju

 

Actually the best way to get the ends square is a flat plank with a sandpaper on... Hacksaw/file it close to spec and then spend the time with the paper doing circular motions... If you do it smooth and nice and keep rotating the piece in your hand it becomes square as you equal out any small angle you might put on it without consciuos thought...

I have a lathe, but I still tend to do this anyway... Did it when I cut the spacers for my swingarm swap... They where close from the lathe, it's just that I'm a bit **** sometimes...

 

Flat finished surface is easy.. Piece of glass and a hunk of emery cloth, add some water and good technique..Gentle even pressure, Slow figure 8 motions over the glass, change direction and hand often, rotate the works 90 deg after every few passes. Your all set.

The part that is not so easy and required for what you’re doing is keeping both ends of the spacer parallel to each other and 90 deg to the bore.

If your just cleaning up a nick, or a few thousands of an inch, see the glass tip above and it’ll be fine. But IMHO fabricating a space to length,, find a friend with a lathe, or a mill. Or a guy that works in a machine shop and will do the job before, during lunch or after work for the cost of a beer and sandwich. Using an out of square wheel bushing can cause uneven pressure on the bearings, twists in the fork leg..

 

You really need a lathe to do this correctly. If you wanted to mail the parts to me I'd cut them down for you. Shoot me a PM if there is anything I can do to help.

 

Guys thanks much for the advices and jamie thanks for the offer. Very helpful. I have a machine shop I jave used locally and they are pretty good guys about little things. I don't have a lathe.

 

I agree with the above... the lathe is really the only way to go to insure it's done right... another option to help keep your costs down is to use/buy a spacer that is too long, and just have the machine shop remove the necessary material... this will insure you have the proper material strength and the proper ID/OD, plus it should only take them 5 mintues to take a few mm's off.

J.

 

Parallelism between faces is the only important thing.

Use a lathe and do it right. Just tossing it in a 3-jaw chuck doesn't necessarily mean the ends will be parallel, especially with a short spacer. Best would be a collet with an end stop. I would probably cut aluminum soft jaws with a pocket, then tap the part in with a soft-faced hammer to get the opposite end flat against the back of the pocket in the jaws.

Ball bearings do not tolerate misalignment well, at all.

 

I'm not saying it cannot be done - especially you guys. The projects I saw going through the shop next door with the first guy were a bit scarey. This is a critical part and he was trying to turn out spacers in a vise. Works good - for a hundred miles and he gets paid. I don't trust my ability to walk into a shop and discern which shop could turn a spacer or not.

It's off the map for me unless there is some other emergency.

There's huge documentation on all sorts of total transplants to the Superhawk that have been pulled without building of any "custom" parts. One with an R-1 frontend that was really cool and a real performer. I suspect there are others. Allballz is your friend.

If custom is from a salvage bike/yard - That's bullshit - somebody dealing whatever junk is immediately available and cobbling it together is dangerous.

I will have my shoes cobbled but the motorcycle is not about footwear.