Best Material for Spline?

[brozier]

Hiya folks,

My Dore-Westbury Miller is getting pretty noisy and I think I've traced the cause to wear on the spline which transfers rotation from the pulley to the mandrel.

The shaft is I guess MS with two slots milled in opposing sides I can't see any wear on it.

There is a gunmetal casting which bolts to the pulley and this has two tabs which enage in the the shaft splines.

The gunmetal tabs are worn where the sharp corner of the shaft slot has bitten into the GM.

The casting has a "H" shaped hole in it so the only point of contact is the tabs is this good practice?

I was thinking of making a sleeve and silver soldering in some brass bar to act as the tabs/keys but was wondering if this is the best material for long life?

The whole area is an awkward profile so adding something on will take some thought.

Cheers
Bryan

[albert]

Hello Bryan
My solution to your problem about 25 years ago and still working.Cut off the splined shaft,( worn uneven along length) electric weld on a new steel bar and re-machine to original size.Machine off the tabs and recess beyond tabs and silver solder a steel strip in across the two recesses 0.5 ins wide ( extra tab length)and as thick as spline width, machine out excess metal to fit to splines.Current wear negligable, noise nil.
Bye Albert

[brozier]

Hiya Albert,

Thanks for your timely message

I had thought of steel but was worried about wear so you have convinced me this is the way to go.

If fact I'm hoping you meant something like this



As that's what I did last night! I went a bit mad with the Silver solder - still learning.

I've drilled and filed the gap but its not quite done as it binds about a quarter of the way down the spline. Time to get the the engineers micrometer blue out!

Many thanks
Bryan

[albert]

Hello Bryan,
You must have under stood my message.Pleased I could help.
Happy Quieter milling Albert.