Splines , how and where ?

[tigler]

Need to make up a modified gear selector linkage on the rearsets of my Ducati. This will entail fabricating a new lever which is attached to the splined gear selector shaft on the gearbox.
Question , is it difficult to find a machine shop that does splining to pattern on a free issue part ?

 

[superls]

id say its a fairly specalised market, is it not an option to get a spare standard linkage and re-use the splined bit for your custom one?

 

[GrahamGKD]

Tigler,
Not sure about your question re. machine shops but could you not fabricate the new lever using the splined boss from the original or source a spare from the breakers to act as a donor for the spline?
Graham.

 

[yarpap]

they will be fairly "fine pitched" splines i am trying to do the same on an RD 400, tried to do with shaper but there isnt a lot of room for tooling
Dave

 

[Shox Dr]

You want the lever? Yes? So you need a female spline. That will not be cheap, as it will need to be Broached. Far better/easier/cheaper to modify a stock one

 

[Archie]

Couldn't a female spline be fairly easily EDMed?

 

[Shox Dr]

EMD As in Electrical Discharge Machining


I can't imagine that been any cheaper

 

[Archie]

Exactly. They EDM all kinds of stuff here. How much depends on how lazy they're feeling! I'm guessing this thing is something like 25mm dia. and about 50mm deep? I would've thought it would take a couple of hours on an EDM and they're accurate down to about 0.001mm. I've really no idea what it would cost as I've never had to pay but I would imagine it would be cheaper than broaching as it will simply require less time to do. Might be something for the OP to consider at any rate.

EDIT: To be specific I was thinking wire EDM as opposed to plunge or whatever they call the other type.

 

[john224]

splines

If you want a piece of steel broched try a company called ( pharos, redco) in coventry ( 024 76687235) I worked for them for 7 years ,, ASK for pete watson hes the drafsman //item inspector-- ( just tell him BIG john from redco told you to ask for him )?? They make broches and do broaching when i worked for them we used to do stuff for several motorcycle companies including ducati so they might still have the right broach in stock to do the job for you???

 

[tigler]

Thanks for the replies.
It is a female spline , haven't measured it but it's around 14MM I.D..
This is on an old Ducati and modifying the original is not an option , too rare !! I doubt very much I could find a spare original. So would I deduce correctly that broaching is a bit like gear cutting ?

 

[graffian]

You can do it in a lathe, you use the lathe as a shaper.

 

[MrFluffy]

Complete overkill, but Ive always wanted a slater wobble broach for jobs like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUEcagEmmZo

 

[Phil@mpliron]

You can cut splines on a wire EDM
Ours will cut through 155mm thick steel and hold 0.001mm tolerances. That said we use 0.25mm diameter wire which cuts 0.3mm so when you get into a corner or the peak of the spline you will have 0.15mm radius.
The time to cut will depend on material grade and thickness i.e. hardened tool steel takes longer than mild steel & thicker takes longer.
You'd be best to put a Dia 5mm start hole through on the centre of required splines, its much better to cut the whole profile rather than cutting in and out of the root diameter

If you have a drawing or dxf of the spline and need a cost PM me

Regards
Phil

 

[Shox Dr]

So it's a Female Gear lever.

However


This thread is useless without pictuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuures

 

[tigler]

No , not really. I just wanted a broad idea of the process and cost involved.
However , I'm now thinking of possibly having a batch made so that I can sell some to amortise my cost.

 

[superls]

if this one is so rare, surely one off of another bike will fit?

 

[Flathead_Dave]

That rare?
A Round Case 750SS?

There's a good chance it will be a standard metric involute spline.
Mic up the diameter,it will be a smidge under a whole number as metal is removed from the tips as with screw cutting.
Count the number of teeth then hit the breakers.
If diameter and teeth are the same,it will prob fit.
You need a mic to measure as if it were 1" (25,4mm) it might fit a 25mm shaft but the pressure angle wouldn't be the same and it would strip.Like using a Whit nut on a UNC bolt,it fits,but it doesn't (5 degree change in angle).
A Jap or Hinky Triumph could well fit.

 

[tigler]

Close , it's a round case 750S !
Seems as I thought , splines aren't as simple as they may appear !
However , something has occurred to me and I'm surprised it hasn't before ! The bevel singles may well have the same spline on their gear selector shaft , so I'm going to have a ring around Ducati specialists to see if they can help with a spare.

 

[Blackjack]

they will be fairly "fine pitched" splines i am trying to do the same on an RD 400, tried to do with shaper but there isnt a lot of room for tooling
Dave

We don't do much smaller, ringy dingy stuff, but in my reasonably wide experience of it, pretty much any gerlever will fit any engine with Japanese stuff.

Seems to be more or less an industry standard.

 

[Phil@mpliron]

Although not a spline as you're looking for here is a photo of a couple of items we have knocking around to give you an idea of what a wire EDM can do
Phil