Thought about it too Ronnie,but finding the right size is a pain.

after reading this i fancy having a go at turning my own bushes i plan to make as much of this car as possible

ive got a small variable speed penmaking lathe from axminster
whats the material to use then? where can i get it from
what tools should i use and what speed


thanks Andy

Plastics direct,Delrin,Nylon 66,UHMWPE, Sharp tools and not too fast or the plastic will melt.

Good Luck.

cool thanks for that
nylon 66 is very cheap half a metre of 32mm £12 should be more than enough
just need to find the steel tubes now

Andy

If you are making the bushes - make the tubes

19mm round bar (stainless or mild steel, with SS being preferred ) centre drilled on the lathe to 12mm

Cut to length, and put a chamfer on the end to aid squeezing into the bushes

hmmm getting technical now lol

whats this oilon rod im looking at it looks very tempting

Andy

Which bit of that was technical:confused:

Oilon is basically an oil (lubricant) impregnated nylon.

It is well used for bearings, but not necessarily bushes, which also have to absorb shocks.

A few on here are using 'rigid' plastics for their bushes. I have to admit to buying a set of PU bushes complete with tubes when my lathe was up the spout.

Nothing to do with the horrible stringy mess turning nylon seemed to make:D

the drilling out the centre of the 19mm stainless iv never done anything like that before
ive made pens out of very hard acrylic before have to get them down to half a mm thick too! so the bushes shouldnt be a problem

Andy

ok, what I have learned so far, from advice, books, tinterweb and advice, on drilling centrally.....

Get the work as centred in the chuck as you can - use a dti
Take light facing cuts on the end until you have a flat face
use a centre drill to bore a pilot hole (centre drills have a very thick shaft - bit like this - )
Start with a smallish drill, then work up in a couple of steps to just under finished size (say 11 or 11.5mm) use a 12mm drill to finish off
Use plenty of cutting fluid (I think I used 3mm 7mm 11mm then 12mm when doing parts for the rear uprights)

Stainless always seems harder to work than mild steel to me

Using progressively bigger drill bits gives the lathe an easier time.

Hope this helps

As for cutting speeds:
On the mini lathe - I used what sounded/felt right
On the myford - RPM is on slowest, feed is on finest - I just vary the depth of cut:D

Stainless is a dog to drill, I got some scrap rod and tried it and just burned drill after drill even with cutting fliuid/oil, steel is much easier and given the mileage the car will do does it really matter.