Snow Thrower project update

[Walt 339]

Had couple of hours to kill today so I decided to work in garage on parts for my project. I took the hand crank I got with my snow thrower (not one made for it) and the 4' x 3/8" rod I bought to make the crank I needed and bent rod to simulate bends on 1 I got with it. Once I had the bends done I proceeded to drill the two holes, one for the the end that attaches to the u-joint and one that plastic handle rides on on operator end. After installing roll pin for plastic handle I ground it down to fit inside handle like original tested it and mounted retaining cap to end. It hit me some time in last couple of weeks that the hole on crank support may be so over sized as to make crank sloppy when turning. With this in back of my mind it came to me that one of the old hinge pin bushings from when I changed doors on my truck over the summer may help so put one in support. Its only held in by the press fit so if I find I need the slop it will pop right out if I find it works well I'll use solder to keep it more permanently secured till it wears out and i need to replace it. I also measured and drew up shaft I need to turn to add to crank support for the Tach-A-Matic to lock on it. Will still need to make a plate to attach to that shaft to keep crank support stable. That will have to wait till next time I pull mower deck to look over what plate on it measures out to and figure out how I actually want to make mine so it as stable as I can make it when mounted.

[Walt 339]

Yesterday I machined the shaft I needed to extent crank support so it would lock into tach-a-matic, and made tab that I will weld to the shaft to keep crank support from rocking forwards or backwards. Welded tab on this morning and locked it into place. I then slid the support onto end of shaft and fed crank through to the u-joint and pined them together. First thing I found was the bushing I added to crank support would need to be reamed at an angle to work way I thought it would so needed to remove it. Once I had it removed and reassembled I played with position of support to find location were it turned chute freely and was comfortable to operate when seated. Using a small pair of vise grips locked on the crank rod on either side of support to hold that location. I decided I'd take a break before welding the shaft I made to the support. While setting there looking at support and crank it looked like if I ever did mount a cab the crank would need to be moved closer to operator. With this in mind I decided to drill them and use a hair pin over welding them making that possible future change easier. I also decided to cut a couple of pieces of 1/2" plates to build up bottom of slides since ones on snow thrower now are showing their age. 

[Walt 339]

Was sent this short video of my oldest grand daughter 1st time running lathe yesterday by my niece who runs the office at shop were I used the lathe to make shaft I needed. I explained each step as I did setup, I did an initial cut to show were each cut needed to stop then roughed in a step to set a depth for her to cut to and turned her loose. She said she liked doing it, she has always like running my power tools.   

video-1476561715.mp4

[Walt 339]

My schedule and my bud who owns a gun smith shop (I needed to use his mill) finally lined today. I cut 2 woodruff key seats in the drive shaft which is last part I need to complete my snow thrower project. Decided to go with 2 seats for a couple of reasons 1st I payed close to 30.00 for the key seat cutter why not use it more than once.  The 2nd is the original shaft had sprocket welded on and if it became worn from turning chain no way to easily replace just it would I would need make a new shaft. 

[M-14 0]

Hey Walt, Tom McMahon or M-14 here, how's it going. A couple of things. Maybe you can explain to me how to use the chat room so I can contact you as my project dictates. One thing I have decieded is to raise the drive shaft up like my old snowblower so maybe you have some thoughts on that. Thanks.

[Walt 339]

On 2/7/2017 at 9:14 AM, M-14 said:

One thing I have decided is to raise the drive shaft up like my old snowblower so maybe you have some thoughts on that.

To raise the shaft up I would remove the inboard bearing mount (this is a bit of pain in the). When i removed mine to reposition it I used my both standard and right angle die grinders with both cut off wheels and carbide burrs. I was careful to only work where it was welded on at since this would give me a few points of the original edge to assist in relocation. In your case be careful to save any of the radius that goes toward the drum of the housing. If you look at your newer thrower there should be large holes with the 3 smaller holes already located for mounting the inboard bearing in the upper location. I don't remember if both sides of that frame work on back of blower has small holes if it does it could really help when remounting when one you need to remove. Once you have the mount removed or if you have questions on this e-mail me you need more info (life is busy right now so I don't check in here as often). I will address cutting hole for drive chain and locating the bearing mount once you have mount ready to reposition.