Waterjet cut diamonds in my I-beam axle saturday!

Spent saturday afternoon at my buddies shop screwing around on his flow jet. Been thinking about cutting diamonds in my axle for some time now. We finally found a saturday where he had some spare time so we laid out the diamonds on my dropped axle for my 30' Chrysler coupe project. Took about 2-1/2 hr's total time from plotting them out in his computer to cutting them out. Turned out awsome!! Very clean cuts, no cleanup at all needed! 13 holes total (lucky 13?) I wanted something different since all you ever see are holes in everything.

 

looks pretty nice, what does your buddy charge per hour?

 

Good to have friends like that! Axle looks good too...

 

Sweet! Looks good, but did you save the program?

 

Not sure with him, it depends on what he's doing. He usually is reasonable on his pricing. He runs a sheet metal fab shop. Has several CNC plasmas and a 1/4 million dollar water jet that will cut through 12" of solid steel! He makes a lot of parts for the mines and power plants around here.

 

They look cool,
but each of those diamonds has 4 corners,
and those corners don't absorb the stress like circles do.
So as that axle wants to twist
(that's what they do with split wishbones)
in some point in time they will create a crack.
It's just a potential weak spot.

TP

 

I like it! Very cool and different. I don't believe
i've ever seen this (shapes other than round holes.done before.

The only question I would have (only because I'm always looking for a problem) is, would the corner radii be susceptible to cracking? I'd make sure to file at least a small radius in each corner to act as stress reducer.

In any event, a real nice job.

 

Oh yea, I made sure he saved it! So if I ever need to cut any more axles I can.

 

thats not a good idea the corners of the diamonds
is a perfect place for cracks to starts Thats the
reason why you should use round holes
all thr stress get consentrated to the sharp corner

 

Crack!!!!!

 

I guess I will have to keep an eye on it if it starts forming cracks

 

I too would be concerned about all the corner weak spots.
Only time will tell I guess.
Look cool though.

 

Ask someone who works in engineering about "Stress risers"!!!!!

 

I dont plan on racing this car or anything like that. I guess time will tell. If it starts cracking it will make a cool wall hanger!

 

I would make your diamonds in to circles next Sat. just to be safe....
good luck

 

Actually, that would be a lot safer on the track, less articulation in the suspension. I wouldn't take a chance driving that on the street one time. There's just too much to lose for you and everyone else on the road with you.

 

and with split wishbones the situation
goes real bad

 

Really good advice. The axle is beautiful. Yes it is... but it will be just as beautiful with safer (saner?) cutouts! Your buddy shouldn't complain about the do-over. He is the one who should have known better.

 

I think it would be interesting to take a stock axle and twist it with a set of bones and measure it and then do the same to a drilled to see how much deflection actually occurs after the operation. I agree angles can cause stress fractures, just how much stress would it take is the question. Damn it's hell when a cool ideal turn's to $hit.

 

Run it till it blows looks kool. I am sure your buddy took stress and twist in mind. He wouldn't want to send anything out the door that would fail and hurt someone. If it does crack maybe radius the corners on the diamonds alittle.

 

Most people who have equipment aren't engineers, and would have no clue what sort of stress and torsion those axles see..."keeping an eye on it for cracks" isn't going to save your ass on the interstate when it develops a crack on one pothole and comes apart on the next pothole...there's a reason people use circles on axles, and even those can be a total crapshoot sometimes...and I agree, it'd be safer at the track than it would on the street any day...sharp corners are bad, and even if the corners had a 1/8" or a 1/4" radius it'd still be a sketchy idea...I'd rather see these axles get forged with shapes in them than have them cut out later, and anyone who doesn't understand the difference shouldn't be doing things like this...

 

OK, your an idiot, run it till it blows, that's about as stupid as you can get.
You're running down the hi-way at 60, in traffic and she blows. How many people are dead???

 

O K I am a Idjuit. But it amazes me how many experts [ has been drips under pressure] there are on this board. Forgive me there is no need for name calling. But it sounds like this guy is going to use the axle no matter how much advice he gets. I have seen, we all have seen alot of bad, scary ,unsafe builds on the road. In order to keep this hobby moving forward alittle in house policing is in order. But it can be done in a positive manner.

 

That is what I was thinking, it looks cool and all that but there a lot of places for stress cracks to start there on all of those sharp corners.

 

i'd get another axle and hang THAT one on the wall.
too cool to change it but I wouldn't use it, either

 

Absolutely the worst idea I've seen in a long time.

 

If you're really worried about stress-cracks, there are water soluble spray-can crack check products available. from a strictly engineering standpoint, round is better than anything with acute angles. it looks like a late model axle though, should be alright. you could also heat the insides of the holes and let them air-cool. it should relieve some of the stress. i worked in a specialty heat-treating shop for many years, there are things you can do to reduce cracking problems.

 

looks sweet!!
I like the idea, live fast, die young leave a beautiful corpse

 

Very bad idea.

It will more than likely crack at a corner of the upper or lower corner of the diamond.
It's a matter of time and circumstance that will determine when.

Also,
Cracks may also develop in a bore if you decided to have your buddy cut the diamond out with a circle profile with the waterjet. The waterjet process leaves an edge that seems smooth, but it's not. If your going to go from diamond to circle you need to mill a bore that is larger in diameter than the longest points on the diamond shape. Milling is easier on the bit than drilling because you already have a hole, but drilling would work if you patiently peck drilled. I would rather mill. There also needs to be enough material between the bore and the bottom of the flange.

This has been done many times successfully if you follow the proven guidelines.

If you move forward with what you have, you need to ask yourself: Is it really worth it to risk hurting yourself, someone else and / or their family or your ride?

 

Would weight play a role in safety , I know we all worry about safety but if its under a light car wouldnt the stress be less . Just my 2 cents , I would really keep a close eye on that !!!