Projects OK..So anyone made their own flywheel

Anyone taken a piece of steel (not cast) and made their own flywheel for a custom application?

 

Ever see the carnage of a flywheel coming apart? NO WAY would I chance it.

 

Was alcohol involved when this thought occurred?

 

Gee 2 replies from people who I'll bet are not metallurgical engineers . Scare up a chunk of 1018 or 1044 and have at it.Common sense says a magnaflux when done would not be amiss. What do you guys think aftermarket steel flywheels are made from?

TR : sounds like a fun project if you have a big enough lathe and a mill .

 

Some things just aren't cost effective OR safe, even if a person DID stay at a Holiday Inn.

 

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...-flywheel-what-material-would-you-use-192885/

 

It's a fun thing when you make or rebuild your own parts IMO.

I enjoy it.

I have not made a flywheel, but I have refaced them on my Ammco lathe with it's special attachment. I rebuilt my own pressure plate, made my own adapter pilot bushing...etc etc.












When I look at a 1-800 build...it looks dead and lifeless.

 

I had a flywheel built for my 392 hemi that hooked to GM turbo 350 by Quality Machine in Dayton, Oh. Bought a ring gear and then had a piece of steel laser cut welded them together and then indexed and drilled the holes for the crank and torque converter.

 

and by your recommendation of material, neither are you.

 

I had a man who makes them for dynos make mine for a 5/8" extended bellhousing Mercruiser 470, then recess the back to get the weight back to 40#. He put a center hole that would take the Chevy to ford adapter bearing that normally goes in the
Chevy crank. He is Innovation Engineering. http://www.innovationeng.com/

 

What makes me think this will involve a hemi?
What is it you are trying to mate up? I'll bet some of those tractor pullers have what you need layin around, they've bolted hemis' to anything from a johndeere case to westinghouse washingmachine drives.
What you got cookin?

 

Maybe someone can explain to me why they think a one off steel flywheel would be less safe than the cast iron 50-60 year old pieces most of you guys are using now?

Lathe and mills are big enough. And thank's for the link to P.M. I didn't think to search there.

 

Not everyone has a lathe or equipment to make a precision piece in their garage. It's always satisfying to make something with your own two hands, but there are limits. Again, experimenting with some things just isn't practical or safe.



I applaud the person who can build something without sourcing EVERY single piece. Otherwise, ya gotta buy some things and those folks probably have a phone number.

 

You forget that there are home tinkerers with the skills AND equipment to do something like this. And they do it just for the challenge. I know a gent that makes his own cams, rods, cranks etc. from raw billet. To learn more about cams he took a private course from Harvey Crane a few years back. He thought it was funny that he was there with guys from the Big3, Rousch Racing and such!

 

Some more reading for you on a guy showing how he made his own. http://ls1delorean.blogspot.com/2012/04/part-fabrication-how-to-make-flywheel.html

 

The idea that a 1018 steel flywheel would not be a safe choice of material, is ludicrous. I have never made a flywheel for my car. I did make a flywheel for a starter test stand used for J-2000 and J-4000 series engines out of 60601. I also cut down a Webber 392 flywheel to accept a Pontiac ring gear. And both 10,000 RPM and Roto-Faze have made custom flywheels for me from aluminum. None of these ever failed. And they spun faster than most people here will ever spin their flywheels.

 

sometimes I wonder if you wear a helmet while driving your t bucket...

 

Lots of "chicken littles" here!
John is exactly right, where do you think after market flywheels come from? Big cookies cut from steel plate, normalized, then machined to spec. A steel flywheel will take much higher RPM than the same size/weight cast iron one will, so if it is made of a similar size as cast one it will be safer. You can also make them from billet aluminum, but billet is a bad word here so I didn't say it!
John Evans, are you the same John Evans that frequented the ATHS forum a few years back?

 

I would, if I used homemade, critical parts. I'm not saying it can't be done. The few links prove that. But for the average guy, with no experience or the proper tooling to go through the time, work and money to build a part he can get at a supplier, it's not practical.

Doing this is just like the member building his own "I" beam axle. Can it be done? Sure. Is it practical or safe? Not very. I'm VERY sure I wouldn't ride in a car with a homemade flywheel.

 

It is ironic, to say the least, that someone who sells transmission adapters is trying to find a way around using one.

 

That's funny!

 

Not at all. You sell parts to people that make their build easier. I make tube axles, but usually only have I beams on my own cars.

 

I've got 30 years as a job shop machinist, tool maker and industrial model maker. I'd be much more scared of a home made front suspension made from god knows what type of junk yard finds. than I would be of a machined steel flywheel. Hell you wouldn't even have to balance it if the engine was internally balanced.

PS what about this hobby is practical? 1-800-credit-card?

 

You might try asking if the HAMB person from this previously posted link ever made one.


http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...-flywheel-what-material-would-you-use-192885/

 

You consider your 30 years in those crafts average? Because that's who I referred to. Like I said, it can be done, but it's not practical for the average person.

And it is funny, how so many condemned Cummins for his homemade axle, but a home made flywheel is okay?

 

There seems to be quite a range of steels that have been mentioned. I have really not considered aluminum due to the added cost and machine work to add the friction plate in the center.
There is nothing really earth shattering about this project. It is just a matter of getting the offsets correct.

 

The original question was: OK...So anyone made their own flywheel? And when some said yes you and others came unglued about safety. If you have the equipment and savvy it is a no-brainer.
I'm sure that somewhere in your life there is something that you consider easy, that I have no experience with and wouldn't try, but if I didn't have the experience I wouldn't say it was unsafe for you to do it

 

If interested in Aluminum, 7075 would be my first choice, approximately the same tensile strength as mild steel and good machineability.

 

Sorry but flywheels can be made. (even at home)

I worked for Tilton Engineering and they made their own aluminum flywheels from stock material. NO BIG WOOP....

They used a 1940s lathe to "precsion machine out the slug" and blanced via computer modeling and removed material with a mill.

The steel ones that have complex curves and are lightened are made via CNC mill and lathe though.

No fancy equipment, just engineered products.

Material selection is critial to take centrifugal loads.

You can not cut out a piece of sheet metal from a 55 gal drum punch some holes and call it a flywheel.