Are there do's and dont's for drilling an I-Beam Axle? I am thinking of drilling my I-Beam axle and was talking with one of the guys from Socal speed shop (Sacramento) and he said as long as I stayed on the flat part and did not get into the area where it starts curving up the top or bottom of the I it should be ok. He also said on older axles do not go crazy and drill as many holes as are in the SOCAL drilled axles. Says theres are made of different steel so they can drill more without losing strengh.
Moepower drilled his axle in my shop using a freah holesaw and plenty of oil... go slow and it's surprisingly easy. As far as the steel goes, I'd trust Henry's steel more than the new stuff... but I like old technology way more.
????????? I have seen older axles with MORE than the SoCal axle Hell even seen the whole axle slotted out..best to drill pilot holes then follow up with hole saw.. Slow and steady keep it oiled
Ever checked these out? Pretty much made hole-saws obsolete for my projects.. they make perfect holes. Not cheap, but after you bend 4 hole-saws, you might wanna give em a shot. Rotabroach large hole cutter set.. Using some good cutting oil and a slow RPM i've been loving these little ****ers! They can be brittle though, so no side force or they shatter..
Cool, I may or may not drill out my axle. I for sure will be drilling out my front drums though. There is a parts store here in town with a machine shop. Last two times I have asked them to drill some holes for me they have said there is no one here but you are welcome to go do it. I may take my axle down there and do some drilling.
Those cutters rock! I threw away my 1/2" and 3/4" knock-outs at work when I got those things! Unbelievable how fast they work!
I made myself an aluminum block fixture that fits inside of the top and bottom of the I beam for my center punch, that way I could lay out distance between holes with a marker lengthwise, and be centered perfectly vertically when I center punch the hole locations...the biggest no-no I see people doing with any drilling operation is too high of drill speed, slow your speed WAY down...most cheap drill presses, especially the belt drive ones, won't go below 500RPM, and you really need to get down to 200-300RPM with a hole saw in those forged axles...and LOTS of oil/coolant...
Here is a link to a past tech week post... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48037&highlight=drilled+axle I used the bi-metal hole saw and kept it slow and oiled. Only used one 1" hole saw, no problems..... Same with the larger holes in the backing plates...
Here is a post I did on it a few months back. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=334209
The large holes are 1/2, 7/8, and 1-1/4. The perimeter holes are 1/2, with 3/8 at top and bottom. Holes next to master cylinder area are 3/8. The holes in the axle are 1" . '22
I drilled mine myself in a forged Ch***is Engineering axle: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=148737 To get an idea what different spacings look like, get a bunch of large washers (or maybe use quarters) that are about the size of the holes you want to drill. I agree that you should keep the drilling to within the flat part of the web. I did 1/4" pilot holes and then drilled those out to 1/2" and then to I think it was 15/16" using a large taper-mount drill bit in a big Bridgeport mill at work after hours, at a nice slow speed with lots of cutting oil. I then used a large single-flute countersink to put a little chamfer on the sharp edges of the holes. Make sure it's clamped down well before you start drilling. Use lots of cutting oil and a slow cutting speed. It's always a big controversy on here, but I think only forged axles should be drilled. Forged steel bends. Cast iron cracks. Stock axles were always forged. Ch***is Engineering axles were forged. Some of the other brands were cast.
The way I marked the hole centers to keep them centered up and down was I found a large fender washer that was exactly as wide as the flat part of the web, so it was easy to center the washer up and down in the web. Then I just used a center punch eyeballed to the center of the small hole in the washer. I marked the hole in the center of the axle first, and then used dividers to keep the spacing equal heading out both directions. The template that Firemanjer made looks fancier though.
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