Contact wheel arm

G

GRapp

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Nov 14, 2022
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259
I'm about to make some arms for the 3, 6, & 12 inch wheels I got. I'm not sure if I should tap threads into the arm or just drill a through hole. In my pea brain a threaded arm seems to have less play, however, I'm publicly educated and graduated at the bottom of my class. How is yours setup?
Gary
 
It came like that and I only made minor adjustments. Everything is snugged down so I doubt it matters.
 
GRapp said:
I'm publicly educated and graduated at the bottom of my class.
Click to expand...
This gave me a chuckle.
Personally, I'd tap the tool arm for 1/2"-13 (assuming you're using standard 1/2" ID bearings) and get some 1/2" machine bushings to space it off of the tool arm. Throw a small dab of loctite on the threads and you're good to go. You could also tap it with a 1/2"-20 if you like fine thread bolts, but this is overkill IMO.
If you really like overkill and precision, and want the "professional" look, get some 1/2" shoulder bolts and some shims, and install your wheel onto the tool arms this way. You'd still tap the the tool arm (likely 3/8"-16), but you'd have to make sure that the shoulder length accounts for both the wheel thickness AND the spacing away from the tool arm. Loctite is still a good idea here as well.

Hopefully your contact wheels have spacers in between the bearings. If they don't, just make sure you're not pre-loading the bearings by overtightening your bolts, and you should be ok.
 
Thanks Drew. I was doing R&D yesterday and determined threading the arm will be best and I've got a shoulder bolt inbound because I feel more comfortable tightening it down like normal without concern of crushing the bearing. If this is a failure I'm going 1/2-13 bolts at whatever length is enough to put a locknut on the far side. I'll still thread the arm, but won't be able to tighten it down solid.
 
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