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Cleaning the rear lift tube


thedaddycat

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So the rear lift tube on the Putt Putt had the rototiller in it for the longest time. It took a little bit of heat a lot of oil and a lot of elbow grease and I finally got it out. I needed to do that in order to use the sleeve hitch.

The question then is how best to clean the inside of that tube. In the past I've taken a wooden dowel and saw two slit in the end of it and wound some sandpaper around the stick. A better approach is to find a flap wheel type sanding drum.

The next question then becomes how do you get the thing all the way down to the bottom of the tube. This is my solution...

I'll edit it on my desktop when I get home, I'm posting this from my phone.

KIMG1083.JPG


Well everyone, welcome to my nightmare.... as Ozzy would say! So as you can see, at the bottom right of the dye and tap set there is a sanding drum along with a steel rod. My initial thought was to drill and tap a scrap piece of 1/8" pipe to fit a length of 3/8-16 threaded rod (that would fit into the 1/2" drill). That didn't work out. Trial and error, that's the way it goes...  I drilled out a scrap piece of 1/8" pipe to I believe was 11/32" so I could tap it for 3/8"X16 threaded rod that would fit into the drill. The 1/8" pipe, even though ground down to a three sided profile would still not fit the drill. I had to find a way to adapt the pipe to a steel rod... You can see the threaded rod behind the Makita drill driver and the straight rod in front of the tap and die set.
KIMG1084.JPG

I gave up on the threaded rod option when I found a length of steel rod that fit perfectly.  Look closely and you will see 1/16" holes drilled into the pipe. These are for Allen head set screws that will hold the drive shaft and flap bits in place. Look closely at the end of the two drill bits and you will see the 1/16" pilot holes for the 1/4"-20X3/8 set screws. There are two more on the other end for the flap drum set screws. 

KIMG1085.JPG

Here are the set screws. I set them up above a paper tag so that they could be seen clearly. The original one is on top, a 1/4 -20 X 3/8" cup end set screw. I ground them down to about 3/16", just short of where I figured the "cup" for the Allen wrench would end... You'll see why next.

KIMG1086.JPG

 

So here is the finished tool. You can chuck the drive tool up in anything that will take a 1/8" shaft. You can fit any size flap drum into it and have a happy. If you look at the left end, you will see a 3/4" drum which is just about the size of the shaft. That's why I shortened the set screws, so that this tool would fit (hopefully, not tested yet) anything down to 3/4" tubes...

Tools used:

1/16" - 1/2" HHS drill bit set, by 1/64" increments

1-60 HSS Numbered drill bit set

De Walt Cobalt drill bit set

Irwin Tap and Die set

Makita Hammer Drill Driver

Edited by thedaddycat
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Little drum sander like you put in a drill press. The ones that have the sanding sleeves around a rubber drum. Tighten the nut on the bottom and the rubber expands to hold the sleeve. Then put that in a modified drill bit extension.  Same sort of thing you are doing using that stuff.

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In theory you could also find a spring of the right diameter to fit the shaft of your bit and chuck that up in your drill driver... You would then have a flexible shaft drive tool, at least in one direction...

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Great idea! Looks like it would work well. It seems like I run into to having to clean up a bore quite often. Also having different grit and size flapper wheels, speed up the repair and yield better results.

Thanks Jon

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For those of us too cheap and in need of a quick fix, I suggest the following.  I have done this a few times in the past and you can fabricate for almost any diameter or depth very quickly.

I take a long bolt or piece of round stock that is of the appropriate diameter.  If a bolt, cut off the head.  Cut a slot in the end of the bolt, length wise, maybe 1/2-3/4" deep.  Take a piece of sandpaper or preferably, emery, of the appropriate size so as to be longer than the diameter you are trying to clean out, and then by about 1-1-1/2".  Fold it over length wise so it is about 1/2-3/4" wide and now has abrasive on both sides (backside of the paper is in the fold, surface of the folded piece is all abrasive)  Stuff in the slot you cut.  Take a hammer and give the bolt a good whop so the slot now clamps the sandpaper.  Stick it in a drill and have at 'er.  I wouldn't hone a cylinder with it, but for an application like a lift tube it works great, can be made up in a few minutes, and can be used again and again.  Can be made to whatever diameter and length you need, and for the most part, most of us have something on hand to fab one up quick.

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Get one of these flex-shaft extensions. It fits any 1/4" hex tool and can be used for multiple jobs. Just add one of the sanding tools suggested above. Mine has an angle attachment, too, but I haven't used that much.

I don't remember where I got this, but it was not very expensive.

 

extension.jpg

Edited by AC710
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I use my new tool with a 1-inch flap drum. It fits easily down the tube and cleaned it right out. Then I took a wire wheel to the bar with a grab hook on it that I use for the sleeve hitch. Once it was all cleaned up I put a little bit of Grease the tube to keep it from rusting up again.

So I'm going to count this one as a win. You can see where I spray-painted the shaft of the tool to show how deep it went into the tube for the rear lift.

KIMG1087.JPG

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