MTFCA Forum

So today I'm finishing up an H-1 carb for a customer in Australia. I had a couple nuts off of the carb I'm rebuilding and one I'd saved off some project but decided they looked too scummy for a nice restoration so had a few minutes before a Dr Appt. and thought I should make a small supply for the several H-1's I have coming up.

First is the $130 stick of 1 1/4 Brass Hex stock, I use spec 260 because it machines so nice. Spec 360 is hard to find in brass and more expensive.
Drill a hole, then run the new $125 ball end tin coated reamer through to get the correct minor diameter. I do this on my 13 x 40 Engine lathe.


Then thread them to 1-24 with the special thread $112 tap.


Threaded.


Then relieve the mating side and part them off in the proper thickness.


Continued Below

Stack em up on the side of the lathe for now.
Clean the up on a flap sander and polish them a little. Eight ready to go.
No, I'm not selling them, just showing how little equipment and tooling it takes to do this and how easy it is! =) ----- (Note that I have my safety glasses on)

Very nice, Stan. I followed along from caption to caption, nodding as the "trivial" cost of materials and tools was mentioned, fully expecting the last caption to say, "And then send them to people who gripe because they cost a dollar each".

I do love to work brass, especially hex stock when you take the first light cut and hear it softly go, "lub, lub, lub, lub...".

Dick

That's funny, Dick, I work almost totally in Brass, I make a lot of little parts, this is about the biggest thing. I like that too, when you start taking a cut and it goes dddddddddddddddddmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I have a little piece of bigger hex stock but this is the biggest I regularly use. I make new nuts for just about every carb that uses that big carb nut, I hate scummy looking nuts and I can make a new one in less time than I can try to file or sand the old one to where it looks good.

I go through a lot of 1/2 Hex, I keep that in stock in 260, 360, Naval and Silicon. I make bolts and nuts out of 360.

Smallest I have I think is 3/16's, every size from there up except 1/18. It has really gotten expensive, this stick of 36 inch 1 1/4 was $130 in 2014, I think it's about $175 now.

You're right about the cost. I let Langs and those guys that sell stuff have them CNC'd by somebody, they can sell them a lot cheaper than I would.

Back to the shop. To tell the truth I came in to check and see if I got a paypal payment that was supposed to show up today. Didn't happen.
Back to the shop.

Nice work! Bud.