Board logo

moving a hole?
02GF74 - 10/9/09 at 09:38 AM

I have a chunky piece of steel, maybe 10 mm thick or more - this is the crossflow alternator bracket - and i need to move it back. It is held on by two 3/8 in UNF bolts.

this involves changing the potision of two bolt holes so what is best way to do this?

file them out and attempt to plug well the gap? or plug weld and drill new holes - bearing in mind that I hve fold welded steel to be tougher than mild steel - tempered due to heat?

not sure how effective my MIG will be with such thick metal but the steel will only act as a spacer - or will slotted holes be ok?
and fill the gap with metal filler?

rallyingden - 10/9/09 at 10:01 AM

How far are you moving them ?

RD

designer - 10/9/09 at 10:04 AM

10mm thick??

02GF74 - 10/9/09 at 10:07 AM

quote:
Originally posted by rallyingden
How far are you moving them ?

RD


about 5 mm.

Mr Whippy - 10/9/09 at 10:14 AM

10mm thick metal is hardly an issue unless your welder is powered by AA batteries.

Clean the hole and weld it up. If you then reheat the bracket with a blow torch till it’s glowing, then leave it to cool down, all tempering will be gone and redrilling will be easy.

rallyingden - 10/9/09 at 10:16 AM

You could weld a washer in the new position. Clamping of bracket would be done by bolts, lateral movement controlled by the washers.

RD

[Edited on 10/9/09 by rallyingden]

tegwin - 10/9/09 at 10:18 AM

Just go for the bodge job of making the holes larger until they lign up properly

02GF74 - 10/9/09 at 10:26 AM

quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Just go for the bodge job of making the holes larger until they lign up properly


hmmmmmm...... I have to admit, that is the way I am thinking. There is no to/fro force on the bracket and the 2 bolts done up tighlty should clamp it in place.

nick205 - 10/9/09 at 11:10 AM

quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Just go for the bodge job of making the holes larger until they lign up properly




Exactamundo - slotted holes should be fine and far, far less work. Once installed you'll not see it anyway.

iank - 10/9/09 at 12:52 PM

Make a slotted hole, if anyone asks it's for adjustment.

MikeRJ - 10/9/09 at 03:53 PM

There is another option; rather than completely filling the existing hole with weld, you could simply plug it with a suitable bit of steel and hold it in place with some weld at either end. You can then drill a new hole which will partly be into the plug.

I only suggest this as drilling a neat hole in 10mm steel is somewhat easier than making a tidy, straight slot by hand with a file.

A 3/8" UNF clearance hole will be around 9.8mm by my calculations, so you could use the shank of a 10mm bolt to fill the hole if you can turn it down slightly, or drill the existing hole out to 10mm.

[Edited on 10/9/09 by MikeRJ]