how is this done?

thinking of getting a mill drill and if it can be done on one it would be a good reason to get it

thinking of getting this maybe here

or is there a machine for cutting them

Gear cutters can cut splines so maybee a gear cutting machine.
I think a mill could be possible but hard.

Darren

Its all very well cutting the splines, but dont they have to be case harderend before you can actually use them?


I imagine it would be relativley easy with a horizontal mill, or a special spline cutting machine lol

Are you talking about internal or external splines? External splines (like on a shaft) can be cut on a Mill using a dividing head and suitable cutter. Internal splines have to be broached which is a bit beyond the average backyard engineer.
I'd avoid combined mill/drill/lathes really. The milling capacity is very limited. www.axminster.co.uk do a good mill/drill for just over £500 plus delivery.

yeah

a horizontal mill is needed saying that not nececary...

for the correct splines there is also an add on tool needed wich is like a lathe head wich allot of holes in that way the axle is turned equal degrees when each cut ends...

EDIT: this is called a "Dividing head"

Tks

[Edited on 24/4/07 by tks]

The dividing head is the most important part of spline cutting, without it you will be waisting some good time

oh are combined one rather useless, that lathe/mill looked ideal as it is just long enough to make shafts and i dont think that i would be able to get both a lathe and mill both paid for since i can argue that its only a bit more for the mill head, would it not be good enough for cutting splines then.

just external ones needed to be done and i'll d splash out on the right cutting head if need be

do they need to be hardend if they are only going to be handleing about 40~60 bhp

I can almost certainly say you wouldnt be able to cut splines on any length of shaft on a 3 in 1 machine like that. You need quite a bit of table room to fit the dividing head (which will cost you about another £200 - £300 btw!) and tailstock support, and lots of travel. The table travel on the 3 in 1 machine is limited to the cross slide.
It might seem a bad idea to buy all this gear for just one particular thing but once youve bought it there will be a tonne of other things you will find uses for.

Its a setup like this you would need, just to give you an idea.

ah i see now how it works, i could go into the school workshop over the summer and do this but id rather have the tooling at home to do it and also they might not have the driving head

Must ask my dad how much he would spend on precession tooling like this

ok so im not getting a mill or a lathe any time soon and id be fairly certain the school work shop doesnt have the tool of cutting splines... so does anyone in the N.Ireland (to be more exact fermanagh) have this tool i could use for next to nothing in the next few months? as i want to do this myself rather than going to the local engineering works in town

[Edited on 23/4/07 by goodall]

I think its great that you want to do this yourself. I'm guessing your quite young so your probably still in some form of education, and probably looking to follow this path as a career, forgive me if I'm wrong. One idea might be to get a local company to do it for you, your cheapest option I think, and ask if you can sit in and watch as they do it. That way you can at least learn something even if you dont do it yourself. That way when you get your own gear you will have some idea what to do.

Danny.

yep im just about to do my gcses and i have used the lathe a few times in school and the mill once and i know how useful they can be and yes i do want to have a job in engineering my father is a civil engineer and has a partial interest in cars so that were i get my influence from.

just after measuring my shafts and it looks like i have to go for welded shafts anyway as the long shaft i want to cut and splined is too thin
but i have to other car i can put shafts out of so maybe theres will be thicker and i wont have to have welded shafts, as i dont really trust my welding that much also id be worried about them not being dead true.
so if i do find some thicker shafts i will see about bring them to a local company and watch it be done

[Edited on 23/4/07 by goodall]

i think its awesome that you have it in mind to cut your own splines and shows a good engineering aptitude that should be encouraged.

In practice you may find the cost of suitable precision maching equipment to be a little prohibitive for one off's or small runs.

Im a time served toolmaker and would probs say cutting gears and splines is one of the more advanced machining skills to be tackled after you have grasped the basics. i will not put you off having a go but you may find it cost effective to get them made or find a way to acomplics your goal with standard parts.

When you get some precision gear have a practice with dividing heads etc first. They are a great tool for a miller but cheap they aint and do need some basic skills mastering first. You may be lucky though to find some good kit cheap if you keep looking. I would imagine a lot of serious companies now will be using more CNC equipment.

well thanks guys for the insight and one day i will buy the tooling for doing this as i hope to do a few one of cars and self built parts.

even maybe do it to make a few extra pounds after buying all this extra kit, but for now it looks like i will be welding bits of shaft together but i still want to get a mini lathe at least to machine the shafts and sleaves with out useing someones elses kit