Keying a threaded 5/8" shaft?

[The Muffinator]

I received another 3HP Briggs & Stratton ball bearing motor with a threaded 5/8" shaft and was wondering if I should add a keyway on the shaft.

I have used clutches on threaded shafts before but I usually just drill where the set screws will be and then tighten it down. I would rather have something a little more secure this time and I don't really want to take the engine apart if I don't have to.

 

[125ccCrazy]

Personally I wouldn't trust just a set screw to hold a clutch, there is alot of strain on that little screw...

 

[The Muffinator]

Decided to go ahead and key this shaft myself.

Used a Dremel with several cutting wheels stacked to almost exactly 3/16" and a jig.

This is the result.

And here is the jig I used. Dremel was hose clamped to the nylon block.

For a pretty crude jig, it worked very well, a whole lot better than I ever expected. Almost looks professional! :thumbsup:

 

[125ccCrazy]

very ingenious Rob, that should work just fine....:thumbsup:

 

[The Muffinator]

very ingenious Rob, that should work just fine....:thumbsup:

Thanks. It was scary to tackle this at first. This could have went very wrong and then I would be looking for another 3HP crankshaft.

This good old yellow engine has a lot of history behind it. Originally served as a water pump to clear out our parking lot every time it flooded when we had rain. It was always taken cared of and received regular oil changes. :thumbsup:

May have seen a lot of use over the years but it still runs like the day it came off the assembly line. Now I just got to find a suitable frame for this yellow shortblock as well as the dark grey one.

 

[bigrob]

nice job on the home made milling machine , should work fine :thumbsup:

 

[jeep2003]

cool looks good! I never thought of stacking disks. usually i do it when the crank is out and i can get at it with a big grinder. I clamp a straight edge piece of steel and run a cutoff wheel along it . then unclamp and cut the other edge. then grind out the center and clean it up with a dremel.

 

[manchester1]

That looks pretty good:thumbsup: I never thought of that My dremmel is my best friend:laugh: I use the dremmel for alot of mini bike work:grind:

 

[The Muffinator]

cool looks good! I never thought of stacking disks. usually i do it when the crank is out and i can get at it with a big grinder. I clamp a straight edge piece of steel and run a cutoff wheel along it . then unclamp and cut the other edge. then grind out the center and clean it up with a dremel.

I originally was going to do this but I wanted a nice clean square groove so that is why I thought about making a jig to do it. I really wanted to avoid taking the engine apart and this worked successfully with excellent results. :thumbsup: