You might have also read how John, aka Sanoke, mild mannered riding mentor and great welder had done a temporary patch job on it so that I could ride until I could either get a new driveshaft or have it professionally welded with stronger steel. John's "temporary" welding not only lasted through two snow storms, a week long cold snap which saw temperatures in the -teens and over 600 miles of riding but probably would have gone further!
But, the fear had been there and I'd not taken Natasha off-road at all just in case. When the clutch cable broke recently and I had to wait for a new clutch lever to be mailed ot me; I figured I'd have the great folks at Boivin Machining do the welding professionally.
Here's the shaft on the lathe at Boivin Machining, attempt 1, where they weren't satisfied as to the straightness of the shaft. Looked OK to me, not to them!
The finished product, looks quite sturdy doesn't it?
Some closeups of Anthony's work, he's the Journeyman welder that works for Norm, the owner of Boivin Machining. Norm's a retired Navy Senior Chief Machinist.
Took them two days because they've a lot of other work to do and because they wanted to do the job as near perfect as they could. The original shaft portion of the driveshaft was cut off and replaced with thicker D.O.M. carbon steel. D.O.M, quite a coincidence huh, stands for Drawn Over Mandrel Steel. From Wikipedia: Drawn-over-mandrel tubing is made from cold-drawn electrical-resistance-welded tube that is drawn through a die and over a mandrel to create such characteristics as dependable weld integrity, dimensional accuracy, and an excellent surface finish.
I picked it up today, total cost was half the cost of a new driveshaft from the dealer which I believe would be inferior in metallurgical strength and quality. I gave it a coat of black rustoleum paint to protect it from rust and will install it tomorrow when the paint is dry. The clutch lever assembly should be here tomorrow as well so Natasha will be 100% once more.
I highly recommend to any readers in the Denver Metro Area, the machining work and expertise provided by Boivin Machining. The quoted price was adhered to and their work is professional.
6 comments:
"The clutch lever assembly should be here tomorrow as well so Natasha will be 100% once more." YAY!
Dear Charlie6 (Dom):
There is nothing like walking out of a shop with a better product than half the price of new. And now you know where to gofor all ypur metal joinery needs. (Then again, here's hoping you won't have any.)
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Keith, thanks for reading this stuff.
Jack, yep, it felt pretty good to have the repair done so well by Boivin's Shop. I simply must learn how to weld, for the little repairs....not major stuff like this.
It is always quite refreshing to find a place to do a job for you and take their time and do it right. It doesn't always happen anymore. May that shady give you many years of dependability.
Charlie6:
It may amaze you to know that I used to be a steel buyer and DOM tubing was one of my product lines as well as Rebar, HSS, tubing and pipe. While Drawn over Mandrel is welded as opposed to CDSM, "cold draw steel mechanical" everyone opted for the CDSM as it was seamless and thus having more variable wall thicknesses. DOM tube is produced from slit coil so wall thickness has already been produced to tight flatness tolerances, then the slit coil is mounted on the tube mill to roll and eventually form the OD (outside diameter) etc. I have seen this material being produced and it is cut while moving on a "flying shear" which moves with the material until cut then moves back into position for the next cut.
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
Having done some welding in shop class, thats some fine-ass welding!!
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