Water Jet Goodness

Monday I drove up to Vashon Island in Washington to meet with Bob Powell. Bob was in the process of water jet cutting the gears for the steering system and the two sprockets for the front wheel drive.

I got there in time to see the last sprocket being cut.

The water jet does in incredible job cutting these parts out of 3/4” plate steel. With the last part cut Bob and I got lunch where I had the biggest chicken burrito I’ve ever seen.

Today I got to work finishing up these parts. The parts need an accurate hole bored through the center. Bob left me just enough metal get a clean cut without spending forever getting the holes in.

The sprockets needed a lot of work, the nearest size the plate steel comes in is 0.75” and the sprockets needed to be close to 0.68”. I have a small lathe but it was up to the job.

The bigger sprocket was bigger than the chuck but with a dial indicator I was able to tap it into place and then face the plate and put the relief angle on the teeth.

There are still some key ways to cut and the teeth need to be deburred but some major progress in the last two days. I’m not sure if I’m going to finish up the chain drive tomorrow or start working on the gears for the steering system. I should know by the time I wake up : )

Captain Andy