Reproduction UC Track availability?

Ron Pier · #1 17-05-10, 11:08

Jordan I'm just trying to get my head round what you said about drilling out or sleeving would alter the sprocket meshing? Firstly I'm sure it would be easier said than done!!

But if you used over size pins or re sleeved the tracks for standard pins, the pin centres would remain the same with no meshing problems...I think

Ron

RichardT10829 · #2 17-05-10, 11:18

perhaps going the liquid cast rubber route may be an option, with the sprocket lugs being metal like a pin pushed through so to speak, along the lines of what Staman have done with the rubber sherman track

it would be easier if the carriers were skid steer alone without the track warping system

Lynn Eades · #3 17-05-10, 13:06

But they are not, and rubber tracks would be great, and so would a Hagglund, but what we have are ww2 carriers.
Yes, drilling to an oversize is fine as long as you can deep drill, at the same time, following the old centers, which is nigh on impossible,when the wear has slotted the hole to one side. I would guess that the drilling will be more difficult, than the casting. Does anyone know if the links were cast with a hole in them, and just "finish" drilled, or was the whole thing drilled.

ajmac · #4 17-05-10, 14:52

Hoping to find that out very soon. Speaking to various machinists when you mention Mn Steel the phone usually goes dead

Currently looking at alternate free machining steels with good wear resistance... If they are Mn Steel then the holes would most certainly have been cored as drilling solid bosses would have been a mass production nightmare!

Wayne Henderson · #5 17-05-10, 15:07

Our local (SE) Australian Carrier track version was cast with the holes in place. The rods or pins were cast sand and laid up in the boxes for the end pour. These original casting pattens were saved when State Engineering Works (SE) closed post war.

Jordan Baker · #6 17-05-10, 16:44

About the sprocket meshing. Sorry for the confusion. The problem would be that the track and sprocket both wear. Track wears out to the point that you've actually removed i think a maximum of 10 links. Now you go and re-drill them and fit oversized pins. It will tighten the whole track up again and you need those 10 links back. However now the spacing between links is different so it wont properly mesh on the worn out sprocket. Does that make more sense. Basicaly you'd also have to replace the sprocket and get it bang on. If you don't and one or the other (track or sprocet) is out they will wear each other out much faster.

cantankrs · #7 17-05-10, 18:36

Hi Wayne,

(Nice to meet you at Brookton back in March!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Henderson

These original casting pattens were saved when State Engineering Works (SE) closed post war.

Are you saying the patterns still exist?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Henderson

The rods or pins were cast sand and laid up in the boxes for the end pour.

I think you're saying there that a molded sand 'core' was placed in the mold after the pattern was rapped and removed, such that the molten metal filled everywhere except the holes for the pins?

Regards

Alex

Wayne Henderson · #8 18-05-10, 00:22

Hey Alex.
There is a seperate mould for both pin holes. The pin holes were cast in sand and placed on the alloy frame. Metal goes in, sand falls out, there's the hole.

cantankrs · #9 07-06-10, 06:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Henderson

These original casting pattens were saved when State Engineering Works (SE) closed post war.

Ron, Wayne wrote the above earlier in this thread, about Fremantle built carriers. I'm not clear on whether it's one or more track link patterns and/or some coreboxes for molding the sand cores for the track pin holes. Even some photos of these patterns and or coreboxes could answer some questions.

Wayne, any chance of acquiring and posting some pics of said patterns?

It seems rather crazy that they would have cast track links individually. It seems to me more likely that they would have built up a match plate of link patterns arranged in a radial fashion and then perhaps even stacked and clamped these 'flat' molds so that they were pouring what would result in a 'tree' of tracklinks once the sand was shaken off. Much like Ford SV V8 piston rings were cast. Ron do your NOS good links clearly show grinding marks where the feeder and runners were cut off - that might provide more clues to how they were arranged during molding.
If they did it this way then pattern numbering becomes more interesting...

Regards

Alex