Wanted: Willy M38 owner with a CNC lathe and some spare time

[waterbok 1282]

little project i am tinkering with, a hex conversion for the poor M38's with broken rear bits.

like this

anybody (pref. EU based) who can make a (affordable) proto or is interrested in joining the project?

this is what i had in mind (pictures are only a demo setup, threaded end missing etc.)

sketch

btw this works for a front hex setup

thanks for looking.

@ mods, if its more fitting please move to the vintage/general section

[GuustFlater89 0]

Interesting setup. I do have a lathe (a 40 year old one), but very little time. Do you mean to rework the existing parts, or make new ones from new material? If it i only the making of the 8x5 opening for the bearing in the existing part, this won't take much time.

I recently bought some new wheels with hex mount, which cannot be mounted directly on the M38, so I was thinking of a ring for holding the standard bearing from the M38. Your suggested setup looks better.

When I found some time and have created something, I will contact you. Maybe I can make something, but please don't count on it.

What front wheel part is the one in the picture?

Btw, thanks for helping me with the other suspension and steering parts!

[waterbok 1282]

reworking is a no go the ones that are broken are so brittle there is no chance on drilling or such. (wont touch one thats still ok)

it could be made out of alloy on a cnc lathe or 3D printed.

the front alloy knuckle is from some kyosho I think

[GuustFlater89 0]

I'll think about it. I just used my lathe this weekend to make some bearing holders for my M38. My original tyres are in bad shape (unfortunately), so I bought some wheels with off-road tyres with hex mount only.

The original rear bearings should be held somehow, so I made an aluminium part that will be mount to the wheel and perfectly holds the bearing.

I'm thinking of making your parts from aluminium, the thing that is holding me is the ball shape part. On my old "vintage" lathe you should make a round shape by hand (or you need a special ball adapter, I don't have). What bearing do you think to use? 8mm or 10 mm? I think both are possible.

Maybe I can try this Wednesday. I'll keep you informed.

[waterbok 1282]

like the adapter you are working one.

at the HTS we used to have a big CNC lathe that never got used that would come in handy now for these kind of Willy's special private parts

the ball shape is the part that makes it difficult without the cnc I think, there are tricks to do it by hand but I never got that far in the days I had a lathe at hand.

[GuustFlater89 0]

Yesterday I did some trials, but I cannot get the round parts good. I give up. Maybe it is easier to re-use the brittle parts with a metal collar around to keep everything together?

Maybe you can try 3d printing through shapeways. They also print in metals (like stainless steel).

[Will16 45]

Edit:

My bad