Keith, you said you couldn' t imagine putting a ring gear on a flywheel
without a torch ....... well ( now don' t let Miss Kathy hear about this )
that' s
what OVENS are for !!! Just make sure the ring gear is NICE & CLEAN !
You will get more EVEN heating all around the whole circumference
than you can with that torch ! I have used our oven very successfully to
warm axle bearings, both open and sealed, and drive them on the axle with
a length of pipe, several blocks of wood, and a few hammer blows, when
no press was available . On one occasion, when Doug & Darrell were
"understudies" in my garage, we had the added benefit of a snowbank
next to my driveway to chill the axle in ( I do NOT think Mary Ann would
have gone along with me cleaning out the fridge to stuff an axle in there ! ),
and it helped get the job done . The oven also makes a nice preheater
for parts you wish to weld with less thermal shock to them, as when you just
strike an arc on them . Remember the key thing ...... CLEAN parts only,
and better yet ...... do it while she' s OUT shopping !!!
Those few thousandths gained with the careful use of heat and cold
assisting each other can make all the difference ....... but of course we all
know some parts can't be treated ( no pun intended ) this way !
The submarine shipyard where I spent over a third of a century keeps
a large supply of DRY ICE on hand for these very expansion fits that
they utilize on many components, both large and small .......
You can also throw in one of those frozen ( cardboard ) pizzas
while you' re cooking your parts ...... now that's efficiency !
Bruce
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
PS : Messrs Barrett, Dincau, Vette Scoy can all disregard the snowbank
info ...... probably never seen one ....... sure won' t have one available
.......
and you all got big presses, anyhow !
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