Brake Drum arbor for turning true

Diastole

Senior Member
Greetings from the Smoky Mountains,

I have read all the threads and posts about turning brake drums, using shops with the small VW arbors, or sending the drums to RG is SoCal. It is a wealth of helpful info.
Also, I have reviewed the old articles in the newsletters like “How to Restore your Model A, V5 p21-23”. And many others.

I would like to fashion an arbor for the front and rear hubs to turn drums on my gapbed lathe for my club members. None of these articles describe making or how to make the arbor and mandrel. Before I venture off and engineer my own, I would like to learn from mistakes and the experience of others gone before me.

Does anyone have arbors or build diagrams of arbors and mandrel they would be willing to share? We live a long way from SoCal and none of the brake shops here in Eastern TN have the equipment or knowledge to do this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Sincere Thanks,

Diastole
 

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the barrett drum doktor had a bushing that fit in the rear hub without removing the seal or the bearing for the inside and a cone to center the outside
 
I have a machinist friend who does that work for club members. He does the front drums between centres and he made a mandrel for the rear ones.
TIP! When turning the drums, stretch something like an old bicycle tube around the drum to stop chatter.
 
Greetings from the Smoky Mountains,

I have read all the threads and posts about turning brake drums, using shops with the small VW arbors, or sending the drums to RG is SoCal. It is a wealth of helpful info.
Also, I have reviewed the old articles in the newsletters like “How to Restore your Model A, V5 p21-23”. And many others.

I would like to fashion an arbor for the front and rear hubs to turn drums on my gapbed lathe for my club members. None of these articles describe making or how to make the arbor and mandrel. Before I venture off and engineer my own, I would like to learn from mistakes and the experience of others gone before me.

Does anyone have arbors or build diagrams of arbors and mandrel they would be willing to share? We live a long way from SoCal and
none of the brake shops here in Eastern TN have the equipment or knowledge to do this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Sincere Thanks,

Diastole

Interesting comment.
 
Brake shops may only have modern equipment. Dig deeper into the antique car sources to find the info you seek. The drums need one side to have overall support while the other side should have a taper for centering. All that has to fit into a chuck and a live center when using a regular lathe. Most drum turning lathes only grip the drum on the spindle so it only has support on one side for the most part.
 
Perfect, Elizabethton is about a four and a half hour drive.
Seems like a comprehensive, high-quality place.
There's nothing like that here in Tullahoma.
I appreciate your help.
 
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