Homemade Spacers - Pics

[Titan]

I had some free time last week so I grabbed some aluminum roundbar and headed for the school shop.

They are 18mm worth of spacing, as well as hub and wheel centric. Made them from 6061-T6 aluminum. I ordered 60mm Peak Performance extended studs to compliment them.

A few hours of lathe/mill work and the result is:

http://img207.exs.cx/img207/3921/spacers17ja.jpg


http://img207.exs.cx/img207/1606/spacers20xc.jpg


http://img207.exs.cx/img207/8919/spacers34bv.jpg

[IGSDann]

That's pretty fuckin hawt... I love actually making things for my car... That's too the maxxx. Good work.

[YoungRookie]

Hey man, those are awsome, im taking a manufacturing class in school. Could you possibly tell me how you did it, or is that top secret? I always wanted to do this but never got around to it.

[Titan]

Hey man, those are awsome, im taking a manufacturing class in school. Could you possibly tell me how you did it, or is that top secret? I always wanted to do this but never got around to it.


Sure. First I ordered some 6061-T6 6" roundbar from the local metalmarket. Had them cut me four pieces, 1.25" long each so I could fit them safely within the lathe jaws.

I threw them on a lathe first; used a 0.020" radius bit to cut the outside diameter and the inside lip. Then I used the tailstock to bore out the majority of the center, following by boring the remainder to spec via bit.

At this point, all that remained was the stud holes. So I clamped it on a mill and used an edge finder to center the piece. The rest involved moving to the coordinates and drilling a pilot hole, then the appropriate holes, following by making a minor countersink to put in a nice chamfer.

And that’s it. It's not very difficult at all if you’ve had some minor experience with a machine shop.

[DrSiD202]

thats awesome good job!!
how much they cost u compared to buying them?

[s14turbosilvia]

I'm gonna make some of those at work tomorrow, can you tell me the outside dimensions and the hub inside dimension?

[Titan]

Cost was $115 CDN ($96 USD) for all the material.

Specs I drew up in CAD:

http://img75.exs.cx/img75/9414/spacerdim3gk.jpg

[MakotoS13]

hell yes. i was expecting to see some ghetto engineering and am totally amazed in a very good way.

nice work.

[Chernobyl]

hell yes. i was expecting to see some ghetto engineering and am totally amazed in a very good way.

nice work.

haha ghetto engineering? Spacers are so easy to make given you have access to a mill and lathe...

of course this is coming from an engineering student

good work btw. Have you considered making adaptors rather than spacers? Like making thicker spacers but putting the studs into them and then bolting them into place on the hub with another set of studs/bolts? That design seems a lot more safe in terms of shear force exerted on the bolts.

[Ian]

i think he was thinking the same thing as me and was expecting to see some huge washers w/ holes drilled in them or something lol

[wootwoot]

Good stuff but I would personally have used some magnesium alloy. For a while I was considering making hubs for my car but I dont have time as is. Make some hubs!

[publicenemy137]

nice, good way to improvise. Spacers are pretty expensive if u buy a brand

[Titan]

Thanks for the comments guys.


haha ghetto engineering? Spacers are so easy to make given you have access to a mill and lathe...

of course this is coming from an engineering student

good work btw. Have you considered making adaptors rather than spacers? Like making thicker spacers but putting the studs into them and then bolting them into place on the hub with another set of studs/bolts? That design seems a lot more safe in terms of shear force exerted on the bolts.


I'd consider making adaptors if the spacing was more extreme. At 18mm on a 12mm x 60mm stud, the shear stress should be well within the allowable range.

I'm a mechanical engineering student as well btw.



Good stuff but I would personally have used some magnesium alloy. For a while I was considering making hubs for my car but I dont have time as is. Make some hubs!


Magnesium alloys are difficult to source in my area. It's not something I could typically find in 6" roundbar locally. Hubs I may save for a future project.

[Ritz S14]

Very nice!! Just because you made it..doesn't mean it's "home made". ;)

[nrg]

do you have picture of the backside?

[S14DB]

Next step is Sub-Frame spacers.

[sykikchimp]

Isn't there suppose to be a recess in the rear of the center opening for the hub lip to sit in?

[Ian]

i have to say, this is one of the more impressive DIY's ive seen on Zilvia

[Shin_Kudo]

Wow, very nice. I was getting ready to tell you your wheel was going to break off when I saw the title, but these look very solid.

[MakotoS13]

the reason these are so great is because if they fit they'll be perfectly snug and better than nay bolt on adapter due to the fact that they won't shift. it'd be like having a wider hub or better offset wheel center.

[axiomatik]

good work btw. Have you considered making adaptors rather than spacers? Like making thicker spacers but putting the studs into them and then bolting them into place on the hub with another set of studs/bolts? That design seems a lot more safe in terms of shear force exerted on the bolts.

The bolts would see less stress, but then you would be putting a lot of stress on the adapter, which is just a chunk of aluminum as opposed to the hardened steel of the bolts. Plus, aluminum has a fatigue limit, steel doesn't.

[SaintlyCharBoy]

Isn't there suppose to be a recess in the rear of the center opening for the hub lip to sit in?

yeah, but that depends on the wheels he is running - i made a set like that about a year ago for AceInHole

if he is running mustang or aftermarket wheels, these spacers will fit the stock hubs and be hubcentric with the wheels without using the little plastic rings

[Titan]

The bolts would see less stress, but then you would be putting a lot of stress on the adapter, which is just a chunk of aluminum as opposed to the hardened steel of the bolts. Plus, aluminum has a fatigue limit, steel doesn't.


The stress on the adapter can hardly be characterised as "alot". 6061-T6 aluminum has a tensile strength of 45,000 psi, yet this piece will be in compression rather then tension, thus giving it more then sufficient strength for the application.

Also, what fatigue? The piece will strictly carry a compressive load. It will not need to counteract any force in the vertical plane, thus not experience any cyclic loading to cause fatigue.



yeah, but that depends on the wheels he is running - i made a set like that about a year ago for AceInHole

if he is running mustang or aftermarket wheels, these spacers will fit the stock hubs and be hubcentric with the wheels without using the little plastic rings


Exactly. The inner bore is 66.2mm, which allows for a tight fit against the hub. While the outer lip is 73mm, which fits my aftermarket wheel bore. As mentioned above, this allows the spacers to be hub and wheel centric without the use of additional hub centric rings.

[S13 Charlie]

Nicely done, I must say!

If I may make a suggestion, I would bore out some of the material between the lug holes for weight reduction. It looks like there is plenty of material that can be safely removed without sacrificing the integrity of the part.

At any rate, I love seeing DIY engineering, putting that degree to good use! If I had access to a machine shop, I'd make a lot more parts for my car.

Cheers,
C

[cdlong]

The stress on the adapter can hardly be characterised as "alot". 6061-T6 aluminum has a tensile strength of 45,000 psi, yet this piece will be in compression rather then tension, thus giving it more then sufficient strength for the application.

Also, what fatigue? The piece will strictly carry a compressive load. It will not need to counteract any force in the vertical plane, thus not experience any cyclic loading to cause fatigue.

during cornering there would be cyclic bending stresses. a force pushing the contact patch laterally would put compression on the lower portion and tension on the upper portion where the wheel bolts to the adapter. the tension on the hub lugs and the tension on the wheel lugs would create a bending stress.

a spacer would only see compression, and adapter would get everything.

nicely done btw, i've wanted to do that too, but never had access to a lathe. you should try to find some scrap end stock, it would be a lot cheaper.

[Titan]

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated.

Hopefully I'll come up with something else in the comming weeks.

[infinitexsound]

subframe spacers.... cobra r brackets...

[mistert]

great job, i was working in a machine shop and really wanted to make something like that myself but just never had time to hang around and do side projects. we had these parts that were used to make security rollup door spindles that when finished looked almost exactly like one but the dimensions were off.

only thing is i wanted to press in studs. while youll probably be fine with the good fit and long studs as long as you torque everything down, a wheel adapter is generally much safer and a better idea than a spacer. i asked my teacher when i was doing undercar what he thought about adapters because he was talking shit about spacers putting stress on the bearings and he said the same thing. with an adapter the load is placed directly onto the wheel hub instead of shifting it to the studs

its more about stress on the car than the spacer, that looks stout and definitely wouldnt break

[rps13sh]

*sings* your in the money...

[Uniac]

pete likes men....nuff said.

lol now time to show you up with some 5 lug hubs bearing i actually havetime to get to the shope and play with my mil and laithe.