Help making mountain board trucks

I've had these designs for a while now to make some mountain board trucks. I have no experience with CNC or working with metals but I'd love to get a few made, so I'm looking for someone I can hand over the plans to and make them. Unfortunately the designs are on sketchup :( as I can no longer access Solidworks. The axle is 250 x 24 x 24 mm, and the hanger is 100 x 40 x 14 mm. These dimensions can be changed a bit to reduce work/cost. I'm guessing it's best to make them out of aluminium, not sure if a very high grade is required as they're pretty beefy. Basically I have no idea what I need to do, but I know what I want to end up with. If you think you can make them, great, if not, could you tell me why?

Now for some pretty pictures to give you an idea, comes in two parts, the axle and hanger. As you can see they are bolted together, the axle is also threaded to accommodate an axle bolt. I'll be much more specific if it can be done. A rough cost per unit would be handy to know too.

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Originally Posted by Brennig

I've had these designs for a while now to make some mountain board trucks. I have no experience with CNC or working with metals but I'd love to get a few made, so I'm looking for someone I can hand over the plans to and make them. Unfortunately the designs are on sketchup :( as I can no longer access Solidworks. The axle is 250 x 24 x 24 mm, and the hanger is 100 x 40 x 14 mm. These dimensions can be changed a bit to reduce work/cost. I'm guessing it's best to make them out of aluminium, not sure if a very high grade is required as they're pretty beefy. Basically I have no idea what I need to do, but I know what I want to end up with. If you think you can make them, great, if not, could you tell me why?

Now for some pretty pictures to give you an idea, comes in two parts, the axle and hanger. As you can see they are bolted together, the axle is also threaded to accommodate an axle bolt. I'll be much more specific if it can be done. A rough cost per unit would be handy to know too.

Attachment 7263Attachment 7264Attachment 7265

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Hi There and welcome to the forum, I am not able to make these because im not clever enough but if i can i would like to ask a few questions.

Firstly i assume the The axle stubs for the wheels would be made from steel..?

If that is the case would they need to be removable or fixed..?

This type of thing is usually cast then machined, is that what you are looking for, or just machined billet..?

Do you have any pictures of other commercially available ones..?

I only ask because a clear understanding of what is required will maximise your chances of getting someone to help you out with your project

Rick

By axle stubs do you mean the bolts in the first picture? They're just steel M12 bolts that thread into the axle so they are removable. I am assuming billet will be a lot better for very low quantities. Depending on price I would make 2 sets, so four of each part, and if they're good I'll make 10ish.

They're kind of like these (you can see that it's two parts welded together).

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For the initial two sets I would get some 25mm square bar for the axles and some 14mm plate. Then take it to a local blacksmith and get him to drill and tap the M12 holes. Then heat and bend the bar to shape. Bending has the benefit of being stronger because you are keeping the grain of the metal intact, rather than cutting through it on a mill. Also you aren't wasting material/money by machining a bigger bit of material down to size and shape.
Then if your happy with how these parts perform they can either make you a batch the same way, or make you a form to go in a press. Whichever is the cheapest option.
I wouldn't personally go down the CNC route on the axle. Only on the plate part when you want a batch of them.
Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by oscar

For the initial two sets I would get some 25mm square bar for the axles and some 14mm plate. Then take it to a local blacksmith and get him to drill and tap the M12 holes. Then heat and bend the bar to shape. Bending has the benefit of being stronger because you are keeping the grain of the metal intact, rather than cutting through it on a mill. Also you aren't wasting material/money by machining a bigger bit of material down to size and shape.
Then if your happy with how these parts perform they can either make you a batch the same way, or make you a form to go in a press. Whichever is the cheapest option.
I wouldn't personally go down the CNC route on the axle. Only on the plate part when you want a batch of them.
Hope this helps.

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Yes, it is a pretty simple design and I had wondered if it was possible to do it manually. It'll just take someone with the right tools, I don't think I know anyone capable of doing it but it won't curt to ask around. If I did print off plans and source some metal, would I expect a blacksmith to get on with the job? Basically the job could be done by:

Axle
Bending the axle
Drill 2 6 mm holes
Drill 2 12mm holes and tap it

Hanger

Cut the outside shape
Drill 25mm (i think) holes part way through
Drill 12 mm holes
Drill 2 6 mm holes
Drill the cone shape thing, it's like a big countersink hole.

Thanks

Milling the plates would not be a problem. Though for 12 mm bolts you want a bit greater then a 12 mm hole as a pass through. Also if you want to use ali' for the axle bar forging without special equipment (read very expensive last I checked) will not turn out well. Aluminium tends to work better if either cast to shape, cast and milled, or milled. Forging of ali' as done when making ali' profile requires a very good amount of heat and pressure to get a good result (reason the stuff costs so much).

Michael

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Originally Posted by Dom

Morning Brennig. If these are for a prototype id be happy to have a go at milling a set for you from aluminium billet, if you are happy with the result we can then run more sets off. If you email me some sketch's with bolt hole spacing and dimensions ill solid model it and we can go from there if you wish to continue.

Regards Dom

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Im hoping you will post some pics when you do them as they would be great to see.

Rick