To file axles or not?

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jpturner
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To file axles or not?

Post by jpturner »

Hello. I saw references in an another thread to earliers discussions on this topic, but could not find them.

What is this group's collective wizdom on whether or not to file axles to create either:

(1) An area 1/8 inch back from the nail head which is reduced by a file to leave less alxe to resist wheel motion (perhaps 1/8 inch back and 1/8 inch wide); or

(2) Using a file/lathe to create narrow filed "ridges" for lack of a better term for the wheel to run on - picture here:

http://i9.ebayimg.com/03/i/00/99/34/99_1.JPG

Which of these two approaches, if either, do you think will work the best to reduce wheel friction.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Jackson P. Turner

.
Last edited by jpturner on Wed Nov 19, 2003 8:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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MaxV
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Re: To file axles or not?

Post by MaxV »

Which of these two approaches, if either, do you think will work the best to reduce wheel friction.
It is just a myth that grooved axles reduce friction. Friction is based on mass and the slickness of the surface (coefficient of friction). Reducing contact area simply increases friction at the points where the wheel and axle do touch.

Is there any advantage to grooved axes? Maybe to hold some lube. Maybe to keep the wheel from wandering left and right (but if so, then I would be concerned that the ridges are biting into the plastic).

I have seen no studies one way or the other as to whether axle grooving really does anything. Is anybody else aware of one?
Barga Racing
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Re: To file axles or not?

Post by Barga Racing »

I am currently in the process of doing some testing of this very subject. I am doing the testing according to an earlier post by Stan Pope on Hub treatment evaluation. My wood ring is 2 oz but I am using 1/2 oz instead of 1/4 oz for the drop weight. I chose this because I hoped that the difference between good combos and bad combos would be sufficently more evident. I just started doing the testing which is going to take quite some time but my first goal is to get a base time for a wheel with a plain untreated hub on all the different axle treatments. My base times on a plain polished axle was 22 - 23 seconds. The base times on a multi-grooved axle using the same wheel was 29-31 seconds, go figure! These were figured using 20 spin tests each with nye oil lube. I have not got to the single wide groove axle yet and I have not used graphite moly yet but it will all be coming in the future.
Barga Racing
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Re: To file axles or not?

Post by Barga Racing »

Hey guys! I feel the need to pipe back in here and clarify some things. First, the plain axles I spoke of were actually Awana axles which are nickel plated. After I finished testing multi groove and single wide groove axles as well as a set of plain polished axles I realized that all the times were similar except for the awana axles. This baffled me because I had always heard that nickel plating was supposd to be good. Well in between some of my tests I had changed how I was lubing the axle hub (same lube just a different procedure). I went back and redid the Awana axle tests and the times were consistent with the other axles. So now I need to throw out all my results and start over. I will be doing everything exactly the same and more consistently so my tests will be more valid. I'll let you know how it goes.
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MaxV
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Re: To file axles or not?

Post by MaxV »

FYI - Although they look 'brighter', the Awana axles are zinc-plated, similar to the BSA axles. Nickel plating has a look more like stainless steel.
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