Repairing a Seed Cleaner Shaft without a Lathe

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A bearing had turned on the main fan shaft of the old seed cleaner, wearing a neat groove deep into the steel rod. 
A bearing had turned on the main fan shaft of the old seed cleaner, wearing a neat groove deep into the steel rod. 
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To start, a solid base was made by laying a 10-foot section of 14
To start, a solid base was made by laying a 10-foot section of 14"×14" railroad lumber on top of, and at right angles to, a 2×12 plank.
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Without a lathe, the author turns to the odds and ends at hand to get the job done.
Without a lathe, the author turns to the odds and ends at hand to get the job done.
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The final product: neat as any shopwork. 
The final product: neat as any shopwork. 
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The most convenient cutting tool was a worn-out 10
The most convenient cutting tool was a worn-out 10" file, modified by grinding its end into a sharp, round-nosed tip and fed very slowly into the built-up fill to keep it from grabbing on the rough spots.
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The scored-out groove is filled with enough brass rod to more than pack the worn channel. 
The scored-out groove is filled with enough brass rod to more than pack the worn channel. 

I’m all for a bargain, so when I spotted an old seed cleaner that looked to be in pretty good shape, I couldn’t resist picking it up for a song. But when I got it home, I began whistling a different tune. A bearing had turned on the main fan shaft, wearing a neat–but unwanted–groove deep into the steel rod.

Replacing the cold-rolled shaft would have cost as much as the implement itself, though, and I was determined to make a repair with the tools and materials I had on hand: an oxyacetylene torch, some brazing rod, and the contents of an impressive pile of wood and metal scraps I’d collected over the years.

What I lacked, however, was a lathe to turn down and smooth out the brass fill that I’d be using to build up the score. I decided to use the shaft itself–with the bearings and pulleys attached to it–as a crude setup that, I hoped, would spin “true” enough to permit me to do an accurate finishing job.

To start, I made a solid base by laying a 10-foot section of 14″×14″ railroad lumber on top of, and at right angles to, a 2×12 plank. Then, using the position of the shaft’s bearings as a guide, I nailed in a couple of 16″-long 2×6 uprights–one to the side of the timber, and the other along the far end of the plank–to serve as mounts for the bearing flanges. (I had to add some wood scraps as spacers between the “outside” upright and the railroad beam, for extra strength.)

It took me only a few minutes to brace the “freestanding” upright with a couple of 1×4 stringers set at 45° angles. Then I constructed a motor mount by nailing 2-foot hunks of 2×6 across the top of the large timber, parallel to the shaft and about a foot or so from it. They also had to be “proud” by 10 or 12 inches on one side so the motor’s pulley could line up with the shaft’s.

  • Published on Jul 1, 1983
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