46mm tube

[Peter Ellis 5Participant @peterellis5]

My drill presses all seem to use 46mm tube. It is an oddball size and I cannot find a source. I want about 750mm of it to upgrade one of my drill presses.

Does anyone know of a stockist, please ? I get offered 50mm but never 46mm, other than from Chinese steel mills, who no doubt want to sell me miles of it.

Cheers

[Peter Ellis 5Participant @peterellis5]

Looking for a source

[David Millar 3Participant @davidmillar3]

Scaffold tube is 48.3mm with about 3-4mm wall thickness. Could you turn that down?

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

46 mm is 1.8110.

Suspiciously like an Imperial 1 13/16"

If all else fails, the suggestion to turn down scaffold pole, (finish to size, by polishing, since I suspect that the intention is a new pillar ).

Howard

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

Scaffold pole is basically ERW (electrical resistance welded) 1.1/2" sch 40 nominal pipe size. Turning it down to Ø46 will get rid of issues such as poor outside diameter tolerances, poor ovality tolerances and undefined straightness. The problem is that the starting wall thickness is not great so I would look for a piece of 1.1/2 NPS sch 80 (about 5mm wall), sch160 (about 7mm wall) or even XX strong (about 10mm wall) to get a better final wall thickness.

Marin C

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

If you do opt for turning something down M-machine do 47.62 (1.875" ) x 4.88 wall which would still be reasonably rigid once reduced to 46mm

Or just use1.75" bar and sleeve the various parts

Edited By JasonB on 29/03/2022 18:47:15

[Peter Ellis 5Participant @peterellis5]

Thanks for all the responses.

The intention is, indeed, to make a new pillar, enabling more clearance under the head. 750mm is too long to turn on either my Boxford or Hobbymat. Given the huge numbers of these drill presses around, I´ḿ amazed it is so difficult to get the tubing, or, for that matter, that they are all this peculiar size !

Cheers

Peter

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

I can't get 125mm there are shortages of many sizes but I can give you some 45 mm IF it's any help and it's 316 stainless. Noel

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

Posted by Peter Ellis 5 on 29/03/2022 19:16:49:

…I'm amazed it is so difficult to get the tubing, or, for that matter, that they are all this peculiar size

I'm amazed that you are amazed. I do not think steel manufacturers would stay in business very long providing products just in case someone wants to upgrade a machine.

Given that roundness, straightness, precision of diameter and surface finish are quite important for a drill press column, can you suggest a tube specification of any diameter at all that would provide these? Is it not conceivable that the manufacturers started with a stock size (e.g. 50mm) and the 46mm you have is a result of their machining into it the desired characteristics?

Another solution is to buy 45mm diameter, a can of coke and a copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Many years ago, there was an article by Alex Weiss in ME dated 07 Apr 1995 in which he extended his NuTool DIY13 drill by means of a piece of scaffold tube.

I attempted to do the same with my NuTool CH10 drill (MEW243 Jul 2016) and ran into a number of problems. For a start, I couldn't turn the scaffold tube. And second, in reality it was much too large a diameter. In the end I used a 150mm long piece of solid EN1A, turned down to more or less match the existing tube OD, and a 50mm section further turned down to fit inside the tube. Unfortunately, I found that my tube ID was not concentric with the OD, neither was it circular, with the result that I made a clamp to hold the extension piece in line with the existing tube, and lathered Araldite Super Steel all over the spigot. 24 hours later the Araldite had set and the extension piece was solid.

HTH,

Peter G. Shaw

[Simon Williams 3Participant @simonwilliams3]

I'm "fairly" sure it is actually 40 mm bore cold drawn hydraulic tube, as used for making 40 mm diameter hydraulic actuators (cylinders). So 40 mm bore, 3 mm wall thickness. Probably honed internally, though if you were buying a lot of it you'd probably forgo the honing process.

If you can find a local company re-manufacturing hydraulic cylinders they'll likely have a scratched piece in the scrap bin.

HTH Simon

[Peter Ellis 5Participant @peterellis5]

THAT is a very interesting idea Simon. I have one in the village. There is also a plant firm with a workshop repairing all sorts of their hydraulic equipment a couple of miles further. Thank you. It had never occurred to me that the ID was relevant.

Cheers

Peter

[Anonymous]

Is it worth considering finding quality tubing a little larger than the old one and boring the mating parts to suit?

Or, if you can turn just the ends of the tube, reduce those locations to fit the head and base and bore out the table mount.

[Peter Ellis 5Participant @peterellis5]

I considered that but there either isn´t sufficient material or they are too difficult to hold.

Cheers

Peter

[Peter Ellis 5Participant @peterellis5]

In the end, they hadn´t got 46mm OD. I wound up getting 45mm with 5mm walls, so 35mm bore. I may need to shim it.

Thank you for all the responses.

Cheers

Peter

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