D shaft inserts where to find them?

[Michael Bird 1Participant @michaelbird1]

I need to place a 6mm "D Shaft" into the end of a stainless steel shaft. I don't have any equiment to broach a 6mm D hole and I don't really want to drill a normal hole and secure the flat with a grub screw.

Are there such things as plastic or brass "D" inserts that can be pushed or glued into a normal drilled hole.

I've googled this and can only find ready made knobs which I could break up and retrieve the inserts.

Thanks guys

[Michael Bird 1Participant @michaelbird1]

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

You would be better off drilling and tapping a hole in the shaft and using a screw, rather than use plastic or brass. If this is for fixing a pulley onto a motor, then definitely not plastic.

If you cannot broach a slot in the shaft, then file one! With a little care, it is feasible to get a good fit. Good practice at filing too!

Andrew.

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Would you be able to machine the shaft and fit an insert like in either of these pictures?

[Michael Bird 1Participant @michaelbird1]

The shaft is from a encoder, take a look at the link to see what I'm talking about.

**LINK**

The shaft turns extremely slow so plastic or brass would be OK. If no inserts are available I'll most likely drill and tap for grubscrew.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Encoders need hardly any torque, all you need is a round hole and a grub screw bearing on the flat. Unless you were very careful a D shaped hole would have some backlash, which would introduce error.

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

D hubs used to be sold by Stock drive products in USA years ago, I think their UK distributor was HPC or Muffett's. Not sure if they still carry those.

I recently used some D hub drive plates from ServoCity for an industrial job. Link below.

https://www.servocity.com/0-770-clamping-d-hubs

You could also drill an undersize hole and make a piloted broach to be used in an arbour press to do your own D hubs.

[Michael Bird 1Participant @michaelbird1]

Thanks Jeff I'll have a look into these later.

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