Shars Broaching Kit

[Anonymous]

Thus far I have cut keyways using the slotting head on my Bridgeport. However, for the steering and brake wheels on my traction engines the keyways are in small bores (5/16" and 3/8" ) and are long, well over 1". I foresee the slotting head producing unintentionally tapered keyways. So it seems like a good idea to have a look at keyway broaches; and I haven't used them before so it would interesting to give it a go.

Having looked round this forum, and the internet, I see that Shars, in the US, do what seems to be a very reasonably priced small imperial broach set. From memory it contains 1/16", 3/32" and 1/8" broaches plus shims and bushes for around $80. Of course there is shipping and import duty/VAT on top, but I can live with that.

Does anybody have experience of the Shars broaches?

Andrew

[Anonymous]

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

Hello Andrew,

No experience of Shars broaches but I do own one of their coaxial indicators which I have found to be accurate in setting up work on both the mill and lathe [aligning long bars end on to the centre of the spindle for drilling and tapping].

It may be no guide at all to the quality of their broaches, but the price is very attractive. I paid more than that for just a 1/8 inch broach from Hassay-Savage in the USA.

You are right of course, slotting those sizes over a length is inviting a tapered keyway.

Regards

Brian

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Andrew, can't vouch for Shars, but I do have a couple of duMONT broachs of the same design and are made on the same side of the pond as Shars. I got mine for free but I did have to make my own guides. Here is a photo of my 1/8" one cutting a 1" depth keyway in mild steel on my No. 4 fly press with no trouble.

Regards Nick.

[Mark CParticipant @markc]

Andrew,

I have a slightly larger set from RC Machines I think. They work well but it is essential that you start them off vertical and keep them vertical at each pass. Mine were bought to cut some 8 mm key-ways and ended up cutting 30 or more and no sign of any wear or loss of edge. I give them a spray with cutting and tapping fluid to help things along. I use a 3 tonne arbour press but a tiny key like yours will go easily.

Mark

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Andrew I have had one of those Shars sets fort over two years now and for our type of use can't fault it. Its done several hit & miss engine flywheels which are quite deep hubs as well as gears in steel. KWIL also borrowed teh 1/16" one to do his Meek screwcutting clutch and Jo has also borrowed them.

Don't use the postage that the websales site will generate as it comes out at more than the set, e-mail them and they will do it for about $15 and take sless than a week.

I've made a few more bushes for mine as the set stops at 1/2" but they are simple to knock up, also made tapered ones.

1/16" one on the Cameron Crank

J

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

On the basis of my experience with Jason's loan, I have bought my own. Check direct with SHARS for a shipping cost, rather than just an on line purchase.

[Anonymous]

I bought a set of the broaches from Shars, but unfortunately the exercise turned into an omnishambles. As suggested I emailed Shars in advance and got a shipping price for USPS. I then ordered the set. When I got the invoice I has been charged shipping by UPS, even though the set had been sent USPS – a difference of over $100.

After a somewhat protracted email exchange I eventually got the difference refunded. After several weeks I got notification that I had customs duty to pay, which I did, and the broach set was duly delivered. Looks ok, but no shim? A detailed search through the box and packaging failed to find it. Cue another email exchange. In the end Shars offered to refund a small amount to 'cover' the missing shim.

So that leads to a question; I would be grateful if some-one with the Shars broach set could confirm the thickness of the included shim?

Suffice it to say I doubt I will be buying from Shars in the future. Despite the waffle on their website they don't really seem set up for dealing outside of the USA. In stark contrast I ordered a devkit for a Linear Tech isolated flyback converter from Digikey in the US on Wednesday, with free delivery. It was delivered by UPS at 9am this morning. What more can I say?

Andrew

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

0.031" as near as the callipers will read so probably 1/32"

Did you place teh actual order via the website a sthat may have generated the charge, I did it all via e-mail.

J

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Andrew, I know my two broaches are Dumont, but my 1/8" one has 0.031" shim measured with my micrometer, so Jason's calliper measurement is probably correct. I also measured my 3/16" one which is 0.051" which suggests that they are not to an exact fraction.

I once had an order from Digikey about 15 years or so ago, from USA which was free delivery by UPS and I had to pay the delivery guy the import duty, which they said I'd have to. From the time I clicked the confirm button the order was at my door in around 46 hours, and I was able to track it when it arrived and left each depot. Them days when ever you ordered most things in Britain you had to allow 28 days and pay delivery however much you spent and never really knew when it would turn up.

Regards Nick

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 24/04/2015 15:40:50

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

MSC cataloge page 178&9 gives the thickness of spare shims for metric & imperial broaches, 0.0310" (not 0.0313" ) for the 1/8 and 0.0500 for 3/16". ( you don't need the shim for the two smaller ones in the set) Interestingly the metric ones use similar imperial shims.

Edited By JasonB on 24/04/2015 15:41:45

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Posted by JasonB on 24/04/2015 15:32:47:

MSC cataloge page 178&9 gives the thickness of spare shims for metric & imperial broaches, 0.0310" (not 0.0313" ) for the 1/8 and 0.0500 for 3/16". ( you don't need the shim for the two smaller ones in the set) Interestingly the metric ones use similar imperial shims.

Edited By JasonB on 24/04/2015 15:41:45

So we are arguing about .0003" now

Tony

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

No I was saying that my assumption that it was 1/32" (0.03125) was wrong and it actually was 0.031" that I measured and not the calipers rounding it to the nearest 0.0005. Not that it makes a lot of difference if you are fitting the key with blue anyway.

[Anonymous]

Jason/Nick: Thanks for the information on the shim thickness. It is what I would expect for the 1/8" broach, ie, roughly half the depth, but rather less than I would have expected for the 3/16" broach. The current job requires 3/32" and 1/8" keyways, so the 3/16" shim is something to worry about another time. Unfortunately the keyways I need to cut are longer than the bushes in the kit, so I'll need to make some special bushes first.

I'm beginning to think it might have been quicker to file the keyways.

Andrew

[Anonymous]

Update: Following a 'phone call this afternoon from a concerned friend I took note of what he said, re-read the notes on broaching on the ArcEuroTrade website, and went for it:

Overall it worked out pretty well. The necessary shims were made from shim stock, but I might well buy the proper item from Arc in due course. The Bridgeport coped ok, although if I was using a larger broach than 1/8" then I'd use the flypress.

Andrew

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 24/04/2015 11:07:16:

I In stark contrast I ordered a devkit for a Linear Tech isolated flyback converter from Digikey in the US on Wednesday, with free delivery. It was delivered by UPS at 9am this morning.

Was it actually shipped from the US or did they simply ship from their UK site?

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 24/04/2015 15:22:34:

I once had an order from Digikey about 15 years or so ago, from USA which was free delivery by UPS and I had to pay the delivery guy the import duty, which they said I'd have to. From the time I clicked the confirm button the order was at my door in around 46 hours, and I was able to track it when it arrived and left each depot. Them days when ever you ordered most things in Britain you had to allow 28 days and pay delivery however much you spent and never really knew when it would turn up.

DigiKey has a UK website these days. If it operates the same as their Canadian site, the prices are inclusive of UK duties and taxes and orders placed before 8 pm are delivered next day.

edit: Hmm after I posted that I went to the site and actually checked. Seems like orders are actually shipped from the US site (but UK duties are prepaid). The Canadian site actually does the same thing but Digikey's warehouse is right on the US/Canadian Border so it doesn't make much difference.

Edited By Bandersnatch on 26/04/2015 01:36:10

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Posted by Bandersnatch on 26/04/2015 01:26:48:

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 24/04/2015 15:22:34:

I once had an order from Digikey about 15 years or so ago, from USA which was free delivery by UPS and I had to pay the delivery guy the import duty, which they said I'd have to. From the time I clicked the confirm button the order was at my door in around 46 hours, and I was able to track it when it arrived and left each depot. Them days when ever you ordered most things in Britain you had to allow 28 days and pay delivery however much you spent and never really knew when it would turn up.

DigiKey has a UK website these days. If it operates the same as their Canadian site, the prices are inclusive of UK duties and taxes and orders placed before 8 pm are delivered next day.

edit: Hmm after I posted that I went to the site and actually checked. Seems like orders are actually shipped from the US site (but UK duties are prepaid). The Canadian site actually does the same thing but Digikey's warehouse is right on the US/Canadian Border so it doesn't make much difference.

Edited By Bandersnatch on 26/04/2015 01:36:10

Hi, I know I said 15 or so years ago, well it is now coming up to just 10 years ago. The order was made on their UK website and paid GBP's but it was shipped from; Thief River Falls, United States. I do remember having to fill in a form for usage and whatnot before they would consider shipping.

I could not get these from anywhere in the UK as the people here would only deal with traders, how a lot of things have changed since then. Oh! and it was import VAT I had to pay.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 26/04/2015 08:40:42

[Anonymous]

Posted by JasonB on 24/04/2015 13:01:12:

Did you place teh actual order via the website a sthat may have generated the charge, I did it all via e-mail.

Unfortunately I did place the Shars order online, making the mistaken assumption that the email trail would tie up with the order.

Looking at the tracking info the Digikey order came from their main base in the USA. I wasn't aware that they had a UK warehouse? The invoice was in £, and as part of the registration they ask for a VAT number, which I have.

These days I tend to let our PCB and box assembly company buy components, as they get much better pricing, and buying is boring; I'd much rather be designing. However, in the past I've ordered from all round the world direct from manufacturers websites. Payment was mostly in US dollars and import duty/VAT needed to be paid. As Nick says UPS ask for cash/cheque on the doorstep whereas DHL used to send an invoice about a month later. A lot of packages used to be shipped from the Phillipines. The semiconductor fabs may be in the USA, but wire bond, package and test are usually done somewhere cheaper. At least one company (Microchip?) got round the duty/VAT issue by having an address in Ireland and charged in Euros.

Time for a rant. In the past when ordering from overseas on a credit card you got quite a reasonable exchange rate for conversion to pounds, and that was it. Now one seems to get a slightly poorer exchange rate and you also get charged a foreign currency fee on top.

Andrew

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 26/04/2015 11:22:55:

Posted by JasonB on 24/04/2015 13:01:12:

…Time for a rant. In the past when ordering from overseas on a credit card you got quite a reasonable exchange rate for conversion to pounds, and that was it. Now one seems to get a slightly poorer exchange rate and you also get charged a foreign currency fee on top.

Andrew

Time for more people to see the benefits of paying by Bitcoin.

Martin.

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 26/04/2015 11:22:55:

I wasn't aware that they had a UK warehouse?

I don't think now that they do have …. just a UK website where you can pay up front including all duties and taxes.

Mouser seems to have the same thing.

(In Canada, before DigiKey changed from using Purolator to Fedex, I could place an order before 8pm Central Time (9 pm Eastern time here in Toronto) and it would arrive at my door around 8:15 am or so the following morning. With Fedex, they quote 1 – 3 days although actual times have always been afternoon on the following day).

[Anonymous]

Posted by Bandersnatch on 26/04/2015 18:43:33

Mouser seems to have the same thing.

My order from Mouser, ordered at the same time as Digikey, was delivered at 9:25am today. It is just a pity that the elephant that DHL were shipping at the same time obviously sat on the package. Fortunately the components are small enough not to have been damaged.

Andrew

Edited By Andrew Johnston on 27/04/2015 09:29:21

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