our propshaft was bent by accidental contact with a travelift strap. so i emailed a dozen sources for quotes on a new SS or duramet or aquamet shaft. got a reply with 3 to 4 day turnaround time quote from a michigan machine shop who will remain nameless (for reasons which you will see...) . it was a custom job because my boat prop shaft is 30mm metric and the flexible coupler, cutless bearing etc are all 30mm. so upsizing the shaft to 1/3-16 wasn't an option.. after email and a personal call, the nameless machine shop was shipped my old shaft , the prop nut and my gearbox coupler hub on 5/13 so they could be sure that the dimensions on the new shaft precisely matched the old as to keyway, nut pitch, and coupler diameter. (without precise dimensional matching, the 30 mm coupler won't fit the new propshaft.)
after waiting 7 days, on 5-30 i asked re: when my new shaft was coming --was now told 'metric takes 2 to 2 1/2 weeks..'(wow, sorry to find that out only after i sent you my old shaft parts...) .after 3 weeks , on 6-6 asked for status again -.. much to my surprise was told ' well your bar stock of 1 1/4" has not even left for the grinder yet (to be ground and polished down to 30 mmm ) ...' gosh, i am rather surprised by this .. since there are suppliers of metric bar stock around and i assumed if you were one of the biggrest shops in the country you would a ctually stock metric stock.. (anyone can buy metric stock if you want to buy 10,000$ worth at a time.) and a local machine had told me it's about 4 hours of work to machine the taper and keyway if the local shop could get metric stock . which they didnt have and couldn't get . they didn't stock metriv ''because they did not have that much call for metric..''so i thought dealing with one of the largest machine shops in the USA would not require ' an outside grinder...' oops, my mistake..
so on 6-17 -- a full 5 weeks since they received my old shaft..--.i ask again. no shaft. i am told 'well your bar is back from the grinder but our cutter (machine) isn't working.' ' so on monday 6-20 a STOP WORK order issues by me to the nameless machine shop: 'unless you have completed machining my prop keyway and taper and are prepared to ship finished product TODAY, STOP WORK. send me the old parts and ground and the polished 30 mm bar you quoted at $400. (then i could take the bar to my local shop to have it machined locally. ..'
much to my surprise, on wednesday arrives a fed express 'overnight priority' package for $130 containing my old parts, and a new propshaft...(note no one authorized priority overnite for 130$, fed $18 would have been fine ..since we both work we couldn't get to the lake til saturday anyway...) well i was so excited to actually contemplate fitting the prop shaft and being on the water this weekend , wow! i start checking it out: got out my trusty tape measure, metric rulers, vernier calipers, micrometer..1st thing : let's check shaft length : oops! 58 1.2 inches did not equal 1500 mm when i graduated from grade school in the 1950's. the new prop shaft is too short ! let's look at the other dimensions...hmm the results are not good.
1) propshaft dimension is wrong--- not 30 mm but 2/64th larger-- so coupler wont even fit onto the shaft. so the engine cant drive the new p shaft. (note shop was supplied with the centa coupler itself together with info and specs, with a note to adhere to spec or the coupler would not fit. )
2) wrong key way machined into the end: not 45 mm long with 2 vertical sides but 75 mm sloped 30 degree side, so my old key wont fit.. and no new key was included. so the propeller c ant be held onto the p shaft.. you can just look a t the 2 keyways and see the new one is totally off..
3) the thread pitch wrong on p-shaft taper, so the old M 30mm proprietary propeller nut will not thread onto the new shaft to hold the propeller in place..you could tell this by trying to thread the nut onto the new shaft and finding out it WOULD NOT fit..
4) length wrong at 58 1/2 inches not 1500 mm which is 59.055 inches --now why would you not be able to tell the proper length for the bar when given the 1500 mm length dimension in writing ?? teh result fo t eh shorter length is that my expensive rope cutter will no longer fit between aft end of cutless bearing and fore end of prop hub...
well, they did get the ISO 4566 shaft taper correct. --that's 1 out of 5 dimensions...
so today instead of a beautiful trip to the lake to put in a brand new prop shaft.. i am making a trip to fed ex to send back a prop shaft which got 1 out of 5 critical dimensions correct.. my guess is that the michigan shop rushed this job through and did not bother to even LOOK at the old shaft dimensions and coupler and nut to machine the new shaft to my requested measurements.. i guess no one looked at the old parts or the three pages of detailed written instructions about the importance of tolerances, and dimensions sent with my original order.. i had originally offered to send the nameless shop my manufacturer's dimensional drawings for the p shaft, but they told me ' they did not need that as long as they had the old parts...' the only good thing about this is that when you pay stuff with a credit card you can dispute the charge. in my case since the p shaft was not 'fit for its purpose' i am entitled to not be charged for this fiasco. (of course i don't think my credit card co would have wanted to pay for the expense of 2 weeks of chartering some other boat so we can actually start our scheduled 2 week sailing vacation july 1.. ) But the internet saved the day: so after some calls to 'marine purveyors' in England, i found that VETUS ND USA carried stock sizes of metric prop shafts...here in the USA , you can get 1500x30mm metric prop shafts, , lots of other sizes, no problem ! (note that even the big local VETUS dealers Torresen Marine, West Marine , PY Yachts Annapolis, Fawcett Boat Supplies --did not know this . ...the metric prop shafts are not in the latest VETUS catalog , but there are a whole bunch of metric prop shafts in the hanover maryland VETUS warehouse, with operators are just standing by for your call...!!!!!) so VETUS is drop shipping me a new duramet metric prop shaft with key and nut for $761. plus $18 shipping..
so any of you retired gear heads mechanics and machinists out there, can you give me some info about how a PROPER machine shop would have handled this job ?? feel free to include a huge amount of detail... i have a lot of time on my hands. maybe i'll actually be on the water next week end after all ???
the eagleswing is not flying yet , still on the hard in erie PA.... but waiting hopefully.
after waiting 7 days, on 5-30 i asked re: when my new shaft was coming --was now told 'metric takes 2 to 2 1/2 weeks..'(wow, sorry to find that out only after i sent you my old shaft parts...) .after 3 weeks , on 6-6 asked for status again -.. much to my surprise was told ' well your bar stock of 1 1/4" has not even left for the grinder yet (to be ground and polished down to 30 mmm ) ...' gosh, i am rather surprised by this .. since there are suppliers of metric bar stock around and i assumed if you were one of the biggrest shops in the country you would a ctually stock metric stock.. (anyone can buy metric stock if you want to buy 10,000$ worth at a time.) and a local machine had told me it's about 4 hours of work to machine the taper and keyway if the local shop could get metric stock . which they didnt have and couldn't get . they didn't stock metriv ''because they did not have that much call for metric..''so i thought dealing with one of the largest machine shops in the USA would not require ' an outside grinder...' oops, my mistake..
so on 6-17 -- a full 5 weeks since they received my old shaft..--.i ask again. no shaft. i am told 'well your bar is back from the grinder but our cutter (machine) isn't working.' ' so on monday 6-20 a STOP WORK order issues by me to the nameless machine shop: 'unless you have completed machining my prop keyway and taper and are prepared to ship finished product TODAY, STOP WORK. send me the old parts and ground and the polished 30 mm bar you quoted at $400. (then i could take the bar to my local shop to have it machined locally. ..'
much to my surprise, on wednesday arrives a fed express 'overnight priority' package for $130 containing my old parts, and a new propshaft...(note no one authorized priority overnite for 130$, fed $18 would have been fine ..since we both work we couldn't get to the lake til saturday anyway...) well i was so excited to actually contemplate fitting the prop shaft and being on the water this weekend , wow! i start checking it out: got out my trusty tape measure, metric rulers, vernier calipers, micrometer..1st thing : let's check shaft length : oops! 58 1.2 inches did not equal 1500 mm when i graduated from grade school in the 1950's. the new prop shaft is too short ! let's look at the other dimensions...hmm the results are not good.
1) propshaft dimension is wrong--- not 30 mm but 2/64th larger-- so coupler wont even fit onto the shaft. so the engine cant drive the new p shaft. (note shop was supplied with the centa coupler itself together with info and specs, with a note to adhere to spec or the coupler would not fit. )
2) wrong key way machined into the end: not 45 mm long with 2 vertical sides but 75 mm sloped 30 degree side, so my old key wont fit.. and no new key was included. so the propeller c ant be held onto the p shaft.. you can just look a t the 2 keyways and see the new one is totally off..
3) the thread pitch wrong on p-shaft taper, so the old M 30mm proprietary propeller nut will not thread onto the new shaft to hold the propeller in place..you could tell this by trying to thread the nut onto the new shaft and finding out it WOULD NOT fit..
4) length wrong at 58 1/2 inches not 1500 mm which is 59.055 inches --now why would you not be able to tell the proper length for the bar when given the 1500 mm length dimension in writing ?? teh result fo t eh shorter length is that my expensive rope cutter will no longer fit between aft end of cutless bearing and fore end of prop hub...
well, they did get the ISO 4566 shaft taper correct. --that's 1 out of 5 dimensions...
so today instead of a beautiful trip to the lake to put in a brand new prop shaft.. i am making a trip to fed ex to send back a prop shaft which got 1 out of 5 critical dimensions correct.. my guess is that the michigan shop rushed this job through and did not bother to even LOOK at the old shaft dimensions and coupler and nut to machine the new shaft to my requested measurements.. i guess no one looked at the old parts or the three pages of detailed written instructions about the importance of tolerances, and dimensions sent with my original order.. i had originally offered to send the nameless shop my manufacturer's dimensional drawings for the p shaft, but they told me ' they did not need that as long as they had the old parts...' the only good thing about this is that when you pay stuff with a credit card you can dispute the charge. in my case since the p shaft was not 'fit for its purpose' i am entitled to not be charged for this fiasco. (of course i don't think my credit card co would have wanted to pay for the expense of 2 weeks of chartering some other boat so we can actually start our scheduled 2 week sailing vacation july 1.. ) But the internet saved the day: so after some calls to 'marine purveyors' in England, i found that VETUS ND USA carried stock sizes of metric prop shafts...here in the USA , you can get 1500x30mm metric prop shafts, , lots of other sizes, no problem ! (note that even the big local VETUS dealers Torresen Marine, West Marine , PY Yachts Annapolis, Fawcett Boat Supplies --did not know this . ...the metric prop shafts are not in the latest VETUS catalog , but there are a whole bunch of metric prop shafts in the hanover maryland VETUS warehouse, with operators are just standing by for your call...!!!!!) so VETUS is drop shipping me a new duramet metric prop shaft with key and nut for $761. plus $18 shipping..
so any of you retired gear heads mechanics and machinists out there, can you give me some info about how a PROPER machine shop would have handled this job ?? feel free to include a huge amount of detail... i have a lot of time on my hands. maybe i'll actually be on the water next week end after all ???
the eagleswing is not flying yet , still on the hard in erie PA.... but waiting hopefully.
