Turning Brake Drum

The front brake drum on my Commando is scored from a previous owner letting the rivets dig into the drum surface.
The grooves are between 1/32 and 1/16 deep.
I have access to a lathe that will swing the wheel with rim and tire mounted and want to turn the drum to remove the grooves.
In the Dunstall Tuning book there is a photo of a Norton front wheel being turned in a lathe using the axle to establish center.

Has anybody in this group actually done this? I looked in the archives and couldn't find anything.
If you have, did you use a four jaw vs three jaw?
Did you use the tailstock center for support?
Did slop in the bearings and fit of the axle create issues around concentricity or chatter?
What did you use to drive the wheel (ie, keep it from spinning on the bearings)?

Stephen Hill

Haven't done it myself, but have thought about it, as I'll have to in the future on another bike. I'm going to use a dead center in the head, faceplate to drive with a dog against a spoke, and a live center in the tail stock. It would seem that trying to chuck up to the axle would add another point of slop that doesn't have to be there. If possible, adjust the dog radially to get it to lodge in the "X" where two spokes cross.

If you give it a go, be sure to take lots of pictures!

Nathan

I wouldn't worry about the grooves or try to remove them. Just make sure the rest of the surface is round and concentric to axle.

X-file said:

I wouldn't worry about the grooves or try to remove them. Just make sure the rest of the surface is round and concentric to axle.

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+1

concours said:

X-file said:

I wouldn't worry about the grooves or try to remove them. Just make sure the rest of the surface is round and concentric to axle.

Click to expand...

+1

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I am kind of inclined to agree with this. If you fudge the job you will be in for a fair amount of work. Linings are cheap. Besides, the depth you have mentioned the grooves are sound like they are beyond the tolerance for machining. That is critical, as you don't want your drum to explode when you need to do a panic stop some time, and you will.

Dereck