Turning down brass knuckles to fit certain wheels?

[Goro Majima]

I'm posting this in the Vanquish sub but it could apply to other brass knuckles.

I want to turn these down so I can run a wheel much closer to the knuckle (with the narrowest hubs/pin hubs) which keeps the fitment of the wheel looking correct. Have any of you done this before?

 

[Gula]

You could, in a lathe, It's sketchy. You could bolt it up to a shaft through the center. Its still a big interrupted cut and you'd risk destroying it, from your posted image. I cheapest: a bucket of water and a $60 hf belt sander. Install an axle and do your due diligence and take your time keeping it round and your fingers cool!

 

[Goro Majima]

You could, in a lathe, It's sketchy. You could bolt it up to a shaft through the center. Its still a big interrupted cut and you'd risk destroying it, from your posted image. I cheapest: a bucket of water and a $60 hf belt sander. Install an axle and do your due diligence and take your time keeping it round and your fingers cool!

Gula, bro interesting sketchy take. I don't think I'll do that.

Edited: Added pic of front

 

[Gula]

The threads m3? You could make a "adapter" to bolt the 4 holes to a central shaft, lathe, that, you could. A little less sketchy, still only 4 of them little bolts and not even full engaged. "Through"

 

[Goro Majima]

Yeah.

 

[Gula]

There's not a lot of material between the 4 holes on the solid side and the outer edge, so you would only get minimal cleanup. If you could use the inside threadded holes you'll be able to remove more material. Unless you have access to a machine shop, this may be a difficult task by yourself. Can you post a pic without the jnuckle installed, flat side down? Brass/bronze is hard to machine, as it's "gummy" .

 

[HumboldtEF]

I've used my wood lathe to turn down weights before. However they were much easier to chuck up and center. I've used the wood turning carbide tools on one project and I've used just sandpaper on another.

Just to clarify are you wanting to take material off the faces or the outer diameter?

I assume you've already got the wheels picked out. If not what about a high offset wheel like TGH's: TGH-HH H.O. V1.1 BRASS WHEEL BODY

Or are you able to modify the inside of the wheel to gain a little clearance? Maybe a little clearance from the wheel could mean removing less material on the weights? Pics of the wheel would be helpful too.

 

[Goro Majima]

There's not a lot of material between the 4 holes on the solid side and the outer edge, so you would only get minimal cleanup. If you could use the inside threadded holes you'll be able to remove more material. Unless you have access to a machine shop, this may be a difficult task by yourself. Can you post a pic without the jnuckle installed, flat side down? Brass/bronze is hard to machine, as it's "gummy" .

I've used my wood lathe to turn down weights before. However they were much easier to chuck up and center. I've used the wood turning carbide tools on one project and I've used just sandpaper on another.

Just to clarify are you wanting to take material off the faces or the outer diameter?

I assume you've already got the wheels picked out. If not what about a high offset wheel like TGH's: TGH-HH H.O. V1.1 BRASS WHEEL BODY

Or are you able to modify the inside of the wheel to gain a little clearance? Maybe a little clearance from the wheel could mean removing less material on the weights? Pics of the wheel would be helpful too.

I want to take material off of the diameter. The rear beadlock screws hinder the brass and I would like to have the front half of the brass to be turned down to 35mm (currently 40.5mm)

And I would love to remove material from the wheel instead but it's a no go for these.

 

[Gula]

Wow, you couldn't take much off of the diameter at all. The face is too thin at the lower threaded hole, that alone you would lose that as a mount, and be left with a funny witness. I mean from what i can see you dont have 2.5mm from the outer edge to the hole. I think a belt sander and this weight mounted on a central shaft and some water to keep your hands cool is your best bet. You can do it!

 

[Goro Majima]

Those threaded holes on the front aren't going to be used and I don't know what they might be used for.

 

[Gula]

Not sure either. From my manufacturing/machining experience this part is probably made out of a 10' or longer bar, and out through a bar feeder into a cnc lathe that literally shits these out in about a 2 minute cycle. Once it's parted off the solid bar, its not very strong anymore. It almost looks like if you were to take off 5mm off of the OD, that this would become 2 parts. The blue would essentially become chips, but Im affraid that the lighter colored part is too thin, and at one point this part would break in two 2 and then be a scrapped part regardless.

 

[Goro Majima]

I appreciate the visual Gula. Very solid point. Given that these knuckles are specific to these non-scale Wraith knuckles, I think if it did have to become 2 pieces it would still work as the 2 halves could still be mounted to the actual knuckles with 2 screws each rather than being a knuckle itself (I guess I should've called them knuckle weights).

The more I've thought as I type this out, maybe I could tackle this job with my Dremel, a thin metal cutoff disc and a metal clean up bit. Use a marker to make a line on the diameter and another line on the face showing an inner circle which would be the new size. It would take countless times of stopping/measuring but it's something for me to think about.