Stored on end or laying down?.

--
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea. Massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of
mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." — Gene
Spafford, 1992

On 23/09/2021 9:16 pm, jonz wrote:

> Stored on end or laying down?.

Laying down is fine. Just as long as they're not laying on something
that is going to cause them to bend.

Most machine shops use vertical racks where the cranks are "hung" by
their rear flange or front snout, but that's more about fitting in more
cranks per cubic foot and reducing the risk of them bumping into each
other and putting a mark on a journal. If you want to get really fussy
you can cut a couple of "vee blocks" out of soft timber and support the
crank by it's front and rear main journal, but generally laying them
down flat on a clean shelf is fine. For camshafts I normally store them
in the box they came in, and if I don't have one then a piece of PVC
water pipe works well.

If you're storing them for extended periods then coat them with grease
to stop them rusting.

--
--
--
Regards,
Noddy.

On 23/9/21 9:16 pm, jonz wrote:
> Stored on end or laying down?.
>
I have only ever seen them stored horizontally on a rack if that's any help.
BTW I've got a cool foot stool in my garage, legs are 3 camshafts and
the seat/top is a auto drive plate, a length of old timing chain welded
together secures the bottom of the legs, just the right height to put my
foot on when tying my shoe laces:-)

--
Daryl

On 9/23/2021 9:52 PM, Noddy wrote:
> On 23/09/2021 9:16 pm, jonz wrote:
>
>> Stored on end or laying down?.
>
> Laying down is fine. Just as long as they're not laying on something
> that is going to cause them to bend.
>
> Most machine shops use vertical racks where the cranks are "hung" by
> their rear flange or front snout, but that's more about fitting in
> more cranks per cubic foot and reducing the risk of them bumping into
> each other and putting a mark on a journal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yep agreed, there is a 'discussion' in full flight elsewhere on this
subject.

    apart from, as you say, machine shops etc. i`ve never heard of the
practice in one or two situations. A lot of *mechanics* involved say
they were taught to do so at Tafe...I was never taught/shown such a
thing. NZ or OZ...

> If you want to get really fussy you can cut a couple of "vee blocks"
> out of soft timber and support the crank by it's front and rear main
> journal, but generally laying them down flat on a clean shelf is fine.
  but *then* according to these, er, experts, they`ll bend in the
middle. Made out of plasticine.?? (Wonder how two bearing cranks ever
survived. :)
> For camshafts I normally store them in the box they came in, and if I
> don't have one then a piece of PVC water pipe works well.
       yep.
>
>
> If you're storing them for extended periods then coat them with grease
> to stop them rusting.
>

--
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea. Massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of
mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." — Gene
Spafford, 1992

On 9/23/2021 10:13 PM, Daryl wrote:
> On 23/9/21 9:16 pm, jonz wrote:
>> Stored on end or laying down?.
>>
> I have only ever seen them stored horizontally on a rack if that's any
> help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yep, me too.

>
> BTW I've got a cool foot stool in my garage, legs are 3 camshafts and
> the seat/top is a auto drive plate, a length of old timing chain
> welded together secures the bottom of the legs, just the right height
> to put my foot on when tying my shoe laces:-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good stuff. ;)

>
>
>

--
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea. Massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of
mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." — Gene
Spafford, 1992

On 24/09/2021 4:10 pm, jonz wrote:
> On 9/23/2021 9:52 PM, Noddy wrote:
>> On 23/09/2021 9:16 pm, jonz wrote:
>>
>>> Stored on end or laying down?.
>>
>> Laying down is fine. Just as long as they're not laying on something
>> that is going to cause them to bend.
>>
>> Most machine shops use vertical racks where the cranks are "hung" by
>> their rear flange or front snout, but that's more about fitting in
>> more cranks per cubic foot and reducing the risk of them bumping into
>> each other and putting a mark on a journal.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Yep agreed, there is a 'discussion' in full flight elsewhere on this
> subject.

I'm sure there is. People like to reinvent the wheel regardless of
whatever it is you're talking about :)

>     apart from, as you say, machine shops etc. i`ve never heard of the
> practice in one or two situations. A lot of *mechanics* involved say
> they were taught to do so at Tafe...I was never taught/shown such a
> thing. NZ or OZ...

Neither was I. It was never so much as even mentioned when I worked for
Repco, and the couple of other engine shops I've worked in as well as
the ones I've visited all stood their cranks vertically in a rack as it
was just easier to man-handle them that way and they were less likely to
be damaged.

But that's for your average car engine crank. At Repco we did a lot of
heavy truck stuff and ground some *fucking* big cranks. I can't remember
what the capacity of the crank grinder actually was, but it would take a
6 foot long industrial crank no problem and shit like that can weigh
half a tonne and was *way* too heavy to lift in and out of the machine
by hand let alone stand up vertically in a rack. Such big motha cranks
were lifted in and out of the machine with an overhead gantry and a
sling, and were laid down on a pallet when they were finished.

To be quite honest this is a subject that's never come up in
conversation for me before because it's never *needed* to, but I can
just imagine that there would be all kinds of space cadets out there
claiming that laying them down will cause them to bend or be damaged in
some way. The reality is that crankshafts get shipped all around the
world in cardboard boxes with little more than styrofoam as support, and
a lot of crankshaft storage racks you can buy today hold the crank by
the front and rear main journal.

As far as I'm aware, neither of these cause any problems :)

--
--
--
Regards,
Noddy.