Machine a Keyway

[Griff79]

Greetings,

Do we have a member or a referral for someone who can machine a keyway into a driveshaft? The Woodruff key broke off in the shaft on my lawnmower and the combination, of the collor that holds the mower blade in position spinning and the heat generated has welded the broken Woodruff key in the drive shaft. I need this keyway recut so I can fix my mower.
Thanks,
Griff

[DFBrews]

I have a small milling machine can you attach a picture of the driveshaft with measurements to see if I can fit it

[BPTactical]

You need to remove the remnant of the old key- it is milled in sync with the crank throw and if you change it you will be horribly out of balance.
The sheared key is not welded to the shaft- it just looks that way because the flange for the blade spun over it. If anything would have friction welded it would have been the flange to the crank.
Take a file and lightly file the area where the keyway is- you should be able to file away the spun garbage from the flange off and reveal the key.
When you do take a good quality punch and you should be able to dislodge the key. If you have some penetrating oil that will help.
If that doesn’t work the the old key would have to be milled out.

[Griff79]

Here are two photos of my predicament. Do you guys think this can be tapped out or does it need to be machined out?

96521

96522

[Griff79]

A couple more pictures. The top photo is the collar that the Woodruff key slides into. The mower blade attaches to the bottom of this collar and the collar then attaches to to the drive shaft via the slot.

96523

96524

[BPTactical]

Soak a little penetrating oil into it and let it sit a while- You should be able to punch it out.
Clean the keyway on both items really well prior to assembly.

[BushMasterBoy]

Bisect it lengthwise with a cutting wheel on a Moto Dremel tool. That is if you have a steady hand and a sharp eye.

[Griff79]

You Chaps are beautiful! Sprayed some PB Blaster on the key way, let s sit a bit and after about 2 smacks with a punch it came right out. It occurred to me to do this initially but I didn’t want to bugger up the slot.

DF, BP and Bushmaster, thanks for your help! [Beer]
Griff

[Hummer]

There are some pretty good fellas here. [Wave]

[Griff79]

Yup! [harley]
Griff

[SideShow Bob]

There are some pretty good fellas here. [Wave]

Just don’t try borrowing a chainsaw though…………[gohome]