Plastic inserts similar to the kind shown above would be nice to fit around HS shafts.
This past season, I’ve had to drill out a sprocket to fit a HS shaft through it and let it spin freely which wasn’t too difficult, but I imagine that the new v2 HS gears would be tough to drill out because of their metal cores.
I realize that this would need a good deal of product redesign, but I wonder if there is any support for this idea out there. This would certainly reduce the number of one-use parts. Additionally, this would make it much easier to create ratchets or support other free-spinning things on HS shafts.
The issue with this is that it would require entirely new gears and sprockets to be made. Current ones need to have a tight fit on the shaft, so a spinning insert would not work for high strength shafts.
Drill press, a decent drill bit and a few drops of light oil and it’s a snap. Let the drill bit do the work with light pressure.
Using oil for metal drilling is the key. Not WD 40, but oil. (No oil? Head out to the car, pull the dipstick check the level while you have the dipstick in your hand and then dribble a few drops where you want to drill. Clean the dipstick off (no swarf in the engine please) before you put it back.
When I said 99 cent drill bit, I didn’t mean the dollar store drill bit sets. If you are paying 12 dollars for 12 bits, they should be enough quality to do 3-5 of these without an issue.
