Making tommy bars

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

Hello all

I have a quick job to make some tommy bars for machine adjusting

They are 8mm dia with ends reduced to 6 at one end and 4mm at other

ends are 24mm long reduced size

total length is 150mm

whats the best material to use and any heat treatment that i can do to make them tough against breaking or bending?

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Unhardened drill rod / silver steel would be my recommendation. Available, relatively inexpensive, tough, stiff, wear resistant. JD

[BubbleParticipant @bubble]

Hi all

All common steels have essentially the same stiffness, just different yield points.

Jim

[Tony MartyrParticipant @tonymartyr14488]

Ian

I have made a couple of ¾" 'pinch bars' for machine moving by using reinforcing steel bar that I got from a building site off-cut pile. The material worked well when it was hot forged and was sufficiently stiff to do the job intended

The trick is to make the distance from the thinned blade tip to the heel as short as possible, at the other end I forged a spike to align bolt holes

Tony

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