Anyone work at a machine shop?

[protegeV]

Or know a good one? I got a set of wheels that I need the centerbores machined out about 5.5mm

 

[pwilson1204]

Machine Shop Question



Hello:

Please take this as intended as a positive suggestion. If these are vehicle wheels, possible one of the big auto parts shops that advertise machine shop services could do this for you. But any commercial outfit might be leery of modifying wheels due to the potential liability.

Best regards,

pwilson1204

 

[Boom Boom]

Look for a local wheel shop that does machining, not a general machine shop. There are plenty of good wheel shops around Baltimore.

 

[coopermania]

Open up your phonebook, if its just the axle hole in the wheel that needs opening up, Any local machine shop can do it.

 

[PapiBarcelona]

Depending on the size, and type of shop, many small job shops may not be interested in taking on a job that involves big wheels, not every shop has big mills, or lathes. Plus that job sounds like a pain in the ass to make money on, especially if your wheels require delicate handling. Care needs to go into work holding, I'm sorry, but.its a little more than "boring out a hole" unless you don't mind a dinged up dented rim from sloppy processing.

My suggestion is to find someone who does this type of work exclusively.

The one shop I worked at could do that job with the machine tools they had, perfect job for the manual horizontal mill, but if the shop was busy (pretty much always) your wheels wouldn't be worked on for weeks, maybe even months.

 

[K3LAG]

Check Ye Olde Wheel Shop in Elkridge.

 

[t84a]

Orange County Choppers

 

[protegeV]

I guess I asked here looking for a deal. I've called around and Im getting $50+ per wheel quotes. The wheels were only $300 to begin with so Im not thrilled about paying another $200+ just to open up the hubs a tad.

 

[PapiBarcelona]

Again reinforces the "only boring a little out" is a lot more than people who have only a drill press in their garage have experience on.

If you find a shop that does a lot of automotive wheels, $25/wheel might be a bargain.

If 200 bucks total for a concentric, accurate hole enlargement is too expensive, might I suggest a dremel.

 

[TonyB.]

I own an automotive machine shop and I can tell you that we wouldn't touch them for that price. Mill work is usually billed by the hour plus setup/fixture time. Figure around an hour to set it up and a half hour to do the cutting. The second wheel would take considerably less time, but I'd still count on a total of two hours at least at a rate of $80-110/hr depending on the shop. This is for a 100% concentric, dead balls accurate cut which is what you need- especially if these are hubcentric wheels.

As stated earlier, find a wheel shop to do this and it will be considerably cheaper. They will likely have the fixutres and tooling already set up and can knock it out much quicker than a machine shop could.

 

[protegeV]

I own an automotive machine shop and I can tell you that we wouldn't touch them for that price. Mill work is usually billed by the hour plus setup/fixture time. Figure around an hour to set it up and a half hour to do the cutting. The second wheel would take considerably less time, but I'd still count on a total of two hours at least at a rate of $80-110/hr depending on the shop. This is for a 100% concentric, dead balls accurate cut which is what you need- especially if these are hubcentric wheels.

As stated earlier, find a wheel shop to do this and it will be considerably cheaper. They will likely have the fixutres and tooling already set up and can knock it out much quicker than a machine shop could.

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I talked to two wheel shops, and they'd need to look at the wheels but it'd be minimum $50/ea which is $200+ total.
I may just ditch the idea of being unique with my chevy wheels on a bmw idea and resell them
Yes, they are definitely hubcentric being that its for a bmw, so accuracy is paramount.

 

[Slowhand]

Check Ye Olde Wheel Shop in Elkridge.

Last time I went there they looked at me like I was crazy. It used to be common to take stock wheels, cut them in half, weld in a couple of inched to widen them. These folks had no clue.

 

[PapiBarcelona]

I'm sure they had plenty of clue, but since we're now in the 21st Century and not 1970, it's most likely cheaper to just buy wheels that you need a specific width to, rather than paying someone $3,000 to do all that work. Just a process that isn't as popular as it used to be, just a transition in practices.

 

[lsw]

Last time I went there they looked at me like I was crazy. It used to be common to take stock wheels, cut them in half, weld in a couple of inched to widen them. These folks had no clue.

Inner tubes used to be common too.

 

[FULLCLIP]

Rims

I do this all the time. I have a large swing lathe. A set of 4 aluminum rims bored to your spec is $120. it is also good to bring a spare rim that fits the car you are installing these on. Contact me if you are still interested.