ST-437 Swedge Cutter

I've been looking for a wheel stud swedge cutter for 7/16" studs. The Goodson ST-437 would have worked but they no longer offer it. For $1060 they'll make one for me but I think I'll pass on that idea. Does anyone know of another supplier? I've looked for a couple days and can't find anything comparable. Thanks!

A 9/16" hole saw with the arbor removed?

I promised to make some 1/2 inch cutters for some folks and would not be a problem to make them 7/16. I could make one for you next week.

Mine are great if you only use them sporadically. I make them from hardened drill rod. I have not had the incentive to make a carbide tipped cutter.

Please tell us you are not a machinist?

Marks528

How much do you charge for these?

I make them for fun not profit. If you are interested send me a PM.

Never claimed to be but the concept isn't as foreign as you might think.

http://www.binderplanet.com/forums/index.php?threads/poor-mans-swage-cutter.130261/

Got a pic?

Not home till Wednesday - will post one then.

Super! I'll wait for the picture but I am interested.

They would look something like this but with a reduced 1/2" shank to fit in a 1/2" chuck. I would make sure they fit correctly over a 1/2" or 7/16" stud. I have used these before and they worked very well.

That is very gracious offering to make these for free. There is a bit of work and set up time involved there with the heat treatment and the alloy material isn't free either. I do little do dads like this often. I think I'd need to get $30-$40 for one of these unless I know you.

Well I'm a Dumb-$^#! My prototype 1/2" cutter is a left hand cutter! LOL! But the good news is it cuts great!

So it will take a bit to correct my drawing and programs............

how many times over the years have i designed, fabbed, built stuff, only to have it come out REVERSED from what it should have been.
i'm not only a member of the DUMAZZ club, i think i INVENTED it.
i know your feelings intimately !
looks like it does work good though.

I recovered pretty good. Roughed out (7) 7/16" and (9) 1/2" cutters today. Need to cut the shanks, harden and grind before they are done.

GREAT recovery indeed ! they look good !

I'm using the Goodson ST-437 that I was lucky enough to buy 6 months before the OP posted. Maybe the last one?

Can someone who has cut the swages off their front brake drum lug studs please tell me if I have gone deep enough to press out the studs? I went just deep enough for the tool to fully clean up both the lug studs and the drum. But I'm wondering if maybe the stud is swaged or mushroomed deeper than the top surface of the drum? How much below the top surface of the drum should I go?

Should I replace the drum after using this tool?

Before I bought the tool and not knowing the studs were swaged, I pressed on a stud with my 12-ton press against a socket around the stud head and it warped the drum. I'm trying to avoid repeating that fiasco if the drum is salvageable after de-swaging.

Close up of the tool with carbide cutters.

i think you may be good where you are at.
one way to find out. lightly tap on the broken stud, "lightly" being a subjective term, just not 12 tons of force. if it moves, you are good to go.
there is some press fit on the drum bore to hub od, but i don't know, or remember, how much that is.

Pretty sure that guy kept the arbor and removed the pilot drill.

Bashes with a BFH put the kabosh on it.

Thanks!

Depends on the capacity of your chuck, I have a chuck that will grab the hole saw with no arbor. For smaller chucks, just remove the pilot.

The broken off 7/16" stud (A-body) could be pressed down in my 12-ton press only about 1/8", which is the thickness of the brake drum. It still would not press out of the hub. So I center drilled it with a drill bit 1/32" under 7/16, and it finally came out top photo. I ordered a new brake drum, because the old one is ruined by this process, and besides, I had bent the face of the drum with my press before I learned about the swages.

So then I pressed the hub with the remaining 4 good studs out of the old brake drum by supporting the drum underneath with wood blocks. The 4 good studs had their shoulders cut down to barely below the surface of the drum. By placing the hub on the new drum in a test fit, I could see the splines on the stud shoulders are going to seat nicely into the new drum when the lug nuts are tightened. But I sure ain't gonna swage 'em to the new drum.

Made a fixture for pressing out the remaining 4 studs from the hub using 3 pipe nipples from the junk pile, 2nd photo. Grinding a bevel on one side allowed them to fit the hub with almost full bearing, 3rd and 4th photos.

Note in the 4th photo that the shoulders of the studs are above the top surface of the hub approximately the thickness of the brake drum.

Just like the broken stud, the other 4 studs could be pressed down about 1/8" only and no more, 1st photo showing the top of the shoulder stuck flush with the surface of the hub.

Measuring the broken stud, the diameter near the head was 0.555" per spec, but at the very top of the remaining shoulder it was .003" greater indicating a burr remaining from the swaging. This burr is big enough to prevent the other studs from being pressed out.

Using a triangular file, I beveled the shoulders a bit, just enough to remove the burr, 2nd photo, and it worked. They all came out with no damage to the hub. They or new ones can can be pressed back in the hub with a tight fit, as original.

So after cutting off the swaging, the final task in this process to get the studs out of the hub without damaging the hub is to file off the burr on the top of the shoulder.

If you cut the swages all the way through the old drum down to the hub, then what you'll end up with is 7/16" studs in a new drum with 0.555" holes, a sloppy fit. But if you stop cutting the swages at the outer surface of the brake drum and then press out the hub, what you'll end up with is 0.555" splined shoulders righteously seated in 0.555" drum holes, a better solution in my opinion.

People may laugh but the 9/16" hole saw without a pilot worked fine on my 67 Jeep for 1/2" swedge cuts.
Doug

Are you still making these?

in a pinch, i have used a deep 9/16" hole saw in the drill press.