# shortening tailshaft ?



## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

I am trying a few different orientations of battery boxes, and having some clearance issues with speed sensor mounted on end of tailshaft... It would help to have the tailshaft of the motor an inch shorter.

Anybody cut one down? Are they so hard it can only be done on a lathe? or, soft enough I might be able to chop the end off with a sawzall?


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

Motor shafts are often "case hardened" and if so will be more or less impossible to cut with a sawzall blade. I would instead use a thin cut-off wheel in a die or angle grinder to chew through the case hardening, perhaps while also spinning the motor shaft to help get a straighter cut through it.


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

Tesseract said:


> Motor shafts are often "case hardened" and if so will be more or less impossible to cut with a sawzall blade. I would instead use a thin cut-off wheel in a die or angle grinder to chew through the case hardening, perhaps while also spinning the motor shaft to help get a straighter cut through it.


yeah..... thats what I'd afraid of, and hoping its not through-hardened. ;( I am going to try other orientations first, this would be a last resort. The rpm sensor that is on there is mounted at the END rather than a prox on a collar, so it makes it even worse. might be worth the $100, to switch out the rpm sensor to a collar type.....


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## skooler (Mar 26, 2011)

I echo tesseract's suggestion.

Spin it up on 12/24v, *COVER THE BRUSH* *ACCESS *(to stop debris getting into the motor), and take the angle grinder to it.


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## electro wrks (Mar 5, 2012)

Test it with a file. If the file teeth grab into the surface of the shaft, it's probably soft enough to cut with a saw. If a file just slides over the shaft, it's too hard to cut with a toothed saw and an abrasive disk would be needed.


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## TheSGC (Nov 15, 2007)

I had an ADC K99-4007 that I shorted the shaft by using a haxsaw blade and turned the motor on using 12v.


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## dladd (Jun 1, 2011)

dtbaker said:


> might be worth the $100, to switch out the rpm sensor to a collar type.....


this is what I would do, no question about it.


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## DIYguy (Sep 18, 2008)

I've cut several motor shafts. Jeff is right, they are typically case hardened. Doesn't matter, it's easy to do. 

Best way I found was to spin it as suggested and use a zip blade on an angle grinder. The zip blades are the ones that are like 1/16" thick. It takes all of about 2 minutes, depending on shaft diameter.


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