SS - Interesting way of getting your rear cog in alignment

[GTRacing]

These items look more to be billet press than extrusion. in my opinion. would be simpler process too.

[HeartCoppi]

But GTRacing, lad, ... billet press IS extrusion.

Perhaps what you are poorly trying to explain is impact extrusion of individual components from slugs. This is complex tooling that is usually shrouded and takes place at high speeds with very high compressive stresses on the tooling. Regrettably this process also requires "post pressing" machining as the die is rarely a closed die. Thus requiring machining of one side and a slot. Very expensive tooling and very expensive press. correct material flow in the die is an art.

 

Economical solution, remains hot extrusion in continuous length through a hot die, such as is used for several profiles in several industries eg: the construction industry aluminium window frames. The extrusion demands significantly lower cost tooling by comparison and can already incorporate the required slot.

[Grebel]

Excuse the ignorance here but you are only using the retainers to position the gear. The majority of the forces generated will be transferred inline with the gear. The only forces put through the retainers would be from any lateral flexing or movement from the gear. If the alignment is done correctly then these forces should be minimal.

 

You could accomplish a similar manufacturing result with laser or wire cutting provided you got the initial clamping clearance right between the freehub and the clamp ring. This would be for limited production runs of course. Once you start producing sufficient volumes, extrusion would be a cheaper option.

 

P.S. The reason I am here in the first place is that I am looking at building a single speed and I am considering all the options.

[cbdesign]

Hello all.

 

I'm Christopher, inventor of the GearClamp. I spend some time every month looking around the web for comments about the GearClamp and found your conversation. To answer some of the questions that have been posed:

 

Over the past year and a half over 750 GearClamp kits have been sold. Not bad for a design I came up with while drinking beers. A buddy of mine who is getting his PHD in mechanical engineering helped me with the CAD work and prototyping. We tested the GearClamp with 15 riders here in Texas, some were serious racers, some just casual riders. All of them rode the GearClamps for 3 months and of the 15, 14 had positive experiences and raved about them. The 15th guy couldn't get them to work... which is a mystery to me as they are pretty simple to figure out.

 

The GearClamp (until now) has been produced for me by a metal fabricator here in Texas. They CNC'd the parts out of 1/4" aluminum plate. I chose this method of production due to it's smaller tooling/setup charge (but higher per-piece charge) as I was unsure of what kind of volume I would sell.

 

Now, we are working with a new manufacturer to extrude the GearClamps like a sausage and then slice them off. Manufacturing the GearClamps this way offers two advantages: First, it has lowered our per-piece cost a bit (how this affects retail prices remains to be seen). Second, we can now work on prototypes for GearClamp v2.0 (don't hold your breath, I need to get v1.0 profitable first).

 

As for damaging freehub bodies: We have seen nothing of the sort. the easiest way to mess up your freehub when riding a singlespeed is to use a cog from a cassette. These cogs have very little contact with the freehub splines and therefore "dig in" to the splines themselves (there's a picture of a beat up freehub shell in this thread). Singlespeed cogs (I like Surly's) are thicker where they make contact with the hub and therefore are less prone to damaging your hub.

 

If anyone has any other questions, please send me an email at contact at gearclamp.com

 

Happy Riding!

[Slowbee]

Hey welcome Chris.

 

It is always great to hear from guys who have done the actual design and made it work.

 

What do you think of the cable tie comments ?

 

Also EigerSA ordered a set, do you know if he got these ?

 

Do you have a distribution into SA?

[Guest agteros]

Do you have a distribution into SA?

 

http://www.singlespeed.co.za sells them Slowbee, http://www.sprocketandjack.co.za/product_details.php?category_id=16&product_id=43

[The Drongo]

Hello all.

 

I'm Christopher, inventor of the GearClamp. I spend some time every month looking around the web for comments about the GearClamp and found your conversation. To answer some of the questions that have been posed:

 

Over the past year and a half over 750 GearClamp kits have been sold. Not bad for a design I came up with while drinking beers. A buddy of mine who is getting his PHD in mechanical engineering helped me with the CAD work and prototyping. We tested the GearClamp with 15 riders here in Texas, some were serious racers, some just casual riders. All of them rode the GearClamps for 3 months and of the 15, 14 had positive experiences and raved about them. The 15th guy couldn't get them to work... which is a mystery to me as they are pretty simple to figure out.

 

The GearClamp (until now) has been produced for me by a metal fabricator here in Texas. They CNC'd the parts out of 1/4" aluminum plate. I chose this method of production due to it's smaller tooling/setup charge (but higher per-piece charge) as I was unsure of what kind of volume I would sell.

 

Now, we are working with a new manufacturer to extrude the GearClamps like a sausage and then slice them off. Manufacturing the GearClamps this way offers two advantages: First, it has lowered our per-piece cost a bit (how this affects retail prices remains to be seen). Second, we can now work on prototypes for GearClamp v2.0 (don't hold your breath, I need to get v1.0 profitable first).

 

As for damaging freehub bodies: We have seen nothing of the sort. the easiest way to mess up your freehub when riding a singlespeed is to use a cog from a cassette. These cogs have very little contact with the freehub splines and therefore "dig in" to the splines themselves (there's a picture of a beat up freehub shell in this thread). Singlespeed cogs (I like Surly's) are thicker where they make contact with the hub and therefore are less prone to damaging your hub.

 

If anyone has any other questions, please send me an email at contact at gearclamp.com

 

Happy Riding!

 

Welcome Chris, and thanks for your write-up.

 

Had a look at machining some myself, but our machine is just too big, and ultimately cheaper to buy from SS SA.

 

Clever design. I am sure to neaten the freehub up a bit some spacers and a bling-anodised lockring will look good.

 

I am building up a bike from my parts bin, and want to run 1x9, or SS as I wish, so I am adding this to my 'must buy, list.

 

Can they be ordered plain ali from the SA supplier, or do they come black anodised only?

 

[The Drongo]

 

As for damaging freehub bodies: We have seen nothing of the sort. the easiest way to mess up your freehub when riding a singlespeed is to use a cog from a cassette. These cogs have very little contact with the freehub splines and therefore "dig in" to the splines themselves (there's a picture of a beat up freehub shell in this thread). Singlespeed cogs (I like Surly's) are thicker where they make contact with the hub and therefore are less prone to damaging your hub.

 

 

Don't worry too much about that pic. It is a non-standard alu body, not designed for what it was used for.

 

Your design is machined around the Hyperglide body, so I do not see why it should not fit snugly. The cog in your marketing pic shown is also flanged, so that obviates any cutting into the splines.

 

Congrats again.

[Baroudeur]

I've been using the Gear Clamp for a few months with no issues at all. Not that I am the post powerful rider...and have a steel freebody.

Chain alignment is piece of cake with this.

[cbdesign]

Hello and thanks for the warm welcome.

 

First, the cable tie idea. I see two problems with it. First, I don't think that they will provide enough lateral support and will allow the cog to slide side to side. Second, one would have to carry a set of cutters with them and some extra cable ties if they want to swap out the cog. Hey, if someone wants to give it a try, I'd love to hear about it.

 

As for retail distribution, I think you'll find the link to our local retailer somewhere in this thread. Just found it: http://www.singlespeed.co.za

 

Did Eiger SA get his set of GearClamps? Hmmm. If he's in SA then he probably ordered them from singlespeed.co.za so I wouldn't have shipping info on that.

 

Can they be ordered in plain Alu? I'm planning on getting some plain ones made that can then be anodized by the user. They really need to be anodized though, otherwise the tolerances between the GearClamp and the freehub are a bit too large.

 

Thanks for all the compliments. If you are riding a set of GearClamps, please send me an email and let me know what you think about them.

 

Best,

 

Christopher

[EigerSA]

 

Did Eiger SA get his set of GearClamps? Hmmm. If he's in SA then he probably ordered them from singlespeed.co.za so I wouldn't have shipping info on that.

 

 

I was going to order from singlespeed.co.za but got sidetracked by injury. Will order from them a bit later in the year when my new frame arrives.

[the nerd]

I use these and they work perfectly hey, very easy to adjust and dont ever move one tightened.

[RodTi]

I use these and they work perfectly hey, very easy to adjust and dont ever move one tightened.

 

Your comment is useless without pics....

 

[Hairy]

I use these and they work perfectly hey, very easy to adjust and dont ever move one tightened.

 

Hi there ... where did you get then and how many Z.A.R please?

[Rob Mortimer]

Singlespeed.co.za

 

Have had them on both single speeds for almost a year - brilliant idea and work like a bomb with no problems

[Hairy]

Site under Construction unfortunately