Hey, iv'e found a number 8 pool ball (don't ask where from

And I'm thinking of a DIY gear shifter.

Anyone know the thread size and pitch for the gear stick?

Cheers

Edited 18 August, 200818 yr by stoke

M12x1.5

can you drill through pool balls at all lol?

just buy one from cool-air for £10

fitment would be different on bugs though wouldnt it?

M12x1.5

Cheers m8, found it out today at work also, thought it was 1/2" UNC for some reason lol

can you drill through pool balls at all lol?

I'll let u know

just buy one from cool-air for £10

Could do but thought id give it a go anyway...will post pics soon. Cheers

can you drill through pool balls at all lol?

how do you think the ones on ebay are done?!

make sure you centre drill it, before using normal drill bits, it will make the task a whole lot easier!

can you drill through pool balls at all lol?

how do you think the ones on ebay are done?!

make sure you centre drill it, before using normal drill bits, it will make the task a whole lot easier!

Yeh il def centre drill it then go up in stages....i might use a sander to create a flat botom befor drilling.

If i mess it up i'll just mill it out and wack a nut in :-D

can you drill through pool balls at all lol?

how do you think the ones on ebay are done?!

make sure you centre drill it, before using normal drill bits, it will make the task a whole lot easier!

Yeh il def centre drill it then go up in stages....i might use a sander to create a flat botom befor drilling.

If i mess it up i'll just mill it out and wack a nut in :-D

HAHAHA

Good man!

can you drill through pool balls at all lol?

how do you think the ones on ebay are done?!

make sure you centre drill it, before using normal drill bits, it will make the task a whole lot easier!

I didn't know that's why i asked man

you can drill through pool balls, my G40 has an 8-ball pool ball as the gear knob in it already. I bought it off ebay but it is just an old 8-ball with a hole drilled and tapped. Holding it still would be the fun part I reckon.

I managed to source an M12x1.5 tap...Eventually, seemed really had to get hold of for some reason,

Anyway

After a bit of a polish took this, which i ahem' aquired from somewhere lol, as you can see it has a yellow tinge from the nicotine days.

To this, used some Brasso and some rags to get this finish which i was quite pleasd about :-D

Then using these

I marked the ball with a scrber and a centre punch in what i thought was the centre but this is probably the hardest part, i could of done it in a more precise way i.e drawing lines across the white circle to triangulate a point in the middle then using the centre of that (that is taking that the two '8's are completely opposite to each other.

I then held the ball using the small 'V' blocks on each side with the aid of the table clamp, placing small pices of cardboard either side to prevent marking the ball.

Now i thought this was going to be trickky to drill, but once you have a half decent bench or pillar drill set up and have positioned the ball upright as best you can its easy,

first i used a BS2 centre drill (roughly 1000rmp)

Then went up in drill diametre

3mm (roughly the same)

then 6mm (slower, about 800rpm)

then 8mm (about 600rpm)

then went to the last 10.5mm size drill (600rpm maybe even slower)

I found it remarkably easy to drill through actually

I went to a depth of 35mm

Then when finished took it out, held it in a vice (with soft jaws) and used the elusive M12x1.5 tap, making sure i used cutting compund and going clockwise 3/4 of a turn then 1/4 turn back, take the tap out at stages to clean and check the thread, take it easy at the bottom.

Sorry if i have rambled on but thought it might be helpful for a fellow DIY'er, any questions just ask :-D

After all that i made this

Slightly off centre but not bad i thought

Edited 11 August, 200818 yr by stoke

I've made two before red and purple, just used the inside of a mk2 gear knob which can be cut out with a hack saw then just glued with steel putty into a slightly larger bore. The plastic is very like hard wood to machine I just made a wood jig to hold the ball on my post drill and did similar to above.

The red 7 ball matches my car perfect.

I've made two before red and purple, just used the inside of a mk2 gear knob which can be cut out with a hack saw then just glued with steel putty into a slightly larger bore. The plastic is very like hard wood to machine I just made a wood jig to hold the ball on my post drill and did similar to above.

The red 7 ball matches my car perfect.

Cool, I thought of doing somthing along those lines if I messed it up.

Spose u didn't have the hasle of trying to find a tap lol :)

haha thats rate good, i might have to make one

I've got a 8-ball knocking about in my room for some reason

Yeh looks suprisingly good, and you have the satisfaction that you made it yourself

Its quite nice to change gear with aswell, feels better than the standard plastic knob too

Edited 13 August, 200818 yr by stoke

haha thats rate good, i might have to make one

I've got a 8-ball knocking about in my room for some reason

Yeh av a go, but good luck finding the right tap couldnt get hold of one anywhere! and i work for an engineering company! :-)

Should sticky that How-To guide.

Yeh definately, if people are intersted...not sure how to sticky it though? :)