jchapls1

Does anybody know if texas speeds cams are gun drilled or hollow like the factory ls1 cams?

Sales2@Texas-speed

iTrader: (5)

Yes. We order all of our cores gun drilled

G Atsma

Newbie question- What is the advantage of that?

slogo

It would be interesting if someone could answer this Question.

Sales2@Texas-speed

iTrader: (5)

They are gun drilled simply to make the camshaft lighter. The advantages of lighter rotating mass most of you guys know. This helps in that respect.

Kfxguy

iTrader: (1)

Gun drilling also makes them stiffer if you didn't know that.

G Atsma

Wow. I had no idea removing material actually stiffened a steel bar.

Kfxguy

iTrader: (1)

Learn something new every day. I sense some sarcasm in your reply so here's some reading for you just in case.

https://physics.stackexchange.com/qu...e-diameter-o-d

G Atsma

No, no sarcasm. Sorry if it looked that way. I will do the reading; should be interesting!

Kfxguy

iTrader: (1)

Sorry if I took it that way. Just used to Internet know it all keyboard warriors lol. Most of the time I refrain from posting anything because someone always has to argue. Gets old ya know. Sorry if I took it the wrong way!

99 Black Bird T/A

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the link.

"This means a hollow cylinder is stronger than a rod of equal mass and the same material. A hollow cylinder with a bigger inside diameter is better. In the limit x→1x→1 the hollow cylinder is twice as strong. Note that this limit isn't physically viable as it would be an cylinder with infinite radius and infinitesimally thin wall."

The key as I understand this based on what was written in the link is a hollow cylinder of equal mass is stronger than a solid cylinder of the same mass. If we have 2 pounds of steel we can make a stronger 2 pound hollow cylinder that is say 20 inches long than a 2 pounds solid cylinder that is say 20 inches long. The 2 pound solid cylinder will have to be of smaller diameter than the 2 pound hollow cylinder.
​​​​​
It didn't say a hollow cylinder of the same diameter is stronger than a solid cylinder of equal diameter despite that being the topic heading.

I'm open to correction...

Removing mass by gun drilling the cam is good for performance since we have less mass to rotate.

codyvette

iTrader: (24)

LOL! Internet know it alls you say?

Open mouth, insert foot.

Arrow manufacturers used this science toward the end of the aluminum arrow erra. Fatter, thinner wall arrows flew faster in some cases without giving up due to side force. More surface area, I'm sure took some of that back but I guess not all.

wannafbody

iTrader: (2)

Actually, this is the way swaybars work.

G Atsma

Yeah, I always wondered what the advantage was besides weight. I've noticed LOTS of swaybars are hollow; more stiffness for the same diameter is an advantage, BESIDES the weight loss. Win-win!

Aston Tibs

iTrader: (3)

Mechanical engineer weighing in, the study says the same MASS. Let's say the solid core cam is 1 inch diameter. A gun drilled cam of the same MASS will end up having a larger diameter (for purposes of argument) let's say 1 1/4". The 1 1/4" camshaft will be stiffer than the 1" camshaft.
A solid 1" camshaft will be stiffer than a 1" hollow camshaft but the 1" hollow camshaft will have less MASS. When you look at a shaft in twist the stress at the center is zero and the highest stresses are on the outside surface and the stresses follow a linear curve. That is why you take material out of the center with minimal loss of stiffness, but there will be loss.

G Atsma

^^^^THAT makes more sense! A MASS centered around a void WOULD be stiffer than the same MASS as a solid cylinder.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

You'll break a million other things before you snap an LS camshaft so the discussion is sorta mute anyway. Sorry Im an obvious thinker.

G Atsma

Not sure it's about breakage in the cam's case. It's more about torsional distortion while running. If the cam is stiffer, there will be less timing variance.

slogo

Bringing this one back ttt, the cam cores that are not gun drilled, would they put more stress on the cam bearings since they are more heavy?

G Atsma

Not really. It's spinning in a "cushion" of oil, and being pretty much a straight shaft (as opposed to a crankshaft), there are no imbalance forces "tossing" or stressing it around. If anything were hard on bearings it would be a crankshaft, with reciprocating forces galore, compared to a cam pushing a spring-loaded valvetrain, which is far easier on bearings.