Originally Posted by
oneclick
If the crankarm slides on, shim or no shim, there is no interference; hence a loose fit. On a straight spindle in a (too large) straight crank hole, tightening the bolt will not alter this.
I doubt it would be easy to make a shim strong and stiff enough at the correct thickness such that one could force it between the spindle and the bore; consider the pressure generated on the faces of a tapered connection. The end of the shim, on introduction, would be subject to the same pressure, while the free end behind it has nothing.
The only way it might work would be via differential thermal expansion; you'd be limited in what you could get from the crankarm (too high a temp for aluminium is quite low) so you probably would also want some co2 or liquid nitrogen for the spindle and shim.
I do like the thermal-expansion idea!
Using stainless stock from a feeler gauge, I'm sure that one could get one or two sizes to fit even cold just by introducing a
slight bevel to the square hole in the style of rhm's early bodge.
The stainless stock is quite tear-resistant and I'm nearly sure one could get the arm satisfyingly tight using strips of a thou or two!
Don't everybody run to their parts bins at once now!