“Fish Belly” Side Rods

I sure wish I had a CNC mill when I made these parts! Alas, I had to carve them out of 6061 T6 aluminum bar stock using my horizontal mill, band saw and belt sander.

Bars of aluminum were cut to length and right and left pairs were screwed together. The crank pin holes were drilled and reamed to size.

I was able to use a wide milling cutter to adjust the thickness of the bars.

One of the rods after milling the thickness.

This operation made a hell of a mess! There were aluminum chips everywhere in my shop.

Milling the end slot of the middle rod.

Inside radii were made with a 3/4 inch end mill.

The outside profile was roughed in on the band saw.

The ends of the rods were milled using a rotary table.

The parts were finished using a one inch wide belt sander. The bearings were turned from bronze stock.