I ended up just taking a 5 foot section of 1/2" cold roll steel, clamping it up in my leg-vise, heating it up with my gas torch and bending it 90s degrees by hand. Took a couple of adjustments, but I ended up with something very close to true. I left the central U section wide on purpose, to allow room for the rod-end bearing to be added halfway through the process. Making it narrower wouldn't have done much good anyway, as the natural mounting points for the pillow blocks holding the crankshaft are 15.5" apart.
All that remains is to get a keyway cut for mounting the drive sprocket, and the crankshaft will be done.
That's really cool! Getting them colinear post-bend must've been a horrible pain.
ReplyDeleteHow're you going to cut the keyway? I was reading a machining manual from 1898 the other day and they were talking about how to do it with a chisel (and lots of patience.) Inspirational but at the same time a little overwhelming.
David says he has access to a mill for doing it. I'm going to need 5 total cut, just get them all done at once.
ReplyDeleteCool. I'm envious! I have several to make for the mill, but... no mill.
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