Steel Guitar Builder

Seeing how some bell cranks and pedals are taking shape, I guess I will announce the start of steel number 4. It will be an SD 10 unless something or someone changes my mind.

I have a page running on Facebook with pics. I will also start a new photo page on photobucket.

Here are a couple of pics of my work so far. Hope you all like it!

Beautiful work, Bent. You have me drooling!!!

(singing)

Oh...a machinist he will be,
a machinist he will be,
Hi..ho, the Derry O,
It's great for us to see!


beautiful stuff Bent

Mac

Thanks guys.
Dave, welcome to the forum!
Mac, I didn't know you sing AND play steel. That's tricky!

Bent -

Yer gonna wear out that ole TOS miller!

Did you ever resolve that problem in cutting the notches where the bellcrank slides over the crossrod? Would like to know.

At the rate that you're going, you should be finished with it by, say, next Wednesday?

Richard

...give the guy a ton of motorized metal and a few chunks of aluminum, and look what he goes and does with it...

go Bent go, looks great! My envy meter is redlining.

Hehe thanks Ross. Your encouragement really does help. I hope y'all know that.

Richard...that was where the notch turning out too big. Funny thing that is. Here's how it worked. I used a 3/8" (.375)end mill to cut perfect .375 slots in the bell cranks to go over the 3/8" cross shafts. As it turned out, those .375 slots turned out to measure .383". After some head-scratching, I phoned my engineer buddy who told me that this is normal! Repetitive passes will in fact widen out the slot by a few thou. He says the only remedy for this is to sharpen the cutter repeatedly so it loses a few thou and problem solved. Luckily I had a stash of 3/8" cross shafts that measured...you guessed it... .382!
When I run out of oversized cross shafts, I guess I will have to sharpen this bit and make it a dedicated bell crank cutter.

Bent:
Did you have to use an eight thou shim to fit the cranks?
Wondered if aluminum foil wrap would do it, or is it too delicate?

I experimented on a bellcrank for a round shaft, and made a couple of cuts at the back "corners" (ha ... round hole) so it would deform and hold tighter. It worked, but not nice to look at.

Yo Bent,

No need for the custom diameter cutter. Do your slot to its full depth with a .25" endmill then advance the table a few times for a total of .125 and you'll have the your .375" slot. This method gives better control of the slot width, and allows you to "climb cut" what will be the final inside faces of your slot...climb cutting almost always give a better finish in aluminum than "conventional" cutting....just be sure to use smaller depth passes when climb cutting. Don't ever hesitate to contact me directly if you think I can help you in any way.

Have fun!
Ross

Bent,
I agree with Ross about the smaller cutter, a 5/16" .312 would probably give better stability.
Lookin good, sure beats the table saw method, also a lot safer.

Bill