Motion
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NEW 29/06/03
Time to get technical - A friend of mine has access to some big CNC machines and suggested that we could make the connecting and coupling rods on these. I began by writing the code to run the machine. Me and Alistair then spent a day on a smaller machine drilling the rods to exactly the right lengths and also making a jig to hold them. Here's a pic of the machine we used.
And here's a view of a billet of steel ready to be machined - the billet is held by set screws through the pin holes.
And here's the result - 2 sets of beautifully formed connecting and coupling rods.
Alistair is now getting on with reaming the pin holes to finished size and fitting the bushes.
Finally I'd like like to say a big thanks to Carl for all his help, time and patience (!) without whom this work wouldn't of been possible and we'd have been turning hand wheels for days!