The Steel Guitar Forum

I need thirty bell cranks that will fit a 3/8 round shaft. Is there anyone who might sell this type of crank at a affordable price? Thanks,
Phil.

Try here:

http://www.mts.net/~linkon/parts_list.html

I've contacted them, but the cranks are a bit expensive for me at this time.

I should be set up within the next week to start making stuff on my mini mill. What EXACTLY do you need? Got any drawings?

You might check with Roy Thomas at Pedalmaster guitars to see if he still has the old style MSA bellcranks in stock.

This is a rough sketch of what I want made. Sorry for the poor drawing.[/img]

Something like this?

Linkon wanted $10.00 out bellcrank! Outrageous.

Sounds reasonable to me. There's a lot of work involved in making just one.

I have mine made for $3.00 each here in Buffalo.

The picture you posted is what I want except, I don't want it hollowed out where the slots are. Kinda like the old MCI guitars.

This one then?



So I guess your pullrods have a bend on the ends of them rather than going THROUGH the bellcranks, right?

Do you need the screw hole tapped?

That is exactly what I want. If you want to tap the bell cranks, I would want them to be a 8/32 thread. I already have the allen screws.
That picture is awesome, Thanks Phil.

If you get a chance, please e-mail me with a quote. Thanks Gary for your time and efforts,
Phil.

I'll see what I can come up with. Got other stuff going on right now though.

I would like to get some bell cranks like these for my project, Gary shepard let me know when you are setup to make parts. Steveb.

I'm trying to get walls up on my workshop right now. (From my computer, break time.) I should be ready to go in a few days now.
gs

I might also be interested. Good luck with your work shop constructing!

Here's something I just saw on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/CUSTOM-MACHINED-BEL ... dZViewItem

I saw that myself. I wonder if someone made them recently or if they're originals. In any case, I had some time tonight so I gave it a whirl. Here's what I came up with - without the slot or tapped screw hole. I also moved the crossbar hole over a little and that may have been a mistake. I guess I'll know when I try to tap a screw hole.




I had tried it a few nights ago but I was trying to cut too deep on each pass. My 1/4 HP motor couldn't keep the end mill turning. So I backed off to 0.01" passes. Also used some WD-40 for coolant at the suggestion of a more experienced miller. Worked pretty well I guess.

Hey Phillip, can you measure the distance between the shaft hole and the side? I need to know how much thickness to leave for the threaded screw hole.

Can I put my 2 cents in ?

I think it would be more advantageous to make the bell cranks as per my sketch, as
a) the crank can be tightened much more firmly, essential on a round cross-shaft, and

b)the cross-shaft does not have to be removed from the steel to fit new bell-cranks, and

c) that's how I used to do it when I was building steels

I don't see what's wrong with this...


It's not as strong as Richard's, but it's a lot easier to cut, is still pretty strong and doesn't require removing the crossbar. One more screw hole could be added horizontally to screw into the crossbar. I think that would be pretty stable - no turning on the crossbar.

You probably would need to drill the 3/8 hole about an eighth of and inch from the back and bottom of the crank. Your latest design would work better if you made the slot at an angle. Instead of it clamping on to the shaft, you could use a set screw that would push against the shaft. I don't know if you ever seen a Blanton bell crank, but he made them that way and they were very effective.