Home made Rod milling machine
 

Well my problem started with these Probe pistons being gaysauce. I mean they are very nicely machined and such but there is one problem...
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/1665/probebox5ut.jpghttp://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5...episton5zs.jpg


These are B series pistons modeled, I THINK, after gsr pistons. Problem is I am using b16 rods and the damn rod head is too damn big. Actually, the rod is regular size while the piston is "fat".
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/5...ebefore0wn.jpg


The solution? Images speak for themselves. For some reason the pen was perfect. The belt sander had a grove that held the pen so the shave would be level.
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/3087/setup9ai.jpghttp://img146.imageshack.us/img146/8471/setuprod5ov.jpg


Before the Grind.
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/342...regrind5ke.jpg
After.
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/4743/aftergrind3ue.jpg


Fits awesome now!
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6...ncedone9hs.jpg


All done and ready to go:
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2839/alldone4th.jpghttp://img96.imageshack.us/img96/408/alldone26em.jpg


Hope this helps someone somehow.

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

wow... i don't even know if anything can go bad doing it this way aside from taking off too much... I guess this is awesome... ^-^

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

true HMT engine building right there. Fawking awesome :6

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

I forgot to add this picture for comparison :P
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/310...b16crow0nv.jpg

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

when i used gsr pistons in my b16 i had the same problem...so i ground down the piston a bit

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

holy ----. wouldnt that throw the rod out of balance?

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

how did you keep the weights of the rods the same?

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

HMT rods dont need to be balanced, stupid.

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

rod weight kept even by using a digital scale precise to the thousandth :-*

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

We may be cheap in the ghetto, but we do it right!

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

:y Nice job.That is fantastic HMT action.I was wondering about the balance too but i see you are all over that.

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

---- I've dont lots of sets worse than that, I just use my rolac disc.

Thats fancy ;)

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

That mini milling machine at harbor freight is only like $400-450 before you take the 20% rebate.

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

By using the calibrated eyeball

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

Yeah, and that belt sander and pen was free.

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

I too have this feature

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

I never would have thought about doing that, kudos for an amazingly simple solution

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

Great ----.

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

I know people who stick the rod in a vise, and dress the small end with a grinder. I'd feel better with Ravage's method, and a quick DIY balance afterward, but I've heard of worse and heard of it holding together for a good while.

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

Before I got to using the belt sander I was trying to do it with one of those hand sanders that you cut the sandpaper in squares to fit underneath.
Took me an hour to do one and I wasted a shitload of sandpaper.
So I'm like ---- this ----. Open the drawer and BINGO, BELT SANDER.
Took 3 minutes each rod. And the end result was a beautifully flat surface.
Not a damn curved mushroom head the square sander was giving me.
You best be wearing a glove when you are holding the rod down or that ---- is gonna fuckup your fingers good from all that heat.

Next week is block assembly!

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

how much do those pistons cost?

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

i got them off ebay for 200-300
i cant remember

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

ran into the same problem with my ctr's on ls rods. I was not as confadent that I could do that I wimped out and paid the 45 to the machine shop to do it. good work looks pro :y

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

I'm all in favor of saving a couple bucks, but most machine shop can do this for about 50 bucks. Then you will have it perfect and sleep good at night knowing it's right and balanced. Rember during balancing there is some oil weight on the piston.

Randy

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

$50 vs opening a drawer
besides all you need to keep the weight even is a micrometer
if u have the tools why waste the cash

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

yeah if its all mic'd out and the finish is pretty even and ok you should be fine

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

I guess you are right. I have a ton of tools and like doing stuff myself also. That 50 bucks that you saved shoudl go to a new tool. That's how I feel about stuff I save money on. Just make sure you deburred the wrist pin hole.

Randy

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

pretty interesting, personally i'd have milled out the piston instead of shaving down the rod.. but thats me and i have access to a mill.. also its alot easier to make all your pistons equal weight for balancing purposes ;)
my machinist taught me how to balance my rods, just curious how you went about balancing yours, its really easy to do it wrong.

Re: Home made Rod milling machine
 

I had the problem with tunertoys rods in wiseco pistons. Luckily my buddy is a machinist and we just used the bridgeport to take a lil off at his shop.