How to mount an air conditioner in a horizontally-sliding window
1. Buy window air conditioner unit and milling machine.
2. Outfit milling machine with z-axis DRO.
3. Design bottom-side brackets from 1.500" x 0.375" aluminum bar stock to take the weight of the A/C and also the torque generated by the weight hanging out the window, and to fit around and transfer that weight and torque to the window frame/sill. Make two on the milling machine.
4. Use 1.5"x1.5"x0.125" aluminum right-angle stock to form a top crossbar to handle the torque that's now trying to pull the air conditioner out of the window, as to spread that force to the verticals of the window frame. Screw into the horizontal crossbar of the air conditioner with two #6-32 screws. (Caution: make sure your window frame verticals can handle this force. Mine could without any issue, but yours might not!)
5. Use a piece of filler material (cardboard, plywood, acrylic, whatever) to fill in the space above the A/C unit. Hold it in with two small right-angle brackets, one of which is attached to the top crossbar (shown above), and the other is screwed into the top of the window frame.
6. Enjoy!
It's November 17th, and it's finally time to remove my window A/C (but still sunny and a high of 71 today here in San Diego), so I was finally able to grab these photos.
