Making guns in the garage

[phudd]

This is what I like to do in my spare time:

[phudd]

This one is in .40, I have used it in USPSA limited and IDPA ESP


USPSA open division gun in 9mm Major

These are a few years old. They both run.

[Roughedge]

I'm impressed, I assume your not self taught.

[4V50 Gary]

I'm very impressed.

Why not back plate when your milling out the channel for the op-rod spring and its guide? I'd worry about the mill pushing it over.

[TXAZ]

Very impressive. How long does it take you to make one?

[phudd]

I assume your not self taught.

I went to school for the fine art f chip making. The gunsmithery I learned on my own.

Why not back plate when your milling out the channel for the op-rod spring and its guide? I'd worry about the mill pushing it over.

With such a long end mill extension there was really no need. The cuts were quite small.

How long does it take you to make one?

Hard to say. I worked on them off and on on all manual equipment.

[phudd]

New top end for my old MKII I made almost two years ago



Stainless receiver, aluminum barrel (Steel liner)
I built this for steel challenge and ruger rimfire matches

[BerdanSS]

Wow. That ruger is impressive.

[Ritz]

That's a great piece of craftsmanship there!

[Clark]

When I was a little kid, we made firecracker guns with a hacksaw and a drill in the garage.
Now we are old retired men, we make gun parts on our mills and lathes in the garage.

[phudd]

My youngest daughter is right handed, left eye dominant. The sideways C-More does not work for her at all. I made this for her.

[Hunter Customs]

Very impressive work, I would say you learned your machining skills very well.

I always wanted to take some machining classes, never had the time, so all my machining is self taught.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

I noticed something in Clark's photo of the indexing head, that he did correctly, and should be pointed out. Always leave the quill or spindle up, and use the knee to raise the part when milling. I've seen many bring the quill down to meet the part, and an extended quill will cause chatter. Always, keep everything tight and drawn up as close as possible. Use the quill for drilling and tapping only, unless you have to reach inside a cavity, and if so, take lighter cuts. Always lock the quill when milling.

On lathes, you want to do the same thing, especially when parting.

[phudd]

This was for my oldest daughter:




The barrel looks like a bull, but it weighs next to nothing. All aluminum with a Redman liner

[Doc Hoy]

Which, of course, stands for...

Out Friggin Standing!

[buckfynn]

Very, very nice work!

[phudd]

AKs, cuz they are easy

Bending an AMD65 receiver flat on a homemade jig



This is what it looked like when I first built it.


I was never quite happy with it so I made a new brake (Pined & welded), fabricated a new stock and added the magpul grip and AFG. This thing blows a giant fireball.
I still have not duracoated the new bits


A Romy G built on a pre-bent blank. I parkerized the receiver, not too dark but it came out even.

[4V50 Gary]

Homemade metal bending jig plans please?

[tobnpr]

Thanks for sharing!
I'm self-teaching machining...just added a LMS Hi-Torque Mini-Mill and a lathe to start learning the basics. Rigged on an inexpensive DRO to start playing around, thinking about milling me and the boys some lowers from 80%'ers to get started. Then, Mach 3 and CNC conversion...so much to learn in "spare time"of which I have zero...

Now, that's some motivation, with those pics.

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

tobnpr,

DRO's are nice, but I still use a dial indicator and a magnet base for most everything. (I have 1/2" to 3" indicators here). One day, if they'll get the price down for a two or three axis set, then I'll jump on the bandwagon.

They're making those new linear readouts, at a good price, but I'm not sure how accurate they are. Has anyone on here tried them? I thought about buying one for depth measurement on the spindle.

[tobnpr]

I just put two (x,y) of the Igaging DRO's on my LMS mill.
Yeah, ridiculously inexpensive. Accuracy? Well, I'm a total noob to this as I said. But, ten full turns of the leadscrew each axis (@.0625) read exactly .625 on the LCD. They advertise .002, per six inches of travel for this model:

http://www.igaging.com/page18.html

They have a new line, the Absolute DRO, with an absolute function, better display, and .0015 accuracy per foot. Still, under $100 per axis depending on length. 6" is about $60 on Ebay.

The mill had a torsion spring to support the head, I've just replaced it with an air spring so I now have space to add the z axis.

I suppose, it depends on the level of precision of the part(s) being machined. Basically, these are the same technology used in calipers, adapted onto longer slides with remote readouts.

But, accurate "enough", for me for the time being, at least- and NO MORE backlash compensation! That alone makes it a dream to learn with. Seems to me that even minor errors are bound to occur due to backlash that would end up being no more accurate in the end than using the DRO's. I hesitate to offer an opinion though because I'm so new at this.

Hesitating to put a lot of dough into the manual aspects (including a power feed) because I'm giving it some time to figure out whether I'm going to do the CNC conversion which would make these "improvements" moot. There are comprehensive kits designed specifically around these X2 mills that make a turnkey conversion for little more than a grand.

I haven't put any DRO's on the lathe yet because it's a bit more challenging to figure out a way to mount them on the cross-slide, and since all cuts are in the same direction I don't see it as a "must-have" just yet.

A lot to learn...

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

tobnpr,

You don't really need any on the longitudinal axis of a lathe. When I worked at a machine shop, turning large pump and propeller shafts, most with multiple stepped diameters and 10+ feet long, they only used a tape measure for the lengths layout, since bearing fits are drawn or shimmed up, and nothing was that accurate over the length. The diameters and finish, though, had to be held, along with any threads. So, anything you'll do on a gun, a dial indicator will work. Before several of us were lain off, they had bought a new 10 foot lathe with a two axis DRO, and it was nice.

Mills are different, though, and you have to have accuracy in all three axis, so I always just use a mighty-mag with a dial indicator, and if I am running several of the same piece, I set up stops. Long ago, they had some mills with a dial indicator built in, set up like a long dial caliper on the x and y axis, similar to the digital ones you mention, but they were mechanical. Repeatability is the main thing, and the overall accuracy on the full travel. Of course, you should measure the piece after each cut, when getting close to finish size, or I do, as I never really trust indicators nor readouts.

[Clark]

This week I did some mill work for the Dumoulin Mauser scope base with a 2" dial indicator and mag base. I also was using the dials on my 1963 Rockwell 21-100 mill. I had a 0.504" on centers hole turn into a 0.521" distance.
When they agree, I am usually within 0.001". So I screwed up. My fault, not the two machines. But my lathe has DRO [the cheapest installed by Machine tools on line before they shipped the lathe.] That has been so convenient...

As soon as I finish this carpentry work on the shop, I will buy a new mill with DRO and give a hunting buddy my old mill.

[phudd]

When I started out I put one of the cheap "caliper scale" readouts on my mill. It worked but no matter how rigid the scales were mounted there was .002-.003" of backlash in them. When the x axis went toes up I bought a cheap chinese setup with glass scales (X & Y, the Z is magnetic). It is right on time and only cost about $500.

I find them less useful on a lathe. All I have on my lathe is a Trav-a-dial