Another Patch Question

[50cal.cliff]

I experimented with making some round patches of my own over the weekend. I had an old bi-metal hole cutter I had pretty well destroyed the teeth on doing a project that was too heavy of metal for the cutter. Anyway I took the old 1&1/8 metal cutter ground off the teeth and put approx. a 30 degree bevel on it. I am trying to make patches for a 50 cal.. The cutter leaves a patch about 1 inch diameter patch..
:hmm: That seems like that may be a tad small, anyone have a thought on the finish size? Also had a problem with not getting good cuts on some. What do you all use underneath your cutter to cut against? I also discoverd while using some TC prelubed patches that a few had a piece of like brown wrapping paper stuck to them. I am wondering if they use an oiled piece of paper over their material to aid in lube of the cutter and prevent overheating of cutter. The cohesion between oiled paper and the material would help to hold it in place as the cutter starts thru material also. Anyone ever try laying a piece of oiled paper over material, when cuttting patches? The cutter might not be as apt to hang material that way, thus giving a better cut out!
Just though I would throw this out for discussion ! :hmm:

 

[silverfox]

Cliff a 1" patch sounds a little small for a .50. Then big fingers make it hard to handle small patches. If your patch is beyond the center line or equator of the ball it is big enough to use. Have you noticed that (Nobody makes a patch for a .50) They are all sized above or below the .50 you would think someone would instead of .45 to .50 and .50 to 54. But then patch size is not that critical as long as it covers the center of the ball.
Can't help on the oiled paper to help you cut your patches I cut at the muzzle.
Fox

 

[jtmattison]

I cut mine 1 1/4 inches. I cut them square with a rotary fabric cutter my wife gave me. I then take stacks of 10 and sandwich them between two 1 1/4 inch washers. I trim around the edges with very sharp craft scissors. It's tedious but when sitting around watching TV I can cut a thousand or so in a couple hours.
Square patches work the same as round patches. I just prefer round.

HD

 

[bob1961]

i'm going to make the same thing out of an old hole saw also....i'm going the make a clamp set up with some 2 x 4's and cut a bunch of holes with the hole saw before i make it a patch saw....

the 2 x 4's might be 10" long each and when i have bout an 1/2" of ticking all folded up and clamped between the 2 x 4's then run the hole saw in my drill through each hole i'll have a bunch of patches cut and ready to lube :v ...............bob

 

[J.D.]

In my experince, its difficult to cut more than three or four layers of fabric, even with a hard backing. And a hard backing is necessary.

I usually use push pins to attach several layers of fabric to an 18LX6W board. You will need quite a few push pins.

 

[36ball]

For a 50 cal. patch should be 1/2 bore dia. x 3.12 + bore dia.=.25x3.12=.78 +.50=1.28 . I tried a hole saw with the teeth ground off but what works better is to make a cutter on a metal lathe. Then cut a large enough hole on the side to put a punch in to push out the patches. after putting a good angle on on the cutter harden the cutting edge. I take my material and fold it about 5 layers thick about 1 1/2 foot square and staple it around the edges to a piece of plywood with a few staples. last weekend using a drill press in about 20 minutes I made 700 patches. hope this helps

 

[Keppy]

I make all of mine square. I make them for the .54 and then cut the excess at the muzzle for my .45 when I shoot it. It doesn't seem to make any difference if they were round or square. Not the way I shoot. :rotf: :rotf: They group the same for me. I gave up on the saw thing and its easier for me to make square. :winking:

 

[50cal.cliff]

Dang, thats a whole lot of naught + naughts just to get to 1.28! :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
The TC prelubes I used are .18 thick and 1 1/8"diameter. They will work but you have to make sure that you center ball. Which is not as hard as you might think. The barrel is 1" so if you center patch on end of barrel and don't roll ball as you start it they will work. Before I had reckoned that for optimum performance and not having to be so careful you could have best of both worlds with 1 1/4" -1 3/8" which would fall in that 1.28 category!
I used a board with the next size up in a hole saw and clamped it over the material which I had folded about 4-5 times. My biggest problem was trying to keep material from bunching. The push pins might work for that though. I hadn't thought of that. Gonna keep working on this idea and still looking for advice and ideas. Thanks everyone!

 

[flintlockmdj]

I probably missed something along the way but why go to all the trouble of grinding a wholesaw, making jigs, using push pins, fighting with bunched cloth, etc. etc.etc. When you can cut at the muzzle or the top of your loading block and have a custom fit patch that is centered to the bore and takes almost no time or set up to do?

 

[jtmattison]

I probably missed something along the way but why go to all the trouble of grinding a wholesaw, making jigs, using push pins, fighting with bunched cloth, etc. etc.etc. When you can cut at the muzzle or the top of your loading block and have a custom fit patch that is centered to the bore and takes almost no time or set up to do?

That's too easy. I like to do things the hard way. It gives me more time out in the workshop away from the screaming wife and kids.
:grin:

HD

 

[Joel Boyles]

I cut mine 1 1/2" wide (from red Wal-Mart ticking), and accordion-fold them about 10 times. Then I just cut the corners off with a utility knife. Makes a string of almost-pre-cut patches, which I soak twice in Stumpy's Moose Juice. After they dry the second time, I just stuff some in an Altoids container, and I have a string of patches that I can tear off if I don't have a knife handy. My rifle seems to like them pretty well.

Joel

 

[ZUG]

I made some cutters out of drill rod but making them out of a hole saw should be fine. I use a drill press run at a speed fast enough not to "burn" the patch material. I pre-lube the material then lay on a wood backer and drill.

 

[bwhoffman]

I used a 1 5/16 holesaw to net out a patch that is 1 1/8. the load and shoot well in my 50's and work fairly well in my .40
I prefer to epoxy the mandrel into an old door knob or billiard ball and cut into a rubber pad. I can do the drill press method, but would caution against it with the open cutter. not a good/safe operation.
I cut 12 to 16 patches at a time effortlessly with the pool ball method.

 

[50cal.cliff]

Thanks for all the feedback everybody! White Buffalo your scketch and the push pin idea from J.D. have gave me another idea that I think will work well. Gonna play around with this new idea. Zug, by your pic it looks like you got them cutters working good. Thanks for the tip on speed of the drill press I think mine is set up for to fast of speed. Will change belts to slow down and see how it does!
Who knows I may tire of this whole round patch idea and make all those square patchers happy!! :rotf: :rotf: :youcrazy: :rotf: :rotf:

 

[wildeagle]

Pretty neat idea ,Joel. I like the fact that they are all connected, not loose and flopping around.Plus the fact if no knife you can tear them loose, pretty ingenious!!