Cannon barrels

[Runner]

I have a pretty large metal lathe in my garage. Someone out at the Old Mines event last weekend suggested that I make some cannon barrels since I can turn a 15" by 5' blank. Where to get info on cannon barrels and how they were made?

 

[bezoar]

Your best bet is to make good old fashioned hand gonne barrels. same idea as a cannon, but a bigger safety factor if it blew.
Not sure on the metal you would need, but it would have to be tough and most likely need you to buy a whole new set of cutting equipement.
And the only information on turning cannon i ever found was a period down collection of watercolor paintings of english gun making. most of the turning was just simple finishing of cast bronze barrel, probably 30 inches in diameter at the breech.

 

[Wedge]

Going by the size of your lathe (15" x 5') you can make a barrel four feet long or maybe 4'4" without too much trouble, or maybe lots of trouble. The steel I would use would be SAE 1018 or SAE 1025 or a steel within this range. Refer to Machinery's Handbook Edition 24, page 381 for details on these steels. The first operation is to drill the hole rather than profile the barrel. If you profile first and then mess up the hole beyond reclamation, you will have completed hours of work for great loss. Decide what caliber you want and then decide what degree of finish you want in the bore. A fairly good finish can be formed by a standard twist drill and then reaming with a machine reamer.
These tools will need to be extended in length and are held in a fixture in the toolpost, not in the tailstock. A high pressure pump (250psi to 300psi) is needed to cool the drill and more importantly, to flush out the chips. I made a standard gun drill when I drilled out my own cannon. The coolant is deliverd to the very end of the drill with this style of gun drill. These drills produce small chips that will flow out with the coolant. A drill that produces "ribbons" is harder to use as the ribbon swarf does not lend itself to easy removal from a deep hole. All you need is patience and time to do the opperation.
I strongly recomend that you start the hole by boring the hole to the exact size of the drill as deeply as possible. This will start the drill exactly in the center and provide a perfect guided start for the drill to continue down the shaft. A pilot hole can be run in to help take the pressure off the finishing drill but only when the initial bole has been bored out. Don't run the pilot hole deeper that a couple of inches at a time. A 1/2" drill would make a good pilot drill. This pilot drill MUST be sharpened perfectly true and correct. If the pilot runs off, so will the finishing drill. This is not good for a reamer when it tries to straighten the hole to finished size.
The barrel is held at the end by a three point steady that seats on a machined diameter to ensure proper accuracy when drilling the bore. The hardest part is getting the swarf out of the hole. If the bore is bigger than the drills and reamers you can afford to buy then you will need to make a gun drill to suit. If you decide to go ahead with the project, contact me and I will help you with the design and construction info for the drills.
Joe (Wedge)

 

[CrufflerSteve]

Wedgetail has lots of helpful info. I don't have the equipment so I have to buy the barrels and make the carriages.

If you are going to make a barrel it is best to make it look like an actual cannon barrel from history. It will likely be a scale model but that is still great. There are plans out there. One good place is:

Antique Ordnance Publishers
P.O.Box 610434
Port Huron, MI 48061

I don't know if they have an email. They specialize in US Civil War ordnance. These are great plans on 11x17" stock and very detailed. They describe the cannon and the carriages used and good detailed drawings of cannon barrels.

You might want to be careful with the steel you use. Some is brittle and you want a cannon not a bomb.

I understand that 4130/4140, 1018 and 12L14 are popular with cannon makers. 4140 is expensive and hard to machine. 12L14 is supposed to easier to work.

The suggestion of doing a handgonne first is a great idea. You won't have the pain of fitting trunnions so it would be an easier project.

Good luck,
Steve

 

[OTHERN]

If you are around any oilfield, see if you can get a piece of drill collar. A whole drill collar is approx 30 ft long, 6" in diam with a 2" hole down the middle. If you can find a piece, they make excellent cannons. I was good friends with a guy in Casper Wyo who made a bunch of cannons for various people and that is what he used.

 

[Runner]

The bed of the lathe is 8 feet. I can actually work a five foot piece or pretty close to it. This old monster is rated for .25 cuts in mild steel, so horse power I have. I may order some plans and build a couple of half scale type guns to see how things go. I have a steam project going right now. I may cut a couple of Hand Gonnes just for the heck of it once I get everything arrainged for it. Thanks for the input. I am not interested in the cannons, but the metal working hobby needs to pay for itself! Not a lot of home shops with a lathe big enough to do that kind of work. Someone out at the Old Mines gathering suggested the cannon barrel idea simply because of the size.

 

[Story]

Runner,
Why not start with a Swivel Gun? They were popular on the Mississippi River.
You could make one out of brass without the 'tail'.
http://www.wildimports.com/new_page_8.htm