Under Hammers

[Metalshaper]

Colonial,

I agree with Pat, a Porta band works great!!

I did quite a bit of drilling and cutting,( just like your doing ) when I made my "Miss Muley". then I was gifted a cast off saw. My buddy MRW, helped make a saw stand for me.. This support frame makes it work like a small vertical bandsaw and I can concentrate on guiding the cut,, instead of balancing the weight of the saw.

here's a pic of the saw mounted to the frame..

Respect Always
Metalshaper

 

[Colonial Boy]

What a great idea. Having read the posts above your's I thought of us ing the jig saw with a suitable metal cutting blade. The cuts wandered a bit due to a certain lack of control, but I managed to do most of the cutting in about 20 minutes, and only broke the tip off one blade, and it's still OK for thinner metal.

Here's the Makita doing the heaviest cut of its life.

Some of the drawbacks were that I had to cut along the proposed drill holes or centre pop again...so I cut it out a bit larger than intended, but as it's to go on a target rifle a bit of extra size won't matter.
The other was that as the jig-saw cuts on the upward stroke then the chips come out the top.
Goggles are required for sure and the little chips make it hard to see the marks and as I was using liberal amounts of lard that didn't help visibility either; as the job warmed up it ran among the chips and I couldn't blow them away.

I shall have to do a little drilling to get around the corners. All the suggestions sure helped and it'll be a much quicker job.

Thanks Gents.

 

[Colonial Boy]

Well here's a bit of progress.
Things have been slow as I managed (through pure stupidity) to chop a bit of skin and flesh out of the ball of my left thumb. Never realise just how much the thumbs are used till one is sore :redface:
Anyway there has been some work dode. The blank is roughed out and a milling cut taken to try out the set-up.

 

[Metalshaper]

Colonial,

Sorry to hear you got 'caught up' in your work :winking: hope the thumb is healing Ok!

Looks like your making good progress. I'm wondering what kind of milling equipment your using? How you went about setting it up and work holders you used.

Keep up the good work!

Respect Always
Metalshaper

 

[Colonial Boy]

I hesitate to show it :redface:
But when I set up again I'll take a photo.
I'll also post just how I 'bit' the thumb, just in case anyone else has a vyce like mine.

Colonial Boy.

 

[Metalshaper]

Colonial,

You should see some of my improvisations. :shocked2:

My 'mill'< if you can call it that? > is a converted baby drill press. Lucked out with the quill running on four, ball bearing sets. The real probem is the spindle is only about 13 - 14mm in diameter. I can mill with up to 1/2 endmills or a fly cutter to about an inch.. Its roughly the equivelant to some of the smaller, bench models..

Still, it does "Get-R Done"

Respect Always
Metalshaper

 

[David454]

Nice work. Cant wait to see the rest. :grin:

 

[spitfire]

Here's a couple of Pics from Bruce Lingenfelter's site.

What would the web address be?

 

[David454]

This one?

http://muzzleloader.biz

 

[spitfire]

Thanks for the link! :winking:

 

[Colonial Boy]

Here's the little lathe; end mill in the 3jaw and the job clamped in the tool-post. Everything done up TIGHT. Just finished the milling of the trigger slot.

Now here's the body with the rough milling completed.

The lathe is an Australian made 'Hercus' a copy of the 'South Bend'. Production of these lathes began during WW II under license from SB.

Colonial.

PS. Didn't notice before but the 4 little things in the slot that look like drops of water are....drops of water. I had just washed the job in the kitchen sink and nearly got caught by 'herself' so didn't dry off properly :haha:

 

[David454]

Good idea holding work in the tool holder like that.

 

[Metalshaper]

Colonial,

That is the way My buddy and I have milled for a few years, on his lathe . His big Howa ( 24" swing X 8' bed ) has the alorous ( spl? ) tool holder system. If we can fit it in the holder.. we use that. On other ocassions, we've fashioned an auxillary platform,, that is held in the tool holder,, but allows us to clamp parts differently..

Now that his work has bought him a proper Mill :grin: I'm expecting him to make me A BUNCH of machined parts.. :rotf:

Great Work!!

Respect Always
Metalshaper

 

[tat]

Project looks good! :thumbsup:

How thick was that steel that you cut with the jigsaw? Was it 1018?


Tommy

 

[Colonial Boy]

3/4" and just an off cut that I'd picked up, probably only mild steel. Cuts fairly easily and I was a bit surprised that the jig saw handled it.
I suppose that the quality of the blades counts the most. The one that I broke the tip off was entirely my own fault in not letting the saw stop before withdrawing the blade.

Colonial Boy.

 

[Colonial Boy]

Here's just how I chopped the thumb.I rested the left hand on the fixed jaw, just over the silver bit in the centre and as I released the back jaw the silver bit bit ! !

and here's the bitten bit.

If anyone has a similar vyce the solution is either not to rest on the jaw or to weld on an extension; which I'm doing. This was the second time that I'd caught myself...same vyce, same thumb :redface: :redface:

Colonial Boy.

 

[tat]

Colonial Boy,

I hope that thumb is feeling better,

I have a book called Underhammer Guns written by Herschel Logan written in 1960, in it there is a "inletted" style underhammer made by H. Woody that is alot like your creation. The action in this book has what looks like a set trigger on it, and the hammer spring is a coil on a plunger. They are remarkably similar though. If you want I can post a picture or email a picture to you.

your project looks great :thumbsup:

Tommy

 

[spitfire]

I'm curious, post a picture please. :hmm:

 

[BS]

Thanks for the replies, there's nothing like talking a thing out.
Above, I've drawn in what I think the mainspring would probably be[url] like.In[/url] the first I simply left the spring where it was on half cock on the original flintlock.

I've been into the scrap box and found a suitable piece of steel, put a new blade in the hacksaw and tomorrow I'll roll up my sleeves... :grin:

If you look at all the straight lines of this 'works', the bent main spring just doesn't look right..............but doesn't really matter, if it works! :grin:

 

[tat]

Spitfire,

I dont have a scanner but I just took a picture of it. I do not see an option to post a JPEG, only URL images, is there another way I can post it?

Tommy