Tools I am making..

[targa911S]

Nice job bud, nice job.

[targa911S]

.257 R and .208 R are two of my favorite rounds. Cool.

[Mericet]

Originally Posted by targa911S

.257 R and .208 R are two of my favorite rounds. Cool.

Any thoughts on 7mm-08? Thinking of using that instead of .308 in the last rifle.

[targa911S]

.308 ammo is cheap.

[Mericet]

Used an oxy-acetylene torch for the first time today since (I think) 1981. Had to do the top piece of the handle and fix the round nut I made to the handle. David, this is my barrel dent remover.

Handle pictures with close ups of the brazing. Of course, I cleaned these up a little.




The only thing left is to cut the anvils. Here is some pictures from start to finish. I did polish the anvils as well. Not to remove the tool marks, but to ensure there were no sharp edges on them. These pictures also show the top cross piece and the round nut that is shown on the threaded part of the handle.






Last picture shows the anvils with the 20 gauge anvil on the handle.

[jim72911t]

Once again, great work!

The tool marks can be caused be a number of things: tool geometry and material; setup rigidity; feeds and speeds; or a combination of all. My guess is that once you get some more hours on the lathe, the tool marks will start to disappear.

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by jim72911t

Once again, great work!

The tool marks can be caused be a number of things: tool geometry and material; setup rigidity; feeds and speeds; or a combination of all. My guess is that once you get some more hours on the lathe, the tool marks will start to disappear.

Spot on Jim. Really nice work Neil. You are moving along nicely. Keep up the good work.

[mossguy]

Neil,

Your progress and your work are a joy to watch!

[Mericet]

Thanks everyone.

Started working on some Colt crane bushing wrenches today. There is still some mill work left on them. Also started some barrel bushings but they are still far from done.

Colt crane bushing wrenches. L-R, for Official Police, Colt Positive and Colt New Service:



Really pleased with the sizing on this one:





It is also strange how people we meet sometimes make differences in our lives. I met 2 guys in Charlotte at the NRA show in 2010. One of them is now in class with me, the other just finished his course. I bumped into him at a function on campus today. He mentioned that he has a real nice light colored walnut needed for our 2-piece stock project next semester and that I can have it for a good price.

[targa911S]

Get something straight thru the wrist. after that you can go nuts. Burl is really hard to work with lots of hidden holes and pockets. Try for something like this.




Straight at the wrist that flows into a nice crotch piece. I may have some wood to donate to your project.
NO not this piece! You just need a slab..right?

[Mericet]

Thanks for the phone chat today and the generous gift David. I hope I do it justice.

No more pictures for a few days. We are on mid term break (ALREADY!!??) and will start again next Wednesday.

[Mericet]

OK, no pictures from this week. I am busy making some barrel bushings which is in essence a round piece of steel with a big hole in the middle. Of course, some of these are easy as there is no taper on the hole. However, four of these do need a tapered hole. These are 1.3, 2.5, 2.95 and 3.1 degrees. Takes some time to setup and adjust the boring bar for these. I finished the tapered holes and am happy that I got most of them within .002" of the target. We were allowed to do these to .005".

I did purchase a set of carbide cutting tools last week. Love them so far!

[Mericet]

Time for some picture updates:

First some barrel spinner mandrels. I have finished two of the three parts. I hope to finish this next week:



Complete:


The part that still needs to be finished:


I started these a while ago but had to wait for the bearings. More on these and their construction when I finish them and get my grade.

[Mericet]

Next is a burnishing reamer for .22. The main part is made out of drill rod and turned down on the tip. The tip is then heated to red hot, quenched, cleaned and then heated to a straw color. This last part is very easy to get wrong as we use oxy-acetylene to heat it. Just a little too much heat and you have to start all over again. It took me four tries to get it right. I was a little aggressive in the cleaning (using sandpaper) after each failed attempt and managed to get the tip just a little undersized. After getting the tip to a straw color, the tip was ground down on a surface grinder. The handle is cold rolled steel and is secured to the reamer with a set screw.

Still, my grade was a 97 so I am happy!

[Mericet]

I also finished the Clymer reamer extension. Made out of cold rolled steel with the previous picture showing the detail on the tip. Not much to this one. Hole drilled in the tip for the reamer to fit in. Handle fitted and secured with a set screw.

Final grade: 96

[Mericet]

And last but not least, a barrel vice. Made out of 2x1.5" cold rolled steel, this is a hunk of metal! Fairly simple project as it was mostly drilling holes on a mill. Of course the bolt holes had to be tapped (16x.2mm). The two parts were then assembled with a .125 shim between them. You really have to crank the bolts down for this one! After that, the front hole was step drilled on a lathe and finished by boring it out to 1.75". I changed to a carbide boring bar during the process as I was getting a lot of chatter from the HSS bar I was using. Once I removed the chatter marks, I was slightly over size but it is not critical in this project.

Final grade: 97. The instructor commented on how well I removed all the burrs and sharp edges from the pieces.