[meketrefe]

As I mentioned yesterday I am creating a separate thread for those creative folks here interested in DIY projects, building special parts and specially machining whether is turning on a Lathe or milling Machine.
I am getting a new larger lathe this week finally setup and ready for getting a new rebarreling of a large mangum.

Here we can talk about anything really. We saw the jigs for sight maintenance that some put together that are quite impressive.

So anything you want to talk about related to your projects please be my guest.

- Rebarreling / Chambering
- Milling parts
- Chassis building
- F.Cuomo Compliance projects
- Tool construction to help with a specific task.
- etc...

 

[meketrefe]

So let me start something.
When truing an action or chambering you need do find a perfect center. I use a large cylinder with 8 screws and in the case of the barrel I use
carbide rods with bronze bushing to dial until I get within 0.2 thousands.
How do you do it?

 

[androokwomo]

Duuuude!!! I'm nowhere near that level of skill. Just taking my first welding class now. I have a long way to go, but will bookmark this thread for all the stuff I want to do in the future.

 

[carrsgarage]

I've been playing with a small lathe for a while, but never done anything firearms related. I'm quite interested in it, though, so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

 

[Ben Diss]

Would love to see pics of what you're talking about. I do a bit of work, but I'm not really following you on this.

 

[Les]

I don't do gun work in a lathe but I've worked as a machinist for 35 years. If anyone has a question about lathe work, post them up and I will do my best to answer them.

meke, are you running the barrel in a steady rest with the muzzle at the chuck or do you run with the chamber end of the barrel at the chuck and let the rest of the barrel stick through the headstock opening? This isn't gun work but lathe work is lathe work, this is just bigger. The tube here is 5 feet long and 9 inch diameter. It's chucked up at the opposite end with the end being turned and threaded with a pipe thread for a copper flange running in the steady rest in the photo. A barrel would be the same idea but smaller scale. I'm going to subscribe to this thread, any questions from anyone, just post them up and we'll try to help.

 

[BerettaGuy]

You need to see the "toys" some of the PPC guys I shoot with have.
Since we all reload we usually carry a bucket to eject the brass in .
Some of the buckets have a band of metal around the edge with bullet holders that hold your speed loaders.
Pretty cool but they have to be home made.
So without anything other that a pencil and an drill I tried to poke six holes in a block of wood that i could put bullets in and then just slide the speed loader over the top and charge it. Fogetaboutit.........

 

[Les]

So without anything other that a pencil and an drill I tried to poke six holes in a block of wood that i could put bullets in and then just slide the speed loader over the top and charge it. Fogetaboutit.........

You could lay out the six holes on a circle with a simple pencil and compass like you use in school for drawing circles. For six holes the distance from one to the next is 1/2 the bolt circle diameter. Draw a circle the diameter of the cylinder bolt pattern then just divide the circle by setting the compass to 1/2 that diameter, put the point of the compass on the circle and make a mark with the pencil on the circle. Move the point to that mark and repeat. You should come back to the original starting point with the sixth mark. Here's a link to a site with some handy formulas for bolt hole patterns.
Bolt Circle Coordinates

 

[Loren]

Every time I look at this series of videos I think "I could do that."

Then I go look at how friggun expensive all that specialized tool stuff costs.

Sporterizing the Mosin Nagant Part 1- Making sure your rifle is safe to shoot - YouTube

 

[meketrefe]

i don't do gun work in a lathe but i've worked as a machinist for 35 years. If anyone has a question about lathe work, post them up and i will do my best to answer them.

Meke, are you running the barrel in a steady rest with the muzzle at the chuck or do you run with the chamber end of the barrel at the chuck and let the rest of the barrel stick through the headstock opening? This isn't gun work but lathe work is lathe work, this is just bigger. The tube here is 5 feet long and 9 inch diameter. It's chucked up at the opposite end with the end being turned and threaded with a pipe thread for a copper flange running in the steady rest in the photo. A barrel would be the same idea but smaller scale. I'm going to subscribe to this thread, any questions from anyone, just post them up and we'll try to help.

wow!!!

 

[meketrefe]

Every time I look at this series of videos I think "I could do that."

Then I go look at how friggun expensive all that specialized tool stuff costs.

Sporterizing the Mosin Nagant Part 1- Making sure your rifle is safe to shoot - YouTube

That was one I watched from these guys. Iraqveteran always has good material. Some 5R barrels in .311 bore are super accurate.
That could actually be a doable and quite enjoyable DYI project. I think you have an xtrigger to improve the issue one.

 

[meketrefe]

So here is the idea to test the threads.

I am going to take a brand new never fired Remington 700 SPS apart and take the factory barrel in .223r and turn it and then cut
and thread a barrel nut with the same threads but to use the savage tool. So I will have to put some flutes.
I was also thinking to make the nut in two sections. One a simple collar in SS and the other in T6 aluminum with a taper and
deep flutes so not only will look good tapered forward but it will help dissipate the heat from the chamber.

I will do the same with a brand new bartlein barrel that is going to be cut to 22" and reamed in 6x45 and then mounted in the action
using the same system after truing the bolt and the action.
For magazine I will mill a space in the stock for an adaptor that will take AR magazines. I make my own AR VLD magazines that
will give me 3.45 COAL.

Then we will be ready to shoot some 105gr wind buckers at 2700fps.

 

[meketrefe]

Now I have a question. Anyone making their own reamers for chambering?

What alloy are you using?
How do you cut the profile and flutes?
What heat treating method?
Sharpening method?

Anyone?

 

[meketrefe]

More cool projects....

Nuts and bolts lowers...

More Homemade AR-15 Lowers | Shall Not Be Questioned

Longziz #1
Home made Bull up whit AR LOWER inside. Custom carrier to change ambidextrous ejection.

Longziz #1: An Interesting Homemade Bullpup with AR-15 Lower Receiver - The Firearm Blog

 

[Robhimself]

Trying to do this from my phone but I will come back to post pics. This weekend I finished an 80% 10/22 and had to make some modifications to allow it to accept the bolt. I am not a machinist by any means, just had access to a mini mill.

 

[ManrisFrack]

Now I have a question. Anyone making their own reamers for chambering?

What alloy are you using?
How do you cut the profile and flutes?
What heat treating method?
Sharpening method?

Anyone?

Now THAT'S ambitious. Most machine shops go to tool and die shops for custom tooling like that.

 

[Les]

Now I have a question. Anyone making their own reamers for chambering?

What alloy are you using?
How do you cut the profile and flutes?
What heat treating method?
Sharpening method?

Anyone?

I'm thinking this isn't economical at all. By the time you buy your steel in a small quantity and pay for heat treating, I think you will have already exceeded the price of a commercially produced reamer. If you want helical flutes you are going to need a mill that can cut them plus you will need to do a grind on the whole thing after heat treating to true it all and bring it into size. That's a big project for one reamer. We don't even sharpen our end mills and reamers in house any more, it's cheaper to send them to a specialty shop and have them ground.

 

[Camper4lyfe]

I'm thinking this isn't economical at all. By the time you buy your steel in a small quantity and pay for heat treating, I think you will have already exceeded the price of a commercially produced reamer. If you want helical flutes you are going to need a mill that can cut them plus you will need to do a grind on the whole thing after heat treating to true it all and bring it into size. That's a big project for one reamer. We don't even sharpen our end mills and reamers in house any more, it's cheaper to send them to a specialty shop and have them ground.

Sending them out for sharpening is a great idea! Granted I'm a bit biased. My uncle owns a sharpening shop here in Rochester.

 

[meketrefe]

I'm thinking this isn't economical at all. By the time you buy your steel in a small quantity and pay for heat treating, I think you will have already exceeded the price of a commercially produced reamer. If you want helical flutes you are going to need a mill that can cut them plus you will need to do a grind on the whole thing after heat treating to true it all and bring it into size. That's a big project for one reamer. We don't even sharpen our end mills and reamers in house any more, it's cheaper to send them to a specialty shop and have them ground.

Hi,
To be honest I always used comercial reamers but also the winter is long so what the heck.
The idea is not to create an economically viable alternative but I think It could save some money and time with chambering reamers.
Unlike conventional reamers chambering reamers take time and sometimes one doesn't even know what variations one is looking for
so might need several adjustments and prototyping based on results.
If you look at the original cowboy chambering reamers they were not that sophisticated they were done with two flutes and heat treatment
was done the old fashion way.
By today's standards this would not be acceptable but what if you want to work out several 'rough' prototypes until you find the one
you like and then you can order one from a reputable company. Again the process can be long and costly.
Some Wildcatters have been using this method for generations before CNC and todays high precision lathes and materials ever
existed.
I am thinking something that would get you close w/o being too bad. I was looking for advice in other forums and found this is
becoming more popular than before, and not just for the single shot / contender / silhouette shooting folks.
I know I can do better than this....

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/downloads/files/-Reamers.pdf

I am more a shooter than a builder but also every day I am finding more satisfaction working with my hands in my shop / man's cave.

So what do you think?

 

[meketrefe]

I think I can do better than this one too. The tolerances I have are within two tenths of a thousand. I can live with that.

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