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I give myself an A-

bigdaddyjunior
I suffer from an affliction that requires me to constantly learn new things to do. I am especially fond of mechanical and engineering type subjects. My latest endeavor has been to learn to work metal on a lathe, mill, bending break etc. Been reading for a month on the techniques and tool set-ups for various projects and decided to jump to the end of the beginner book and try to make a screw and thread a hole for said screw to go into. Worked out perfectly so I went ahead and put a polish on my first attempt by locking the screw in a cordless drill and running it over ever finer stones until the stainless steel looked like a mirror. I took off points for the screw head concentricity being out of perfectly round by .0001 near about after polishing. I guess I have to figure a more exact way of polishing and finish shaping a round object. Anyway, I am enjoying my new toys and look forward to making the parts and assembling a reliably functioning gun. Anyone have any old books on metal working or machining feel free to contact me.
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4 comments

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  • Permanently deleted user
    Good luck with the new hobby...I'm suprized you have time for a new hobby when there are still guns out there to buy![;)]
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  • spasmcreek
    built a gizmo with a 3/8 drill chuck run by variable speed foot control ...then use handheld dremel to shape & polish screws...got several screw kits from brownell's...oxphoblue or silver,nickle, gold plate--enjoy
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  • tobefree
    What in the world did you check this dim. with and why on God's earth would anything need to to be held that tight???
    .0001
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  • bigdaddyjunior
    Eric, buying guns looses a lot of the appeal when you can afford them without risking the electricity being shut off or the home place being foreclosed upon. Designing and building one has been something I always wanted to be able to do. Now it is a hobby, but in a few years when I retire sort of, I am opening a gunsmithing shop up in the mountains. I have an awful lot to learn and a short time to learn it.

    As far as the measuring of the screw head goes; I used a concentricity gauge calibrated in the 100/thousandths so that 10 points of movement seemed like a lot. I got it from an old friend who use to design and build airplanes in his shop. He went blind so didn't have a use for it anymore. His machines were a lot more advanced than my basic milling and lathing equipment. He would actually build his prototypes out of wood about 1/10th scale and then take them apart and photograph each part on graph paper. Then he would just multiply every dimension by 10 and make the parts in aluminum or whatever metal was needed for that part. Really a cool old dude. He also raced Indian Motorcycles track and cross-country back in the 20's.
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