Making your own parts and even whole guns

[Lakey]

The older I get, the more I wish I had taken metalwork/engineering training in my youth. I see very talented people on here with the necessary engineering skills to use a lathe and a milling machine, and I am increasingly envious of their skills

Edbear is a living legend with his engineering prowess, and John and Lens recent threads about making a Webley Whiting pistol, are a great illustration of what can be done when you have time and the skills, and even the fabrication of small parts brings out the green eyed monster

Some time ago, some of you may remember that I had a Falke rearsight made by an extremely talented man,Bob Jackson who sadly is no longer with us, so I just thought I would post this thread to remind people of the wealth of talent that is on show on here from time to time.
Binners has recently posted up pictures of his BSA peep sight, that was a recent well executed project, and here is another thread on Danny's Vintage BSA site , that shows some clever fixes.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/67044...proved+Model+D

Now how do I buy a Lathe

Lakey

[Hsing-ee]

There's probably a evening class you can take at a local tech college. Or you can buy a book, fire up YouTube and teach yourself... plenty of people who can advise you on here.

[career707lover]

You can get cheapish table top lathes as well, I think they may be chinese but even if you only get a year or two out of it to see if you take to metalwork etc as a hobby/pastime, for a couple of hundred quid it might be worth it? Im sure some folk on here could advise you on which models to go for and avoid. Then if you like it you could get a proper one.

[abewilson]

Hi Lakey
my sentiments are/were similar to yours

I did go a step further and joined a part time course specifically to gain skills to make a Falke Dioptre sight sadly ...I never stayed the course which turned out a very expensive failure ..in my case I put it down to my slow functioning brain and a tutor with lack of patience with me

Sold on my Falke with all the attempts of the Falke half completed sights. Must say that the attempt was a good experience if the buyer reads this would love to know how far he has got ?

Any one shed any light on the new way of making parts with a computer printer it seems to be the next way forward for making almost any thing and a chance for all of us to be manufacturers of small parts. The printer I saw costs £1000 on that television sales program
ATB

[Hsing-ee]

Online learning ..

http://www.americanmachinetools.com/...se_a_lathe.htm

[Gaz-Leeds]

Theres a video on Youtube that shows someone who made a lower receiver for an AR15 using a 3D printer. It worked for a few mags then broke. His point being that all the parts for an AR can be bought off ticket except the lower receiver as that part is classed as "the firearm" so to circumvent that he just printed one from a CAD program.

3D printing is the assasins dream come true, print the gun, do the job, burn gun, feet up, telly
It could also be used for making Dioptre sights

[Benelli B76]

I started an apprenticeship in 1963 and the first things we were taught is how to cut straight and correctly with a hacksaw and how to use different files to make an accurate cube from a block of steel that had a nice shiny finish and was dead square. This basic set of skills will help you make many small spare parts before turning on a lathe. Many people want to jump ahead without developing basic engineering principles. Of course it helps if you have some nice equipment like a good pedestal drill, and the very basic tool, a dremel with many different types of mounted points.

Baz

[Phil Russell]

The best Christmas present I bought myself about 4 years ago (or was it five?) was a mini lathe. I had never used one before so basically had to teach myself from the beginning. There are many of these 'mini lathes' around and I think they all originate in China and are just rebadged by various suppliers. It may not be the bees knees of lathes but it sits on a bench top (I had no space for a larger unit on its own stand) and does all I ask of it. Spring guides, top hats, end protective caps, new transfer ports, modifying screws and bolts to aesthetically match obsolete ones, scribing score lines for a bell target plate, even making new rollers for a greenhouse door etc etc. At present I am experimenting with making seals from urethane. It's great fun and fully recommended.
Limitations: I am sure this is not a real limitation but I recently saw a beautiful solid steel spring guide for a HW77. Beautiful, but I would be reluctant to make one because of the amount of raw steel that would need to be cut away ... delrin is far more forgiving.
I should have bought one many years ago.
Cheers, Phil

Dremel : agree. Indispensable... but mine is not a 'dremel' it is a cheapo £10 version from Aldi but works. Perfect for cutting spring coils.

[aimless]

.." lathe- videos " I like.

I worked as an "instructur" for lathe-workings .....

(please watch both till the end)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuS6HDHc7XE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqPA8DM-43k

DMG = Deckel Maho Gildemeister


(ok-it is not a single lathe.....)

Jochen

[Benelli B76]

Dremel : agree. Indispensable... but mine is not a 'dremel' it is a cheapo £10 version from Aldi but works. Perfect for cutting spring coils.[/QUOTE]

Yes dremel is used as a generic name like "Hoover" is used for vacuum cleaner. I have 3 dremels, mains , transformer and rechargeable. All cheapies. I have a lathe but they are limited for making a lot of spares, like triggers, sears, sight parts, cocking arms, butt plates and anything that is not round. Much more handy if you have a milling attachment.

Baz

[shabee]

The older I get, the more I wish I had taken metalwork/engineering training in my youth. I see very talented people on here with the necessary engineering skills to use a lathe and a milling machine, and I am increasingly envious of their skills

Edbear is a living legend with his engineering prowess, and John and Lens recent threads about making a Webley Whiting pistol, are a great illustration of what can be done when you have time and the skills, and even the fabrication of small parts brings out the green eyed monster

Some time ago, some of you may remember that I had a Falke rearsight made by an extremely talented man,Bob Jackson who sadly is no longer with us, so I just thought I would post this thread to remind people of the wealth of talent that is on show on here from time to time.
Binners has recently posted up pictures of his BSA peep sight, that was a recent well executed project, and here is another thread on Danny's Vintage BSA site , that shows some clever fixes.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/67044...proved+Model+D

Now how do I buy a Lathe

Lakey

Totally agree lakey,
I was going to post a few days ago after seeing the guns and parts that had been made recently.
I was to mention for anyone undertaking this kind of work, that it could be in their interests, to obtain a small surface plate and height gauge for marking out.
The difference in the standard of accuracy marking out this way is worlds apart, and using an "optical center punch" is the difference between parts lining up and not, makers claim accuracy to within 0.001".
As to inexperienced senior members obtaining and using lathes and mills, well i say "take care" , anyone who has served an old school apprenticeship was first taught safety above all else and these people should know the hazards
that will present themselves to "green would be engineers". Ive personally seen some nasty accidents with lathes, and they were experienced engineers who knew what they were doing, and who knew the dangers, all of them.
I never cease to be amazed at the cnc videos such as above, its marvellous what is achieved today, what you must not forget though is every time you see something like this, some clever person has either had to write the program to enable the machine to do this or at best input the figures in to a program to do the calculations, and someone else has had to set the machine tools to enable this to happen without crashes, it looks even better in real life as a lot of the time the videos are slowed for you to see clearly.
I like the five axis mills, never tire of watching them, the Japanese have been at the forefront of this game for many years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnIvhlKT7SY
Eric.

[Papa g]

The best Christmas present I bought myself about 4 years ago (or was it five?) was a mini lathe. I had never used one before so basically had to teach myself from the beginning. There are many of these 'mini lathes' around and I think they all originate in China and are just rebadged by various suppliers. It may not be the bees knees of lathes but it sits on a bench top (I had no space for a larger unit on its own stand) and does all I ask of it. Spring guides, top hats, end protective caps, new transfer ports, modifying screws and bolts to aesthetically match obsolete ones, scribing score lines for a bell target plate, even making new rollers for a greenhouse door etc etc. At present I am experimenting with making seals from urethane. It's great fun and fully recommended.
Limitations: I am sure this is not a real limitation but I recently saw a beautiful solid steel spring guide for a HW77. Beautiful, but I would be reluctant to make one because of the amount of raw steel that would need to be cut away ... delrin is far more forgiving.
I should have bought one many years ago.
Cheers, Phil

Dremel : agree. Indispensable... but mine is not a 'dremel' it is a cheapo £10 version from Aldi but works. Perfect for cutting spring coils.

As above, get yourself a lathe & have a go, I did I've re-barrelled guns made firing pins for shotguns, top hats, guides, piston heads & more, with just buying a lathe & giving it a go with no previous experience
You'll make mistakes but you'll soon learn from them.
Regards Graham

[Shed tuner]

The best Christmas present I bought myself about 4 years ago (or was it five?) was a mini lathe. I had never used one before so basically had to teach myself from the beginning. There are many of these 'mini lathes' around and I think they all originate in China and are just rebadged by various suppliers. It may not be the bees knees of lathes but it sits on a bench top (I had no space for a larger unit on its own stand) and does all I ask of it. Spring guides, top hats, end protective caps, new transfer ports, modifying screws and bolts to aesthetically match obsolete ones, scribing score lines for a bell target plate, even making new rollers for a greenhouse door etc etc.

same here. i have no skills outside o- level metalwork (I enjoyed using the lathes even back then) , but use mine for all the same stuff, and god knows how many random household repairs - the parts for which I'd simply have no idea where to find without being able to make 'em

[mel h]

I started an apprenticeship in 1963 and the first things we were taught is how to cut straight and correctly with a hacksaw and how to use different files to make an accurate cube from a block of steel that had a nice shiny finish and was dead square. This basic set of skills will help you make many small spare parts before turning on a lathe. Many people want to jump ahead without developing basic engineering principles. Of course it helps if you have some nice equipment like a good pedestal drill, and the very basic tool, a dremel with many different types of mounted points.

Baz

Spot on, Although I'm a fairly keen shed fiddler with a decent lathe and other machines I've lost count of the times I've seen people fiddling around making small items with the assistance of a milling machine that could have been finished in twenty minutes with a hacksaw and a decent sharp file.
Mel.

[TopDog]

same here. i have no skills outside o- level metalwork (I enjoyed using the lathes even back then) , but use mine for all the same stuff, and god knows how many random household repairs - the parts for which I'd simply have no idea where to find without being able to make 'em

AMEN to that Jon! Mine gets used about 20% of it's time for airgun stuff (for which I bought it!) and 80% for all the other stuff I just could not attempt before! Lost count of the number of times I tried drilling holes down the centre of even short rods with bucketloads of frustration and now, it's like falling off a log! Surprising how many problems can be solved that way too!

It's just a matter of boiling down the task to what can be done with a lathe (and a small milling machine!) to be able to do things one could only dream about before!

Power to your elbows chaps! Just wear the goggles and keep those fingers clear and all will be well(ish).

As a by product, it creates a whole new category of women; "Workshop Widows" to join the realms of the "Golf Widows" etc!

atvb
David (Young at heart old fart!)