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Gunsmithing L/H Stiller TAC 30 TITANIUM Bedding Block...

LRI

LRI

Lance Criminal
Full Member
Minuteman
    • Mar 14, 2010
    6,314
    7,426
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    Sturgis, S. Dakota
    www.longriflesinc.com
    You "left wingers" should get a kick out of this.

    "Custom doesn't come in a box". We've all heard it. Here's my latest attempt at making good on it.

    This is a switch barrel left handed Stiller that'll eventually get fitted up into a Manners "M40A1 kinda sorta looking" stock. (didn't bother to look at the model prior to writing this.)

    The bedding block started as a piece of raw forging 6AL-4V. It's been normalized, heat treated, etc... The material alone was almost $500 bucks.

    A few hours dinking around on the computer, some cussing as I got my speeds/feeds situated, this is what I was rewarded with:



    This thing will be here after the cockroaches take over.

    Enjoy.

    C.


    EDIT: 03-10-2017. Moving folders around in Photobucket caused these pics to fall apart. Here's a slideshow showing the work:

    http://s165.photobucket.com/user/ne...O 2014 BUILDS/GUN PICS/TITANIUM BEDDING BLOCK




    1st photo: Cutting the blank in the saw. I meant to take more photos, but got so busy that I completely spaced it.




    Remaining photos: About 90% done. Just some little stuff now. Bolt handle inlet, ejection port, and counterbores for the pillars.






     
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    Any particular reason to use the Ti over quality aluminum???
    I wish I could talk Badger Ord. Into building me one of their action out of Ti
     
    Is this going to be a new item to sell or is this for the personal collection only?
     
    Definitely cool as hell , I was just wondering if their was any OTHER reason to abuse your brain than fighting with titanium.
     
    Chad, as always great work and finish. Question, once the bedding block is fitted to the stock and barrel action is installed, how will the bedding block compare to your epoxy bedding jobs? Besides price:) Do you feel it will be just as tight and reliable?
     
    Has there ever been though of making the action and receiver block all out of one piece of metal?
     
    Burke I'd be happy to.

    I think the biggest part of this was the material specs that I ordered. Commercially pure TI is a bitch. Gummy and just nasty to work with. I bought certified aerospace forging 6AL-4V. It's around 40 rockwell. I've found that with "gummy" materials it sure seems to work better if it's heat treated ahead of time.

    I started using the published S/F from the Guring catalog. For the 1/2" EM I started with 250SFM and a .0022" chip load. Pretty standard stuff for TI. The EM was a 4F. I wasn't happy with the finish I was getting so I switched to a 6F 40* helix finisher. The SFM per minute just went UP from there. I just started throttling up till I got what I wanted. Around 4500rpm and 30IPM for speed.

    That was the profiling portion.

    I used the same to rough out the cavity. A 3/16" ball was used to finish surf the register for the action. I went balls out. 100IPM and 9500 rpm on a .015 stepover and a .01 depth of cut. (plunge)

    For the detail stuff like the trigger inlet believe it or not I got the best results from using tooling geometry meant for AL. A 3F high performance em worked really well for the trigger portion and magazine box. Here I was a bit more conservative. 2200rpm and 20ipm. It just ate through it no problem. I limited my depth of cuts to .1 max and my stepovers was 30% of the tool OD.

    30% was used on the 1/2"EM as well. Light cuts with aggressive feedrates and rpm was my general theme on this project.

    Drills/reams were straight from the book. Holes were drilled with a 1/4" carb drill and finish reamed with a 5/16 4F endmill at around 700 rpm. I just did these by hand.

    Only real issue I ran into was cutting the flutes on the sides for the epoxy to lock into. I used my bolt fluting tool and it made a serious racket. Lots of chatter. Thankfully it's buried in the stock so it'll never be seen. It was done just to provide a mechanical lock with the epoxy.

    The big thing I think that helped here was the coolant. I stumbled onto some stuff this summer that has worked exceptionally well. It started in the lathe with our chambering work. I've tried for years to use a water based cutting fluid/coolant and it's never panned out. -till this summer.

    I don't share that information as its lead to some rather innovative changes in chamber reamer design. Something Kiff and I have been working on as of late. At some point I'll be having a HUGE liquidation sale of my reamers because I'm switching them ALL over to this new deal. A huge expense but so worth it in terms of time savings.

    Its psychotic. A 223 Rem chamber in less than 1.5 minutes and a finish that looks like it was hard chromed.

    Good luck.

    C.

    Here's a few more pics of the part and the initial stock inletting:

    DSC_0046.jpg


    DSC_0045.jpg


    DSC_0043.jpg


    DSC_0044.jpg


    DSC_0047.jpg



    The tang/safety part isn't quite finished yet. I decided to leave some stock here as I want to get it in the stock and registered so I can see exactly how much material will have to come off. My hope is to end up with a nice flush/seamless transition. It may require some "bondo" work on the stock to get it cleaned up.

    Gettin closer!
     
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    Don't be showing me this shit! :D Ye ole pocket book is light enough these days....

    Definitely made me raise an eyebrow, kick ass.



    t
     
    Not a plumber, nor a mechanic or a craftsman.

    You sir, are an artisan
     
    Moving along nicely. Stock's been inletted for the block and I'm chewing on the barrel channel now. Easy to see that the back end still needs some work.

    White/green sparks will be flying here shortly! I'm not going to glue it in yet. I'll mark it with some tape and get out the Dewalt black smith grinder and whizz the bulk of it down. Then I'll ruin a couple files and fit it up by hand the rest of the way. This stuff gets so hot so quickly that I don't dare glue it/grind it with it in the stock. It'd surely scorch the epoxy and break the bond.

    DSC_0053.jpg


    DSC_0055.jpg


    DSC_0058.jpg
     
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    WOW! I've had bolt handles and shrouds made of Titanium, but this is another level! Great job, and nicely done considering how expensive a stuff-up would of been! I learnt a lot the first time working with Titanium - cost a few inserts and milling cutters, but got a better understanding now.
    I'm a leftie too so i'm loving this.
     
    Thanks guys. This one is right up there for personal achievements. I'm pretty pleased thus far. I think were going to paint the stock and fit this in last. This way I can preserve the crisp metal edge along the show line. It's way more work to file and sand one of these than I ever imagined. It needs to be showed off I think. So the challenge will be ensuring the glue doesn't run all over the place. Yay, Fun!

    Bolt handle inlet remains on the stock. I'm gonna wrap that up here tonight before heading out.

    I'm diggin it. Wish I could take this bugger with me to Shot. (Kalli and I are going although no booth. I loath being chained to a booth. I like to snoop around and see what's out there.)

    DSC_0063.jpg


    DSC_0062.jpg


    DSC_0061.jpg


    DSC_0060.jpg
     
    Tac284 said:
    Chad, what's your Choice of ball endmill for your barrel channel in the second picture?
    Click to expand...

    Its a lollypop insert tool from Sandvik. Ive had that tool over 10 years and have yet to replace the insert. Its done a whole lot of milling

    Its my rougher for clearing out material. I use a 3/16 ball for finishing.
     
    Chad; if you're anywhere near Flagstaff on your way to and from SHOT give me a buzz: dinner's on me!

    Doc
     
    ridgeway said:
    Chad...can you divulge any more info on the new reamer design? Worth holding out for them? I need to order a couple reamers soon.
    Click to expand...



    Unless you have an extremely rigid setup I'd prolly advise against it. It also depends on an extremely high volume/pressure muzzle flush setup.

    It might work on a manual, but I'm not really in any hurry to try it.

    C.
     
    LongRifles said:
    Unless you have an extremely rigid setup I'd prolly advise against it. It also depends on an extremely high volume/pressure muzzle flush setup.

    It might work on a manual, but I'm not really in any hurry to try it.

    C.
    Click to expand...

    Thanks for the info. 100% manual and no coolant flush here! Guess I'll stick with the standard reamers and Vipers venom, lol.
     
    LongRifles said:
    DSC_0044.jpg
    Click to expand...

    So could you explain to me the reason the pillars were not already machined into this? It looks as though they were counterbored for. Using aluminum pillars? I do understand it simplifies things, just wondering if you had another reason for this?

    I am looking into doing this for a CZ 455.

    Ben
     
    Chad , always nice to see your projects , very cool ! Make any progress on the Long Rifles Inc range swag ?
     
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