I've been busy with work work lately and have been neglecting my shooting side for a while. Here's an update:
Got a new lathe, all my very own! Enco Turn Pro 14x40. Had some problems with the stands but I think I have them worked out for now. They should hold until I get around to building a custom stand for it.
Got to work on making a rear spider for it. I may wind up drilling and tapping the end of the spindle but for now this will work. Its a tight fit and with 8 x set screws its not going anywhere. Used 3/8 x 24 bolts on the end. These are just temp bolts to make sure the threads are straight and clean. I have some hex screws to go in it now.
Next an action truing jig for standard actions. I have enough material to make one for the ones with integral lugs or flat bottoms. Just haven't done that yet. Still have to cut the slits in the bushing below.
Here's a rare shot where I remembered to grab the camera during the process. This turning down the aluminum tube that would make the action busing. I didn't take into account the tubes being out of round when I ordered them so once I trued them up on the lathe they are not the perfect fit I would have liked. There is a little more gap between the action jig and the action busing. Still not bad, like .075? but I was trying to keep it less than 40thous. You can see that to the left of the tool the first pass didn't clean it up all the way around. These were light passes, I was trying to take off as little as possible.
I borrowed the action jig design from a few people around here like William Roscoe and 300Sniper's posts. I got a lot of help from these guys as well as others around here. Mr. Roscoe even helped with tool selection. You guys rock! Thanks a million!
In the last few weeks building these little jigs I've learned that no matter how shiny and cool freshly machined aluminum looks it will look like crap by the end of the day. Still works and gets the job done but . . . crap. Need more practice with steel.
And that I need my own indexing rotary table for my mill/cnc. Getting these holes lined up with any sort of accuracy sucked!
Mike
Got a new lathe, all my very own! Enco Turn Pro 14x40. Had some problems with the stands but I think I have them worked out for now. They should hold until I get around to building a custom stand for it.
Got to work on making a rear spider for it. I may wind up drilling and tapping the end of the spindle but for now this will work. Its a tight fit and with 8 x set screws its not going anywhere. Used 3/8 x 24 bolts on the end. These are just temp bolts to make sure the threads are straight and clean. I have some hex screws to go in it now.
Next an action truing jig for standard actions. I have enough material to make one for the ones with integral lugs or flat bottoms. Just haven't done that yet. Still have to cut the slits in the bushing below.
Here's a rare shot where I remembered to grab the camera during the process. This turning down the aluminum tube that would make the action busing. I didn't take into account the tubes being out of round when I ordered them so once I trued them up on the lathe they are not the perfect fit I would have liked. There is a little more gap between the action jig and the action busing. Still not bad, like .075? but I was trying to keep it less than 40thous. You can see that to the left of the tool the first pass didn't clean it up all the way around. These were light passes, I was trying to take off as little as possible.
I borrowed the action jig design from a few people around here like William Roscoe and 300Sniper's posts. I got a lot of help from these guys as well as others around here. Mr. Roscoe even helped with tool selection. You guys rock! Thanks a million!
In the last few weeks building these little jigs I've learned that no matter how shiny and cool freshly machined aluminum looks it will look like crap by the end of the day. Still works and gets the job done but . . . crap. Need more practice with steel.
And that I need my own indexing rotary table for my mill/cnc. Getting these holes lined up with any sort of accuracy sucked!
Mike
