got me a smithy!

[xpertgreg]

well, here's the story. couple of weeks ago the boss sets our smithy (lathe-mill-drill) combo machine out under the shed. I told him that if he was selling it that I wanted first chance to buy. today, he got to moving some stuff around and just out of the blue asked if I'd give him a hundred bucks for it....needless to say, I nearly jumped out of my skin telling him that I absolutely would. So, now it looks as if I have the perfect setup for some home gunsmith work.

what should I build first? thinkin' of starting with a customized Mosin as I have a cracked stock 38 just waitin' to be played with.

cool huh!?

gw

[SAC22PPC]

whats its specs? leignth of bed, size of chuck and so on.
sounds like you got a really good deal even if its a small machine its still worth way more than $100! what all tooling did you get with it?


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[xpertgreg]

It's a small machine, but has a through hole in the chuck. it's identical to this machine...

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=2698802&PMT4NO=15743666

got a boring head, 3 jaw chuck, and a drill chuck.

just the boring head is about 80 bucks.

on another subject, if you have a rifle that you want to recrown, could I just chuck it up muzzle out about 3 inches and recrown it? not sure if it would bend the barrel or not?

if anyone knows of any how to smithing sites I'd like a heads up as I can't find any.
gw

[SAC22PPC]

yes you can crown that way however your going to have problems with runout aka whobble! its a real bugaboo trying to get that whobble out of it, and if your barrel has a taper to it your finished before you start. typicaly you use a steady rest with the muzzle sticking out the front the free end.
all this being said i had to do a barrel the way you stated above, had to go slow because the faster you go the more the whobble gets you. go too fast and one of two things are going to happen, your going to get hurt or your machine is going to get hurt.
typicaly when turning metal you can go 2 1/2 times its diameter out in front of the chuck. thats unsupported on the other end. sometimes you can do more just depends on the metal and your bits. so lets say your work peice is 1/2" in diameter, thats means the max you could turn unsoported infront of the chuck is 1 1/2".
i sujest hacking off a chunk of an old sewer bore and play at crowning it. best not to mess up a good barrel right?


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[SAC22PPC]

oops forgot to say your going to need a few items. of course tool bits, a dial indicator, and some sort of messuring tool(all i have is my calipers).

[HerrMesser]

You would need a means of aligning the barrel hanging out the back end and some kind of soft spacer like aluminum for the chuck jaws on a taper.

Rad

[SAC22PPC]

for cheap tooling try;
http://www.harborfreight.com/

for a little better quality tooling and far beter selection for lathes and milling machines try;
http://www.grizzlyimports.com/

i have ordered from both companies in the past, one each i think it was. far and away the better economy tools can be had at grizzly. its all made in china but hey its all i can afford.
for bits i think you will need C5 if your going with carbide, if hss then try to get name brand, thats if they are anything like the hss drill bits that come out of china. you will have to figure out what size tool bits your toolpost takes. its ok to go a size smaller as you can shim it higher to get it on the centerline.


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[xpertgreg]

thanks for the replies guys. I got the measuring and tooling covered as I basically work at a machine/grinding shop (Expert Die, Inc. that's where the xpertgreg name comes from). I have good basic knowledge on the machining part, just no one to really draw off of when it comes to machining guns in particular. we had a large gathering of the Sumac Shooters Society today, so I was able to pick Mosko's brain about some stuff. I've got a $30 cracked stock M38 MN that is gonna be my first guinea pig very soon.

gw

[xpertgreg]

oh and, here's where we get a lot of stuff from at work. If they ain't got it, it can't be got!

http://www1.mscdirect.com

gw