In the beginning . . . .

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Been shooting black powder for near 40 years and it ain't doing it for me as much as it used to.

But I'm saved, I got the muzzle loading cannon bug:lovebooli

Went to my local metal merchant and asked if he had a bit of 3" shaft of low carbon steel. After looking in the scrap bin he returned with 3 feet of 4140 barrel steel. "It's a bit rusty but I'll just charge you for mild bar! :holysheep

I should be able to make a 1 1/4" on a navel carriage with that!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/BAWallace/Picture099.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/BAWallace/Picture100.jpg

['74 sharps]

Neat idea...wonder what the original use for that was.

[rollmyown]

The journey begins!!

[Ed in North Texas]

Super!

[oldred]

After looking in the scrap bin he returned with 3 feet of 4140 barrel steel. "It's a bit rusty but I'll just charge you for mild bar! :holysheep


That's a piece of SCRAP???? :shock: Good gosh I have been buying my steel at the wrong place! About two months ago I bought a similar piece of 4140 to make some large mining equipment shafts from and a 3 1/2" piece 32" long cost me just a tad over $300 shipped. 4140 ain't cheap and is substantially more than mild steel bar, you stole that thing.

[218bee]

Got a big drill?

[EDG]

That is going to be tough to drill and get a good finish.

I think a home made spade drill is in your future.

Oil tool shops have the equipment needed.

Are you sure you can't find a piece of 17 pounder barrel from a Firefly???

[Bad Ass Wallace]

The hole is drilled in up to 5 steps. The barrel is held in the lathe between 2 fixed steadies with a drive dog to prevent it turning. The first gundrill is held in the chuck and the tailstock used to push the material onto the drill. You need to withdraw every 1/4 inch or so to clear the swarf. I use cutting fluid on the drill and compressed air to clear the chips.

Once the first pilot hole is drilled then the remaining drills have something to follow. Finally use a spiral reamer to finish the bore to size.

I'm making a small model first to test and prove the machining methods before ruining the "big" piece.

The final model will have both a field carriage and a navel carriage so I can adapt to any display /demonstration mode appropiate.