Got a lathe, maybe this would do for a small first project?

[HDS]

I got a SAA revolver that I marred the base pin on many years ago:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4775/40643146872_7bb2a4bc72_b.jpg

Well I was thinking that since I recently acquired a metal lathe maybe I could take a few light passes and clean up the surface, or maybe just make a whole new part? What kind of steel would be the steel to use here in that case. Mild steel is not suitable I guess.

Carbon steel is what you want I guess, does it need to be hardened and tempered then?

[mulespurs]

I don't think you need to harden and temper, If your old one was hardened it would not have marked up so much.

I would start with a cold finished rod and turn on a custom end, make two or three just for the practice. The foot of rod you buy won't cost as much as a coffee. Just slap on some cold blue, or even black magic marker in a pinch just so the neighbors can't tell you did it yourself.

You could even make one out of stainless if you wanted.

That rod is quite small for the length that you will have to turn if you can not start with the right size. If you have to turn down the diameter you will have to center drill the end and use your tailstock to support the end away from the chuck and use small cuts, maybe 5 thousanths at a time and polish with some emery cloth .

[HDS]

I don't think you need to harden and temper, If your old one was hardened it would not have marked up so much.

Oh yeah! D'oh, can't believe I didn't figure that out on my own. Thanks for your help!

[TaylorS]

Make 2 I have one in a 45lc that has burrs I can’t get out


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[Jedman]

Buy some drill Rod that is large enough in diameter to make your pin. It is good for most gun parts and can be hardened if needed and is reasonable priced.

Jedman

[Bent Ramrod]

If you have a set of Swiss files, (and an Optivisor, if needed), you can chuck your present pin up and clean up those grooves and take out the marring on the end. A polish with crocus cloth, a little cold blue and nobody will be able to tell the difference.

I’ve also found a lathe handy to deepen the notch in the cylinder pin to keep it from backing out on firing. Happens sometimes in big calibers with those spring-loaded crosspins.

[country gent]

In reality its probably a leaded steel of the 10l series not super hard but easy machining and polishes finishes easy. If you really want to get fancy case harden it after turning. If you have the lathe then the easiest way to make this min is to buy your stock and turn a 1/2" long false center on each end. set up between centers with a dog to drive it. In this way you can turn it full length in one pass. makes measuring for the grooves easier as its all out of the chuck. When turned and polished remove false centers and radious the outside end.

[skeettx]

BUT in reality the best thing is to purchase a new part
https://www.uberti-usa.com/1873-cattleman-el-patron-revolver

Stoeger Industries
Attn.: Service Department
901 Eighth Street
Pocomoke, MD 21851
Phone: (301) 283-6981 (option 2) or (800) 264-4962 (option 2)

[KCSO]

I use drill rod too.

[oldred]

W1 (water hardening) drill rod would be a really good choice and for that would work really well even without hardening. However if it were mine I would simply grab a grade 8 bolt of the proper length and head for that lathe, wouldn't take long at all to whittle out one of those rods and judging from that pic I am willing to bet a grade 8 bolt is better steel and likely harder than the factory part. Grade 8 bolts machine really well and are VERY tough, I save all the old bolts I run into when rebuilding equipment especially the longer ones and use them for lots of jobs similar to this.

[dkf]

For parts I want some hardness and good toughness I often use 4140 prehard or 1144 which is also prehardened. Both are around 30Rc so they can be machined easily, even with HSS tooling. The 1144 is a free machining steel so you can most often get a better surface finish on it vs the 4140. McMaster has both in short lengths.

[Mauser 98K]

id just use some real fine Emory and spin it to polish it out and then refinish. shouldn't take much to polish those scratches out.

[P Flados]

W1 drill rod is cheap, I got mine from Graingers.

If you make one from W1, you can polish, harden and then temper pretty easy. If you temer @ 580 °F in a oven you get a nice blue color. This is not a bad choice for hardness (it is recommended for things like screwdrivers) and the blue is a bonus.

Using W1 rod and learning to harden and temper greatly improves the overall usefullness of your metal lathe.

[oldred]

For parts I want some hardness and good toughness I often use 4140 prehard or 1144 which is also prehardened. Both are around 30Rc so they can be machined easily, even with HSS tooling. The 1144 is a free machining steel so you can most often get a better surface finish on it vs the 4140. McMaster has both in short lengths.


Grade 8 bolts are medium carbon steel with a minimum tensile strength of better than 150,000 PSI and a Rc hardness of 30-32, sound familiar?

I suppose different manufacturers can use different steels for grade 8 fasteners since I don't believe ASME specifies a particular steel, just minimum specs for tensile and shear strengths plus hardness, etc in any case the specs are so close to 4140HT it's scary and grade 8 bolts are as close as the nearest hardware store or even a Lowes or Home Depot.

[dkf]

Grade 8 hardware can vary quite a bit and machineability often leaves a lot to be desired. I machine them plenty enough in my day job. If I have to machine fasteners or a part from a fastener I would much rather use a SHCS or similar fastener that are usually black oxide coated. They are stronger than grade 8 and a little harder but still below 40Rc, surface finish is usually nicer. I prefer to use stock when at all possible. Much more repeatable in quality, hardness, easier to hold in collets and chucks with less runnout, etc. Plus I stock it in my shop. Not much point in using a tool steel like W1 on a part you are not going to heat treat.

[map55b]

Oil hardened drill rod or 4140 pre heat treated are my two go to materials for making parts.

[HDS]

I'm gonna go the emery route for the existing part. Though I will want to make one, I mean it's fun :)

Ive been teaching myself CAD the last few months, dabbled in sketchup for a year prior and in the 90s I toyed with 3dsmax. Nowadays it's fusion 360 which is very powerful for being a free program, threw this together and made a 3d part, then a drawing.

https://i.imgur.com/aFAnL0O.png

Units in mm. I'm in Finland you see. Based on how evenly some units came out I am willing to guess Uberti "metricized" some of the parts, only "proper" inch dimension I found using my calipers was the diameter which is exactly 1/4"

[HDS]

Grade 8 hardware can vary quite a bit and machineability often leaves a lot to be desired. I machine them plenty enough in my day job. If I have to machine fasteners or a part from a fastener I would much rather use a SHCS or similar fastener that are usually black oxide coated. They are stronger than grade 8 and a little harder but still below 40Rc, surface finish is usually nicer. I prefer to use stock when at all possible. Much more repeatable in quality, hardness, easier to hold in collets and chucks with less runnout, etc. Plus I stock it in my shop. Not much point in using a tool steel like W1 on a part you are not going to heat treat.

I have various stock and shafting in more suitable dimensions as well. some 8mm shafting might be the most suitable I got, and some 12mm mild steel round stock.

[dikman]

Clean up the original, but by all means have a go at making a replacement. It may take a while but it's good practice on the lathe. I had to make a cylinder pin for my Remington 1858, it works fine but the cold blueing doesn't last very long due to the constant wear!

[Jeff Michel]

Mild steel will be fine(12L14) when you go the "make it" route. Heat treating long/skinny usually means warping and grind to finish. If you want to try something a bit different than cold blue, place your polished part (on top) in a small container of sand or brass lathe chips and heat the whole thing up with a propane torch and watch your part change color, when it get to the level blue you want, quench it in oil (I use vegetable oil) Couple of things to be aware of: Be sure that the part is completely degreased, I use alcohol. After you degrease it do not touch it, even with with bare fingers. The quality of your blue will be in direct proportion on how you finish the metal. With practice you will be able to put a peacock blue on any of your non-critical parts and it wears much better than a cold blue application but less than a black oxide. Have fun with your new lathe.

[akajun]

Use 4140/4130 pre hard, that’s probably what the original is. While your at it make it a bit oversized to take some of the slop out of the cylinder for too, you will likely only get .0005/.001 better fit. Work slow and polish to final fit.

[jaguarxk120]

You can make a base pin, but you can get a original.

Call VTI gun parts, the nice lady knows all about the Uberti single actions.

[Chill Wills]

My dad would say, "Ask ten people and get ten different opinions."
I didn't really get it when I was a kid.

He was a machinist at the Navel Gun factory WWII. I am a wanna-be home machinist with his old iron. I'll never be him!

To the OP, having some shop tools is GREAT! Have fun and enjoy making things!
You can't go wrong with any of the advise this thread has given! Try stuff and the more you make, the better you will get. It is exactly like aiming a gun and pulling the trigger. The people who do it lots and lots, get good!

[Love Life]

I'd not waste my time on cold blue or magic marker when fire bluing is so danged easy. Looks better to boot!

[oldred]

Have fun with your new lathe.

Yep have fun with that lathe, it's never ending and it never get's boring (well not that kind of boring anyway!)! You guys that are suggesting he just buy the part are missing the point I think, he wants to use his lathe to make a part with and that's the reason we have our lathes in the first place. I admire folks who want to make things themselves, sure the part is relatively inexpensive but that's not everything and I myself often make parts I could buy rather than spend the time making them but usually it's enjoyable time being spent. Buy a part and wait several days for it to arrive then install it, what's the fun in that? Grab a piece of available material (often something that otherwise would just be scrap) spend a short time at the lathe and have the part with little or no cost and no waiting for it to arrive plus having the satisfaction and pride in knowing you made it yourself and no longer have to be dependent on others for parts that might eventually not even be available.

[Bent Ramrod]

Oldred is spot on. Making stuff builds knowledge, skill, confidence and independence.

As the late, great Jean Shepherd remarked, nobody ever has to learn how to spend money. We all have that “skill” hard-wired in.

[HDS]

I'm afraid I haven't gotten anywhere with the project yet, I was dialing in a piece of shaft I was gonna use but was chasing my own tail, turns out the 4-jaw chuck suffers from bellmouth on two of the jaws so I was not able to properly clamp down the part and it kept moving so I never got it true. So now I am gonna try and bore the jaws with a carbide boring bar once I make a preloading ring. I think I need to do something similar with my 3-jaw which is atrocious, though it might just be worn out, can't hurt to try.

It's pretty typical really, you start on a project but before that project is finished it has spawned at least two more projects you need to finish it

My shop (free standing garage) is now divided into a small metal section that houses my lathe, the biger section is woodworking related (mostly). It is a huge mess in the pictures, re-organizing time.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4746/26391234178_42867c8968_b.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4698/39552563064_73177d2e9e_b.jpg
I never use that door so I don't mind putting the workbench in the way, it's much better this way.

You can see I favor old iron, and modifying / building my own tools.

[oldred]

It is a huge mess in the pictures, re-organizing time.

I disagree, it's just a bit cluttered and shows signs of use not cleaning neglect. That shop appears to me to be clean, even if a bit cluttered, and well lit as it should be, nope that shop looks as if it is just being used and not messy at all.

I like old iron also, from shop machinery to farm tractors, and I even see my shop heater sitting there!!!!

[Jeff Michel]

Wish my shop was as tidy as yours:mrgreen:

[Clark]

217705

I made a file handle on the lathe last night.
Just keep making stuff.