New Project.........

[John-n-va]

The last thing I need for reloading my new (hopefully soon to arrive) Shiloh Sharps 45-90 is a press mounted wad cutter. They sell at Buffalo Arms for about $75 and I would have to make a lot of wads to justify that. So, back to the lath for some more practice.:-D

I plan to use some 1" pump shaft I have laying around. Bore a .450 hole then cut some 7/8-14 threads on one end. I'll make a punch that mounts to the press ram out of the same stuff and sharpen it on the grinder. Now for the hard part.....how to cut a slot for the wad material to be inserted into. I have a very old 5000 lb. milling machine sitting in the shop and have found some slitting saws in the large box of mysterious tooling that came with the lath and mill but I can't figure out how to mount the saw on the mill.:(

I have seen some slitting saw arbors listed for almost $100 but that doesn't make sense either. I also have some little 1/8" endmills but the depth of cut isn't deep enough. Any ideas? I suppose I could cut my slot with a bandsaw but that ain't no fun!:-?

[13Echo]

You might want to make the hole a bit bigger, say .458 to .460. The wad won't properly do its job if it is less than groove diameter. It should fit in the case snugly with no gaps when loaded.

Jerry Liles

[Buckshot]

............Bore the hole through the body (I agree with 13Echo). While still in the lathe, setup and thread it. Remove the body. In the mill or a good drillpress indicate the body in parallel to the spindle. Drill a hole to accept a 1/8" hardened dowel pin at 12 and at 6 oclock about 3/4" deep for a press fit. Drill each hole then 1/8" dia to 1/2" deep for clearance.

Drill for a 10-32 thread at 10 & 2, and 4 & 8 o'clock. Drill for 10-32 CLEARANCE at each one of those 4 holes. With the body still setup, swap out the chuck for a slitting saw arbor (another quick tool you can make in your lathe). The info is on the web, or I can tell ya how.

Use as thin a slitting saw as possible, and they have thin ones, to slice off the top of the body just at 1/2". Press in the dowel pins and check the cutoff piece for fit. With the body still setup get a 1/4" endmill and cut a slot across the top of the body from 3 to 9 o'clock. Doing a few passes if need be, to the anticipated thickness of the wad material anda tad more.

Now switch to a 1/2" endmil (a rougher would be best and widen the slot almost to the desired width but to full depth. Swap out for a 2 flute 1/2" endmill and bring the unfinished side to the desired width, full depth. If for cardwads, the slot won't be deep and you should be able to forgo the 1/4" endmill altogether.

Remove the body from the mill and tap the 4 holes 10-32. For the plunger/punch turn it to as close a fit as possible to the polished hole in the body. Mind the heat as you turn and let it cool before miking or taking further cuts. You want it about airtight if possible. It should also have a very slightly dished face and should be hardened and then polished.

The punch should be long enough so that the business end does NOT come out of the hole. It doesn't have to slide into the ram, but would be best if it could float. Make a flat faced pad to fit into the ram's slot and if the punch material OD allows, leave a head on the bottom of the punch with a slightly convex face. Remember, the punch only has to retract enough to allow material to be slide into the slot you milled.

Put your cutoff piece back on top and loosely thread in the four 10-32 sockethead bolts. The dowels will have it well alingned. Raise the punch up out of the body and into the cutter head (part you cut off) to make sure it IS aligned. Then cinch down the 4 bolts.

I left out some detail stuff, but you can figure that out. I gotta go to bed :-)!

.................Buckshot

[Dale53]

I have three Fred Cornell press mounted wad punches (.32, .40, and .45) and they are excellent. The wads produced are proper in size and perfectly uniform. Further, the speed of operation is very good.

FWIW

Dale53

[John-n-va]

Finally finished my press mounted wad punch. I was gonna build it like Buckshot suggested but I only have limited lathe time here at work so I took a "quicker" approach. I did take the suggestion of making the wads larger in dia. .459 to be exact. Buckshot's design would definately have been much nicer and alot more professional.

I started another search through the large boxes of mysterious tooling that came with the lathe and end mill and was able to find a slit saw arbor. I put a 3/32 slit in the die for inserting the wad material and sharpened the punch using a center drill in the lathe. Gonna try it on some .0030 veggy wad material as soon as I get some and I will be producing some 45-90 rounds before you know it.:drinks:








http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n230/johnnva/wadpunch.jpg

[versifier]

Looks like you could size your boolits with it, too.