Machine cut checkering

[ANeat]

Hey guys; for you guys with the milling machines (and everyone else also) Ive been slowly getting the stuff together to cut checkering on my mill, mainly on 1911 front straps. Using a rotary table that can be set up vertical or horizontal with some custom fixturing

Ive done it with files in the past and its a pretty tedius process as some of you know.

Anyway, one of my bullseye guns has stippling on the front strap that has lost a bit of its bite so it seemed like a good canidate to work on. I like a pretty aggressive texture so im doing 20lpi checkering with a 90 degree cutter.

First step is to remove the stippling and true up the front strap.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Gunsmithing/DSC01215.jpg

Continue to the trigger guard and put in a touch of an undercut while Im at it. .500 ball nosed cutter used.

You can still see some faint stippling so hopefully that will go away with the checkering

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Gunsmithing/DSC01217.jpg


Then while its vertical cut the horizontal lines with a 90 degree bevel cutter. .050 spacing.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Gunsmithing/DSC01219.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Gunsmithing/DSC01220.jpg

[ANeat]

Ok after the above the rotary table gets turned vertical so the front strap is horizontal ::)

Then the vertical lines are cut.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Gunsmithing/DSC01221.jpg

Cut a line, index the rotary table, cut, index repeat.....

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Gunsmithing/DSC01222.jpg

After that its pretty nice, still need touched up with a file to remove some of the burrs between the points, then hopefully a little cold blueing and it will be done ;D

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Gunsmithing/DSC01224.jpg

[kckid101]

Looks great so far great project.how deep was the cuts?
Kevin

[ANeat]

The grooves are .025 deep

[Triggerhappy]

Man that looks nice. If you ever get it set up to do a Para frame let me know and I'll send you one to do. Sure beats the file. Course the diehards will disagree.

Nice job!

[frankenfab]

You're the man!:drinks:

[Buckshot]

..............Great looking job, but won't that be a bit rough on bare hands over time? Just looks that way to me.

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

[ANeat]

Buck it is aggressive and some folks dont care for it but many that try it really like it.

The stippling that was on the gun before was fairly aggressive but over the years it seems to wear down, or loose some of its bite.


Most folks with "soft" hands probably wont be shooting a 1911 anyway right ??:kidding:

[HotGuns]

That looks great.
You done good !

[Adam10mm]

Great job, Adam. You always find a way to work smarter, not harder.

And holy smokes HotGuns. Long time no see. Myself and redneckdan were getting worried about your absence. Glad to see you're alive and kicking.

[ANeat]

Thanks guys, got to shoot it in a match today and really liked it. Has a nice feel, the undercut felt a lot better than I thought it would

[KCSO]

I've thought about that but I have grown fond of the medium stippling and don't want to change one of my existing guns. Now I may have to build another 45!

[ANeat]

Ive had a few requests for more pics of my setup so hopefully these will help.

The fixture is a 6" angle plate that has been hacked up for clearance to the quill and the table while rotating.

Where the pistol mounts I have 2 holes drilled for the grip bushings to go into. The top one is to size and is a pivot point, the bottom one is oversized to allow any minor adjustments.

I use a mag well filler off of a power custom frame fixture to bolt the frame onto the angle plate.

I have a sub plate bolted to my rotary table that has a recess milled into it to locate the angle plate in the correct position so its easier to setup.
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Gunsmithing/DSC01261.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Gunsmithing/DSC01260.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Gunsmithing/DSC01232.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Gunsmithing/DSC01231.jpg

[dragonrider]

Checkering looks good from Linwood.

[HotGuns]

Thanks for the pics of the setup ANeat....I was curious to see what you used. I figured the rotary table was used but kindof wondered about the jig to hold the gun.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.