Tumbler making?

[Scota4570]

I would use a lathe.  The only thing I can not figure out is how to make the fly cut out.  How is that done?  Chase it with a die sinker's chisel or carbide bits in a dremil??  I can not envision a milling cutter small enough. 

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

I cut mine with die sinkers chisels.  A note:  If you will be using the type of fly that looks like a tiny blade on an axle, like a Siler fly, be sure to drill the pivot hole for the axle first - then the pie shaped cut out second.  Having the hole in place will allow for the chisel cut chip to break free as the tip of the chisel intersects the hole.  If you do not drill the hole first there will be difficulty in finishing each cut chip in the "blind corner".  Does this make sense?

Actually, unless you are using set triggers, you do not need the fly.

Jim

[Scota4570]

Yep.  Thanks

[P.W.Berkuta]

I've used a milling machine for a few that I have made and one Dixie Cub tumbler that I modified to take a fly. Use a 1/16" 4 flute cutter and take small passes - works just fine .

[Bob Roller]

I would use a lathe.  The only thing I can not figure out is how to make the fly cut out.  How is that done?  Chase it with a die sinker's chisel or carbide bits in a dremil??  I can not envision a milling cutter small enough. 

I use my drill press which has a rotary table with a small vise and have a fixture to hold the tumbler.
I use a 3/32 diameter 2 flute stub end mill and set the depth of the cut with a special .078 thick gauge
with the depth stop built onto the drill press.I also use 1144 stress proof steel which machines very well
and I run the drill press wide open over 4000RPM if I remember right.I have used this method for over 50
years and I know it works. This is a heavy old drill press and the rotary milling table is an old American
Chicago Tool& Engineering that was made long before anyone went to China with this stuff.
I paid $164 for the drill press new in 1964 and then went Sears and paid another $100 for the rotary
table.Today that table is made in China and is over $700 and that drill press isn't available.

Bob Roller

[P.W.Berkuta]

Most if not all of that "old" machinery is SOLID and will not vibrate so you can get away using it for LIGHT milling - not so with the "new" junk. Back in the late 60's I was looking for a used band saw and came across a Walker-Turner metal/wood cutting band saw at a great price but the thing was an industrial model that was SO HEAVY it would have taken a fork lift to remove it and a truck to move it - had to pass on it .

[westbj2]

Milling out the mortise for the fly is pretty straight forward.
Drill the pivot hole first, then use an end mill very close to the diameter of the hole.  You will need a vise that rotates so that you can cut the triangle required. 
Pretty simple but requires the correct tools and setup
Jim

[Bob Roller]

Milling out the mortise for the fly is pretty straight forward.
Drill the pivot hole first, then use an end mill very close to the diameter of the hole.  You will need a vise that rotates so that you can cut the triangle required. 
Pretty simple but requires the correct tools and setup
Jim

This sums it up very well. The rotary table I mentioned yesterday serves this purpose perfectly.

Bob Roller

[David R. Pennington]

I did like James, I drilled the hole and used chisels I made from old files. I turned the tumbler from an old piece of tool steel that I anealed first. I turned the fly pin then the fly as a circle and cut out the pie shape with the pin intact. Just got the rifle together and the lock and triggers tuned and appears to be working great. Just need to do final shaping on stock etc..,.

[David R. Pennington]

Here is one I made, and the lock.


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[Bob Roller]

Looks fine to me. This is the Shoults plate and frizzen with a better mechanism for sure.
What did you make that tumbler out of??

Bob Roller

[Frank]

Wallace Gusler used a forge and a file.   

[P.W.Berkuta]

Wallace Gusler used a forge and a file.   

Quite right and if all we had now was the same equipment that was used in the 17th & 18th century that's how we would be making them today --- BUT -- we now use what we have available to us.  I for one have a lathe & mill so I use them . Plus I don't know how to forge and don't have the equipment .

[Mark Elliott]

Wallace Gusler used a forge and a file.   

And drops of sweat the size of horse *^*%$

Bob Roller

If you have a forge,  it is quite quick and easy to make a tumbler blank of wrought iron.   I have made a bunch.  You are just making a big nail.   After that, I have either filed it and milled it the old fashioned way, or just put it in the lathe.    The lathe is quicker and gives you a higher quality product.

[David R. Pennington]

Bob the tumbler is made from an old piece of octagon tool steel I had. Had to aneal it three times to get it soft enough to machine. I bought a box full of lots of misc. parts at the estate sale of one of our club members. That lock plate, frizzen and hammer were in the mix. (I reshaped the hammer a little). It looked very much like the lock on a rifle in Whisker's book on WV gunsmiths that I wanted to use as a base idea for a southern style rifle. I also found a main and frizzen spring in the parts that were about the right size. I made the tumbler and etc..,.
This has been a very slow build, but getting closer now, anxious to get it shooting.
The lock seems to work very well. I went back over it and did some honing and polishing and it seems pretty slick. Had to case harden the frizzen to get it sparking good. Don't know how it will hold up.
All the hardware on this rifle is from forged wrought iron. The barrel is by Boyd Henry from Buchannon, WV made in 1973. Never been fired yet. Forty five caliber 48" long.