Back at the build

[Maineshops]

I’m back at the build. Someone suggested I eliminate the c clamps in my fixture so I put in 4 t nuts and made some clamps. New to this so any suggestions are welcome Dan

[Mike Brooks]

what is the function?

[David Rase]

what is the function?

Mike,
Here is a link to a previous post from Maineshops that should answer your question.  I thought about answering your question but the link will keep me from getting censored. 
David
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=44563.msg436401#msg436401

[Mike Brooks]

what is the function?

Mike,
Here is a link to a previous post from Maineshops that should answer your question.  I thought about answering your question but the link will keep me from getting censored. 
David
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=44563.msg436401#msg436401

I guess I ain't very smart 'cause I still don't get it. But that's OK.
 Big shop, very nice...very expensive to heat!

[P.W.Berkuta]

I like your creativity with your fixtures and they are very well done . I guess if I was in the retail business of making muzzle loading rifles in volume those fixtures would come in handy . For me they will only take up a lot of space in my garage and not get much use. I think for me a GOOD work bench, sturdy vise and very good lighting is paramount. I really do like the way you are thinking from an engineering perspective . Keep posting  .

[David Rase]

I am a guy who likes building tools, jigs and fixtures as much as I like building rifles.  Must be the influence from all the mechanical drafting I had as well as the tool and die maker apprenticeship I started my senior year in high school.   With that said, early in my gun building journey I went out of my way to square up, measure, layout and continue to measure everything as methodically as I could.  As my knowledge of the longrifle grew, plus a lot of influence from a good friend of mine, I slowly got away from all this precise measuring and let my eyes and hands take over.  I look back at my rigid way of building and thank God that I was given the talent and abilities to use my senses to create my current work.
David 

[dogcatcher]

For production work fixtures can be big time savers.  Before I retired I made and sold game calls, a lot of them.  I was at a gun show several years ago, a young guy was there selling comparable calls, but his prices were about 2.5 times my prices.  I was selling them like I was giving them away.  Finally at the end of the second day, he came over and told me I was selling them too cheap, that I wasn't getting anything for my time.  He added that it took him almost an hour and a half to make what I was selling for $17.  He even complimented me on my fit and finishes, said I wasted to much time on that to sell them so cheap. 

I kept my mouth shut, I had been making calls for about 30 years, I did not have the heart to tell him that those calls took me about 15 minutes to make.  My time was being paid back at a dollar a minute, or $60 an hour.  What took him about 90 minutes, I was doing in 15.  It was all because of the jigs, or as I call them my production jigs.   

Today, I make them for enjoyment and only for very special people.  I take my time, because I can, but back then, money was topping the list of why I was making them, because we had a family to support.  If it is a hobby, and you can waste your time, go for it, if you are trying to keep food on the table, sometimes you have to get off the pot and innovate. 

[Pukka Bundook]

Forgive me if I'm missing the obvious, but how in heck do you work on inletting a barrel when it's in that fixture??  Can't get at is or so it seems.

Richard.

[oldtravler61]

  I use a somewhat simular set up for routing barrels just smaller. Only use it when I have two or three straight barrels to do. Other wise it's just chisels, gouged an raped. Pretty much what they used back then.

[Meteorman]

I guess I’m in the back of the class with Mssr.s Brooks and Bundook.
What the heck is goin on with that rig?  Howz it all work?

[Mr. Bubbles]

In the days before CNC machines came out, I understand that FN's production facility might have had a dozen grinders and laths lined up to process 1 piece, like a barrel.  As important as the machines and their function was the holders that would hold the piece.  The pieces would go in a bin from machine to machine, and at the end would come out a bunch of finished pieces.  That's why it might take a year or two to tool up to make a gun from the time the prototype was accepted.  The production tool design was as important if not more so than the gun design itself.

[Maineshops]

Squared up the breach end of the barrel inlet today. Had to put a light in the magnifiers and it works well.
Clamped a couple of 2 x4 to the bench legs to clamp my fixture to the bench in order to get the bisness part of the project at bench top height.
Shop is not hard to heat. It is in the basement and has a wood fired boiler. I stay quite warm tossing all my mistakes in that sucker.
When I get the fixture back in the mill I will try to get some detailed pics so folks will understand better what I am after. I’m doing 3 stocks so fixtures are helpful although one stock is a set up piece. If it turns out ok I’ll use it to restock an old junker. Dan

[ddoyle]

  I like your plank squaring arrangement in the other thread- with a tweak it would be just the thing for scarfs. Something tells me you might have some boat building experience?

[Maineshops]

Not too much boat building. A canoe and a mckensy many years ago. Grandfather clock last year shaker boxes etc


upload image on web

[Maineshops]

Fixture is back in the mill for the ram road groove and removeing excess wood in that area

[Old Ford2]

Awesome looking setup.
Cutting a barrel channel by hammer and chisel is for the birds, as well as the ram rod channel.
You can use the barrel as a guide even for a swamped barrel.
Great set up!
Fred

[Maineshops]

Thanks Fred. I really appreciate the traditional methods of building, however being blind in one eye and arthritis getting to my hands I need a bit of help. More of an apology than a reason, and still having fun at it. Dan

[P.W.Berkuta]

Really neat set-up -- I like it very much and I'm with Fred on this. I did a LOT of stock work by hand in the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's but my body can't handle it now. If I can use power to do the bulk of the work I'm all for it. There's enough hand work left to do after the wood & metal rough work is finished with - I'm not getting any younger .

[Maineshops]

Yes PW. ...even with this handy dandy set up there are the details to deal with. I didn’t have a ball nose end mill in 5/16 so I had to grind one. Doable but still laborious because of age related problems.
For me the journey is as important as the destination..Dan

[ddoyle]

I am looking forward to seeing you drill for barrel pins, lock bolt (s) and tang screw, I bet they come out where you want them to!