Full Scale Cannon Re-build - Project Completed

[LynnC]

These chase is all part of the adventure. Great story.

[Marcruger]

This is such a cool and fun thread! 

[Otto]

This really is a great thread. I'll never have (or will)  come close to a project of this scale, but its really cool to see someone do it and do it so well.

[davec2]

Had a chance to work on the cannon rebuild a little today.  While the barrel is out for lining at South bend Replicas I am working on fixing some of the odds and ends that I have never really liked about the carriage anyway.  As I have mentioned, I do want to upgrade some things but not necessarily make the gun completely historically accurate.  For starters, its the wrong kind of barrel for a land carriage....   Also, I have a certain nostalgic attachment to some of the things I came up with 50 years ago at the ripe old age of 17 or 18.  In fact, some of the construction I am a little amazed by since I had so few hand tools and no machinery except a Sears table saw.  Here for example are the "trunnion plates" that I came up with......On a real Civil War era cannon, the curved metal plates that cover the top of each cheek were forged of wrought iron and were held to the cheek with long bolts that had round heads on the top side and were tightened with square nuts on the underside of the cheek.  In my case, I bent the trunnion plated out of 3/8 inch thick by 3 inch wide brass bars and held them in place with all thread rods capped on both ends with big brass washers and big brass hex nuts that I machined on a friends lathe.  Although invented in the 1830s, hex headed fasteners did not really become common until the late 1800s.  But I am sort of amazed that I could make the big brass nuts back then and i like the brass, so I will keep that arrangement.



In keeping with the way I did the trunnion plates and their fasteners, the "cap squares" (caps that held the barrel trunnions down onto the trunnion plates) were held in place by specialized long bolts.  The rear one was called a "chin bolt" and was really more of a hook that held the back end of the cap square down.  The forward one was called a "key bolt".  It had a slotted top that fit through a square hole in the forward end of the cap square.  A "key" was inserted crosswise to hold the cap square down.  Not having the wherewithal to make those parts way back when, I made heavy, 1 inch thick blocks of brass with 3/4 inch diameter cross pins to hold down my version of cap squares.  Here is how they were installed.....



I'm going to keep those as well but I made them a little more graceful today by shortening them and knocking off the sharp corners.  In addition, I cut a sort of a rounded key way in them and I will put small brass dowel pins perpendicular to the bodies of the four 3/4 inch cross pins to insure the cross pins don't fall out during transport.



Not exactly HC.....but I would like to improve things a bit and yet not lose the character of how I did this a half a century ago.....

[Daryl]

Looks pretty good to me, Dave.

[davec2]

Well....it's been a long while since I had time to work on the big gun, but I've had a chance to start in again.  Even though I went through the trouble to build a giant reamer and true up the bore, I still didn't like the stepped diameters at the last 6 inches of the breech.  That was the way the barrel came in 1970 from Barney's Cannons, but I never really liked it and it did cause loading issues.  So I got in touch with Barney's professional progeny, Jim Olsen, at what is now South Bend Replicas.  After a long and delightful conversation, Jim agreed to rebore the barrel and then line it with a seamless steel tube.  I kept the bore the same 2.75 inches although I had briefly thought about taking it up to 3 inches.....but then, the gun is expensive enough to shoot without increasing the ball size and powder charge.  So, having a partial attack of sanity, I stuck with the original bore size.

I built a heavy duty crate and then shipped the barrel via Yellow Freight to South bend Indiana a few months ago and left it in Jim's tender care.  It just came back a few days ago and I managed to get the crate home and open it up.  Jim did a fantastic job and now I'm anxious to get the rest of the carriage work done so I can re-mount the barrel.  Here are a few photos of the gun coming back home.....

[Bob Gerard]

Absolutely extraordinary!!

[davec2]

On a real cannon, the cap square covers the trunnion and keeps the barrel in place.  The cap squares are retained on their aft end by a special hooked bolt called a "chinbolt".  The front end drops over another specialized bolt called a "keybolt".  An iron "key" would then be driven through the slot in the keybolt to retain the cap squares.  When I built the gun 50 + years ago, I couldn't make the same arrangements.  I simply made four solid brass blocks, connected to bolts through the cheeks, that the cap squares would drop over and round brass cross pins would be driven through to secure.  Here again I could redo almost all of this attachment method and make the gun more historically accurate.  But, in the interest or retaining some of the original character of my early work, I decided to just reshape the brass blocks and retain the round cross pins but modify the pins to lock into the blocks better and to be retained by chains just like the historical arrangement for keeping the cap squares and keys from getting lost.

Here are the four blocks, pins, and retention chains modified and ready to be installed.  The eyes on the ends of the chains were made with short studs to be welded into the cap squares on an iron mounted gun.  I had to weld lag bolts to the ends of the studs so that they can be screwed into the side of the cheeks......



This is how the blocks and cross pins will look in place......



In preparation for mounting the stop chain I made up, I purchased the stop chain mount bolt from Ken Creswell at Cannon Parts Ltd.  Unfortunately the bolt was about 1/2" too short if mounted where it should be on the trail.  So I cut the bolt in half with the intention of welding in an additional 1/2" of 3/4" round stock.  But when I cut the bolt, I realized (by the ease of cutting) that the bolt was probably made from 12L14 free machine steel.  12L14 doesn't weld very well at all due to the lead in the alloy.  But now that the bolt was cut in half, I either had to make a new one or come up with an alternate plan....and the alternate plan was to drill and tap both cut ends of the bolt and add a piece of 1/2"-13 threaded rod to lengthen it.  The side benefit is the now the length of the bolt is actually adjustable...

[davec2]

I am trying to finish up a lot of the welding and iron work before I completely tear down the carriage and begin all the wood refinishing.  The last major parts to be welded are the hand spike "D" rings and the last modifications to the lunette on the trail end of the stock.  The "D" rings were usually "clinched" through the cheek by spreading the tips of the split retention bands that held the "D" ring and allowed it to pivot.  The retention band legs on the "D" rings I had were not long enough to go all the way through the 3 inch thick cheek, so I cut off the split legs and welded on threaded rod.  These will be installed through holes in the cheeks and then captured with square nuts.  Here is the unmodified "D" ring.......



Here are the modified "D" rings with one of the implement hooks that retain the aft end of the handspikes.   



Here is one of the implement hooks mounted and with the handspike engaged for transport.  The front end of the handspike goes through the mounted "D" rings....



The lunette I made 50 years ago was just hammered out of 3/8" steel plate and was uniform in thickness.  A real lunette started off about 3/4 inch thick and then tapered over its length.  I could have left the thickness of mine alone (after making the major ring modifications previously) but it bothered me some.  Here is the edge of the lunette as (up side down) as I originally made it showing the uniform thickness.



To increase the thickness and make the correct taper, I decided to weld on strips of mild steel of varying thickness and then grind the surface smooth.  Here are the steel plates stacked on prior to welding.  The thickest one is 3/8" and the rest all step down a sixteenth of an inch at a time to the last one....



I was clamping the plates in place getting ready to start the tack welding when all of a sudden my argon regulator on the TIG welding rig let loose and was leaking  a huge amount of argon gas through the top of the flow meter !!!!  So I had to stop with the welding and, since the regulator is 50 years old and no parts are available, I ordered a new one.  However, being the partial pack rat that I am, while I am waiting for the new one to arrive, I am making the part required to fix the old one.  The fun just never seems to stop 



Not a welding issue, but I also re-bent the 50 year old prolonge hooks to look more like originals and then got them remounted in the correct position.  Here is the new prolonge re-stowed on the hooks......just one more detail......

[Daryl]

It's (always) about the details!! Good stuff, Dave.

[taterbug]

Yep, making the parts to fix the welder so you can finish the original project that you needed the welder for.  Is that what they call scope creep?

[davec2]

YES.....SCOPE CREEP !!!!  And I get that all the time from customers in the rocket testing industry......now I'm doing it to myself !!!

[davec2]

Rebuilt the regulator today....fixed the original issue but then another problem with it developed...   I really don't understand....it's been working great for just over 50 years !!!  (They just don't build these things like they used to !)

I'll finish fixing the old reg later.  Luckily I ordered a new one and it came in today.  So I set it up on the argon bottle and started in welding.....First passes.....



Then the edges





Too late to start in with the grinding tonight but will try to get to it in the next couple of days.  Then I will probably have to go back and fill in a few low spots before the final finishing.  But at least the iron now tapers like a lunette is supposed to....

[Marcruger]

I call that misery a “prerequisite”.  In other words, I cannot fix a project until I fix my tool.  Sometimes two tools. Like going to trim the hedges, but have to charge the battery first. 
Great thread David.  It has been fun to watch.  🙂 God bless, Marc

[Jeff Murray]

What a fun thread.  Some amazing fabrication and information on cannon structure.  The Rocky Mountain Rendezvous has a cannon shoot at the event.  Had 3 cannons last summer.  Two of the teams were pretty accurate.  Fun to watch the big bang.  They also have a mortar that they use as a candy cannon for the kids.  Blasts a bunch of candy into the center of camp for the kids to hunt.  Thanks for posting all the pictures and information.  Very entertaining and enlightening.  Best of luck on the project.

[davec2]

Started in on grinding the welded areas smooth.  Only took about an hour to clean the whole thing up and I don't think I will need any supplemental welding.

Rough grind.....



Smoothed up with a 100 grit sanding disk......



Edges cleaned up and now clearly showing the correct taper of the lunette from the pintle ring forward.....



And re-installed on the cannon stock for a fit check.......



Not perfect but good enough for the underside of a cannon lunette.  "In a workman like manner" has a slightly different connotation when working on an 1800 pound cannon vs a longrifle....

[davec2]

I have to stand down for a while over the holidays.....traveling a bit for Christmas.  However, when I get back I need to re-work the cap squares that hold the trunions in place.  You can see from some of the photos that I have posted that, 50 years ago, I just machined a heavy walled brass tube that surrounds the trunion on each side.  I took the tubes and the "ears" to an old time welder who TIG brazed all the parts together for me and did a magnificent job.  This made an acceptable but incorrect cap square that has to come off the carriage with the barrel.  But Now I would like to correct that by cutting the lower part of the tubes free and then TIG brazing that lower half into the brass bands that surround the cheeks.  The brass bands are 3 inches wide and 3/8" thick, and being brass, suck away a lot of heat.  I have watched dozens of youtube videos on TIG brazing both brass to brass and brass to steel, but no one is doing thick sections like this.  I purchased silicon bronze rod (which is what I think the welder at Bast Brothers Welding used in 1970) and have tried several times to braze thick sections together, both with and without a lot of pre-heating, but have not had much luck yet.  Anyone out there know how to do this ??

[Camerl2009]

That is a GREAT looking cannon, Dave.

Cannons are now prohibited weapons in Canukistan.

Still on the fence about this as long as they are not percussion fired they should be fine as this would make it “antique” classed

[davec2]

Well.....I got caught up for a while in the Southwest Airline meltdown....stranded for a while in the LaGuardia airport in Brooklyn.  Got to spend several extra days with my grandson though, so it was OK.  Then back to Nashville and on to St. Louis before returning to SoCal.  And then I fell right into a TON of aerospace work that has fully occupied my time since and will for a while.  However, I did have a little time to work some necessary preliminary things that needed to be done before I take apart the gun carriage for all the wood refinishing. 

Some of the "irons" still need to be mounted (like the sponge & rammer stop, the sponge & rammer chain, and the ear plate) before starting on the wood work.  The sponge & rammer stop and chain hold the two rammer / sponge assemblies in place under the trail for transport.  The ear plate and key hold the worm in place for transport.  In order to locate these for mounting, I needed to have the sponge & rammers made up correctly....and it took a surprising amount of research to find the necessary details to make these correctly (I received a huge amount of help from the great folks on the web site   https://civilwartalk.com/forums/   ).  Then it took me a fair amount of time to find and order (from Maine) 1 1/2" ash dowels long enough to make the rammers.  Long story short, I finally found the dowels, the required maple blocks to turn the rammer heads, and a sufficiently accurate way to make the sponges (without killing and skinning my own sheep !)  Now that the rammer & sponge are close to being done (never thought that this part would take this much effort..... )  I can locate and mount the irons on the underside of the trail.

So here are some of the parts in work......Trimming the maple blocks for the rammer heads



Turning the blocks....this was a combination of doing some of the turning on a metal lathe and some on a wood lathe at much higher RPM...



The completed rammer heads......the groove in the small end is for a copper band used to nail the rammer head in place and to help keep the thin end from splitting....







Rammer head mounted on the 1 1/2" dowel.....



I had to turn down the opposite end of the rammer shaft a slight bit to fit a lambs wool paint roller.  Made of real lambs wool but much easier to use and replace than skinning a lamb and nailing the hide to the shaft.



Had to borrow a friends lathe that had a head stock large enough to get the dowel through to do a nice job turning the taper to fit the socket on the worm.  I could have "whittled" this to fit but lathe turning did a much better job of it.



Mounted worm.....



With the rammer & sponges done I will know exactly where to mount the required irons when I disassemble the trail from the axel and flip it over to attach these items.  I will also be able to mount the key plates at the ends of the rammer & sponge chains so that they are in the proper location to hold the rammers and worm without being too loose or too tight.

[Daryl]

Great project, Dave.

[James Rogers]

Most excellent my friend!

[davec2]

James, Daryl....thanks    This is certainly the largest ram rod I have ever made for a muzzleloader !!!!

By the way (because someone asked what the heck a "rammer chain" and an "ear plate" were), here are a couple of pictures.  The long rammer chain is attached at the center plate to the middle of the underside of the trail.  Each end is held around the rammer heads by the "toggle plates" mounted to the sides of the trail.  One is shown connected to the chain on the left in the photo and the right side shows the end of the chain separate from the toggle plate.  The ear plate shown in the middle is also screwed or nailed to the underside of the trail.  The worm is held in place between the two "ears" on that plate by a key that has a tooth on it that passes through a notch in one of the holes in one of the ears.  When the tag on the key swings down in response to gravity (God's "G"), it can't back out of the ear plate until turned to line the tooth up with the notch. (Second photo)





This picture is from a sub-scale model gun built by someone else but it sort of shows how this is all supposed to work (except that the rammer chain on this model is not secured to the trail in the middle....but you get the idea.....

[Jeff Murray]

The creftsmanship is incredible.  You need to post a video when you fire it.  What a blast!!!

[Steeltrap]

In the beginning.....Man threw rocks at animals in order to eat.
Then, Man discovered throwing rocks from slingshots provided far more velocity.
Then, Man discovered Black Powder and it's ability to throw a rock (we call 'em RB's) at much higher velocities.
Then, Man discovered how to rifle a barrel and accuracy improved.
Then, Man (just like all me do) decided that bigger is better (except when it comes to bikini's....but not on my daughter) and the rocks....along with the pipes to launch them from.....got bigger.


I just made all of that up. But I think historically it's not that far from the truth!!

[davec2]

Steeltrap,

The "bigger is better" part is partially what led me to build a cannon in the first place.  And I must say that building a muzzleloader that requires wheels and a block & tackle to move around is an experience in itself.

US Civil War Rodman cannon.....barrel weight was over 100,000 pounds....largest smoothbore used during the war....Apparently nothing much scared these guys when it came to trying to fabricate things "bigger and better" !  Imagine trying to make a gun like this without electrical power or hydraulics.....