The Home Machinist!

As I have said before: "Good on yer, Mate!!!" I think that you've got a winner!

Al

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Al Messer

"One nation, under God"

homebrew .357
Got a Hard chrome question: I have a Myford Speed 10 lathe
I have been thinking of hard chroming the bedways on this lathe.
As you may know this is a dovetail bed. The machine is near new,
(30 years in the crate) but I find the bed is really soft and if not
cleaned all the time small hard chips jam the carriage and imbed
in the top of the bedways.

How thick is decent hard chrome, and is the chrome they put on
machine ways all the same. What would have to be done for prep and finish.
Thanks

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"Oily to bed Oily to rise the life of a man, when a Machine tool he buys"

Some men always thought they wanted build things, what they discovered really, is that they only just wanted to run the machines!

Chrome is chrome, considering it's an element. However, how it is applied makes a huge difference. Hard chrome is unlike chrome that is applied for aesthetic purposes (bumpers, for example) in that it is applied directly to the substrate, whereas the other system has a copper and nickel base applied prior to applying the final layer, which would be chrome. It is very thin, of necessity, due to the same problems that are experience in hard chrome.

I expect that you won't have much success in having the bed plated. If you've seen hard chrome, you'll understand that it has an affinity for sharp edges, and, likewise, avoids being deposited in corners. The end result is a very uneven deposition that would most likely render a bed way useless unless a considerable amount of effort was expended in making proper anodes, or if the bed was then ground after the application of a thick layer of chrome, seriously distorting the precision surfaces because of uneven deposition.

I could be wrong.

Harold

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Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.

Hi, back into it after a bit of a holiday. Setup the lathe for reaming the barrel, reamer is clamped in vice on slide, the tube rod holds the reamer thats screwd in to the end and cutting fluid is pumped through to clear the chips. The barrel had a few scraches in it, but reaming should clean it up, reaming to ID of .424" leaves 0.016' for rifling, and a few pic`s .357

Sorry already-old, just saw your thread, it woud be hard to chrome on the castiron bedways, full of oil, and if you did the lathe bedways would have to be ground back to register , allso chrome will not hold oil well. You could try getting the lathe bed reharden, they should not be soft? has it been in a fire?. My first lathe was a myford 7, thay are good small lathes. Allso does it have saddle wipers on the to slide ?,this could help top the pickup of swauf, my 7 had felt ones on the front of the saddle , could change then ever few mouths:? .357
PS, Harold is right, lathe beds are induction hardened first and then ground to register.

Heat treating a ground lathe bed isn't in the cards. There's no way it can be heated and quenched and not be distorted. Regrinding would be mandatory.

Harold

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Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.

Hi again guys, back from a deer huntig trip, no diden`t even see one, so it`s back to work.
Setting up for lathe for cutting the rifling, a angle bracket clamps on to two posts and with bike chain on top to drive cutter gearbox cog. Under slide is loop of bike chain, top of chain is attacht to slide with jocky wheel at chuck end and hand cranked sprocket at top end ,this drives the slide up and down to cut the rifling. Rifling twist is 1 turn in 33"inches I think, will see how it goes. .357.

Hi all, this is the last bit. After much cranking and walking up and down with the rifle cutter in the barrel I have succeeded in making a black powder rifle barrel in my lathe.
It has six rifling groves,left hand twist, bore size .445".
Now Dan Lilja barrels and Green Mountain rifle barrels have nothing to worry about as far as competition is concerned, this barrel would be classed as a bad day at the Williamsburg barrel making shop, but with a bit of metal polish and some elbow grease should put shine in it. I have made a hawkins plains percussion lock, left handed, for this gun and the way I did it was from a book by Bill Newton, lock patterns by Pryor Mt. The book shows the locks and all the bits so I just copyed it.
So will keep the camera rolling and start a new thread some time, Making a plains Rifle.?
A few pics, cheers, .357
P S Remeber, while there`s boolits in the air, there`s hope.

Hey that is really impressive. I've recently introduced the idea of building my own barrel for a fully home made revolver, and the rifling seems to be the sticking point. Many seemed to look down on the very idea as just nonsense - ain't gonna happen... Well, there is proof in the pudding right there, and on a long barrel! Good Job! Someone said up there, it would be amazing, and it is!

Could you describe the rifling cutter a bit more? I'm not quite getting a good idea of how it actually works, and the cutting edge.

Thanks!

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Standards are so important that everyone must have their own...
Logan 10x24 Lathe, RF-30 Mill, 20 Ton Press
Disclaimer: I'm just a guy with a few machines...

Hi ctwo, I supose it`s about where you are at, now if you are in the USA you guys can walk in to walmart or taco del and pick up a blank barrel no sweat. . And if I was in the USA I would never have tryed this, but in New Zealand nobody makes black powder barrels, yes I could have got one from Track of The Wolf but the challenge of making it!!yer. As I have said I have Bill Webbs CD on his rifle barrel making Machine and this is were all the ideas come from, including the rifle cutting head. But for you, if you can get a 12" length of blank barrel it would be the best way to go and you would still have to fit it in the hand gun, still a lot of work there.
But if you want to see the cutter ,I can take some pics for you,cheers,357

Taco Bell and they don't sell gun barrels. You have an outdated impression of the freedoms once insured. We have had years of infested regs by nameless beurocRATS disturbing rights in our own Constitution. The deal is to render us unable to defend by any means. The latest example is the Fast &Furious scandle. This is becoming a different country as you know how that goes. They always present a "reason" which they helped manufacture, then clamp down.

Hi guys, yer, I know what you mean, I was just joshin, . If they armed the teachers in schools you could stop a lot of your school shootings. But if you could get some blank barrel it still would be a lot easier way than trying to set up to make them your self. cheers, .357.