Webley Seal - Quick 'n Dirty!

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Tank
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Webley Seal - Quick 'n Dirty!

Post by Tank » Thu Aug 15, 2013 12:41 pm

So, Bob hands me a Webley pistol - "what do you think of the seal?" - "what seal?"
So here we are - shootout at the club tonight and a seal is required. They are pretty simple to make really. You need some leather and a couple of leather punches. The outside diameter is the important one - around 9.1mm ish. If you have ever worked with leather you will know exactly what I mean. It is absolutely no surprise to me that a size nine shoe from one company is a completely different size to a size nine from another, leatrher shoes I mean, not plastic rubbish.
Anyway, back to the plot. I have a good number of punches for leather and gasket making so having a look through the drawer I find the perfect size for the hle in the middle, but the largest outside diameter punch (other than the one inch plus punches I have) was 8mm. Too small enough!
Not to worry, I have plenty of bits of steel bar lying around, so let's make one!

First off, a bit of bar around three inches long and 12mm in diameter:

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Next, into the vice on the drill press. It doesn't matter which sort of handle you have on the vice, you always end up whacking it with a mallet to get it tighter, center drill in the chuck and the old eyeball measuring device:

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Following right behind with a 9mm jobbers bit:

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From this next photograph you can now see where I have ground the circumference of the punch and created the knife edge we need to actually punch the leather washer out of the material. You can also see the birdmouth I have ground behind the working edge - well we need to be able to push the finished article out of the punch without tearing it to bits!

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Another shot of the business end - the cutting edge is clearly visible:

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Here is the finished article compared against a commercially produced item.

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And yes, made the washers I needed just fine. And yes, for the purists out there - this is just a piece of mild steel! By the time I had punched out the fourth washer the edge had gone, but I was not making a production tool here - If I was I would have used tool steel and hardened and tempered it.
No this is just a quick and dirty, make the tool for the job and get us back shooting. I will say though that the seal made using this punch differs in no way at all from a seal made any other way. It is still a leather seal at the end of the day - and that was all we wanted - a leather seal, now the pistol works fine thanks!
graham.
I’m going off to go find myself. If I’m not back by the time I return, keep me here.
https://tamesidepistol.club/

zooma
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Re: Webley Seal - Quick 'n Dirty!

Post by zooma » Thu Aug 15, 2013 1:46 pm

Yet another good practical DIY feature for us all from Graham :geek: - keep em coming Graham - every one is a winner :dance:

I think the next guide is showing us how to make rifled barrels to fit a Webley Junior - but I may have just invented that one :lol:
Feinwerkbau P40 Tricolour wanted.........still !
http://www.bobsairguns .com - proud to host the RMTC site since April 2011.

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