FAS604 Rear Sight

[zooma]

Good effort Graham - well done!

[Tank]

And so it continues. I took the simpler, faster way to cut a screw slot in the Windage screw today, a 1.2mm slotting cutter. It is also the more dangerous option because if you start to get ambitious with the depth of cut you just broke a cutter!



The final machining operation was the drilling of a series of holes around the inside face of the screw that bears against a ball bearing detent. This is where the versatility of the little Taig Lathe comes into it's own. By putting the screw in a chuck in the tailstock and then adjusting the offset the tailstock became a horizontal indexing head. Much simpler and far faster than setting it all up in the Rotary Table on the Mill.



And this is the finished item, it is not perfect because I had not counted on the fact I couldn't actually see what I was doing - the screw head was down inside the chuck:



Now the final step. I decided to use Potassium Nitrate (saltpetre) in a Stainless Steel vessel and bring it to a molten state over the flame of a Butane stove. Why? Because I hadn't tried this method before and frankly, my advice is don't! It is extremely dangerous. Just a single drop of water was enough to cause a violent eruption. A very hot flame and dunking into oil will produce a similar finish. This was the Pot:



I did a few pieces I had been working on at the same time and they came out well:

[micken]

I'm just loving this thread, it's great to see this developing and seeing how you make choices about which tools and processes you'll use.
Very inspiring.

Cheers, Mick

[Tank]

I'm just loving this thread, it's great to see this developing and seeing how you make choices about which tools and processes you'll use.
Very inspiring.

Cheers, Mick

Pleased to see it is of some interest Mick. Ninety percent of "engineering" is problem solving (the other ten percent is math, at which my skills are lacking ) and the simplest of solutions are the most elegant, in my opinion. To work on these guns you don't need thousands of pounds worth of kit and simple machinery will accomplish most of the tasks. Oh, I know, great to have but simple hand tools will often suffice. It is amazing what you can accomplish with a file and a hacksaw. Throw in a basic drill press and you have it made

[zooma]

Great effort - your intuitive engineering exploits are an inspiration to us all

[Tank]

Glad you like it Bob, I will drop it off to you maybe Friday and you can try fitting it

[zooma]

Thanks Graham! We will have a brew when you come over and maybe you could let me know how you indexed the Taig tailstock chuck as that looks like a nice little technique to "keep in the locker" for future reference.

I will probably make a start on getting some 6 yard targets stamped-up and counted into entry packs ready for sending out to anyone that would like to take part in the next 6 yard MPL series so I could be buried in targets when your see me next!

[RobinC]

Really nice work, the quality of old fashioned tool making is a joy to see in these days of CNC.
Robin