Any machinists want to help a brotha out?
I just ordered a 14.5″ LW barrel. I need a skilled, at least semi-sober craftsman to cut it so it’ll drop into my cherished Marauder Pistol Bullpup. I’ll pay the shipping of course.. And I can also pay you for your time as long as I can afford it lol. And I won’t send you an email the next day asking if your done yet! My OEM barrel is serving me just fine, but I came across a fantastic deal on the LW and figured, what the hell..
And I figure I might get a couple responses because the guys on this forum are great people.. So I’d rather have the guy who lives in Kansas help me out rather than the fella from Zimbabwe.. Just to avoid shipping hassles.
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Kick ass!
Want to do mine? 😉
Nice! It’s always gratifying to do something for yourself! Watch how much material you leave sticking out of the chuck though – a rule of thumb is that about 3 * diameter should be about max before you add some tailstock support. Glad things are working out!
GsT
So, I made my own grooving tool for the oring that needs to be inside the barrel on this marauder bullpup. I wasn’t sure if I could grind the tool thin enough to be able to fit inside the small .22 bore, and still have enough metal on the tool to be strong enough to do the job.. Well, it is! My barrel is now 90% complete.. All I need now is to pick up the right size end mill, or find a pilot point drill bit so I can drill the hole for the transfer port while also countersinking the area for the TP oring to seal to the barrel. It seems like Crosman designed these barrels to be more complicated than they had to be when I compare how my Cricket barrel seals.. It would’ve been much easier, for me at least, to just drill a TP hole directly into the barrel, then machine an oring groove on the outside of the barrel on either side of the TP hole. I do prefer the look of a gun that has the oring inside the barrel rather than on the probe though.
Anyway, here’s my almost finished product. Note the barrel finish looks rough- I purposely scuffed it so my black enamel paint would get a solid hold. I wasn’t sure if it would rust or not if I polished it? So I didn’t take the chance.
OEM Crosman barrel on the left.. I left the new LW barrel a bit longer instead of cutting it down. I can cut the shroud holder down that goes on the end of the barrel so everything still fits inside the oem shroud.
I tried getting a shot of the oring groove but the focus wasn’t cooperating.
Here’s the tool I ground from a 1/4 HSS bit. I couldn’t bring myself to spend $20 for an oring grooving tool online.
Thanks Gene, your internal threading guide will be helpful.
I found out some things about my lathe. Apparently it’s a pretty rare model. In fact, it’s the smallest lathe South Bend ever produced. It was made during the depression as an affordable model. It doesn’t have any gear box that can be retrofitted. I took the lathe apart last night so I could move it to the basement. It’s actually in superb condition for it’s age. Original paint and all. This lathe would be a dream lathe for a collector wanting to restore it. But unfortunately for me, it will be very difficult to find parts and attachments. At this point I’m going to thoroughly clean it and use it to learn as much as I can. I won’t be really threading anything. Hopefully when I’m ready to move up, someone will appreciate the shape and rarity of this small lathe and buy it from me. Here’s a couple updated pics from last night before I took it apart.
1/2″ would put you at an MT1 taper.
I’d say you did very well, that is one fine looking machine. Looks clean, and well-cared for. Waste no time looking for the parts you’ll need for threading – if it’s one of those things you have to ‘wait to turn up’ might as well start standing in line now – you’ll definitely want threading capabilities.
Here’s an article I wrote on grinding lathe tools for the home-shop guy: http://firearmsdesigner.com/?p=22
One on cutting external threads: http://firearmsdesigner.com/?p=52
Internal threads: http://firearmsdesigner.com/?p=85
More if you poke around my site a bit, but the rest is powder-burner-centric.
GsT
Oh, and can you tell me what number MT my tail stock is? A rough measurement with a ruler says the quill opening on the tail stock is about 1/2″
I found a Craigslist deal today Gene. I called the guy and he said he had someone coming to look at the lathe tomorrow, so I said I’ll come today! I’m glad I did. I believe I found a good deal.. It’s an 8″ south bend. It doesn’t have the quick change gear box or any extra gears, but from everything I’ve researched online so far, I should be able to retro fit a gear box easily if I can find one cheaply. It has the old lantern tool post which I’m going to replace with a quick change. It’s mounted to a hefty tube 2″ tube steel table, with the motor mounted under. It’s also wired for 110v- I don’t know if they were originally or if it was reworked to..(I’m glad it is). Anyway, I received everything in the pictures, plus a Chinese magnetic dial indicator not pictured, for $800.
I did ok I think?
I think I will follow your advice Gene. I’ve been watching mrpete222, who is a retired teacher/machinist with a YouTube channel. If you haven’t heard of him, go over to youtube and check his channel out. He has hundreds, if not a thousand, videos showing how to use a few different lathes and mills. I can’t seem to find anyone in my area, so I’m just going to jump in myself. Now, could you maybe steer me towards which lathe would be a solid investment? I’d like to find a lathe for around $1,500- and I’ll buy tools and attachments as I go along. My local craigslist has a Logan 9 with no attachments, no quick change gear box, but only wants $700. There’s also a couple Southbends, no pictures listed so I don’t know what they come with.. Still waiting for email responses on those- One is a model 9, the other isn’t named. One for $1k, the other $1,5k.
I guess my question is, would it be best to buy an older quality lathe, or one of the new Grizzly types on my budget?
It’s largely a matter of availability. It sounds like you live in an area where that old iron still shows up (rare as hen’s teeth around here). A good Southbend would be hard to beat if you can find one that’s not clapped out. A SB 10″ Toolroom would be about ideal for all things airgun related. I’d be a little shy of the Logan – the smallest Logan’s used bushings (not bearings) in the headstock and they tended to have small spindles. I probably wouldn’t buy a lathe without a quick-change gearbox, but if I did, it would have to come with a complete set of gears. You’d be amazed at what some people end up paying when they have to buy gears separately – more than the ‘savings’ up front.
If you do have to go with an import, the Grizzly G4003 / G4003G is a pretty good machine and comes with all the big parts you’d want – 3&4 Jaw chucks, faceplate, steady rest, follow rest… The tailstock chuck and centers probably aren’t worth keeping, but might be good to learn with (then replace as you get better). I know four people with this lathe now, all still happy.
GsT
Sorry to hear that.
I think I will follow your advice Gene. I’ve been watching mrpete222, who is a retired teacher/machinist with a YouTube channel. If you haven’t heard of him, go over to youtube and check his channel out. He has hundreds, if not a thousand, videos showing how to use a few different lathes and mills. I can’t seem to find anyone in my area, so I’m just going to jump in myself. Now, could you maybe steer me towards which lathe would be a solid investment? I’d like to find a lathe for around $1,500- and I’ll buy tools and attachments as I go along. My local craigslist has a Logan 9 with no attachments, no quick change gear box, but only wants $700. There’s also a couple Southbends, no pictures listed so I don’t know what they come with.. Still waiting for email responses on those- One is a model 9, the other isn’t named. One for $1k, the other $1,5k.
I guess my question is, would it be best to buy an older quality lathe, or one of the new Grizzly types on my budget?
If that’s the case, go for it. I still think you’ll learn better and faster just by jumping on your own machine, but if there are really people advertising for people to mentor… I’ve been used and abused being charitable with my shop and time, and do work only for a very select few anymore.
GsT
Point is, there’s a bunch of things I could do.. and I’ve already chose.
You need to lap the bore. Mine will shoot anything I feed it. Even the cheap crocman HP from Walmart.
My Crosman barrel is also accurate with only Beeman FTS and Polymags. But I need to always keep it clean. I clean it after every shooting session. I probably wouldn’t have ever bothered with a new barrel, but AOA was giving them away for $20..
I figured it would probably be worth it to buy the LW to put on the Prod so I hopefully wouldn’t have to clean it as frequently, also it most likely would shoot JSB 15.9&18.1 the best which other guns shoot well.. So I wouldn’t need to buy specific pellets for the Prod anymore, I would be able to feed my guns the same pellets. It all came down to convenience for me.
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Sure Sloth..
I haven’t bought the end mill or bit I need for the TP yet, so I haven’t finished mine, but I wouldn’t mind doing yours when I do. Im debating whether I should thread the end of the barrel 1/2-20 as well.. I just ordered all the gears I need to thread so I’m all set up now. Send me a PM of your email if you want.