Stripped Frame Threads
Just how many and or how many times have you seen this LOL???
Here is what I do to fix mine and this works really well, actually its better than new frame as the thread inserts are stainless and much improved over the aluminum in the frame by itself…
Here is a few PIC’s of the work in process:
Then this last one all back together:
I am sorry I use to know how to attach the actual PIC’s, but something is new here or something, all I can do is attach a hyper link… I have messed with this ever which way using my host Shutterfly.com…
Anyway, hope all the PIC’s are good enough to get a better idea of how this works…
Roach, I stripped one of my side holes and I just heli coiled them both… Then I changed those two really short set screws to a cut to fit eactly cap head screw… These apply much better holding power in the frame with the head of these hucked up against the frame as well as getting full threads in the side of the frame… Those little set screws was not even long enough to get all the threads there is in the frame LOL…
This has been awesome for mine now for many years. You can see the threaded studs that I put on each side of the frame on the threaded bottle collar also, this was after the first attempt at amp’ing up the .25 Condor to more FPE LOL…
Next thing I launched was the shroud, which only had one set screw snugged up. Now I have two #10-32 cap screws threaded into the shroud… This bird has been made as heavy duty as possible each time the next weak link appeared LOL…
The 18″ .25 caliber barrel just rocks also, its really starting to come around now as its getting more and more broke-in… I love these shorter OAL as this one is. I almost had the barrel made into a 12″ but was afraid it would not make the energy I wanted for the .25 caliber…
Hope this might give a few here an idea of what can be done to fix the thin side holes for the bushings… Me, after all I have done on mine over the many years I have had the bad bird; I am a fan of just heli-coiling all the threaded holes in the frame, as well as adding the 4 threaded holes in the framer for the bottle collar…
All Replies
Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
Theres one more method we use here to repair aluminum holes, and its what I glued my rail with in my sig pic.
I cannot remember the manufacturer now, but we called it liquid aluminum. Its a heat cured epoxy that machines just like metal once cured. It can be layered onto a “mistake” in milling, cured then re-machined.
If we get more (and we will one day) Im going to fix this frame right. Wrap a reinforced silicone bladder in teflon tape, insert into frame and inflate it, then fill the holes. Set in oven at 270°F for 2 hours and its just like an undrilled frame. The epoxy is super tough even when you drill and tap it, weve never had a failure and we abuse the hell out of the tools.
I have access to the mill, so redrilling right is not a problem. I wouldn’t attempt this with a handdrill, maybe a drill press but a mill is much better.
I could probably just mill a dovetail over the holes, and bond a flared nut to the frame. That would accomplish the same thing but wouldn’t be as nice looking (but who cares?). With the right stuff, that nut will never break off.
yes, that has alway been my biggest issue with these rifles, besides the goddamn safety.
aluminum threads bearing any tension are destined to fail sooner or later.
looks like its time for me to acquire a set of thread inserts…
Riff,
No feathers here ruffled man, not to worry about anything like that here…
Heck I take all things posted here as is for what it is or isn’t LOL, its all good… You know what I mean???
Heck I use my Condor as I see fit and when it doesn’t do what I want/need, I either make my own mods or find someone that does or can and pay for their help…
Scuffed up or scratches or just memories as I see it… They really are too, I look back at the scratches in my shroud, and think, daaayyyam when I launched that sucker off the end of my Condor way back when, it added 10 years to my life and then usually just lmao about that very memory LOL… Which I promtly studded the heck out of the shroud to the end of the frame 😆
Now I know what your saying about the heli-coil fix and all, but if done right and installed with a locking agent for areas you remove and re-install lots of times, in aluminum these have been way better than any threads cut into the actual aluminum hosing or body being used for whatever…
One does need to stake the heli-coil as well, usually I will stake mine I install in three different areas around the insert, this and the loc-tite added sparingly and allowed to dry completely and then chase the threads out with a tap will have you rip roaring and ready…
There is just so many areas bigger is not always an option, plus many times holes that have been hand tapped are alot more loose up at the beginning of the threaded hole, as we wiggle around trying to get the tap started and all that sort of less than desired actions LOL…
I have chucked up thinks in my drill press and used it to tap things by hand and that really makes a huge difference, but for the most part the hand tapped holes can be really much looser even with a high quality tap and/or die…
I have used the inserts you put in and huck up and they expand in place much like a rivet, these work really well when you again use the Loc-tite and stake them in place with a center punch or a really sharp small chisel…
Chat laterz
Jeesh Rowdy, don’t take it so hard. 😎
Like yours, mine has a lot of do-it-yourself mods and I never much gave a shit about how it might look to the casual observer.
However after saying that and re-viewing your images, your rifle looks pristine compared to mine. I guess it was the few scuffs in the E-tac pic that made me say that. Nothing serious and wasn’t intended to ruffle your feathers.
My rifle is all work, not a show toy and thats how I tend to view all rifles. Ive 2 neighbors and a father-in-law that keep pestering me to sell them my Condor, they are not interested in a brand-new one. So to me “beat up” is a compliment. 😉
—
Moneyshot, I used to work in a mold-shop at an aluminum cast-house. We always had to fix stripped holes with helicoils. Almost every time we took a mold apart, the coil was stuck to the bolt and had to be replaced.
A helicoil is nothing more than hardened wire, it is not solid and wont take near the torque a redrilled/retapped hole will. There are solid inserts that work much better if you can find them, but making them not protrude into the frame is not easy so I went with the larger screw instead.
no room to talk on my behalf, i got charlies old condor frame and while it is perfectly functional, i got me some holes to plug… 😯
Money,
You make a post here???
You making a comment on my beat up Condor also LOL…
Lets just say its not my Condor’s first Rodeo LOL
what the fuck happened to my post?!
anyways, riff, what do you find to be the potential drawbacks of helicoil, im curoius…
RR,
What do you mean beat all up??? My Condor ain’t beat all up man, its just used… You got to keep in mind now, this Condor is a beast… I have about decided that the .25 caliber is not for me…
Don’t get me wrong here, I will keep this Condor with the .25 barrel and leave it setup as she is now with it… I just got to get this new valve built up I have in my head, so as to chunk Jerry’s slugs like I want to… I don’t really find any of the pellets in .25 that I like all that much really.
The Kodiacs are good and shoot well enough, they just don’t excite me that much, least yet they don’t… The JSB’s just seem to be to light weight for the caliber they are in the .25 round… I really like the JSB 18’s and the 25.4’s in the .22 caliber, along with the Kodiacs also, they really do a great job in my .22 Rapid and this Condor when it was a .22…
I just think this Condor in the .25 is going to need to get all dialed in with some of Jerry’s slugs singing out the mussle… I want to see how his slugs do at some serious speeds…
Now far as my Condor being all beat up, heck there is nothing on the rifle that is stock OEM parts other than the extruded frame… I don’t even use a stock tank or anything… So just how is it you think its so beat up anyway LOL…
Wow Rowdy, your frame appears to be beat up even more than mine and thats a hard thing to do. 😆
I’m not a fan of helicoils myself, but glad you got them to work for you.
My fix was nearly identical to Roachs, but I used a surface grinder to make my grubs. In fact, I gave him the idea. 😉
I have, and I wrote a fix for it. Basically I drilled and tapped it to 1/4-24 and then chucked up a 1/4-24 set screw in a hand drill and turned one end down with a dremel grinder to fit into the barrel bushing.
I did this a couple of times, both screws on the side of my frame had stripped.
It is a hillbilly fix, with a lathe and proper tools a better set screw could be fabricated, but I had no lathe.
I choose 1/4-24 over the common 1/4-20 to get more threads.
IJ have swince learned that some just put helicoils in their frame from the start and this problem is solved before it ever starts.
Regards,
Roachcreek
Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Damn that sounds like a good possiblity for sure… Heck you might insert you a nutzert, those things you squeeze into place, just put it in the epoxy and cook’m in place so to say…
If you try that I would just look at building up a larger boss area for those two on the side, that way you have more material to hold better to begin with…
Now if I had access to something like that, I would cut the rail off my Condor, so I could lower the freakin’ scope down, and make the top rail all the way down to the end of the frame a picatinny rail setup…
Then I would proceed to the lower portion of the frame and just add lots of the epoxy to that making it much thicker as well, that way I could cut that out as I want to already to anchor in a much better trigger setup…
I hate the scope mounted up that high on any rifle. Its fine for whatever distance you sight it for, but its so much more sensitive when the POI is different from the sighted in distance… The flat top would be so much better. I even have a talon frame I bought for just that mod, me chewing and hacking on things, sometimes are not all that great, that is why I have not done my Condor already… LOL…
Look forward to see how things move along 😎 😎 😎