Fussy, fussy! or 'Why does it take so long?'

[pistolwrench]

Bushing as received measured .118" between lug and flange. Slide measured .110". Would have resulted in an .008" gap between end of slide and bushing flange. About 4-5 sheets of paper.
I machined a flat in the lug slot. Silver soldered in a piece of heat treated 4142 and remachined the slot to .110".

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/4-41.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/3-49.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/2-51.jpg

Nice tight fit!

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/20-9.jpg

A little while later.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/10-27.jpg

[pistolwrench]

Brand new Colt Series 70 re-issue. Rear cocking serrations were pretty good.
Looked great at an arms length.
But 'pretty good' can be better.

Before:

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/18-6.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/17-9.jpg

After remachining:

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/13-9.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/15-8.jpg

[okie]

Damn nice work my friend:alex::faint:

[Quack]

very nice work as usual :)

[Huevos]

My, you are fussy.... :cheers:

[Officer's Match]

Dang I'd like to be able to do that stuff. :cool:

[ronin.45]

Quality takes time!

[Quack]

maybe you should think about being a custom gunsmith ;)

[bac1023]

Awesome stuff!

[bac1023]

maybe you should think about being a custom gunsmith ;)

:rofl:

[faawrenchbndr]

Simply amazing,.........

[Black Cloud]

Great work. Please keem em coming.
I really enjoy your before and after pics, as well a your knowledge.:supergrin:

[paul45]

So, would Colts "machine" that cuts the cocking serrations be dull? I'm curious on this one! :supergrin:

[faawrenchbndr]

So, would Colts "machine" that cuts the cocking serrations be dull? I'm curious on this one! :supergrin:

Worn milling bits, when they dull, the material gets chipped.
This leads to the rough, chipped edge rather than a clean crisp edge.

[glock2619]

So what type of clearance would you have been content with in the white? 0.001-0.002, or do you go line to line?

If you don't want to reveal trade secrets, that's fine too. :wavey:

Beautiful work as always. I've ALWAYS enjoyed the tapered reverse plugs/slide work.

[pistolwrench]

Not many secrets!

.002" would have been acceptable.

[glock2619]

Thanks. I appreciate it. I'm going to buy some new bushings from EGW for my Kimbers (early ones with MIM barrel bushings) and was going to check this dimension as well. I might run the bushing O.D. 0.001 clearance to the slide and 0.002 to the barrel. Am I close here? This isn't a match gun but would like to do it right W.O. affecting reliability.

To clarify, I'm not a MIM hater, but have seen first hand what a broken bushing does to a Kimber (or any 1911 with a broken bushing like that). To me, it's cheap insurance to avoid a big repair bill.

Thanks in advance. Again, if it's taking food off your table, I understand.

Or, I might just send the slides/barrels to you and have a matched bushing/plunger installed with the happy face engraved in it. :supergrin:

[Two Guns]

Wow you do great work.

[janice6]

Nice work!!!!!!

[paul45]

Worn milling bits, when they dull, the material gets chipped.
This leads to the rough, chipped edge rather than a clean crisp edge.

Is your username pistolwrench? Or are you his spokesperson?

I should have directly addressed him, but I assume my question would go to the one who actually performed the work.

Thanks for the reply anyway.

[pistolwrench]

I was not being sarcastic when I said the factory serrations were pretty good. Get a magnifying glass and look at any Colt or Springfield.
The factories use a tool which is a stack of slitting saws. All the serrations are cut in one pass.
Quick and adequate. But not the best way to achieve a nice looking surface finish.
I may be the only one that routinely remachines them. OCD I guess.....

And Paul, yes you are a bit cranky!
Me too.

[faawrenchbndr]

Is your username pistolwrench? Or are you his spokesperson?........

You can be sure I will NEVER make this mistake again.
Dig your panties out,......

[paul45]

I was not being sarcastic when I said the factory serrations were pretty good. Get a magnifying glass and look at any Colt or Springfield.
The factories use a tool which is a stack of slitting saws. All the serrations are cut in one pass.
Quick and adequate. But not the best way to achieve a nice looking surface finish.
I may be the only one that routinely remachines them. OCD I guess.....

And Paul, yes you are a bit cranky!
Me too.

Don't know why, but I find your re-cutting the cocking serrations quite interesting.

You call the tool the factories use a "stack of slitting saws".

faawrenchbndr says "worn milling bits". Would this be the same terminology/parts, similar, or different? I assume different......

Thanks.....and I appreciate your OCD.:supergrin:

[rustygun]

Well to answer your question i'm a mill guy for a living. As far as a slitting saw its a thin piece of metal standard is say .0625 but can be whatever you want depending on the job your running at the time. Its a flat bit of metal with several teeth that sits on a keyway in an arbor and spins in your turret to cut metal. In this setup i'm assuming that several saws are on an arbor with spacers to get the effect of ribs or serations on the slide. A milling tool could be an end mill, ball mill, special ground whatever or even an indexable tool of some kind or can be one bit of steel or carbide that would have the slide set at 30 or 45 degrees in a fixture and would make several cuts to acheive the "steps" you see on the slide.

When you start to dull a slitting saw it either digs into the metal and walks....ie not cutting the metal cleanly or can dig out extra chunks as the saw gets bogged up and leaves what you see here in the first slide photo.

[rustygun]

For those who like pictures you can check this out to get a visual idea from a huge manufacturer of mill stuff.

http://www.kennametal.com/en-US/products_services/metalworking/milling/milling_products.jhtml


You can click around and then do a google search on slitting saws and get a good idea.

[pistolwrench]

I've been pretty busy.......

:cool:

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/5-37.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/4-43.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/3-52.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/2-55.jpg

[pistolwrench]

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/1-61.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/ROOST2010009.jpg

:wavey:

[bac1023]

Very nice, Chuck. :thumbsup:

[Cobra64]

Fantastic work. Unbelievable precision. I love it!

[okie]

Awesome work my friend:supergrin::wavey:

[paul45]

It's stunning how nice your work is. I especially am taken by the machining on the back on the slide and frame.

[pistolwrench]

I frequently use macro photography to 'check' my work.
Long day yesterday on the bench. Mostly hand detailing. About 1/2 way
through the day, I went over to Walgreen's and bought some nice, fresh
reading glasses. No scratches. 2.5x power. And I was working with one of
those bluish 100 watt bulbs.
These are fresh out of the bead blast cabinet. Carbon steel. Sprayed on and wiped off some WD-40.
Not looking too bad, but I can see a couple of areas that need some attention.
The magnified, 2 dimensional still pictures really show the flaws. When in your hand or on your bench,
the eye is constantly changing focus and is easily distracted. Not so on a computer monitor.
Digital cameras are a cool tool. And I think they have had a strong influence on present day cosmetic detailing.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/c-4.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/d-3.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/a1-2.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/b1.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/pistolwrench19/r-1.jpg

[Toyman]

I frequently use macro photography to 'check' my work.
Long day yesterday on the bench. Mostly hand detailing. About 1/2 way
through the day, I went over to Walgreen's and bought some nice, fresh
reading glasses. No scratches. 2.5x power. And I was working with one of
those bluish 100 watt bulbs.
These are fresh out of the bead blast cabinet. Carbon steel. Sprayed on and wiped off some WD-40.
Not looking too bad, but I can see a couple of areas that need some attention.
The magnified, 2 dimensional still pictures really show the flaws. When in your hand or on your bench,
the eye is constantly changing focus and is easily distracted. Not so on a computer monitor.
Digital cameras are a cool tool. And I think they have had a strong influence on present day cosmetic detailing.

Ya know, you could get a manual focus web cam and see the image live on a computer screen as you're doing it. Some can focus as close as 1 inch.

Those are very cool. Do you do this commercially or is it just for yourself?

[pistolwrench]

Well I hate to think of myself as 'commercial', but this has been my chosen profession for over 25 years.

:cool:

[Rinspeed]

The magnified, 2 dimensional still pictures really show the flaws. When in your hand or on your bench,
the eye is constantly changing focus and is easily distracted. Not so on a computer monitor.



I've noticed that many times in pictures of high dollar 1911s shot by Ichiro Nagata. It almost makes you wonder what the hell the smith was thinking. As you said though with the right lighting and a little magnification even the smallest flaws come out.

[ronin.45]

Well I hate to think of myself as 'commercial', but this has been my chosen profession for over 25 years.

:cool:

I'd say it suits you :supergrin:

Your work has a very distinctive look that really makes me want one.