How would you repair this scewup...

Educator · Jul 14, 2016

I was milling a sight out of a Springfield XD and my cutter walked out of the collet cutting into the slide on they opposite side...I've already bought customer a new gun...I'm looking for ways to repair this to sell and recoup at least part of the expense.

CalG · Jul 14, 2016

TIG to fill , and start over.

cmccull166 · Jul 14, 2016

It appears to be Aluminum ? if you have a skilled welder available that may be an option.
But, then strip the anodize, refinish the repaired area ,re-anodize.

Why dont you just replace the slide?

paracongo308 · Jul 14, 2016

Just to have it anodized is a lot charge of $75+. Throw the slide in you aluminum scrap bucket and buy a new slide.

Rock6.3 · Jul 14, 2016

Is the XD even anodized? Or is it a spray on coating?

In either case, bead or sand blast off the coating, mill a slot, drive in an aluminum key to fit the slot, put the front sight on it and cerakote it.

Educator · Jul 15, 2016

CalG said:
TIG to fill , and start over.

That was my first inclination...but I started thinking how it was going to hurt the slide in some way and then there is the added expense to have it coated.

Educator · Jul 15, 2016

cmccull166 said:
It appears to be Aluminum ? if you have a skilled welder available that may be an option.
But, then strip the anodize, refinish the repaired area ,re-anodize.

Why dont you just replace the slide?

It's steel

GenePoole · Jul 15, 2016

I Cerakoted an XD once. It's got some sort of nitrided or other super hard coating over, I believe, stainless steel. It took hours of bead-blasting to get it ready for Cerakote. If I ever do another, I'll just rough up the existing coating enough to hold the Cerakote. Keep that in mind if you want it back to original spec.

RWO · Jul 15, 2016

Simply soft solder a close fitting steel plug in the lower cut and then recut the dovetail. The remains of the plug will only show at the end of the dovetail when the sight is in place. If the fit is close, very little of the soft solder will show. Cold blue the bare steel showing. Use soft-solder black if needed ( Brownells) on any solder showing. Done right, the repair will be hard to see.

RWO

moonlight machine · Jul 15, 2016

All you guys that think you can tig weld aluminum and anodize the results are clueless, you will not get a good color match between base metal and weld. Next, when you weld aluminum it goes dead soft, probably not what you want on a gun. How the hell could that tiny end mill walk???? Was it even tight? In a mini mill? Amazing, I have been doing this for over 40 years, 1 or 2 end mills have walked and they were over 1" diameter.

Educator · Jul 15, 2016

Educator said:
It's steel

RWO said:
Simply soft solder a close fitting steel plug in the lower cut and then recut the dovetail. The remains of the plug will only show at the end of the dovetail when the sight is in place. If the fit is close, very little of the soft solder will show. Cold blue the bare steel showing. Use soft-solder black if needed ( Brownells) on any solder showing. Done right, the repair will be hard to see.

RWO

This is probably my most logical and cost saving fix...I even thought about lowering the dovetail and adapt a sight to fit.

moonlight machine said:
How the hell could that tiny end mill walk???? Was it even tight? In a mini mill? Amazing, I have been doing this for over 40 years, 1 or 2 end mills have walked and they were over 1" diameter.

It had to be operator error...It was a 2 flute taper mill and I must not have tightened it well. There is a whole list of things that keep running through my mind wondering what I failed to do.

UncleFrank · Jul 16, 2016

That can happen using collet holders. A small sliver gets between the collet and spindle or collet and endmill. Feels tight but a little vibration can walk them out. Odd though it walked down with that small end mill, usually one that small in a light cut pushes up when it gets into something hard. Did you have the quill locked if your machine has one?

Might be a good idea to get a solid holder or two for work like this. Something like a search for "solid R8 end mill holder" should show some options if you have the R8 style.

Educator · Jul 16, 2016

UncleFrank said:
Might be a good idea to get a solid holder or two for work like this. Something like a search for "solid R8 end mill holder" should show some options if you have the R8 style.

That's a real good idea...I'll pick up a couple at least.

UncleFrank · Jul 17, 2016

1/2 inch and 3/8 inch solid holders would probably cover most jobs like this. You could add more as required.

Be sure you still have enough Z travel left with solid holders.

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How would you repair this scewup...

Educator

Plastic

CalG

Diamond

cmccull166

Hot Rolled

paracongo308

Banned

Rock6.3

Aluminum

Educator

Plastic

Educator

Plastic

GenePoole

Cast Iron

RWO

Cast Iron

moonlight machine

Diamond

Educator

Plastic

UncleFrank

Cast Iron

Educator

Plastic

UncleFrank

Cast Iron

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