Two W&S no5’s inbound

[FJsapper]

Took a few liberties from the original design.

1) Original front sight was silver soldered on. Not good enough IMO, pressed a ring on the tube and dovetailed a cut-down GI sight on there

2) Material choice for original tube was carbon steel @ 1.375” ID. I went with Ti and 1.420” ID, maximized weight and internal volume. (Subs only, kids)

3) Rear sight design was a pig, in fact, original prints had it sticking some .75” from the mount point. The original rifle I examined actually had the rear sight broken off. I surmise this was due to its design having it super proud of the receiver. I elected to modify an SMLE sight. This never got out of prototype stage so if they went to production I’d like to think they would have utilized existing components, this was a SOE project so the Brits may have gone with something familiar.

4) Internals were pressed carbon steel cones, no clips. I’m using a modern style baffle, clipped. A whole gang of them with tight spacing. 1x inconel, 1x 17-4 and a whole mess of 7075. Some of this may change a bit, still need to work out the optimum setup.

Besides all that it’s been a fun project, I’m on the home stretch, moly coat and a few other odds and ends pending.

 

[FJsapper]

Took some time to get everything dialed in but when it was all said and done I was keeping .002” on the OD and just a touch greater than that on OAL! My machine is missing the cross slide stop, might have to make one up, that would come in handy. I found that my OD form tool would part off my parts automatically which was nice, I’ll need to clean up the points in a second op though.

I dialed everything in on 7075 and when I switched to 17-4 it was a bit of a disappointment on my form drill. Surface finish showed tearing/rubbing. Need to figure out the right speed/feed combo to improve it. I’m not using high pressure coolant at the spec AMEC would like (low pressure flood currently), never seemed to be a problem on the regular spades, just lower insert life, finish was okay. Initially bars were annealed, I baked my them last night to h1150 to see if that helps as well.

 

[just Dave]

Coolant was always a drawback when modern tooling hit W&S. Do you back off just before bottoming ,flush then in and out fast but smooth by hand hard to the stop for a final skim.

 

[FJsapper]

Coolant was always a drawback when modern tooling hit W&S. Do you back off just before bottoming ,flush then in and out fast but smooth by hand hard to the stop for a final skim.

Okay, I’ll give that a try.

 

[FJsapper]

Speed around 300ish, h1150, still lots of chatter, improvement, still not quite there.

 

[just Dave]

You might be setting on the stop a millisecond or so too long, it’s a technique thing. The feed drops out with about 1/16” left before hard stop. How does finish look if you retract quickly when feed drops?

 

[FJsapper]

You might be setting on the stop a millisecond or so too long, it’s a technique thing. The feed drops out with about 1/16” left before hard stop. How does finish look if you retract quickly when feed drops?

Unfortunately it’s chatter city the whole time. The only way I can get a decent finish is by pecking. I could bump my feed up but without significant coolant flow I feel like I’m just going to burn the insert up. I’m wondering if a sharper grind on the insert would help? Thought about maybe tightening up the ram gibs or the ring on the turret but nothing feels loose at all.

 

[Ox]

Slow your speed down?

Running oil in that?

I've never used one of those tips, so IDK if that is a common issue or not.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

 

[FJsapper]

Slow your speed down?

Running oil in that?

I've never used one of those tips, so IDK if that is a common issue or not.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

I’m using TRIM Microsol 690XT a semisynthetic microemulsion, whatever that is . I’ve had good luck with this stuff on spades before, not a form drill tip like this one though. I could certainly try something with heavier weight and see if that helps.

Machine is precision leveled, spade tip is aligned to center of work with an adjustable W&S holder. I have not tried zeroing out the ram travel along it’s full length, maybe that’s the issue? I suppose it could be dead on at the tip of the drill and center of work but is actually out a few thou along the length of cut. I’ll go measure …

Thanks for all the help gentlemen! If you guys are close maybe I’ll come clean out your chip trays or something