BH's new hobbies..

[BlackHawk*K]

believe it or not, this one dosnt realy involve a computer :::gasp::: i know i know it took my wife a week to quite talking towards the computer area and then realizing i wasnt there...

it all started with a neighbor... who had this nasty habbit of making cannons..... does a damn nice job too i might add. he has a crafstman 6" atlas lathe in his garage as well as a milling machine and i would go over and pester him while he built things i started talking about getting one myself becuse it would come in handy for scratch built RC projects etc. so he sold me his old (1948)crafstman AA 109 lathe he had for $50 bucks... now this lathe is worth at least $250+ but becuse was so intersted in the hobby he decided to cut me a deal. ( hmm maybe it was to get me the hell out of his garage...? ) it need a lot of work but after building new parts and some clean up and some new paint this is what i ended up with..



its by no means finished on the repair list. but limited funds means i have to space out repairs, on a good note. at least its in limited working condition if you hold your tongue just right and do the right things at the right times lol. so the fun began......

i actualy decided on a pretty steap project to start on. probably screw it up royaly before im done, but hey its all a learning thing right? so starting a civil war cannon... scaled down of course. i can only put 12 inches center to center without the chuck hehe. otherwise... who knows..

so i finished my turning my barrel today. its out of stress proof steel. looks nifty and shiney. still need to tap the fuse hole and put the bearing pivots on the sides. will post pics as i get to that. and yes. this will fire a ball bearing when im done... it should be a true black powder cannon. just mini sized.

here is a pic of the barrel


more updates as i get more done.. till then... good hunting!!

[Softball]

Nice!

Looking good there BH. I can't wait to see the finished product. Maybe you can make a few cannons and see if you can sell them? ;)

[VEGETA]

My brother would kill to get his hands on that. Brother is a tool and dyd maker, is is looking now for a mill to buy, one he looked at sat is 600 lb to heavy to get to basement lol. But hey lathe and mills relay na't changed in 100 years. Hell Brother and I where at the henry ford museum near me here and mills and laths there where the same as ones produced today, not much differences so you got a STEAL on that.

Honestlay I want a a lathe and small mill as well for personal projects, so hope you have fun with it. Working with your hands is a great fealing. Brother father and myself have built houses and fixed cars and all sort of jack of all trades, so love to modify things and ya know hoe much fun doing stuff like that is. Hope you have great fun.

[Grifter]

That's just frick'n cool. LOL Looking forward to seeing the rest.

[BlackHawk*K]

Thanks guys. will post the pics as i get em. like i said the project is a bit steep for a noob such as myself hehe.

Veg, i would figure you would build a hmmm paint ball gatlin gun or something of that sort

yea lathes havnt changed alot over the 50 years or so. in fact alot of the 30-50s lathes are alot better quality. keep in mind most manual lathes are for hobbiests now days since the advent of CNC machines etc.

[VEGETA]

I would not say that but its been regulates to more custom work. A guy on a lath can pump out a one of a kind item before a guy can make a program to make it on a CNC toy, you got to make more then 1 then CNC way to go. Brother works with CNC at work, he wants to go to store to be a programmer for them, not just a operator. But you are right brother getting a mill soon, hoping by easter as I have a few paintball guns I want to adjust lol. I would use a mill and Lath to make custom paintball items, brother already planing smiler mods for paintball stuff, he is as bad as me when it comes to paintball.

[BlackHawk*K]

i did find a few good web sites for cheap tools and assesories etc.

for a small cheap mill i recomend the central machinary 44991-9VGA mill for $500.00 it does a real nice job. its the mill my neighbor got. it has alot more spead and more sturdy then the cheaper model the same size..

ive gotten parts from this place.
( my drill press and milling vise for instance.)
http://www.harborfreight.com/

for lathe chucks and bits etc...
i order from these folks... realy nice to work with i might add.
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/

not sure what the shipping differences to canada are though so something to keep in mind.

[BlackHawk*K]

uhg.. step foward 2 steps back.. polished the barrel a bit more today. looks a little nicer. turned the lathe into a dividing machine with a printed protractor on a peice of plexi glass behind the chuck hehe. suprisingly that worked realy well. so i have the sides marked where i got to put the pivots for the barrel hings... so thats the step forward.. i completly messed up on my elevation screw.... its the screw at the back of the barrel to elavate it. its a screw with 4 little handles..
the problem is this... i get it turned. and thread the screw to a 10/32 get it all shiney and cool looking, but i cant seem to drill the 4 holes strait or in equal parts UHGG!! so after maken the thing twice and screwing it up its back to the drawing board and trying again tommarow.... win some lose some

by the way, to get an idea this is what im trying to build LOL...
http://www.historical-firearms.co.uk/ac ... 5Close.jpg

maybe i should of tried a navel one first

[BlackHawk*K]

update...

wagon wheels are a pain in the a$$!!

lol. but i got em done.. these are 14 spoke wheels i have the brass metal rims around the outer edges. just need to do the little metal circles on the hub... i also got the tow hitch done but will post a pick of that as it gets farther along.

[BlackHawk*K]

damn was going to post an update but photobucket is down for maintence tonight

Got the trunions install on the bannon barrel. and the fuse hole drilled.
( that means , yes, it will fire now. i was worried about breaching the barrel with the trunions but that didnt happen. they were drilled and threaded just fine and they are nice and snug fit.. the drill hole had to be deepened to hit the fuse hole but that all worked out. )

got a whole herd of rought pieces cut so now its alot of grinding, drilling and sanding and polishing... ( got to love brass.... should of went with paint lol )

Got the elevator screw made up. ( that was a pain.. silver solder is my FRIEND! ) got the solder scraped off and got it polished up so its looking good.

test fitted the frame togather. its looking good but needs some adjustments.

will post some photos tommarow is photobucket is back up.

[BlackHawk*K]

as promised above. more pics... this is just a mock up to see how peices are fitting so far.

[VEGETA]

so is there a kit to buy for making these things, somthing with lots raw parts ?? noticed instructions for cannon in background in a pic, and those press peats are not from your toy. Still looks absolutely amazing

[BlackHawk*K]

you can buy kits... but this is NOT a kit. each peice is made from scratch stock.

about the only way im 'cheating' is by using 1/16" by 1/4" stips and the brass nuts and allthread for the chassis. the barrel was turned from 1" stress proof steel. all the wood chunkies are from 3/4 stock maple except for the hubs. they are 2"x2" maple peices spun to spec.

the elevator screw for the barrel was a solid peice of brass turned down, drilled for the handles and then used die to thread it. the lower 'nut' peice you see was solid piece drilled to a 26 degree angle and then tapped. then milled with my drill press and a cross slide vise. ( becuse an actualy mill is expensive lol )

as for plans.. i was given these on a CD of other cannon pics. but they do have yahoo groups as well, i havnt joined any yet but i might

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Model_Cannons

its been a realy cool process so far. very challenging on trying to figure out how to produce the parts and make it look as real as possible. this isnt even close to done yet. i have all the hooks and chains etc to do.

BTW. the hex nuts wont be like that. they didnt have hex nuts back then, they were all square so i even have to machine the stupid nuts lol.

if you are realy interested veg, the plans are in pic format. i could probably post em for you.

[Softball]

I have to say, that's very impressive BH. Good job man! You should make a bunch and sell em. ;)

[BlackHawk*K]

considering there is a weekend in the wheels alone im not sure i would make a killen or anything lol. i might consider it once i get it down a little better and find some short cuts that makes it faster and just plain get better for a higher quality. my buddy sold one he made for 2500.00 so the possibility is defently there.

By the way i was thinking about something... anyone have perhaps detailed blueprints or something similiar to a mech? something to scale or something would be realy cool.. an aluminum and brass madcat would be REALY COOL

[VEGETA]

well to be hoenst great work looks like a kit or bought pieces to be honest. Only reason I asked is because I saw plans of sorts so thought maybe some parts are bought. Just doing the berrel niceley is impressive to say the least but everying, nice job. So when dose mine arive

[BlackHawk*K]

havnt found one that fires paintballs yet veg ;)

[BlackHawk*K]

progress...

lots and lots of little parts. but its starting to look like its supposed to. its realy comen along considering its my first. i guess all the wood carving, model car building and general construction is all comen in handy


here are some pics of my recent progress.

[BlackHawk*K]

browned the barrel and axle shafts today. also working on the hing tops for the barrel plus other tiny irrititating parts.... note... dont try to polish small parts without a very FIRM grip...... little brass parts are hard to find after they fling across the garage and bounce of 2 walls before comen to rest......

[Bronurstomp]

Very nice BH! Remind me to send you some canon fuse!
I'm working on a HO scale model railroad. I'll send some pictures next time.
Bron