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Home built CNC Mill - Gonna make a 1911


StraightUp_OG

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So the preload thing is not worth it? Good to know for next time. And the ball screw thing makes sense. When I was assembling my conversion I do recall the slickness of the ball screws and how little it took to move an axis.

Edited by StraightUp_OG
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The hybrid commander is AMAZING it shoots like an open gun. Very fast and flat. I had a buddy of mine (Master Class Open shooter) take it for a test drive and although we did not have a timer on it he had to be doing sub 2 bill drills with it and for a 45acp 4.25" that is rockin! I was shooting 2" off hand at 15 yrds with it. The 2011 45 is also a dream. Shooting 1" groups rested at 25yrds with it and I am very happy with that one as well.

I am really getting excited that my 6" Schuemann barrel is on the way so I can get started on my 6" sight tracker!!!!

I was up at Jeff Abernathy's shop a while back. He was showing me his 6in sight tracker, full dust cover. Start dreaming up the most ridiculous slide lightening ever, the dip on slide return was quite noticeable.

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Reading this topic is like reading a good book or watching a great movie. Ya just cant put it down and you stay totally focused on the content!!

Anybody want to buy my huge 52" Acro Mill so I can buy a Mini Mill???

Great Thread!!

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The thread needed an update:

Still working on the 2 1911's mostly hand work right now. Almost done fitting the GS on the .40 Commander and I still need to cut the Gov. frame down for the comm. slide and do the ball cuts.

The 5' is a .45 Caspian slide that I flat topped cut the sights and french cut. Frame is a SS Nighthawk frame. First time using a Nighthawk and it is pretty nice. Briley barrel and bushing. Still need to finish fitting the lower lugs on the Briley.

Love it when the bench is full of O Frames!!!! :goof:

pair.jpg

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Well I'm one small step closer to getting mine up and running... Got the bench built yesterday...

IMAGE_17B6FC0C-B791-4D0E-A0FF-57EBBCDF59

Think I need to get a lathe up there too, this mill looks too lonely :)

Edited by midget
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I've spent a few days looking at them... I think when it comes time I'm going to have to pony up the money for an old south bend... There doesn't seem to be any entry level lathe that is capable of everything I want :(

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A buddy bought an old Logan and we ran it in my garage for a while. We looked at a bunch of South Bends but they are very crude for what you pay for them around here. The Logan was light years ahead of them capability-wise. One big issue is the spindle bore is too small for rifle work on the little South Bends.

He finally cleared out room in his basement for his Logan and reclaimed it, and I really missed having a lathe.. Finding that Logan was so much work that I said "screw it" and just bought a Grizzly G4003G. The little modern details of the Grizzly make it much more pleasurable to use than the old Logan (power switch on the apron, D1-5 chucks, no need to swap out gears, etc).

Anyway, I would be very unhappy if I had to use one of those little South Bend 9" lathes now.

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If you want to do anything bigger than a handgun you should be thinking 12 to 14 inch swing and 36 to 40 between centers. A 12 X 36 minimum, 14 X 40 is probably the biggest you would need. There are a lot of different machines in that size range. Get the biggest you can afford/have room for. Right now 2 of the better brands of home shop lathes are Grizzly and Precision Matthews. There are lots of others.

A quick change gearbox is mandatory if you want to spend your time making parts instead of messing with the machine. If you have to take gears off and bolt other ones on to make a change you will find yourself "making do" a lot of times with the wrong feeds and speeds because of the gear swapping hassle. If you can get where you're going by shifting levers you will go to the desired one in seconds and move on with your project. It's like shifting gears in a car.

You want a D1-4 or D1-5 spindle nose not a threaded one. Digital readout on the lathe and mill if possible.

Most people can't afford to get everything they want at once, but if you get the right machine to begin with you will have something worth adding to as time goes on. You will be amazed at what you can do with a decent manual lathe.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Alright got another one done and ready for Cerakoting of the upper. The lower is a Nighthawk custom Stainless steel frame. So another two tone jobbie! This is just an honest no frills 5" 45.

And still not sure what to do next but I have a RTS on the way so maybe instead of the limited build I should get cracking on my new open gun. First world problems... ;-P

tpfright.jpg

tpftail.jpg

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