Home Made 1911Barrel Fitting Fixture

[Meat Target]

Just finished up my fixture this week. It works like the Weigand fixture but I used a little 6" rotary table for cutting the radius. The fixture is made from precision ground 1" stock because the surface holds the barrel's lower lug parallel to the table. Doing this aligns the hood and lower lug surface without needing to adjust set screws to level the barrel like with the Weigand. This design will also work with any 1911 barrel.

The barrel is held a lot tighter than it looks, you need to pull the barrel perfectly strait up to remove it from the fixture.

The fixture once dialed in allows you to do the following operations:

1. Cut all three surfaces of the hood.
2. Cut the lower lug flat surface and radius.
3. Trim feed ramp to match angle of mag well.

The picture below show the setup for fitting the hood length, cutting the front face of the hood and lower lug surfaces.

The fixture is located on the table by a pin mounted into a cut down MT center, this pin is concentric with the pin on the fixture that locates the barrel using the link pin hole.

To dial in the fixture:

1. Set the table to 0 degrees and place the barrel on the fixture.
2. Adjust the block to be snug against the barrel and tighten down bolts
3. Remove barrel and indicate the fixture using the front face of the block, tighten fixture down to table.
4. Replace barrel, clamp down and indicate the link pin hole to zero the x-y axis.

Fitting the barrel is the same as the Weigand fixture:

1. Fit hood with fixture set at 0 degrees
2. Set fixture CW 1 degree, cut lower lug flat.
3. Return back to zero, rotate fixture CCW 61.5 degrees and cut front surface.
4. Repeat 2-3 as needed.

Setup to cut the back side of the hood you just flip the barrel over.

Setup to trim the feed ramp, just dial in the mag will angle.

[Meat Target]

Here are a few more pictues.

The fixture base is 1" thick to allow for using a micrometer to measure the hood widths without removing the barrel from the fixture.

You can also measure the hood length.

Here is a side shot of the fixture, there is about 0.01" clearance under the round section of the barrel.

[jid2]

Looks nice. That should be a keeper.

[Toolguy]

Great job! That looks like a fine piece of work. I can only see one tiny detail, which might be the camera angle, I can't tell for sure.

In the last picture it kind of looks like it's going down hill to the left. You might want to check that with a dial indicator. If so, taking just a smidge out from under the chamber by the feed ramp would bring it in. Still, some good thinking and very nice machine work!

[Meat Target]

Toolguy,

You are right it was a little crooked. I was throwing parts together for the pictures and the bar was set just a hair too far forward and wouldn't let the barrel sit flat. I readjusted the bar and checked it out on a surface plate and indicator, now its showing flat within a thou or so.

[Toolguy]

OK - that makes sense. I still say a very well thought out and executed project. I don't see any machine marks anywhere, which is kind of amazing, given the clarity and quality of the photography, which is also well above average.

Do you mind telling us where you are?

Edited March 30, 2014 by Toolguy

[Meat Target]

Thanks for the complements, but it sure didn't come out of the mill like that I ended up doing a lot more surface prep than I was intending. I originally wiped on some cold bluing for rust protection and it came out very blotchy, so I stripped it by lightly sandblasting with 100grit and hit the flat areas with a few pass on the surface plate and 1000 emery. There is also a 0.5mil of cobalt plating on everything which helps it look a little cleaner.

I am from Livonia, Michigan.

[donnyglock]

I love the way you can measure without removing barrel from the fixture. Congrats on a well thought out fixture.

[StraightUp_OG]

Pretty fricken' sweet! It sure is much more satisfying to build vs. buy and what Don said!

[ltdmstr]

Very nice. I have the Weigand fixture and it works well, but is a bit tedious to use. I like your design.

[jriera]

Great job!!

If you decide to build more put me on the list!!

[Jediwarrior]

Excellent work!

[midget]

Awesome job!