Cat,
Try the alumium Lee molds for reboring - cuts cleanly & easily, comes with handles, cheap. 

For the .310 cadet, I rebored a Lee mold by centering the blocks in the 4-jaw chuck (tedious). The boring tool was turned from a piece of round rod and the cutting edge formed by filing the end to 1/2 the diameter. 

The next thing I'd like to try is making a point pour mold with one of these.
Regards, Ron

Ron, Irish66

I may well have to do the Lee's.  I've got some 6061 and finaly got a lead on getting some 7075; and doing in a few Lee's would be a good warm-up before putting ALL the work into a mould.

I also have a .310 cadet for which I want to open up a 311316 on the front band and make a custom H&I die so I can size (to two diameters) and inside lube.  Might work; I just have to know.

I'm getting better at centering the moulds in the 4 jaw chuck, practice has helped.

And I've now got in stock 3/8, 1/2 and 3/4" three foot lengths of A2.

Next step is milling off about half the round (tilting down by 5-8 degrees and milling a flat on the top on which to index) and the to grind the profile of the cutter.  (I'll take pictures of the boring bar holder I made for these.)

Going to start with two custom cutters - one to do the ogive (after drilling/boring) and the other to do the whole base - two bands and one groove in one step.

A2 is certainly the concensus for these (considering my inexperience).  Hardening and tempering is something I understand but don't have the experience nor have the temperature control to do a consistant job on -- I'll farm that out to someone close who has an excellent reputation.  Down the road I may mess with it.

THANKS for the input!  Progress is slow, but it's one step at a time and so far with little backtracking.

The benefit of a full profile is that it will be the same for all cavities; the problems obviously include chatter.

David, with a wider cutter how do you address that - what speeds for which materials, lubes?

For a lathe cutter I can see winging it to start with - thanks for the technique - but when I get to doing a cherrie with 3, 5 or 6 teeth - then I'll let someone do it professionally.

I'm always amazed at the level of precision achieved by folks in the 1800's with the tools they had; and I temper that with the fact that new tools are ALL made with old tools.

Cat Whisperer (and all others) if you need small amounts of any sort of metal, (7075 included) you can buy from Speedy Metals online.  My favorite source for gunsmithing metal these days.   

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Now, for mould making in aluminum, I reckon I'd use 2024 alloy.  Cuts very clean, like brass.  Chips don't get stringy or gummy like 6061 can. Wonderful stuff.   

7075 is great for aircraft structures, but you don't need the tensile strength for a mould.   

Cat_Whisperer wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2007 at 9:33am:


I'm running my lathe about 120 rpm, re-cutting old Lyman moulds that have been abused in their previous life.  An end view of the cutter is essentially a D shape...to just under half the diameter of the steel "bullet".  For lube on these, I use Brownells Do-Drill, then soak the completed mould in solvent to remove the oil before use.

David
Montezuma, IA

Use kerosene on cast iron

Cat_Whisperer wrote on Jun 5^th, 2007 at 1:28pm:


Back when I worked the nuclear bidness, we called it having a DF Attack. The D stands for Dumb of course, the F stands for.............I can't say the word here........but I tell My Daughter it stands for Fool, to spare her the more explicit description............I have had many of these over the years and I know the feeling all too well..............it don't get no better, unfortunately.
Regards, Joe

DD - thanks!  (I have a mil and have considered using the rotary table for this type of operation - in addition to using a double acting vice and simply using a boring bar.)

Thanks,  I'd heard of that book, so looks like I'll have to chase one down.

Shameless plug for my employer here:  Brownells, (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links), has all three volumes, and flat rate U.S. shipping.  Enter "Lautard" in the Search block on the website.

David 
Montezuma, IA

What Keith said, and plenty of it!
Regards, Joe

Those lathe boring bars, and the holder, look very nicely done!

Is that first boring bar a commercial holder? Carbide insert, I assume?
I've been looking for one simillar that I can afford for a while... too cheap to pony up so far.

Paul F.

Cat, I can tell from looking at your tools that you're the sort of fellow that will really enjoy Guy Lautard's books. I started buying them back about 20 yrs ago or more as I remember, and eagerly await each new one. The guy is not a gunsmith per se nor is he what I call a toolmaker, but his writing is the stuff of genius IMO. He takes an eminently practical approach to almost every challenge and shows and/or suggests ways for the average fellow to accomplish wonders using fairly unsophisticated methods and tooling.

Among other things of interest is a description of how to color-case-harden, in a backyard oven, carbon steel such as the Sharps 1878 Borchardt action he describes barreling to 30-40. His reprinting of the famous J.M. Pyne stories by Lucian Carey have become modern classics and his own fiction writing is also entertaining, or at least it was for me.
Money WELL spent IMO, regards, Joe