Machsupport Forum
General CNC Chat => Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) => Topic started by: Jugster on May 16, 2012, 11:26:32 PM
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Hey Guys!!! I just wanted to follow up and show a couple of pictures of some completed guns that I done the wood work on. All of these are custom rimfire guns!!!! A good friend of mine is doing the smithing on these and I am doing the wood work. I had posted some pictures on various parts of the forum and I think that I am finally at the right place. Just wanted to say thanks to tweakie cnc and hood whos information has been top notch in working out a few bugs for me. Once again this forum rocks and everyone is great!! Never thought I would be cutting gunstocks!!! Let me know your thoughts!!!!
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I think you should send all of us a gun to check out! ;D
They look great! Good job. As for Tweakie and Hood............... you better watch those guys, they will give you the cnc bug. ;D They are deffinatley two of the finest and that is saying a lot here. Lots of good people here.
Brett
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Excellent work Jugster, superb surface finishing.
Tweakie.
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Nice work on the gun stocks and thanks for posting. Assume they shoot well also and that you made the the rest also.
RICH
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Excellent job, Whole setup is top notch & Love the Aluminum bench rest.
Good thing that's a rimfire because that butt plate would really ruin the day using a large caliber bore.
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Let me say first, that appreciate all of the positvie feedback!!!! :D I will give all of you a little history so you will know how all of this started!!! I have been doing machine tool and die work for almost twenty years now. About five years ago I decided that I was going to learn to draw. Up to then everything that I done unless prints were furnished was drawn on graph paper. That's when I purchased Alibre Design. As I starting digging into it and learning it was almost like a sickness, I spent countless hours eager to learn more. A couple of years passed and then the next thing I knew I was doing mechanical design at work then building and implementing those improvements. What started as improvements eventually turned into complete machines. When the work load became more than I could get done along come the cnc. Hardest thing I ever learned was going from being able to feel the cut on the machine to actually being able to tell what rate to cut at. Drove me insane because the machine would only do what you told it. Enter the cam package!!!! Another all new learning curve. Unfortunately I consider myself to be pretty dumb when it comes to manual g-code. The guys who are proficient at it are like machines!!! My hats off to all of you that are!!!!! Once I had finally gotten the hang of cnc(still not an expert at all!!!!) I got online one night and stumbled across this forum and Mach. I wasn't concerned about the design of the machine because that was what I done on the industrial level. I would do the mechanical design and build then turn it over to the electrical guys for the wiring and the programming. I have had some training on both but I guess its like anything else, if you don't use it you don't grow. Fortunately for me this forum had alot of good information to make me successful. When we started taking some older equipment out of production to intergrate new equipment I gradually started cabaging on to LM guides and things of that nature. Like most I was on a pretty tight budget. Finally I started doing my design based on some components that I had available. My uncle has a shop and sells alot of raw materials so that saved me some cash to. I got an old machine frame with an electrical panel and modified it to fit my gantry machine. After countless hours of machining, wiring, posting questions and reading I finally had a workable machine. Not perfect but a good starting point. My intent was to do 3d reliefs and things of that nature. I purchased V carve pro, with full intentions of getting Aspire. Let me throw in my wife was about to kill me. At this point I had alot of money in all of my software packages and this machine!!! Made her a nice name plate then ended up making one for several of the teachers at school that she worked with. But hey she was off my back!!!!!!!! The guy that's doing the smithing on these was kind of mentor to me years ago. He ran a shop that I worked years ago. I credit him into turning me in to the meticulous person that I am today!!! Like me he had done things conventionally his whole life as well. We had spoken about this machine off and on but he had never saw it. One day my phone rings and he asks me if I could cut a gunstock. My exact words: If I can draw it, I can cut it. Now let me say that in my industrial world most things are basic shapes. Squares, circles, rectangles, cam profiles and things of that nature. I had no idea what I was getting into. I realized that my drawing abilities were about as good g-code abilities. Its been a long hard road for me and at times I was on the verge of insanity. We have been at this for a year and a half and I cant tell you what number stock the last two guns are. I still have the first one I made and when I get broke down I go look at it to see how far we have come. As for the rest, my buddy designed and built those conventionally. I done the engraving on them on my router. I have a laminated wood version of one of them. Don't know if I'll build another one. Countless hours of gluing!!!! Wood has been a whole new animal!!!! Its not like cutting metal. I built my own wood dryer and am getting all of the material from the sawmill green. Its the only way I could afford to do these. Specially with countless prototype models. If anyone is curious these stocks are walnut and cherry. I am hopeful that all of this can turn into something one day. This is just the beginning and I plan to have several pictures to post. As one of you mentioned, its to late the cnc bug has bitten and latched on hard. Now I am wanting to build another a whole lot bigger. Once again thanks for all of the support and helping me make this possible. I've told several of my friends that with this forum anyone could build there own machine. As for sending all of you a gun to try out, if I get to a place where all of this comes together I will be at least sending you all an invite to my neck of the woods to try them out. Thanks for the support and encouragement!!!! ;)
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Continue perfecting your work as i will need a nice pair of checked grips for my pistol I am doing.
No hurry though......figure a few years before i need them.
RICH ;)
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Good story Jugster! Sounds a lot like many of us here. If the cnc bug is a sickness, it is a nice one to have. ;D
You better watch that Rich guy too....................... he is also a bad influence and a dang good one! Before you volunteer to make him any gun parts you better get the specs. first. I have a hunch the checked grips he mentioned are for the pistol he is building that is about as big as your fingernail..................... and it will be fully functional!
All you guys are too much!
Brett
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Brett,
I hear you loud and clear!!!! You know what they say " If it was easy everyone would do it" I've never been one to back down from a challenge!!!!!!! There were several comments about the rest. I thought that it would only be right to show some pictures of the latest version. One on the stocks in the previous post was built specifically for this new design. However the picture of that didn't give it the recognition it deserved. So I am going to post some pictures that will shed some light on that!!! I hope you all enjoy!!! Keep in mind this rest was conventially machined by a good friend and I hope you all can appreciate the hours of work that it took. I believe the cnc bug is about to bite him!!!! This combo was featured at sanctioned ARA shoot this past weekend and I believe that several people took notice. I hope so at least!!! I would love to focus on things of this nature. Thanks for all of the comments and replies. You guys are what keeps me striving to do more!!!
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Very nice. I've always been a fan of engine turning. Looks like you have put allot of care into making a fine piece. Thank you for sharing with us!
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I hope you all can appreciate the hours of work that it took.
Wow!!! That is impressive to say the least. :o
I believe the cnc bug is about to bite him!!!!
You will be doing him a big favor infecting him IMO!!! ;D If you arm your friend wih a CNC he will be lethal......................... I mean 007 lethal. If not, take his CNC away and walah..... you can call him James. ;D
Brett
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Ditto on the WOW!!! That is just gorgeous work :o
Dave
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Certainly a nice rest and surely an eye catcher.
RICH
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:o :o Awe man I so want to be able to do that! I have a CNC 5 axis and mach 3. I wouldnt even know where to start :-\ What would be some advice for someone just starting out? Those Stocks are sweet! My dad had a saw mill for 35 years so I have literally tens of thousands of board feet of beautiful black/english walnut that is just dieing to be something! Maybe one day. You have inspired me.
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Well if your looking for help or advice you came to the right place!!! This place is loaded with knowledge and full of people that are willing to help. Once all of these guys helped me get my machine running, my biggest challenge was learning how to draw these stocks that I posted pictures of. I am self taught and have never had any type of formal training on cad or cam. Its all been trial and error for me. A very painful trial and error!!!!!LOL!!!! The best advice I can give is not to sell yourself short, if you think you can and give it your best effort you will most likely succeed. As far as the little bumps in the road, post your questions here and you will find answers. Most likely a whole lot them. A lot of the people here cut there teeth on hand written G-code. For me I rely on cam package to create most of my programs. There are alot of good programs available. Also there are alot of good plugins with mach that will allow you to get a good start. We all had to start somewhere so just dive in. I am pretty certain you can't post question on this forum that someone here can't answer. If theres something that I can do to help feel free to contact me. Good Luck!!!
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What would be some advice for someone just starting out?
You will need to learn CAD 2D & 3D and a CAM program. You need to be able to make a 3D object of the part and then use a program to convert that into gcode. There are no shortcuts to all this or some magical program that does it in a few mouse clicks.
Enjoy the learning experience,
RICH
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Hey you guys are great! I'm glad to see that there are still kind people willing to share and help people out who are just getting started. I really like learning and being self taught IMO is way cooler even if it is painfull lol. I would rather get help from good people instead of a formal setting anyway. Builds great friendships. Thanks for the advice! This brings me to a question or two. Number one is more curiosity then wanting to get started with it, I better start off with a little simpler stuff but it has been on my mind.
1. Where the heck do you start with a gunstock, cutting out? I mean you have both sides, and the the top and bottom. Sounds like lots of flips,turns,tool changes, twist,combinations of curse words, holding your mouth just right!?
2. Can you point me to any good places that explain MACH plugins. Or good ones to implement. I know essentially what plugins are but never used or experienced them with mach.
3. What is a good CAD maybe free to start using. I am playing around with CAMBAM and was thinking about buying TurboCAD around $150. Are all these CADS essentially the same? I thought that maybe any would do for what i need as far as starting out.
4. Thanks to all the great people that help one another!
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Where the heck do you start with a gunstock,
You first DESIGN the gunstock. ;)
RICH
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;D Sho nuff! lol
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I am running Alibre cad/cam. They have a thirty day trial on there expert version
And also have a hobby version. I started with the trial version several years ago.
The tutorials are great and should get you started. After thirty days you will know if you want to purchase it or not
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MAn Ill go check that out Thanks! I was thinking about buying a TurboCAD v17 for like 40 bucks and then they have TurboCAD v19 for 99 bucks. Would it really matter starting out between the two? they are both 2d/3d. I think Ill check out the CAD/CAM you suggested though first.
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My advice would be try the different demos and find which one clicks for you.
Several are capable and everyone has there preference. I choose Alibre because I use it at the industrial level.
Integrated cam was a bonus for me. It's all in what your familiar with and what works for you!!!!
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Hey Jugster, where you located? Good to see some stock work here. I haven't been on in years but just recently had the need to come back into the fold. If you give me permission, I will post a few of mine here, if not, that is ok. Bench stocks like yours as well as a couple hunting plinking stocks.
Mike
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Turmite,
Post away my friend!!!! Unlike some of the other forums I have posted on, everyone on this one are friends!!!! :) I'm in Kentucky!!! I would love to see some other stocks that people have done!!! After all that's what inspires us to get to the next level. I would be interested to know what software your using to design yours. I look forward to seeing the pictures!!!!!
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Thanks for the invite. I use Rhino 3d for my design and Madcam a plugin for Rhino as my cam. Here are a few I do. The first one was for a rimfire sporter for IR 50/50 and the blue on is based on a centerfire bench design I came up with. Next is a set of spalted english walnut grip panels for 1911s, and last is my latest creation. Took forever to get the model close, as it is still not perfect. I built this gun for a local high school trap shooting team to raffle off and that is about to start. I wish I could enter and win, but probably not a good idea! ;)
(http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q188/turmite/jeff002.jpg)
(http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q188/turmite/apexb1.jpg)
(http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q188/turmite/Donnasgrips.jpg)
(http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q188/turmite/Rafflecomplete.jpg)
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Couldn't edit. but needed to add, that until last week, my controller was Mach 2......yes, Mach2. My old computer died and now I am struggling to make the move to Mach3. Anyone who reads this and is a kind hearted soul with lots of brain power, well, you get the picture!
Mike
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Excellent workmanship Mike.
Tweakie.
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Nice work on the gunstocks.
Was the checkering done by hand or CNC?
RICH
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Mike,
Your work is excellent!!! I'm glad to see someone that shares my interest!!! I have got some pictures that I'm going to add!! I posted one of these previously but in the wrong in place. Keep in mind that this gun only had the lind seed oil applied and not the final finish. Also I'm going to show one of the shooting rest in a wooden version. Unfortunately its changed since then, but I have been dragging my feet a little on this one. I hope everyone can appreciate the hours I spent just glueing all of this together. I hope everyone enjoys!!!
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Guys!!!
Here is a picture of the wooden version of the shooting rest. Unfortunately alot of things have changed already on this, but I do plan on putting it to use when I get it completed!!!! It still needs some steel wooling and several coats of poly. I hope everyone can appreciate the hours of glueing and helicoiling it took to get it to this level. Thanks!!!!!!!
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Sorry!!!
I'm having some trouble posting the pics!!! :)
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Rich the checkering was done by hand, but I hope to try my hand, er, cnc at it sometime in the future. I have a new water cooled atc with a whole lot less run out than my PC has so maybe the checkering and cutting of guitar fretboard fret slots will go much smoother.
Jugster that looks like a 3 piece laminate of walnut using a fore end much like a McMillan Edge stock and sporting a turbo rimfire action??? Close? ;D
I will show some more later, but can't keep my eyes open now.
Mike
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Mike,
I would say your pretty close on the action!!!! Its actually a custom 10X. I think that it was based on the Turbo though. Forgive me, I not that up to date on all the components. My smithing buddy just usually brings me the action, barrel, and trigger guard. Then I just make it work. As for as the the stock, I really couldn't say. All I can say is that all of our stocks have been drawn from scratch depending on the customer. There are actually six pieces of walnut in the last stock that I posted. What type of spindle did you switch? I have been really debating stepping up to the tool changer style as it would drastically cut the amount of time that I had to be available for the tool change. Thanks for your comments!!!!
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Hi jugster,
I bought one of the water cooled atc from Asia. I say Asia because the parts for it was made in Japan and assembled in China, shipped to California then on to me! It used ER20 or 25 collets and uses a pull stud collet holder.
I am considering going to a 6 axis robot. I have a Bobcat T250 skid steer track machine that if I can sell, I will consider the jump. Not so much for the stock part of my business, but I also carve foam for sports car bodies to use for the buck to make molds from.
I shut my stock business down 4 yrs ago to take care of my dying wife who had breast cancer. Lost her about 18 months ago and am just now beginning to start the rebuilding of the business. My intent was to rebuild the rifle stock portion first, and sell it for a little then repeat with my pistol grip line, and after that concentrate on my foam. The foam took off so fast I can't spend enough time on my stock portion.
Mike
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Mike,
If possible could you send me some info on the atc? Website or something of that nature
Thanks,
Jamie
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Jamie, send me your email via pm.
Mike
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Its been awhile since Ive posted anything on this thread. Im posting a picture of a stock that I recently cut. I had been wanting to do this for a couple of years now, and I finally got around to doing. I actually finshed it on the July 4. Kind of ironic considering the theme of the stock. The relief is mirrored on the opposing side as well, along with the lettering down the forearm. The lettering is 1/8 thick white maple and I trimmed each letter by hand for fit up. That's the glory of wood. Cut to size one day and give it a week or two and it will change. :D :D :D The reliefs of the eagles are oak. The center section of the stock is oak, and the outside pieces are walnut. This one tops off the most time involved in one to date. I cut the lettering pockets with a 1/16 end mill and had to switch software mid stream to do it. This one will be mine. LOL I had plans of doing another theme stock after this, but Ive put that on hold. Hope everyone enjoys. When the build is completely finished I will post some pics.
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Very nice!