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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Gunsmithing
Lathe and Mill Recomendations??
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<blockquote data-quote="Hired Gun" data-source="post: 1159868" data-attributes="member: 1290"><p>A CNC is great at doing repetitious work. Not so good at individual custom one off jobs which by definition every single barrel we work on is. No two are ever the same. </p><p> </p><p>Here is the direction went. When we got to the point we wanted to do precision barrel work. I spent $11,000 on a SunMaster ERL-1340 lathe. For us it is a total luxury item. I had mine custom made and shipped from Taiwan with a 7 1/2 horsepower motor, VFD for infinite speed control, a DRO and it weighs over 2200 pounds. It looks a lot like a Clausing Colchester except this one has no wear and I can buy parts for should I ever need them. It's never been crashed and I know it's been over maintained. I power it with a 15 horse digital controlled American Rotary phase converter. I also built a 2 horse high pressure filtered flush system to put pressurized cutting fluid through the barrel at 100 psi while chambering. </p><p> </p><p>I could have made due with a machine half it's cost but am so glad I went this way. It's a pleasure to the eye and even better to operate. It's been flawless for 7 years so far and cuts impressively smooth. I can contour barrels with it and they come out smooth before ever seeing sand paper. One unusual one that stands out was an 18" 22LR barrel that was only .437" in diameter for a Marble's Game Getter. We actually built both barrels for it. In a real machine shop I suppose it wouldn't be worthy for very long but I expect this one to last a couple generations of small gunsmiths. </p><p> </p><p>At the same time I bought the lathe I was lucky to find a preowned but never powered up PM 9x49 variable speed knee mill with DRO for $5000.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hired Gun, post: 1159868, member: 1290"] A CNC is great at doing repetitious work. Not so good at individual custom one off jobs which by definition every single barrel we work on is. No two are ever the same. Here is the direction went. When we got to the point we wanted to do precision barrel work. I spent $11,000 on a SunMaster ERL-1340 lathe. For us it is a total luxury item. I had mine custom made and shipped from Taiwan with a 7 1/2 horsepower motor, VFD for infinite speed control, a DRO and it weighs over 2200 pounds. It looks a lot like a Clausing Colchester except this one has no wear and I can buy parts for should I ever need them. It's never been crashed and I know it's been over maintained. I power it with a 15 horse digital controlled American Rotary phase converter. I also built a 2 horse high pressure filtered flush system to put pressurized cutting fluid through the barrel at 100 psi while chambering. I could have made due with a machine half it's cost but am so glad I went this way. It's a pleasure to the eye and even better to operate. It's been flawless for 7 years so far and cuts impressively smooth. I can contour barrels with it and they come out smooth before ever seeing sand paper. One unusual one that stands out was an 18" 22LR barrel that was only .437" in diameter for a Marble's Game Getter. We actually built both barrels for it. In a real machine shop I suppose it wouldn't be worthy for very long but I expect this one to last a couple generations of small gunsmiths. At the same time I bought the lathe I was lucky to find a preowned but never powered up PM 9x49 variable speed knee mill with DRO for $5000. [/QUOTE]
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Lathe and Mill Recomendations??
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