GunLab

The great library project

For those of you here at the last SAR get together you would have seen a couple of new building projects. I have a thing about books and magazines. I am a knowledge junkie and it shows. Actually it has gotten out of hand. So, to deal with the problem I have spent one day a weekend, sometimes only 1/2 of a day depending, and started a library project.

Gun books

And more gun books

Military manuals

Pictures I have taken over the years as well as scanned documents.

My office

A quick video on just how bad it is.

The going’s on at gun lab, end of year report (late)

This is an end of year update for what has been happening at Gun Lab.

This last year has been a very busy one. The VG1-5 is moving along. We have programmed the Sharps machining center to make the hand guards, video coming soon. A new welding fixture has been made to straighten and weld up the Vg1-5 receiver, again another video is coming. A great deal of time and effort was spent on the fluting press and new fluting tool design as well as the procedure we use to actually do the fluting. There has been a video on that and it works perfectly.

The hot forging press has had its hydraulics hooked up and tested. There are a couple of dies in the design phase for the next major rifle project, solid models are complete.

The new storage room is complete and filled.

The library is being worked on.

My work load has been massive, but I have promised one of my loyal followers , one of 5 that I have, some kind of update.

SAR show 2017

Well the SAR show is over and everyone is now heading home or all ready there. This is the run down from the entire weekend.

Starting on Wednesday we have a little pre SAR machine gun shoot. Everything went perfect with the shoot, the weather was absolutely the best with a little cloud cover and no wind. Once again we took out the Gerat 06 rifles for everyone to try out. There were the usual MG42’s and 34’s, Brens and Lewis guns, a very nice 08 Maxim, 1919’s as well as a few cannons. And an assortment of sub-machine guns. Everyone had a great time.

At the show I was able to obtain some more for the Farquhar Hill rifle. I still need a bolt. If anyone knows where one is at please let me know.

I also picked up a few examples for the reference collection.

Some more books and manuals were also gotten for the library.

The Saturday pizza party went over very well. A number of people brought some very interesting items to show everyone.

This is a very nice Scotti X

A pair of Lecker pistols. One civilian and one military.

In addition the new Cetme L was also at the show and party. I had an opportunity to shoot it at the Wednesday shoot. I can’t wait to get one. It looks and functions great.

It was a great show, a great party and a great shoot. I am counting down the days until the next show.

Part 2 on the VG1-5 barrel fluting

In the last post I talked about the new fluting tool and press. This post is about the actual process.

This is a short video showing the speed and ease of fluting with the new system.

Update on fluting the VG1-5 barrels

The better part of this last year has been spent on the VG1-5 barrel fluting system. A great deal of work has been spent coming up with new designs for the fluting press. A number of prototypes have been made and abandon. In addition the actual fluting tool has been redesign more times then I would care to count. In a previous post I talked about the final design for the fluting tool, http://gunlab.net/wp-admin/post.php?post=7435&action=edit.

Here is the design for the final design for the actual machine.

This is a series of pictures showing the components as they were being made.

The fluting tool mounted in the upper press.

The 3 jaw chuck mounted in the lower portion of the new press table.

This is how the assembly looks all together.

a quick video

I need to give a special thanks to the people that help with this project. First is John C. who idea and basic design we used.

Second is to John D. for helping with the tool material and heat treating specs.

Last but not least is to Gordey for coming up with the new press concept.

They are all friends of Gun Lab and much appreciated.

CNC Router update

Wally, a friend of gun lab, has spent a great deal of time trying to sort out all the issues between Mach 4, the smooth stepper board, and windows 10. To say that it has been a challenge would be a major understatement. There have been 214 upgrades to the smooth stepper board alone plus the upgrades to Mack 4. In addition the lap top computer I obtained needed to be seriously gone through. Well he stopped by on Saturday and we were able to run the cnc router with a basic program for the first time. There is no router in it, just testing and calibrating the machine. A few things still let to do. The limit switches need to be set up as do the homing switches.

More VG1-5 updates

With the completion of the mechanical portions of the cnc router it the computer portions have been being worked on. The router original used a Mach 3 operating system with an older style break out board. We upgraded the computer systems and well as the mechanical systems and have a real issue ever since. Wally, a friend of gun lab, has been working on the issue. He has made some head way, but for every step forward he hits another issue. So while he fights his way through this we are back making the hand guards the manual way.

Starting with the sized wooden blocks and a drawing.

It is put on the manual mill and machined.

The final out come is the holes machined for the washer and the internals machined.

From here it will go to the machining center to do the final shaping.

Another weekend has come and gone

A number of projects have been worked on this weekend. I took a number of pictures and videos but I just wanted to share this with you instead. The work for the weekend is done and my wife and I are setting on our patio enjoying this beautiful Arizona evening.

I will try and make a post tomorrow.

Weekend update

This was a weekend of building and equipment repair. The air system went out on the Sharps machining center. So out with the old and a completely new regulator, filter and oiler went on.

The switch went out on the grinder, new switch time. To attach it to the pedestal, the previous owner used bolts with square nut. He attached the grinder to the plate and then another set of bolts to hold the plate to the stand. With everything rusted it took a little longer then I would have liked. So a new switch, new wiring and re-drilled and taped the holes for cap screws.

Not exciting , but things that have to be done.

Testing the Gerat 06 prototypes

I spent Saturday out at the shooting area testing the 3 Gerat 06 prototypes.

There is the standard to set the example by and that is the MP-44.

Starting at the top is the 2nd prototype.

2nd down is the STG 45

3rd down is the MP-44

4th is the 1st model prototype

5th down is the 3rd model prototype

The day was spent shooting the individual rifles to test for proper operation, functioning and handling. There were a couple of issues that were uncovered in one of the rifles. The problems will be address and fixed. There is still a great deal more testing to perform before the final style will be actually made into the 14 examples that we are going to make.

Here is a video of the shoot.

Recent Posts

Categories