I am not going to do a library post today. Instead I am going to post about my day yesterday.
I had the opportunity to chat with a great design team that has been working on some new magazine and weapon designs that unfortunately at this point I can not go into. However, what I can talk about is what I learn in the few hours that I was able to spend with them. I realize that I have so much more to learn that I can not possible get to where I want to be in my life time. Just the few minutes we spent with them talking about magazine design open my eyes to what I have been doing wrong in some of my own designs. There help way beyond measure and with the insight provided I can now continue with my 7.62x54r Bren gun magazine design.
They were able to help me find other contractors that could help with wire EDM and deep hole drilling problems that we have been having. Finding good sub contractors is really a task. We have been looking for a good deep hole drilling company for quite some time. With there knowledge I will be able to take the next step on the FG-42 first model. The conversion about dwell time open my eyes to a way to correct a design problem that we have been having with a new rifle project that we are working on.
The wire EDM guy they are using understands the accuracy needs that we are facing on one of our projects as well as the grinding and heat treating requirements that we need. The conversation concerning steels and heat treating was just great.
I was able to test fire there newest design which is better then anything else that I have shot recently. It is truly years ahead of the rest of the weapons designs out there.
One of the services they offered and I will take them up on is their use of their high speed camera. With this service I can now take detail pictures of the weapons we make making. This will answer a number of questions for us concerning the design and operation of our guns.
I just hope that I did not embarrass myself to much as to not be allowed to come back and talk with them again. I really enjoy the time I spent with people that know there stuff. I always feel a little less then adequate after a day like today, not because of anything they said or did but because of what they open my eyes to.
I hope in the future I can mention the design team by name. These are the type of people that truly make the world turn on its axis. Great men just designing and building with no fan fare.I hope that in some small measure we are able to help them continue with there project.
And as if this day could get no better I received a call from one of the members of this site and we went into the some of the problems that we have been dealing with concerning our stampings. The knowledge that he shared with me dealing with sheet metal and stamping has truly helped in the design of the next set of dies we make.
This day was just GREAT. What I hope to do with this site is to present you with the kind of information I obtained today. I know that my post today does not do the day justice. However, I have written down two pages of notes of information that I have learned today and in the future will be able to incorporate that knowledge into the designs that we build here.
Thanks again to everyone for making this a great day.
i have always been fascinated about what makes a good magazine work well
what did they tell you about the 7.62x54r Bren gun magazine design ?
Ian McCollum also has a high speed camera , i dont know how practical it would be but if you ask i would assume he will help you ?
don’t worry too much about embarrassing yourself too much , as long as you aren’t a complete asshole or burned their place down you will be allowed to come back and talk with them again (or skype them)
what did you learn from the call you received from one of the members of this site about sheet metal and stamping ?
can we see the pages of notes of information that you have written down , a picture of a scan will do ?
It was not the 7.62×54 magazine itself but what make a good magazine over all. I am going to start cutting windows into a variety of magazines to look at the layout of the cartridges and how the follower works in conjunction with it.
I have know Ian for years. He plans on doing high speed stuff on our weapons both the ones we make and the reference collection. This camera is more then twice the speeds of Ian’s and will allow use to better look and study the operation of our weapons.
The site member that helped came up with some suggestions concerning stamping and the material to use. I will be have a much more detailed conversation in the future. I am hoping that I can get him to write up an article in the future.