Things around the shop have been hectic. Videos have been taken of all the parts that have been made and I am going through them as fast as possible. However, here are some pictures of the progress on making the type 99 magazine.
This is how live as a pressing die started out. This same size of block was used for both the top and bottom plates.
This is how it looked after rough machining. It still needs the finish pass. That is completed with 1/4″ ball nose end mill at .008 step over. Just the finish pass will take 1 1/2 hours.
With this picture you can see the resemblance to the actually magazine.
This is the finish male die. All we need to do now is de-bur and mount on the die plate.
Hope you enjoyed the update more coming soon.
Once again if these turn out to be usable I would be greatly interested in purchasing some.
How are you going to control sheet metal flow into the die to prevent wrinkling and tearing? Don’t see a stamping bead; are those serrations going to restrain sheet flow through some kind of clamping mechanism? Generally speaking, you need higher sheet metal flow to the corners while restraining metal flow to the middles in this kind of prismatic stamping.
The serrations will have no effect on the die, it is actually quite smooth. This is straight machining and no hand polishing.
Some of the question that you bring up we have also asked. I do not have an answer for you at this time but we will after we after our first run. I will keep you up to date of our progress.
Looks sharp. I recognize the scenery…Haas mill with dual Kurt vices. Same setup I use at work.
Hello Matt. Yes it is a Haas, the other is a Sharp 2412. The Haas has high speed capability and that just scares the you know what out of me when it runs like that.
Looks good. Imagine the time it took back then to make stamping dies like this!
once again beautiful work!! very high quality die. I look forward to seeing the magazines come out the assembly line. very impressive, Chuck
Thanks for the support. I hope to stamp this weekend. Had to surface grind the back of the die today.
Will the rectangular metal reinforcing (seam ?) that goes around the original be put on your mag.?? It is about 0.75 in from the lip.
Yes it will be. We are working on that now.
i have a friend who has a semi 99 and needs mags
Chuck,
All I can say is you will have a license to make money if these work !! What you have so far looks AMAZING !!! Most people have 1 ” Original ” magazine if that, for there Transferable Type 99 LMG and I’m sure everyone will want a few more…
On a side note, the Magazines had the serial number of the gun on them and above it I think was the Magazine number ( 1 to 12 or 16 I think depending on how many Magazines were ordered with the Original Gun ) I know this would add more labor on your side but have you thought about adding a option for you to stamp the Magazines with the Serial Number of the Gun and also if someone was ordering say 10 Magazines stamp them from 1 to 10 also ??
Jeff
If you get adventurous you could make a magazine with the cartridge counter.
Actually the follower has numbers stamped in it as a cartridge counter. That will be in this as well.
“Actually the follower has numbers stamped in it as a cartridge counter. That will be in this as well.”
WOW !!!! Can’t wait to see these… I want some !!!!
Jeff