inletting and barrel channel ?

[TrxR]

For those of you without a mill what are you using to do your inletting and barrel channel?

I was thinking a box cutter bit for the barrel channel but am not sure what to use for the action as it is a square action.

Any advise as this will be my first stock build.

Thanks

 

[Twdmar]

Bit on router table with a fence and stop blocks. Drill press and chisel for inletting.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

how about a socket set, long extension and sandpaper?

 

[joshb]

For those of you without a mill what are you using to do your inletting and barrel channel?

I was thinking a box cutter bit for the barrel channel but am not sure what to use for the action as it is a square action.

Any advise as this will be my first stock build.

Thanks

Read my "Do it yourself stock building"thread. Everything you need to know is in there. It's back a few pages, here. I've finished 11 or 12 so far.

 

[shortgrass]

If you are interested in the hand tools it takes to inlet a stock I can help. They are all hand made though.

I can post pics of them and explain how they are used and made, but you have to thank Alvin Linden for the inspiration.

Jim

Jim, 98% of the guys on this board don't know who Alvin Linden was. Machine inletting is what goes thru their minds. It has to be done fast, and they don't seem to mind the gaps as it gives a place for all that 'glass' to go or "for barrel cooling". For most 'um it's just a 'handle'.

 

[ebb]

Forsner bits, drill press or hand drill, sharp chisels, rasp's and files, sand paper stuck to dowels of many sizes, sand paper stuck to a putty knife or pieces of wood cut to fit. To cut for the action bottom an old hand powered router, but I bet nobody has ever seen one of those

 

['Freak]

... To cut for the action bottom an old hand powered router, but I bet nobody has ever seen one of those

I own five people powered router planes, so far. Four metal body in different sizes and the largest a wooden body.

 

[ebb]

I apprenticed under a carpenter that had one and I used it inletting a face plate to a Baldwin mortice lock years ago. I wanted it bad but he wasn't given it up. I got one in a box of tools a home owner gave me that I built an addition for. It was her fathers tools. It's a metal one also.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

For those of you without a mill what are you using to do your inletting and barrel channel?

I was thinking a box cutter bit for the barrel channel but am not sure what to use for the action as it is a square action.

Any advise as this will be my first stock build.

Thanks

Just got a new mill and did my first barrel channel. Scored out barrel contour on the stock and used a 1/2" core box router bit to cut each contour line individually. I need to build a jig to stabilize the forearn a little better with my setup. But it all worked out good

Sure beats the hell out of doing barrel channels by hand like with a dremel, scrapers and chisels like I used to

 

[joshb]

That's a nice machine! What do those go for?

 

[Ledd Slinger]

That's a nice machine! What do those go for?

Its a Precision Matthews. Their benchtop mills are pretty affordable. Cost a little more than a comparable Grizzly mill, but they are built better so I think the extra cost is worth it. I really like it so far. The machine was the cheap part tho...Tooling is what will eat up your wallet. I spent and additional two times the cost of the machine by the time added a power feed for the table, precision vise, and all the other tooling and measuring indicators needed to get me going.

Here's a link to the Precision Matthews website with their different benchtop mills.
http://www.precisionmatthews.com/product-category/millingmachines/benchmills/

 

[joshb]

Wow! That's cheaper than I expected! Nice.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

The Precision Matthews mills have belt drive spindles. Super quiet. Mine is just big enough to do full stock work. Has about 20" of table travel and plenty of travel on the head. Best warranty too with 3 years.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Opening up a Manners stock with a 1.250" core box and checking channel with the barrel. Waiting on the action to get built. Just making the barrel fit. Have barstock in the action inletting for rough alignment. Will do final inletting when barrel is mounted on the action.

...I think a pretzel has straighter lines than a Manners stock. Lol.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Are you vacuuming up before you take the pics? Id have that grey stuff even on the camera lens

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Are you vacuuming up before you take the pics? Id have that grey stuff even on the camera lens

I have a cordless 20V Dewalt vaccum that i use frequently. But the fiberglass in the manners didn't make much of a mess at all. The cuttings pretty much just stayed in the barrel channel. Made for a very easy clean up with the vacuum. I'm just widening it with incremental small cuts while checking it for fit with my barrel. Not a full inlet.

In my first pics is a stock from a Sako A7. It's one of those hybrid polymer-fiber-whatever-the-hell-else synthetic stocks. Now that sucker made a mess. Threw crap everywhere!

 

[sdean]

Even after I clean up my space never looks that good.
Congrats good looking machine.

 

[hoz53]

I have a cordless 20V Dewalt vaccum that i use frequently. But the fiberglass in the manners didn't make much of a mess at all. The cuttings pretty much just stayed in the barrel channel. Made for a very easy clean up with the vacuum. I'm just widening it with incremental small cuts while checking it for fit with my barrel every time. Not a full inlet.

In my first pics is a stock from a Sako A7. It's one of those hybrid polymer-fiber-whatever-the-hell-else synthetic stocks. Now that sucker made a mess. Threw crap everywhere!

why dont you put your vise in the middle of the table and center the stock up on the table so you can clamp the butstock to table and hold the stock more rigidly. thats wat i do anyhow with my old junker mill drill

 

[Ledd Slinger]

why dont you put your vise in the middle of the table and center the stock up on the table so you can clamp the butstock to table and hold the stock more rigidly. thats wat i do anyhow with my old junker mill drill

Tried that. I like this way a lot better. Gives more versatility to level the channel on Z axis and adjust X travel of the channel with the wooden shims you see in the vise jaws. If I clamp the butt to the table, it makes it much harder to skew and tilt the stock for perfect alignment on the table/bit travel of the mill. I have my vise trammed and squared to within .0005", but that doesnt matter if the piece it is holding isnt that true as well. If the bottom, sides, and channel were all perfectly machined square on a stock I could just lock it all down in the middle and hog it out with the mill. Unfortunately the channels do not run perfectly parallel with the sides and the bottom of the stock is not perfectly square with the top and it requires fine tuning adjustments and multiple travel checks down the length of the channel before actually milling to ensure a nice straight channel in perfect alignment with the action inletting. And trust me, this mounting is also extremely rigid when locked down.

I spent half a day trying to devise a method that would allow for fine adjustments and still be super rigid when locked down. There may be better methods of holding stocks with custom jigs and whatnot, this just seems to work well for me so far.

 

[hoz53]

Tried that. I like this way a lot better. Gives more versatility to level the channel on Z axis and adjust X travel of the channel with the wooden shims you see in the vise jaws. If I clamp the butt to the table, it makes it much harder to skew and tilt the stock for perfect alignment on the table/bit travel of the mill. I have my vise trammed and squared to within .0005", but that doesnt matter if the piece it is holding isnt that true as well. If the bottom, sides, and channel were all perfectly machined square on a stock I could just lock it all down in the middle and hog it out with the mill. Unfortunately the channels do not run perfectly parallel with the sides and the bottom of the stock is not perfectly square with the top and it requires fine tuning adjustments and multiple travel checks down the length of the channel before actually milling to ensure a nice straight channel in perfect alignment with the action inletting. And trust me, this mounting is also extremely rigid when locked down.

I spent half a day trying to devise a method that would allow for fine adjustments and still be super rigid when locked down. There may be better methods of holding stocks with custom jigs and whatnot, this just seems to work well for me so far.

well okay if your method is working for you thats great. I get my stocks running very close on my old machine and it works for me. thats wat makes the world go round.