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Making a Gunning Punt and Punt Gun


Wildfowler
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Wildfowler!

 

I know how the Lad feels.cleaning the swarf out! I used to toy about with a small Chester lathe turning Delrin, Aluminium and Brass parts mainly for my Airguns. Getting ALL the swarf and filings off is a true nightmare.

 

I sold my lathe a long while ago, and now have a project running which I now find I need a Lathe again. I need to produce an aluminium tube and thread it externally and a set of internally threaded end caps.

 

Your skills on the lathe and mill and ability to produce 2d and 3d drawings etc are far superiour to mine!

 

My drawings are pen and paper without dimensions as I have the dimensions in the tube I intend using as a sleeve for the alloy tube. My skills are limited as I just bought the lathe and tooling and got on with it myself, inc screw threading etc.

 

Can't give too much away as it's something new but I look forward to getting started.

 

Best of luck with your project and I will enjoy catching up on it at a later date!

 

LG

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How old are you Harry?

 

HMS Belfast was launched in 1938!

I suggest you check Belfast might have been launched as early as this but

, she and the lion and tiger were still in service when I joined the dockyard in 1961 they were then further converted and had there rear 6 inch guns removed and a helli deck and hanger were fitted

 

I went on gunnery trials on the tiger whilst still in the latter part of my apprenticeship,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, For the record I am 67 and started my apprenticeship in 1961

 

I think you may find information on wikki answers or some such ..... I am not going to get into a "water shooting" contest with you or anyone else

 

I did say *such as the guns fitted to the likes of the Belfast* because it is a ship nearly everyone knows is in the Thames ,,, they were all decommissioned at different times

 

harrypen

Edited by harrypen
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for your enlightenment Belfast went into the reserve fleet in 1963 ,,, the lion and tiger her sister ships continued for slightly longer

but I cant be bothered to take this any deeper , I don't feel the need to be pedant to the nth degree and certainly don't profess or pretend to know it all

harrypen

ps are you one of the ones who actually counts the number of pigeons etc when someone aint got it quite right

I have checked the Belfast saw continuous service from her commissioning except for when she was damaged by a mine and underwent a 2 year refit during the war

Edited by harrypen
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Wildfowler!

 

I know how the Lad feels.cleaning the swarf out! I used to toy about with a small Chester lathe turning Delrin, Aluminium and Brass parts mainly for my Airguns. Getting ALL the swarf and filings off is a true nightmare.

 

I sold my lathe a long while ago, and now have a project running which I now find I need a Lathe again. I need to produce an aluminium tube and thread it externally and a set of internally threaded end caps.

 

Your skills on the lathe and mill and ability to produce 2d and 3d drawings etc are far superiour to mine!

 

My drawings are pen and paper without dimensions as I have the dimensions in the tube I intend using as a sleeve for the alloy tube. My skills are limited as I just bought the lathe and tooling and got on with it myself, inc screw threading etc.

 

Can't give too much away as it's something new but I look forward to getting started.

 

Best of luck with your project and I will enjoy catching up on it at a later date!

 

LG

Sounds like an interesting project! I look forward to seeing more when your in a position to share!

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I've had a bit of a busy couple of weeks so progress has been really slow!

I did spend a fantastic few hours with a friend of mine this morning who is an exceptionally well accomplished punt gunner. We spent for what felt like half hour (my wife advised me it was 3 1/2) talking punts, guns, loading, and everything related. Time really well spent and something i hope to do again soon!

 

Anyway, i've been tinkering with the lathe over the past couple of weeks. It is fitted with an Ainjest quick threading attachment. This allows you to engage a second set of halfnuts onto the leadscrew which when the saddle reaches the predetermined point the halfnut disengages automatically, so you dont have to stamp on the brake. The unit then allows you to rengage the half nut in the right position or that's the theory...

I couldnt get the unit to work, i tried every different conceivable set of pitches, metric, imperial, you name it i tried it but i coundn't get it to consistently pick up the thread. So i took the whole unit off the lathe a stripped it, cleaned it, reset some of the parts that had become loose and tried again, better but still no joy. As i had put it back but left the cover off i could see that the gear that keeps track of the leadscrew position slipped when you try to engage the halfnuts so it would never have consistently cut a thread. I took it all apart again and there was a shear pin that had sheared. I replaced this, put it back together and all is working perfectly!

You can see the peaks of the thread have several other threads cut on them where i was setting up, i couldn't cut the thread deep enough to get rid of these as it is a tube and the thread was starting to go through to the bore... It gives an idea of the pitch though, this is 6 TPI.

Now i can set about the breach plug

 

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When I was threading I would turn at a low speed and simply stop then reverse the tool out. This kept the threading tool perfectly aligned for each pass.

 

Love the makeshift cooling feed on the saw :D

I have a Thread Dial Indicator on mine, but reversing the tool out is much simpler and less prone to error.

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When I was threading I would turn at a low speed and simply stop then reverse the tool out. This kept the threading tool perfectly aligned for each pass.

 

Love the makeshift cooling feed on the saw :D

Not ideal but it works! :) I don't like just letting it go through dry...

If I didn't have the ainjest then that's is how I'd go but the ainjest is so quick... I was cutting the 6tpi thread at 300 odd rpm (not that I intend to do that on the final one, I wanted to see what it could do) when it gets to the end of the thread just wind the tool out, back to the start and away you go again... Now it's all set up properly it picks up the thread perfectly, I'm genuinely impressed with it!

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I've had a bit of a busy couple of weeks so progress has been really slow!

I did spend a fantastic few hours with a friend of mine this morning who is an exceptionally well accomplished punt gunner. We spent for what felt like half hour (my wife advised me it was 3 1/2) talking punts, guns, loading, and everything related. Time really well spent and something i hope to do again soon!

 

Anyway, i've been tinkering with the lathe over the past couple of weeks. It is fitted with an Ainjest quick threading attachment. This allows you to engage a second set of halfnuts onto the leadscrew which when the saddle reaches the predetermined point the halfnut disengages automatically, so you dont have to stamp on the brake. The unit then allows you to rengage the half nut in the right position or that's the theory...

I couldnt get the unit to work, i tried every different conceivable set of pitches, metric, imperial, you name it i tried it but i coundn't get it to consistently pick up the thread. So i took the whole unit off the lathe a stripped it, cleaned it, reset some of the parts that had become loose and tried again, better but still no joy. As i had put it back but left the cover off i could see that the gear that keeps track of the leadscrew position slipped when you try to engage the halfnuts so it would never have consistently cut a thread. I took it all apart again and there was a shear pin that had sheared. I replaced this, put it back together and all is working perfectly!

You can see the peaks of the thread have several other threads cut on them where i was setting up, i couldn't cut the thread deep enough to get rid of these as it is a tube and the thread was starting to go through to the bore... It gives an idea of the pitch though, this is 6 TPI.

Now i can set about the breach plug

attachicon.gifIMG_2111.JPG

does this control unit allow you to cut multi-start threads ?? I have a 4tpi square thread on my index finger,,,,, when I was an apprentice we had to make bottle jack ,,, ask me what stupid idiot wrapped some emery tape around his finger and shoved it up the hole to try to remove the rags off the top of the threads .!!!!!!!! Not a mistake you make twice :no::oops:

 

keep up the good work

 

harrypen

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does this control unit allow you to cut multi-start threads ?? I have a 4tpi square thread on my index finger,,,,, when I was an apprentice we had to make bottle jack ,,, ask me what stupid idiot wrapped some emery tape around his finger and shoved it up the hole to try to remove the rags off the top of the threads .!!!!!!!! Not a mistake you make twice :no::oops:

 

keep up the good work

 

harrypen

Yep, single, 2 or 4 starts... its a great bit of kit! I've never done that one but i do have various scars on my hands as reminders of what doesn't work! :D

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Well i figure i might as well use the number of hits this thread gets to shamelessly tout some tools im selling! ;)

My dads mate died recently so he and i have bought the contents of his garage as he had some nice tools. As there are multiples of some and i already have others, they have to go as i don't have the space to keep them (otherwise i would!)

So have a look at my posts in items for sale... There will be loads more coming up soon. If what your after isn't there yet i'm sure it will be soon (or PM me)

If you collect i can offer you a cup of tea and a tour of the punt and man cave! :D

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I just have to keep coming back to this thread, it's incredible! I need a new project, but something a lot less taxing than this one!

 

Keep it up! I love reading about it, and would be tempted to make a journey to see the whole kit get wet on its first day!

 

AB

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Pleased to hear you like it!

Hopefully I'll be able to get it a bit further along over the weekend!

I'll stick a post up when the whole thing is 'finished' (or as finished as it will ever be as I think I'll modify bits and prices as I go).

I think a couple of people have suggested seeing it finished so maybe we can make a morning of it?!?

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make a morning of it

Personally, if you're going to launch it "avec main armament", then I'd've thought that flag-waving crowds, marching bands and some aristocratic ol' battle-axe breaking some champers on the bow would've been more appropriate.

 

Regards,

 

Mark.

 

P.S. P'raps you should fink about lauching it *sideways* - that's always impressive.

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