A small project FINISHED

[GuyW]

The tang safety switch on one of my pump shotguns broke. I bought one - $3 part (actually worth $0.50) + $5 S&H...then I misplaced it (all 20-freakin' years ago!!)...

...not going to buy another at that price (if its even available)...and it had the same weakness as the broken part....but it was instructive to see what a small diameter the shaft portion was (never saw the broken piece).

So, time to fire up the Unimat (which I didn't own at the time the part broke).

Shown here is an old 5/8" bolt with the hex turned off, and the shank turned down to 0.185". BTW I used a bolt, because good bolts are forged and therefore the micro-grain of the steel is deformed from the shank flowing into the head...unlike cutting this from a piece of barstock...

More pics when I finish the part...

(video of Unimat in use - "Ten Minutes with a Unimat"....not my video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZe3E3rpRTk )

[ar15barrels]

Cool video, but WOW does that guy has a funky way of working.
Way too much material out of the chuck for the jpb at hand.

My first lathe was an Emco Unimat 3 which came after the 2.5" Unimat in the video.

[GuyW]

OK...faced down the thick bolt head, turned the lower section to go thru the slide-safety piece, ground the sides flat on a disc grinder.

Now I just need a small hole drilled tranversely, and make a spring to hold the tang safety in selected position...

[NeoWeird]

Let's be glad that guy doesn't make production parts. 90% of what he did was wrong. For looks, it's ok, but he could never hold sizes that way. Not to mention, put him on a bigger machine and some of the things he was doing was down right dangerous.

I'm still interested to see how this project turns out. I LOVE ambitious people who set out and make their own parts, and not just for guns either.

[GuyW]

Let's be glad that guy doesn't make production parts. 90% of what he did was wrong. For looks, it's ok, but he could never hold sizes that way. Not to mention, put him on a bigger machine and some of the things he was doing was down right dangerous.

I'm still interested to see how this project turns out. I LOVE ambitious people who set out and make their own parts, and not just for guns either.

?
Are you talking about me or the person in the video?
.

[NeoWeird]

No, the guy in that video.

[GuyW]

Now I just need a small hole drilled tranversely, and make a spring to hold the tang safety in selected position...

Done - drilled a 1/16" hole transversely thru the shaft using the Unimat in mill/drillpress setup, changed the profile of the top via file, and freehand filed a waffle-pattern on the top surface with a small triangular file (no layout, so lines aren't exactly spaced)

Here it is installed:

[GuyW]

Repaired gun, top: Savage 12 ga. 69 RXL...."R" = riot, "XL" = extended tube magazine...18.25" open choke barrel, 7 + 1 capacity.

bottom gun: Stevens Model 620A 12 ga pump, 19" open choke barrel, 28"+ overall length, 6 capacity...(definite AOW candidate!)

Both for serious social purposes...

[BHP FAN]

seems BETTER than OEM.