Machining a Glock slide

[kcstott]

There were some comments made to me by people that have machined Glock slides. comments ranged from "hard to machine" to " i broke three endmills"

Here is a slide i machined for a customer.


These are 3/16 ball endmill cut through the slide with 1/4" holes in the top and the last hole to the rear is a 5/16"

Here's the deal with machining a glock slide. I used sharp carbide cutters. I had this clamped in my kurt machine vise and i took full depth of cut in one shot RPM were 1800 give or take.

This stuff cuts like butter. I don't know what the hell anyone was talking about this stuff is not tough, The surface coating doesn't even feel as though it is there.

So my advice if you want to port you slide for look or function. use a good rigid set up and good sharp tools and you will have no issues. I've had stainless give me more trouble then this stuff.

I also keep all my cutters either in the box they came in or in other little compartments to keep them from bouncing around and getting chipped. I also use HSS for everything and only use my carbide when needed. I can sharpen HSS with ease carbide is a little tougher to do. So what I'm saying is take care of your tools and they will take care of you.

BTW it was a Gen 2 10mm slide I think molesting one of these is some sort of Glock High Treason or Cardinal sin. But oh well the customer wanted his slide lightened up and we did it.

[hermosabeach]

I know the surface is coating in extreemly hard as you don't see scratched factory slides. I forget the Rockwell rating for the tennifer process.

I ha seen many slides bright and silver from 10,000 plus draws from kydex in dusty and sandy conditions.

Glad to see your work.

[J.O.]

Nice job kc!

[1flhtk4me]

Is that an Accurite retrofit I see?

[kcstott]

Is that an Accurite retrofit I see?

Why yes Sir yes it is. Found it on Ebay for $1500 then they threw in the motor brackets for another $500. Has worked nearly flawless for a few years now.








Machine is not designed to run full CNC style but with a little care it can do much more then a manual machine. Needs ball screws to be more accurate but then it needs to be scraped in too. so when it comes time I'm just going to either get a Haas tool room machine or get a 20X40 CNC Fedal or Haas. but that way down the road and may never happen.