Nano-mortar

[KABAR2]

Well as always here is quality work being shown by Seacoast!  with only basic hand tools and time they have produced an accurate model well worth the 130,000.00......
I'm looking forward to the the conclusion of this project.
I am guessing after completion this will go to the range for accuracy tests......... if you have too much snow
you could always make a trip down to the Whitington Center in NM they probably don't have any......

[Cat Whisperer]

Tracy/Mike -

THANKS for the picture sequence well documented.

While this could have been done on a CNC adapeted Unimat lathe you did it in a way US NON-machinists can understand and attempt to do ourselves!

[Victor3]

 Well, Seacoast has now sufficiently motivated me to get off my duff and make something of my own. Pictures to come soon.

 Seacost, one thing I noticed is how you marked the end of the bbl stock with a combination set and scribe. The way you described is the way most of us were taught, and is probably the most common way to mark center of a round workpiece with hand tools.

 Not to be nit-picky here, but only wanting to help others using this method - If one uses three scribed lines at 60 degrees instead of two at 90, there will appear a small triangle in the center of the stock indicating deviation from true center due to error caused by the width of the scribe line or out of round condition of the stock. By placing the punch mark in the center of this triangle, a more accurate center of the stock can be marked for drilling.

HTH

[seacoastartillery]

     Thank you KABAR2.  You just made me realize that range testing will be a lot of fun and it will give me an excuse to buy a tube of BBs for the first time in 50 years!

      Tim,   Mike and I both wish we had one of those CNC lathes!  I filed on that little piece of low carbon steel for more than two hours and I wondered for a while if it ever would have any shape you could recognize!!

      Right you are, Victor3.  Although the camera did not pick up the third line which is vertical, the lines should have been at 60 deg. as you said, and the point of the center-punch should indeed, be carefully placed within the tiny triangle as stated.  Victor3, now you know why we keep you around here.  We need the expertise of experienced craftsmen and machinists.  By "WE", Mike and I mean ALL of us.  Thank you.

      We would love to see a few more mini, micro, or nano cannons or mortars built.  Does anyone besides Victor3 have one in mind?

Good luck!  Have fun!

Tracy and Mike

[KABAR2]

     Thank you KABAR2.  You just made me realize that range testing will be a lot of fun and it will give me an excuse to buy a tube of BBs for the first time in 50 years!

Tracy and Mike

Ok now your showing your age...... ............... I'm not sure myself but do BB's even come in tubes anymore?  the last time I bought some was in the early 70's and it was a 1/2 pint milk container...................

[Cat Whisperer]

....     
We would love to see a few more mini, micro, or nano cannons or mortars built.  Does anyone besides Victor3 have one in mind?
....

I would like to have a swivel gun in fire-cracker caliber for back poarch and bar-b-que party entertainment.

[Terry C.]

Well, I have something in the works but missed work time due to frequent Dr. appointments and tests/procedures have kept me consistently swamped.

If and when I catch up, I already have my plans drawn. Until then, I'm keeping them to myself.

I will reveal that I'm sticking to the 'micro' scale for this project. The 'nano' scale is being well represented, and Lance's pico-gonne has pushed the miniaturization envelope about as far as it can practically go.


For the purpose of characterizing these small models, I humbly submit the following guidelines for the bore diameter of cannon and the chamber diameter of mortars:

Micro = bore of no more than firecracker caliber -or- chamber dia. of 1/4" or less

Nano = bore of no more than BB caliber -or- chamber dia. of 3/16" or less

Pico = bore of no more than 1/8" dia. -or- chamber dia. of 1/8" or less


I hope these are acceptable to all. If not, please offer any suggestions you may have.

[Victor3]

 Well, I'm getting my stuff together. I've always wanted a handgonne, so Ive settled on a 22 cal Medieval European style one. I guess that puts it in the "micro" class.

 I'll be cheating a bit here since I'm going to use a chunk of an old Winchester rimfire bbl I had on the shelf.

 Barrel material in hand, next stop is the junk drawer of the tool chest. Just look at that treasure trove of goodies. I found a mandrel, center and V-block to use. Can you spot the B-1 Bomber parts in there?



 Now I need to find cutting tools and a 5/16-18 setscrew for the breech plug...



 Here's what I have so far - Mandrel, drills, tap & handle, c'sink, center, V-block, breech plug, electric drill and measuring tools. Note - Although I have a lot of junk on hand to pick through to find what I needed to do the job, you can see here that you really don't need much in the way of tools or material. Most can be had for a few dollars at the hardware store. Design what you like around what you have or can easily get for cheap...



 My "lathe" will consist of the electric drill, mandrel, center (hand-held), files, emery cloth, and a belt sander. I rarely use this sander, but I thought it would be good for roughing out the profile of the barrel...



 For projectiles, I slugged the barrel with three different types of airgun ammo; a copper plated lead ball, a diabolo style pellet and a solid 'bullet' style pellet similar to a rimfire slug. All engraved nicely into the rifling and will seat firmly on top of the powder without the need of a patch to hold them in place. They might even prove to be somewhat accurate.



Okay... Off to make some chips!

[Victor3]

 Turning work is about done. Now I know why lathes were invented - it's a pain in the rear to make a round part without one...











 Now to cut off and finish the length, do drilling and tapping for the breech plug and tiller, drill the vent and find a stick to mount it on.

[seacoastartillery]

     Looks like your coming right along, Victor3.  Mike and I both noticed that your first picture in the series looks like the top of our bench as we finish the typical day.  I bet you will win the accuracy ribbon with that .22 cal. gonne!  I think most folks around here would like to see your shooting stance when you get her done.  The first thing people wonder is, how do you aim one of those gonnes??

     Terry C.,    We think you deserve an A+ on those characterizations of mortar and cannon size.  Very logical.  Thank you!  Can you give us a little hint of what you are making?

     I went to my local Sportsman's Warehouse yesterday hoping to find a tube of BBs.  Alas, KABAR2 is correct, I am showing my age, as pasteboard tubes have not been available for many years, and all I could find was a clear plastic bottle of 1,500 or 6,000 when all I needed was a tube of 350.  Those tubes were perfect for loading the old Daisy, holding the 750 shot blaster in one hand and the tube in the other with your thumb and forefinger forming a little through to guide a full charge into the open loading gate.  And the sound of all those BBs streaming down into the magazine is one of the childhood noises that I will never forget.  It was the sound of INDEPENDENCE!

     Tim, we hope to see a diminutive swivel gun launching fire crackers when we visit this summer!  It would be cute, but effective!!

Regards,   Tracy and Mike

[Max Caliber]

T&M, Wal-Mart here carries the Daisy 350 count tubes that are just like you remember. The price has increased to $1.37 though.

Max

[Josco]

Well I got my tools ready to make a micro cannon but I seriously doubt I could make a working model in relation to the scale of my vise.   My dad made this working vise and the anvil over 50 years ago.
I have a few projects going on now but hope to start on a working nano cannon in a few weeks. 
This thread is great!

 

[Terry C.]

Can you give us a little hint of what you are making?

Okay, since you asked nicely (and since I'm not going to get to finish it tonight) here's a peek...


When I saw the very first micro-gonne, I said I was going to make one. Well, it's took me awhile to get around to doing it, but I finally got the major machine work done today.

It still needs a vent, final polish, and bluing. I had forgotten that I broke my 1/16" drill bit until I got home and started looking for it. So I'll have to make a trip to the hardware store tomorrow. I haven't decided yet whether I'll drill the screw hole in the tiller socket, it'll probably depend on what I use for a tiller and how it fits.








I really wanted brass, but I have good steel scraps free for the taking, so steel it is. Sorry there's nothing for scale, but I was in a hurry (when am I ever not?). The overall length is 4", the major diameter is 9/16".

It has a 1/4" diameter bore, and a 3/16" diameter x 3/8" chamber. Total depth including chamber is 2¾". The tiller socket is 3/8" diameter.

With the 3/16" chamber, it meets the "one caliber" rule.

It will fire a #4 buckshot pellet, which has a nominal caliber of .24" (they actually measure slightly less than that). I included some pellets in the photos. Why #4 Buckshot? Well, as mentioned, the size of the pellet allowed me to use a standard drill for the bore. Also, I have more of them than I will ever fire in this gonne.

I laid in a stock of cheap Estate 12 ga. #4B "SWAT" (low recoil, reduced payload) loads some time back. These are okay for practice but they burn very dirty. I have a lot of them left, each shell yields 22 pellets, and they were cheap enough that I don't mind cutting a few of them up. And best of all, they're already paid for.

The gonne was based on this design (with a few minor liberties taken during machining):





When it's finished, I will take some better photos (with proper scale reference).

[Cat Whisperer]

Josco -

WELCOME to the board!

Great looking tools!  Now with a micro-drill you'll have a set ready for action!


TerryC -

Now you've done it!  That says to me "get some brass and build a gonne"   Fire-cracker caliber of course.  AND I think I'll use a chop stick for the tiller.  (Readily available, consistent in size  and high-quality)

[KABAR2]

Oh Great! now we have to build scale tools too!    welcome!
I guess I'll have to dig out my 6th scale drill press, work bench, vice, anvil, engine hoist etc......... before I can start this project......

[Cat Whisperer]

Oh Great! now we have to build scale tools too!    welcome!
I guess I'll have to dig out my 6th scale drill press, work bench, vice, anvil, engine hoist etc......... before I can start this project......

AND for the REALLY fine work, a 1/6 scale JEWLER'S LATHE !

[Terry C.]

No time gotta run gotta go!

But I did pause for a minute to snap this (blurry) photo this morning. Here is the gonne with my truck keys and some pocket change.




This gives some indication of scale, the other photos made the gonne look HUGE!

[LaVere]

I love the Nano cannons Here is mine made from a brass thinggy that was already drilled and tapped. I just drilled it larger and smooth. threaded the other end and added a touch hole. The mount of hard maple is nearly done.

[Victor3]

 CW said:

 "AND I think I'll use a chop stick for the tiller.  (Readily available, consistent in size  and high-quality)"

 Great minds think alike I had the same idea for a smaller version of mine.

 I was at my Son's Cub Scout "Blue and Gold" dinner on Monday night. It was a Chinese theme this year.

 As I sat at our table, I opened a pack of chopsticks and began flexing and checking them for straightness like one would do with a pool cue before starting a game. My wife was looking at me weird and says "Uh...The instructions are on the back of the package if you need help with those."

[KABAR2]

Victor3, & Terry C.,

 Your Gonnes are turning out rather nice, look forward to more photos,

LaVere, did you put a chamber in the the bolt? or are you going bore size?

[Victor3]

 No time to do much more than polishing yet. Here's a better pic with a scale reference. I did find a tiller and hope to finish it this weekend..

[accuratemike]

Hmmm....I was thinking drum stick. MIKE

[Cat Whisperer]

Ahhhh such variety!

And the idea of using a drum stick - I'll have to keep my eyes open at the YMCA thrift shop!

[Terry C.]

Josco, those are some fine looking shop tools. Excellent craftsmanship.

I have a small anvil not much bigger than yours around here somewhere, but it's a store bought replica. It appears to be forged but probably would not hold up to much abuse, more of a whatnot than a tool.


Victor3, your gonne is coming along nicely.

{{erroneous and irrelevant content edited out}}

I said earlier that I took a "few minor liberties" with my design, I wanted to elaborate on that a bit. None of the critical dimensions were altered, mostly just little changes in the basic contours to make machining easier.

The biggest deviation from the drawing is virtually invisible, the rounding of the chamber bottom. At least I hope it's rounded, I really can't see down in there to verify the shape. But I've ground a couple of chamber drills (albeit considerably larger) now and I think this turned one out pretty well.

[Double D]

Trying to figure out how to take part in this when my entire tool box right now consists of one leatherman tool...

[GGaskill]

If there is a file in the Leatherman, make something from a piece of brass pipe.

[Double D]

I guess it's more politically correct to call this thing a  multi tool and not a a Leatherman.  What I have is the  Gerber Lengend.



It has all these widgets:  Needlenose pliers with indexible, replaceable carbide cutters, fine edge knife, Fiskars® scissors, cross point screwdriver, small, medium and large flat blade screwdrivers, bottle opener, Remgrit saw blade and file.

I'll have to to think on this.

[Cat Whisperer]

So we need to pester Gerber, Leatherman and Victorinox to add a nano-gonne to the loooong list of 'blades' available!

[GGaskill]

So we need to pester Gerber, Leatherman and Victorinox to add a nano-gonne to the loooong list of 'blades' available!

Also some kind of metal drilling blade.

[Victor3]

Oops. Don't know how I could now see this post a day AFTER I posted it. Mysterious computer problems. Sorry. See new post below.