From: [v--ki--g] at [iastate.edu] (Dan Sorenson)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: Making Magazines in a Machine Shop
Date: 13 May 1994 08:17:42 -0400

In <[2 qrnguINNrai] at [dns1.NMSU.Edu]> [d--ew--s] at [nmsu.edu] (David C. Lewis) writes:

#     It would probably be easier to buy legal magazines and then expand
#them.  In this way the original follower and lips could be used.  Probably
#one could cut the magazine's base off, make a new spring (having the
#spec's on the pre-ban magazine would be nice), lengthen the magazine
#body by welding on some new sides, and weld on the original bottom.

	As a newly-graduated industrial technologist (that's a
manufacturing engineer who knows which part of the mill goes
roundy-roundy and has to run it when the Machinist Union member
gets sick and goes fishing, so to speak) magazines do not need to
be high-tech devices.

	How's this: Injection mold a follower.  Easy.  Take one you
have, preferably of steel, and put it in an iron pot.  Pour melted
aluminum around and over it.  Cut in half with fine saw.  Presto,
you have your aluminum mold -- just drill a few holes.  Any local
machine shop can remove the steel original using a process called
Electrical Discharge Machining -- they use it to remove steel bolts
from aluminum parts and the charge is very small.  That's easy.

	Spring.  Buy it.  Spring steel is a royal pain to do
properly, though for the do-it-yourselfer a gas-fired
electronically-controlled forge goes for $90 around these parts
in good but used condition.  Spring steel is a given.

	Housing.  Grab some 22ga steel and a sheet bender.  Bend
it into a rectangle that fits your gun, spot-weld it together,
then spot-weld a punched-out base on the bottom.

	Cost?  Depends upon volume.  For 100 units/day, I figure
some $1500 in equipment and $50/day in raw materials. Your time is
not figured in.  I'd say two weeks max before a workable prototype
and appropriate jigs can be fashioned.

	Funny thing is, the sloppy, technology-of-a-toaster things
tend to work.  A few of us took a long look at the Haskall JP-45
magazine and this appears to be exactly what they've done.  I never
had a misfeed in some 500 rounds.  In fact, I felt so confident about
the gun working that I gave it to a relative for personal protection.

	Cheap does not mean bad, and given you can buy a mill with
1/10,000th inch accuracy from China today for well under $5000 we
need not worry about it.  With that kind of tooling, a person could
turn out a Galil a week from their garage.

	Now mind you, actually doing so is likely illegal unless you
get the proper Federal and State paperwork done, but thanks to
technology and machine tools it's a lot easier to make a gun from
a few leaf springs today than it was to make a gun from iron just
a few hundred years ago -- when it was legal, I might add.

	As an added market, churn out a few goodies for your local
Yuppie Harley-Riding Boutique.  Footpegs out of aluminum billet
fetch an easy $50/pair and are 3 minutes work on a CNC Bridgeport mill.

	I fully intend to buy a CNC mill before I buy another gun.
The book "CNC Technology and Programming" by Krar and Gill
(ISBN 0-07-023333-0) is a bit outdated but well worth the $25 or
so it takes.  Within a few days you'll be able to mill any shape
you want, to the tolerances you want, in your own home.  Most of the
equipment is available used and for quite reasonable prices.  I'd
look at Engineering Today or Manufacturing Engineering Journal for
a list of resellers in your area.  Oh, by reasonable I mean they cost
less than a new Hundai.  Under $10,000, for home models anyway.  You
can cut the cost by 2/3 by hitting farm and machinery sales and picking
up manual equipment.  That means you can't just fire up MasterCAM,
draw your part, upload the post-processor CNC code to the machine
and head to the fridge for a fresh beer.  No, you actually have to
work the machinery yourself.  As more and more of these older
machines come on the market this might be a viable option for the
budget-minded home machinist.

	Note: the wife will not like a mill in the garage if it
means her sporty new Miata can't be there.  In this case, a small
investment in CAD software and a post-processor to create the CNC
code might make you a valued customer at your local machine shop.
Show up with disk in hand and see if they don't offer you a nice rate.

	Remember, you're making parts for a thriving motorcycle market.
And if one of you does this, could you please make some billet aluminum
grips for my '93 Sportster?  The Genu-Whine Harley items are $35 and
plastic, to the chrome peels off just like on a Revel model car kit.

	Disclaimer: I've had three final exams in the past 8 hours.
As of some four hours ago I am now alumni.  The fevered haze may
not have left my brain, so spend your money wisely and research
the issue for yourself before taking my advice.

-- 
* Dan Sorenson, DoD 1066 [v--ki--g] at [iastate.edu] [z 1 dan] at [exnet.iastate.edu] *
* Vikings?  There ain't no vikings here.  Just us honest farmers.   *
* The town was burning, the villagers were dead.  They didn't need  *
* those sheep anyway.  That's our story and we're sticking to it.   *