Cutting square corners

PlaidSon

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What methods were used over 100 years ago to square up the corners of the magazine and trigger slots on 1911s when factories were in full production during war times? I have a few guesses but are any of them correct?

1. custom broach for magazine slot
2. special slotter setups
3. a result of the forging

Obviously wire edm isn't an option in 1914 and im sure file finishing them wasn't feasable. Anyone know for sure how they cut them on the production lines?
 
Very humbling. Answered the question perfectly. I love how they left material on the forging to accommodate the magazine cutout operations, it really shows how much foresight went into the process plan. I cant help but feel for the lady who spends long days elbow deep in what I can only assume is sulphurized cutting oil, not to mention the poor chap who proof fires the "automatics" with his bare hands. Can't help but wonder what their JOSH Committee thinks about those practices.
 
when I get room for it and budget I will be looking this kind of beast

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You can do things with a shaper that you can't do with a vertical mill. A shaper can be very versatile, and has the advantage that the cutting tools can be easily shop made.
 
I have an Atlas 7". Excited to get it. Seldom use it.

Aamco/Delta 7" here. Same deal.

Had a South Bend too, gave it away to a friend. Another buddy has an Atlas, same size.

The old saw is that you could make anything with a shaper except a profit, but I have been in machine shops that were totally CNC, and still kept a big old shaper for the odd job that came along that was more profitably done with it than with special tooling, and would not be possible at all in a mill.
The main use, the fellow running it said, was doing one-of, replacement drive pulley keyways for oil field equipment. You could spend thousands of dollars each on a broach and bushing for the size needed, and wait weeks for the tooling to be made, or you spent an hour setting up and cut the keyway with a $3 piece of HSS. Easy math, for tools you might never need again.
 
when I get room for it and budget I will be looking this kind of beast

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We had one almost like that in our high school shop. Ah, the good Old days. :) Think a lot of after the war surplus tooling ended up that way, the lathes were certainly WWll vintage.

Grizz
 
I have an Elliott 10M shaper. Bought it randomly from a Kijiji ad a few years ago. Fellow selling it was a retired machinist who got it from a highschool shop. Was in great condition when he got it, but had a couple broken teeth on one of the gears. He had it fixed, but decided he didn't use it enough to keep anymore.

I hardly use it either, but it was cheap enough and they hardly turn up for sale around here, so I figure I might as well hang on.

With a sharp cutting bit, it can make some nice cuts in steel. You just need a fair amount of patience.
 
Those ladies working alongside men,getting their hands dirty, eight hours a day or more. I would send all the complaining feminists to try the same. Mark my words, the best way to change attitude.
 
I really like that work mounting block. What would the machine be called that used the magwell broach?

Broach Press, or broach puller, depending on how it's set or meant to be. I watched a side cutting hydraulic broaching machine cut the 'Christmas tree' ends on turbine engine blades, and the broach was about 20 feet long. I suspect it was rather pricey!

Have seen one rig that was built by a gun maker that was based around a length of all-thread, turned by his bench top lathe, which pulled his broach through the receiver casting or forging. Not too complicated to build, just a couple guide rails and a plate drawn along as required.

There was a mag well broaching machine for AR wells, posted for sale over on practicalmachinist a short while back. Looked like a long stroke hydraulic ram and more guide rails etc., to keep all in line.

A bit overkill for a once or twice ever kind of job, though.

If one were really headed in the direction of broaching out a 1911, or any other forging or casting that required it, it might be worth looking at the available square and keyway style broaches, which could get you there, though more fiddly than would be acceptable if production was the key aspiration.
Think along the lines of building a bushing to fit the milled out mag well, with the ability to slide, say, a keyway broach in to the bushing, to simply clear out the remaining material. If you look at the way keyways are broached, it should give you a pretty good idea of how it's done.
Again, not a great system from a production standpoint, but most home shop gun makers do not have the need to have one separate machine for each operation. Must make do, and trade some time against production volume, eh?
 
Makes a guy go hmm...

The all thread idea is pretty slick. At some point I'd like to get a big lathe for reboring and rifling and now -- apparently -- broaching.
 
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