Yah, I don’t see that happening. Then it becomes a JOB. I have one of those.
Besides, you know a very capable smith who can do those quite well for you.
Got the bar made tonight. Started with a hunk of 3/4” round, milled it to size, then filed the corners round. Took me 1.5 hours to get this little piece made. If I had some 3/8” square bar it would have been much faster.
I have some .164 O1 drill rod on order along with an 8-32 die and tap. That will be used for the slide pins.
Trying to decide the profil of the HP and the dimensions of the remainder of the pins including how large they will be where they enter the bar. Can I really put a .250 pin into a .375 bar? Not much much meat left on either side of the pin.
I was thinking of doing that. Make the pin that goes into the bar around .200. Final size will be determined by the diameter of the drill used to make the hole.
Keith, any suggestions on a way to temporarily keep the pin in place while drilling for the cross pins? The cross pins will at least partially go the the HP pins and hole them in place. I want to make sure the pins stay fully seated when drilling and tapping for the cross pins. Will blue threadlocker hold them well enough for those operations?
Rounded the ends with a file. An ex-US Army machinist and shooter friend
called a file his 'Mexican mill'. I have done a lot of work that way, can do a lot if
you are careful.
And I made a 1911 Fp stop from round bar because it is what I had in the desired alloy.
My boss used to employ a mechanic who was a wizard at resurfacing cylinder heads and manifolds on a special spot on the shop slab that he had trued by rubbing cinderblocks on it in a certain pattern. He could get a 4' head within .002" in a couple of hours. Now you know what is a Mexican Surface Grinder.