The 4566TSWSSV project

[BMCM]

Been working over the contours on the decock lever. First with a #2 cut crossing file then with a #6 cut escapement file.

Lookin' pretty fine if'n I do say so myself

And the other side:

I think tomorrow I'll spin up a piece of 410 steel and make a couple plugs for those holes in the dust cover. Might be able to do a bit of welding next week

Cheers
Bill

 

[Nalapombu]

Great stuff.

I tell ya what would be fun....to get a nice 3rd Gen of my choice, probably a 4566TSW or so, or maybe a nice M39, and then come over and pitch a tent in your back yard and every evening come knockin' on your shop door and let you guide me in customizing my own piece. That would be awesome.

Keep the pics and updates coming.

Nalajr

 

[BMCM]

Making some swarf

Well friends... The days of silly holes in the dust cover are soon coming to an end

Did a little machining today. Made a couple rivets for plugging those holes.

Here's a sequence of pics I took while turning one of the rivets:

First we take a few cuts to reduce the diameter down to about .135

And one more pass ought to do it:

A little bevel on the end of the shank:

45° bevel to form the underside of the countersink head:

Parted off at the bench with a hacksaw then chucked the shank in the lathe to fix up the head. Yup I need a shim under that cutter:

A little clean up with a 2 cut file and were done. Good enough for govt' work:

Looks like the fit is satisfactory:

Yup, these will do nicely:

I still need to take some time to practice a bit and learn the new welder so maybe next week or the week after I'll burn these in place. I plan to weld the heads in place inside the dust cover first then weld the shanks on the outside. I'll need to bevel the holes on the outside slightly to allow some room for a bit of filler metal. Once it's all welded up I'll cut off the shanks and file flush with the dust cover surface. Believe it or not, I do have a tig torch that fits in there

That's it for now, Later Gents.

Cheers
Bill

 

[presspics]

YeeeeeHaaaa...I wish I was a machinist with a shop.....The things that I would love to do....I'd never watch TV again..

 

[BMCM]

Went ahead and wiped the slide tonight. Took me a few hours and lots of elbow grease to get the thing cleaned up. You wouldn't know it at first glance but the flats were surprisingly lumpy. Especially on the left side where there was a depression a couple thousandths deep right at the S&W logo.

Here we are chugging away at the kitchen sink. Trying to stay on Momma's good side and not make a mess

Getting there:

Ok that's enough for now. Arms are about worn out.
This is a 280 grit finish:

The bulk of the hard work is done. Later I'll work over this finish incrementally up to 15 then 9 micron. Ought to look right pretty:

Set the Fire Watch...
We'll be doing a bit of hot work later in the week too

Cheers
Bill

 

[wlp624]

Went ahead and wiped the slide tonight...The bulk of the hard work is done. Later I'll work over this finish incrementally up to 15 then 9 micron. Ought to look right pretty:

Cheers,

Bill

Slick, Master Chief, very slick.

Bill

 

[BMCM]

Back on the job... Sort of...

Damnable tough spot to weld in but I got it done. Not my prettiest work but it will surely do and noone is gonna see the inside anyway 'cept fer me and well, you folks

Now to trim off the excess shank length on the outside.

There, that will do nicely.

It's getting late so I'll finish this up tomorrow

Cheers
Bill

 

[timn8er]

Been a while since the last update. Glad to see you're at it again! Did you ever get any pics together on your latest acquisition?

 

[BMCM]

Yup it's good to be tinkering again. The Misses bought me nice new workbench so I've been remodeling my shop/work area to accommodate it. Went and loaded much of my stuff into boxes for portability while painting walls & hanging shelves and such.

It's been too long so I had to go dig some stuff out and make some progress. More tomorrow.

Oh, and the new toy is at my dealer, I'll fetch it sometime this week.

Cheers
Bill

 

[wvs&w]

Bill,
You are a true artist, thanks for sharing your custom build with us.

 

[4506517]

I had a dream one time...............

AND IT LOOKED JUST LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BMCM]

Alright! let's get this done.

I'm using a CK micro torch with the straight head and a .040" ceriated tungsten. For seeing clearly a 3M Speedglas 9100xx set at shade 11 with the sensitivity all the way up and a +3.00 magnifier lens. Machine is set at 50 amps max with foot pedal control of amperage and HF arc starting. Shield gas flow (argon) at 7-8 cfm.

Cover me, I'm going in hot.

One down and one to go.

That's both of 'em. I left the shanks proud of the dust cover by about .025" so there was no need to add any filler metal.

A little cleanup with a wire brush.

Then a bit of file work.

A little more filing and done. The holes have been completely erased. A little cleaning up of the tool marks with some fine abrasive cloth and were ready for blasting.

I'm very happy with how this turned out. I will tell you I went into this with not a little trepidation. This is my first time welding on something that small and on a gun no less. As I don't have a spare 4566TSW frame laying about there's no going back. If I ruined it with the welding job the whole project is kaput. Frankly I'm relieved it worked out so well. and pleased to have added some new skills to my personal toolbox.

So what's next on the agenda you may ask?

Really the only major task is getting the sights sorted out.
I've decided to go with a factory tritium front sight paired with an LPA-TR rear with a plain serrated blade.

Obviously that sight isn't going to fit without a little more machining so I'll be setting my little milling fixture up on the lathe and make a relief cut in the area outlined in red. It'll be along the lines of a melted Bomar on a 1911.

Unfortunately, I neglected to take measurements of that particular sight before I sent it off to ToolTech to have a tritium bar installed below the notch. So, the additional slide machining will have to wait bit until I get the sight back.
That's all for now.

Cheers
Bill

 

[redrock]

Nice to see the hole erasing project turned out so well. Understand the trepidation of taking on a frame fix like this, but ya done good! Bet you could start a sideline business doing nothing but rail deletes on 3rd gens. Time to hang that shingle and make Mama's investment in a new bench pay off!

 

[4506517]

Your skills are truly amazing.

I always get so excited when you to smithin'.

You also present the project in the most professional manner.

I for one am glad you joined this forum. You bring so much to the forum and enrich it in so many ways.

 

[wlp624]

Looks great so far Master Chief, what's ToolTech's estimate on turnaround time for the sight?

Bill

 

[BMCM]

They told me about two weeks and $90+shipping. The sight was delivered to Tooltech on the 24th so perhaps sometime next week It'll be back or at least enroute <fingers crossed>.

Cheers
Bill

 

[BMCM]

Got the modified LPA-TR sight back from Tooltech Gunsight today.

I think it looks great.

The folks at Tooltech machined a little slot right below the notch and installed a tritium lamp in there.

I think they did a very nice job of it

I really like the combination of the clean serrated target blade with the unobtrusive tritium lamp.

Well, there's a freeze warning for tomorrow night so... After I get the delicate plants back in the greenhouse I think I'll spend some time in front of my little lathe. I need to make some adjustments to the slide to accommodate this little gem. Just fiddling around with this at the bench, I can tell my aging eyeballs are gonna be quite happy with it. I can hardly wait to take this rig for a test drive. It's not going to be much longer


Cheers
Bill

 

[boingboing]

I hate waiting and this is worse than a cliffhanger of The Walking Dead.....

 

[vigil617]

Master Chief, any thoughts about why they mill the serrations on the back of the sight? Wouldn't seem to serve a purpose, unless maybe glare reduction? They do look cool as all get-out, though!

 

[KOLPIN]

Bill, you do some very nice work. I am always looking forward to seeing your skilled techniques at work on some very fine S&W firearms. You are blessed with a great talent.