I've been meaning to get rolling on re-furbushing the PC4506 so I figure now's a good a time as any. What we're gonna tend to here is installing a set of Karl Nill's lovely walnut grips.
Here's what you get when you order a set of these. A little plastic doodad for the mainspring plunger to sit in, Four metric M4x.07 machine screws, and of course the grips. You'll note these are affixed to the frame in similar fashion to the panels on a 1911 with two screws for each side. Now since our 4506 has no hole for these screws, some meddling is in order
First order of business, detail strip the frame.
Then get my tools together. From left to right we have:
4mm transfer punch, Starrett wiggler, #30 HSS Co drill, M4 .07mm tap, Starrett 93A tap wrench, Brown & Sharpe spring loaded adjustable tap guide. One more thing you'll need is either a mill or a drill press. I'll be using my bench mill.
Now we're gonna use that transfer punch to mark the frame for drilling. Here, with the right grip half on the frame, I'll place the transfer punch in the screw hole and taking care to insure it's perfectly perpendicular to the frame, give it a couple whacks with a small hammer.
We wind up with a little 60° conical punch mark.
Moving over to the bench, load these three tools into the appropriate collet. Were I to use a drill press instead I'd merely change tools in the chuck. As it is here I'll swap collets for each step.
Now you may ask... How in hell does that wiggler thingy work and what's it for anyway? Well, you use that to precisely locate the center of the quill on a drill press or milling machine directly on a line or mark. Install the wiggler and spin it at about 1000rpm and it'll be plenty flappy
Now take some soft tool, stick or whatever and gently nudge the probe until it stops being flappy and runs true on center.
Here I'm using a Sharpy marker, the machine is running about 1100 rpm and now the probe is spot on center.
Now we'll clamp the frame down to the mill table and being careful not to bump the probe off center, we'll use that probe to locate one of the punch marks directly below the center of the quill by adjusting the x & y axes on the table. On a drill press with a fixed table you'd align the mark by hand then clamp it in place before drilling. On the mill, I lock the table x & y axes until I'm done with that hole.
Switch tools again. Now we load the drill bit.
Slow the machine speed down to about 600rpm, apply some cutting oil and drill the hole. Just apply gentle pressure and let the tool do the work.
Change tools again. This time load the tap guide in the spindle. The tap guide has a 60° angle point on the spring loaded plunger that fits precisely into a matching 60° recess in the end of the tap wrench.
Raise the tap guide up enough to get the tap wrench with tap underneath and started in the hole. Then lower the quill some to preload the tap guide so it applies even downward pressure on the tap.
Put some cutting oil on there (I'm using Brownells Do-Drill) and start turning the tap. As the tap advances deeper you'll need to lower the quill to maintain even spring pressure with the tap guide.
I try to keep the tap guide compressed about half way as I screw the tap into the hole.
Once through and the tap turns freely, get in there with small brush or something to knock the chips off the tap before backing it out. Don't want the pull any trash up into the nice new threads and bugger them up.
raise the quill up out of the way and back out the tap. Clean up and check the freshly tapped hole. Perfect!
I repeated all those steps three more times then tossed the thing in the kitchen sink with some dawn & hot water for a good scrubbing. Got her all cleaned up and dried off then slapped the grips on there.
Everything lined up perfectly.
Hand feel is really nice. I mean REALLY nice!
Well friends, that takes care of the "how to" on Karl Nill grips install.
This is gonna be one sweet rig when I get her all fixed up.
Notes:
Use good quality cutting fluid no WD40 or used motor oil. I use either Brownells Do-Drill or Renton's Rapid Tap Heavy Duty.
Don't force anything, let the tools do the cutting. especially with the little tap, if you feel it start to bind back off some to sever the chips off the side of the hole then continue.
Always securely clamp the workpiece (frame in this case). Using a drill press might require some imagination for secure clamping if you don't have an x,y table. Perhaps fastening the frame to a wood block like a piece of 2x4 that can in turn be securely clamped to the press table. You want to have and maintain everything in perfect alignment to the machine's quill until all operations are completed on a particular hole before redepositing the frame for the next hole.
Cheers
Bill
Here's what you get when you order a set of these. A little plastic doodad for the mainspring plunger to sit in, Four metric M4x.07 machine screws, and of course the grips. You'll note these are affixed to the frame in similar fashion to the panels on a 1911 with two screws for each side. Now since our 4506 has no hole for these screws, some meddling is in order
First order of business, detail strip the frame.
Then get my tools together. From left to right we have:
4mm transfer punch, Starrett wiggler, #30 HSS Co drill, M4 .07mm tap, Starrett 93A tap wrench, Brown & Sharpe spring loaded adjustable tap guide. One more thing you'll need is either a mill or a drill press. I'll be using my bench mill.
Now we're gonna use that transfer punch to mark the frame for drilling. Here, with the right grip half on the frame, I'll place the transfer punch in the screw hole and taking care to insure it's perfectly perpendicular to the frame, give it a couple whacks with a small hammer.
We wind up with a little 60° conical punch mark.
Moving over to the bench, load these three tools into the appropriate collet. Were I to use a drill press instead I'd merely change tools in the chuck. As it is here I'll swap collets for each step.
Now you may ask... How in hell does that wiggler thingy work and what's it for anyway? Well, you use that to precisely locate the center of the quill on a drill press or milling machine directly on a line or mark. Install the wiggler and spin it at about 1000rpm and it'll be plenty flappy
Now take some soft tool, stick or whatever and gently nudge the probe until it stops being flappy and runs true on center.
Here I'm using a Sharpy marker, the machine is running about 1100 rpm and now the probe is spot on center.
Now we'll clamp the frame down to the mill table and being careful not to bump the probe off center, we'll use that probe to locate one of the punch marks directly below the center of the quill by adjusting the x & y axes on the table. On a drill press with a fixed table you'd align the mark by hand then clamp it in place before drilling. On the mill, I lock the table x & y axes until I'm done with that hole.
Switch tools again. Now we load the drill bit.
Slow the machine speed down to about 600rpm, apply some cutting oil and drill the hole. Just apply gentle pressure and let the tool do the work.
Change tools again. This time load the tap guide in the spindle. The tap guide has a 60° angle point on the spring loaded plunger that fits precisely into a matching 60° recess in the end of the tap wrench.
Raise the tap guide up enough to get the tap wrench with tap underneath and started in the hole. Then lower the quill some to preload the tap guide so it applies even downward pressure on the tap.
Put some cutting oil on there (I'm using Brownells Do-Drill) and start turning the tap. As the tap advances deeper you'll need to lower the quill to maintain even spring pressure with the tap guide.
I try to keep the tap guide compressed about half way as I screw the tap into the hole.
Once through and the tap turns freely, get in there with small brush or something to knock the chips off the tap before backing it out. Don't want the pull any trash up into the nice new threads and bugger them up.
raise the quill up out of the way and back out the tap. Clean up and check the freshly tapped hole. Perfect!
I repeated all those steps three more times then tossed the thing in the kitchen sink with some dawn & hot water for a good scrubbing. Got her all cleaned up and dried off then slapped the grips on there.
Everything lined up perfectly.
Hand feel is really nice. I mean REALLY nice!
Well friends, that takes care of the "how to" on Karl Nill grips install.
This is gonna be one sweet rig when I get her all fixed up.
Notes:
Use good quality cutting fluid no WD40 or used motor oil. I use either Brownells Do-Drill or Renton's Rapid Tap Heavy Duty.
Don't force anything, let the tools do the cutting. especially with the little tap, if you feel it start to bind back off some to sever the chips off the side of the hole then continue.
Always securely clamp the workpiece (frame in this case). Using a drill press might require some imagination for secure clamping if you don't have an x,y table. Perhaps fastening the frame to a wood block like a piece of 2x4 that can in turn be securely clamped to the press table. You want to have and maintain everything in perfect alignment to the machine's quill until all operations are completed on a particular hole before redepositing the frame for the next hole.
Cheers
Bill
