Sled for my G.B. mortar

[m223]

Well I finally got around to making a sled for my home made g.b. mortar, and let me say it is somewhat of a challenge working wood with tools designed for metal. Anyway it came out O.K. I still may do some minor changes to the side boards. The elevation mechanism still needs to be made and I have some sanding to do before I screw it all together. The mortar will be black and the sled will get a thick coat of olive drab or frazee army green. Sorry I forgot the powder can more pictures will follow as work progresses. Thanks for looking, Tracy  

[lance]

Well, i wonder which color this one will be??? you'll probably change your mind before your done.

[Terry C.]

Looks good.

What kind of wood did you use?

[Will Bison]

Well that little rascal came out nice----mighty nice.

Bill

[m223]

Lance the color will be a shade of green, That much is certain. stay tuned for further developments. Terry, The wood is kind of a mystery, As far as I know it came from Germany and is of laminate construction. It is tough as nails and pleasant to look at before I get my grubby mitts on it. I will try to find out more. Thanks for the kind words, It's not the smoothest looking thing, but big metal band saws are not ideal for delicate wood working. hopefully I'll get some of the elevation screw done today.  Tracy 

[Double D]

When I first saw this I thought, that's gonna break when he fires it.  Then I remembered you are only shooting golf balls.   Then I noticed you put a floor in it.  Good move!!!

When I get home I am going to  start casting Zinc balls for golf ball mortars and you can get some...you'll never go back to rubber.

[Tropico]

I want one    Good show man !
I  dont have a GB yet.

[Cat Whisperer]

...
When I get home I am going to  start casting Zinc balls for golf ball mortars and you can get some...you'll never go back to rubber.

That sounds like a good place to start when making moulds - small enough so as not to require much material and the cost of screwing one up is a whole lot less labor lost too!

It'll be a while - I still have the 400-500 golf balls I got at that yard sale.

[m223]

 Double D, I was a little concerned about the area around the trunnions also. I intended to leave a little bit more meat there but the band saw had other ideas, and I already messed up one sled during the build process, so it is what it is. It probably would be a good idea to add some flat metal  reinforcing bands around the edges of the side boards. Let me know when you get around to casting projectiles. I'll be glad to pay you for a couple. Then I suppose I'll like them so much that I'll have to start casting too. Thanks for the compliment Tropico. To tell you the truth I have yet to fire anything but flour out of it. It is kind of a let down after firing the soda can mortar. Some of those cast balls might cheer me up a bit though. :-)  Tracy

[GGaskill]

The most important thing to do to prevent damage to the sled rails from recoil is to make sure there is solid support in the areas directly under the trunnion.  If that ground doesn't compact, then you should be OK.  You would have a problem if the middle is unsupported and the ends are supported; that would allow the middle to deflect causing cracking. 

Civil War mortars were supposed to be fired from a platform which gave a relatively uniform support no matter what the ground was like.  You could do likewise with a couple of squares of 3/4" plywood underneath the sled.

[Double D]

No actually the area I was concerned about is directly in front of the Trunnions.  But that bottom plate will work to reduce the flex.  George is spot on about a solid base.

My first mortar was one of these.



I broke the oak sides of this with the first shot.

[lance]

i'm sorry Tracy, missed the green color first time reading your post. i'm interested in that mystery German wood, is it something that came in at your place of work?

[m223]

No problem  Lance, I don't always get it right either. I found out a little more about the wood, At one time we had several multi million dollar machines, these were called Kuglers, their function was to automate the book binding process. Any way the wood came with the machine 10" wide by 1-1/8" thick x 8' long, and there are 15 layers of laminate. The wood was to be used as platforms around the machine, but for some reason it wasn't used.   Tracy

[lance]

good deal Tracy, i figured the wood came with machines. your making one tough mortar.........