Author Topic: New project starting - Carronade (Read 16777 times)

Rickk · « **Reply #30 on:** May 02, 2007, 02:16:28 PM »

Messed around a bit with the wood for the little one tonight... drilled some holes for the thru bolts for the front part of the floor, the axels, and the trunions. The thru holes for the floor board that will go under the quoin will have to wait untill I spearate the two sides, as I am having a hard time locating exactly where they are with them tacked together in a waste corner with wood glue. Looke closely and you will see the stairstep pattern penciled on the wood to give some perspective as to what this is.

Something I learned when making my mini-dictator mortar is that you can't drill half a hole and get it to come out good... so I laid some scrap wood up against the top of the side boards when I drilled thru for the trunnion holes. If you don't do that, in spite of having a big drill press and a heavy vise the hole will still wander a bit due to the imbalance in pressure on the drill bit.

I was going to use 1/4 inch threaded rod for the thru bolts and thread the ends of some 3/8 inch hot rolled steel for the axels. While passing thru the hardware store tonight looking for some square nuts I noticed they had some 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch stainless rod, so I am going to give that a go instead.

Rickk · « **Reply #31 on:** May 03, 2007, 03:38:45 PM »

no pictures tonight, but on the "little one" I cut the curved cutouts that typically go on the bottom of the side pieces on a naval cannon carriage.

I was planning on making some exotic home made scribing compass to draw the large radius arc on the wood, but for some reason I picked up my safety face shield that I wear when grinding or cutting metal. The bottom edge of the plastic shield sort of has a curved surface on it. I laid it down on the stacked up pieces of wood and traced the bottom edge on the wood... looked good, so I rough cut it with a saber saw, and then finshed it up with a wood grinding attachment stuck into my drill press.

That started me to thinking... when I cut this same arc for the big gun into 3 inch thick oak the saber saw ain;t gunna do the job. A bandsaw would be awesome, but I neither have one, nor room for one. Will a "sawz-all" style saw cut 3 inch oak decently?

I was thinking of getting one of these :

GGaskill · « **Reply #32 on:** May 03, 2007, 09:50:17 PM »

I'll bet one of these won't cost any more and will be more useful. I know mine is the best $149.99 I ever spent (bought it a while ago.)

Click the image for the description.

totallycustom · « **Reply #33 on:** May 04, 2007, 09:07:24 AM »

Use a hole saw instead of that forstner bit, it will hold straight without the need for any other bracing against it. Take a look at tubing notchers they cut metal in half circles and dont have any problems would should be even easier.

Rickk · « **Reply #34 on:** May 04, 2007, 10:40:56 AM »

Good point, although I love the clean holes that a forstner bit makes.

jeeper1 · « **Reply #35 on:** May 04, 2007, 11:01:08 AM »

I am currently using both forstner bits and hole saws in building a launching rack and while I prefer the clean hole left by the forstner bits both types are a necessity to do the job.

Rickk · « **Reply #36 on:** May 04, 2007, 01:10:27 PM »

Shipping noticed from Hern showed up today in the mail... a month early!

Panic time... ordered a 1 ton engine hoist from Northern tool... cost as much to ship it as the hoist cost. Will I need a hoist to move the hoist?

The heavy duty fun begins

Rickk · « **Reply #37 on:** May 04, 2007, 01:47:45 PM »

Learning experience... had it happen before, but never on something with so much work into it...

Was cutting the stairstep pattern on the small carriage on my compound sliding miter saw. Got lazy and hand-held it against the fence instead of figuring out how to hold it down with a clamp. The saw blade caught the wood somehow and wailed it against part of the saw... the impact split the whole thing right in half. The carbide blade may be a bit on the dull side, which no doubt contributed to the whole thing.

O well... there were some minor screwups in it anyway... the next version will be closer to perfect.

Rickk · « **Reply #38 on:** May 07, 2007, 02:41:46 PM »

The big barrel is someplace between here and Indiana, but I have been making some progress on the little one.

I still need to make the trunnion caps, the quoin, some eyebolts, and do some minor adjusting to make the wheels be level.

The thrubolts and axles are all stainless steel rod that I threaded the ends of to accept nuts (1/4 for the thrubolts, 3/8 for the axles). I never threaded anything in my life... a new learning experience. The 1/4 inch was easy, but It was tricky to get the threads to start straight on the 3/8 inch rod.

The "floor" is 2 pieces. The front is horizontal, the rear slants downward at a 5 degree angle to help hold the quion in place.

The top of the required Goex can is peeking up behind the gun

Tropico · « **Reply #39 on:** May 07, 2007, 02:58:36 PM »

YES !!! .,Very nice Rickk ! .,More photos please

Rickk · « **Reply #40 on:** May 07, 2007, 03:04:20 PM »

I didn't want to fill it up with not-quite-done pictures. I should have some nearer to finished by the end of the week.

I'll pull the barrel and take some inside shots for you Tropico. Believe it or not, the two piece floor really looks more like it should be that way. At the very least, it looks like someone went out of their way to make it that way, so the casual assumption would be that is the way it is supposed to be.

Oh ya, one other thing needed, one of those rounded pieces that goes on the front... the "bumper" if you will.

I must admit, there are several screwups in it. No one but me would know that, but they are there, and it was a good learning experience to do before cutting wood for the soon to be big brother

O, what the heck, here is a side view.

Tropico · « **Reply #41 on:** May 07, 2007, 03:52:44 PM »

It looks awesome.,.,They are loud too

.,The carriage looks great. later in the week I would really enjoy the finished pics.

With Lendi's carriage blueprint.,and some of your pics I am going to try to go with less floor on my 6-pack as well as the herns for our seawall . These will all be getting wet and living out doors. Better if they dont hold water.

EL Caz 66 · « **Reply #42 on:** May 07, 2007, 04:35:24 PM »

Bravo!!! its coming along nicely...

Rickk · « **Reply #43 on:** May 08, 2007, 02:46:44 PM »

I spent a good amount of time over the last month trying to decide how I was going to make the trunnion caps for the little gun. I finally made a decision and they are about 60% complete. I thought I would show a picture of them now as it will help show how I am keeping everything aligned...

I bought a metal bender a month ago, intended to help me make a new BBQ setup. Anyway, it has been sitting on the back steps where the UPS guy delivered it a month ago. I came to the sudden realization last night that one of the mandrels in the box is 1 ", the same diameter as the trunnions.

I bent a couple of half circles out of 3/4" x 1/8 inch steel, ground them down a bit at a time so that when they sit on some 1/8 inch thick flat steel they formed tight fitting trunnion caps.

I cut two pieces of 4" x 3/4 inch steel and welded the half circles onto the steel. Tomorrow I will cut out the piece that is "in the way" and finish the weld by welding up the inside and grinding it all back down to fit properly. By doing it this way (one long piece instead of two short pieces) it is way easier to keep everything straight before welding.

Preacher_of_Boom · « **Reply #44 on:** May 08, 2007, 03:02:08 PM »

Rickk, I have not yet discovered the secret of steel which Cromm left on the battlefield, but it looks like you have. Nice cannon!

Rickk · « **Reply #45 on:** May 08, 2007, 03:46:17 PM »

My secret is that if you screw things up enough, you learn not to do it that way any more.

I have had a lot of practice at screwing things up.

I also lack lots of really exotic shop equipment, or even a "shop" (my lawnmower has to sit outside during this project). I can fall back on that as an excuse if anything goes wrong (it is the lawnmower's fault).

The trunnion caps are the only thing on this so far that are not either brass or stainless. I guess if I was set up to weld stainless I would have tried that, but I use CO2 for a shielding gas, cuz it is wicked cheap and makes a deep, strong weld in carbon steel when trying for strength. I have welded stainless with regular steel MIG wire and CO2 and it welded (and eventually rusted), but have never tried stainless wire because they say it is not the right thing to do. Maybe it is close enough? If I see some stainless 3/4 inch steel I will have to get a couple pounds of stainless wire and see what happens.

Rickk · « **Reply #46 on:** May 09, 2007, 03:00:55 PM »

more work on the small trunnion caps this evening...

I guess I could have continued to add weld and smooth it out, but tomorrow I think I will smear a bit of JB Weld over the weld area, sand, and paint.

I need to drill some holes and JB weld some stainless 1/4 inch studs to anchor the trunnion caps. I'll use brass nuts on the top to hold it in place. The studs will be long and run most or all the way thru the sides to add strength.

I might actually be able to shoot this thing sometime this weekend

Changing subjects a bit, looky what showed up at the local truck terminal this morning !

As far as I know, this is the first Carronade barrel that Hern has ever produced with a breech plug that conforms to NSSA design. requirements (a collectors item in 50 years when I am 100 years old?)

I'm way to busy at the moment having way too much fun !!!

EL Caz 66 · « **Reply #47 on:** May 09, 2007, 03:46:19 PM »

Very nice!!! Man you must so siked? Woohoo!!

intoodeep · « **Reply #48 on:** May 09, 2007, 03:59:08 PM »

And he even has a powder can in the photo...

Looks good! We can't wait to see the final product.

Tropico · « **Reply #49 on:** May 09, 2007, 05:18:12 PM »

I'm siked for him. Watching these projects is what keeps me going each day. Seeing whats going on Greybeards cannon - mortar forum

. Everything looks great Rickk !

Farmer Dean · « **Reply #50 on:** May 10, 2007, 04:58:18 AM »

Rickk, will this new Carronade barrel be your largest project to date? I will enjoy watching your progress. Dean

Rickk · « **Reply #51 on:** May 10, 2007, 06:42:48 AM »

Yup... first barrel over 100#. This one is 300#.

Rickk · « **Reply #52 on:** May 10, 2007, 04:40:56 PM »

Tonight I drilled 4 holes about 2.6 inches deep and JB Welded some 3 inch long stainless 1/4-20 screws with the head cut off into the holes to be used for attaching the trunnion caps.

I also smeared a bit of JB over the rough weld spots on the trunnion caps. An hour later it was all still gooey... best to just leave it alone untill tomorrow.

I even figured out partly to mostly whey all 4 wheels don't touch the ground at the same time and made some adjustments with a round file to fix it. I won't know for sure till after I reassemble everything, but it should be close, and only require a tad more "adjustment"

I also picked up the engine hoist I ordered for moving the big barrel at the trucking terminal after work. That makes two things in the back of my truck that are too heavy to pick up. Saturday I'll have to figure out how to get them both off (Yes, I do have a reasonably sane plan).

I have to order some hardware to make up "eye rings" for both guns. I have wholesale accounts at a couple companies that I buy my leatherworking stuff from, I believe they can help me with brass, bronze, and stainless rings of a wide range of diameters. I will just have to figure out what size, material and how I am going to make the bolt portion and attach the bolt and ring together.

Rickk · « **Reply #53 on:** May 11, 2007, 02:29:53 PM »

The little one is not quite finsihed yet... the quoin, and the guide that it rides on do not exist yet (easy project for tomorrow maybe). There are some little adjustments to be made here and there, and the trunnion caps need paint. I still have to locate parts to make eyerings as well.

However, there were enough parts ready to put together a firable cannon, so I have two blank charges thru it already, and maybe a couple more will happen after dark. I love 1 inch bore because you can make aluminum foil cartriges for it and not have to mess around with loose powder.

note the "implments", including the cat food can that holds the water.

One thing that I concluded from this project (Tropico and Len, pay attention here), is that anything with 4 wheels needs to have one axle capable of floating to keep all 4 wheels on the ground all the time. Only one should float to prevent wobbling. If you don't have float, even if you get all four wheels to be in perfect height alignment, you won't be able to find a perfectly flat place to put the gun on. I was able to make this one float with a half hour's wotk with a 3/8 inch round file. I will try to make up a sketch to explain this in more detail. Though I am not positive how it will happen yet, the bigger gun will have this feature built in by design rather than by afterthough. I learned this by driving my Farmall tractor alot, and I think I will stare at the front suspension of it a bit. The float can be in the front or it can be in the back, but I think it has to be there.

Rickk · « **Reply #54 on:** May 11, 2007, 03:25:34 PM »

This is an absolutely lame rendition of a cross section of the carriage where the rear axle passes thru it, to try to show how I was able to "float" the rear axle.

The big gun will probably have a steel fabricated pivot point on the axle tube. I will probably steal the concepts from my Farmall front axle, since it is intended to do this.

Rickk · « **Reply #55 on:** May 11, 2007, 03:53:36 PM »

I just fired it gain, in the dark... spectacular, and loud... really loud. Way louder than my 2.25 inch mortar.

I aimed it the same direction that I aim my mortar for blanks. I heard something I never heard before... echos...lots of them, coming off of various hills to the south of me. They went on for a good ten seconds.

fun fun

EL Caz 66 · « **Reply #56 on:** May 12, 2007, 01:53:46 AM »

Looking good Rickk, but no offense brother we need to see a video of that puppy barking.. It's not fare that your having fun all by yourself..

Later , Ed

lendi · « **Reply #57 on:** May 12, 2007, 03:38:52 AM »

Rick,
Great looking carriage. An interesting concept for a floating axle. Keep us informed on how it works out. Due to the fact that we have not been able to purchase bronze or brass eye bolts, I am in process of making patterns to have them cast locally. Should see the first run in about 2 to 3 weeks. I made 1/4, 5/16, 3/8 and 1/2" shoulder bolts. We make our rings and silver braze them. We also have a large selection of cast trunion caps and screw elevato assemblies. Let me know if I can help you out. Sorry don't have a 2.5" trunion cap for you carronade.
lendi
duck island cannon works

Rickk · « **Reply #58 on:** May 12, 2007, 06:59:53 AM »

Hi Lendi,

The Carronade Trunion caps will be made from steel tubing using a technique that Tropico clued me into. It will allow me to widen the carriage a bit, which sort of gives it a low profile, really mean, hotrod racecar look. Pirates didn't know what a hotrod looks like or they would have done it that way I'm pretty sure as well

I may be interested in sholder ring bolts however. I have been toying with the idea of making some myself, but they won't come out clean in any material other that steel using equipment that I have in my shed I don't think. When you have pictures of them and figure out what they will cost, let me know.

I finished the quoin today. The "quoin slide" (did I just invent that term?) shares at least some resemblence to the one that Lendi posted. Sharing ideas is a really great help.

Note that the rear floor section tilts downward at a 5 degree angle.

I was going to paint the trunion caps, but the JB weld I used to fill in the weld area matches the steel so well you cant see it. I think I am going to leave them natural for a while.

Double D · « **Reply #59 on:** May 12, 2007, 07:53:33 AM »

Rick,

That is a nifty little bulldog of a cannon! I do like it a lot. Hey do you name your guns...this one definitely should be The Bulldog!!!

I was trying to figure what you meant when by the floating axle. but now I see.

I built my axles on my engine lathe out of wood.. When I put the carriage together my wheels weren't level either. While trying to figure it out how level the wheels, I decided to fire the gun. I fired the gun on an asphalt driveway. After firing the gun the wheels were level.

What you might do is just make your through the truck axle holes slightly larger than the axle. I was going to enlarge the holes on my wheels to solve my problem, but didn't need to.

Can I also suggest you turn your quin over so the handle is level. It will be easier to adjust that way and enertia won't make it flip.

Darn the Bulldog is awesome little gun. You need to submit a picture for the callendar!!!