Author Topic: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos  (Read 16046 times)

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Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #90 on: July 11, 2009, 08:45:21 PM »
   
When I read the intial discussion on this hoist then saw the pictures, I was immediately suspicious...that hoist has another ultimate use!!!

     Douglas,   We don't know what purpose this would be, maybe we are too tired lately from sawing all these timbers?  I don't have a clue; please inform us.  Tim, Chief of Smoke, and all around artillery go-to guy, yours makes a lot of sense if you have Paul Bunyan to handle that pole and Babe the Blue Ox to haul the cart full of small whales caught!

     The following pics show some of the building on the Monster this past week.  Learning how to splice and reverse braid rope was fun.  We probably took 3 times as long as you, DD, but the first one was pretty good, better than just acceptable, because all of our work training and habits demand a slow methodical approach which assures acceptable results on the first try.  Multitask?  Forget it.  We research the heck out of something, fashion a complete set of building process instructions, then stick to them.

Next week we work on the tube which is what most of you have been wanting to see all along.

Tracy and Mike


The 24" Dia., 3/4" thick plate from our favorite used steel yard will be the base plate of the mortar which centers and supports the functional tube on the 60 degree angled core of the mortar bed.  Of course we had to build yet another rotary table fixture to hold it and mill all that flame cut scale off the edge. 




At .020" depth of cut, it took a while to remove .250".  That 10" rotary table has very little mechanical advantage with it's little 3" hand wheel.  I had to pull back on the edge of the workpiece with my right hand while turning the crank with my left, on the opposite side from the end mill to help that little rotary table turn it into the tool.




The laminated oak blanks for the Maneuvering Hand Spikes lay across the outer mortar bed.  There will be two and they are 60" long and 5" high and 3.75" wide.  This is my son's project and he did a great job of glue up and he is now working on a layout to glue to the blank to guide band-sawing of the side view layout and top view layout.  After that it is hours of Sureform file use, sanding and painting.




We had a heck of a time getting the rope-eye steel support ring off the top block.  They used a 5/16" rivet which could not be removed except by drilling, which means that we get to make a new one, but that's no problem, because we have the 7 X 14 mini lathe.  We also have the material, about 80 feet of 1.25" Dia. ledloy steel rod.  I started the rope eye making with the video instruction clip at hand, but soon the "Old Salt" got jealous and had to finish it.  He did a fine job as he always does.




Kitchen table rope eye making in process.




We tested it out after securing with a temporary bolt; jug projectile on the bottom hook.  It passed the function test and looks very nice too.




Here I hold the "dumb end" of the rope while Mike fashions a "back-braided rope end".  You unravel about 10" of the other end of the rope AFTER YOU FIRST REPLACE YOUR NEW TACKLE ON THE BLOCKS.  Then you tie a "Crown Knot at the very end of the "Rope End".  Then you do the same reverse braid that you did with the rope eye to make the Rope End longer.




The Rope End completed and the few tools we used to make it.



Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline RocklockI

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #91 on: July 11, 2009, 10:18:38 PM »
with any luck at all , i wont come to the seacoast world headquarters one day and find tracy hanging by his heels  ;)from that crane after having been completly dunked in a vat of hot tar .

and left for all to see capt. kidd style ........

mike has sworn unsavory revenge for this mortarage thinngy more than once ...... :(

i know this to be true , for sure .... ;D . if mike reads that  'then the old salt got jealous and 'had' to take over' remark ....it could come sooner rather than.........i was there the old salt was .......'pressed into service' .

the segway was most masterfull and well executed as the salt was complety dubious of the ...plan...for lack of a better word .... untill he got a pat on the back and a 'great job' when the job was complete .

it does look great !  ;D

'got jealous and had to take over' .........thats a hoot  :D . with any luck at all he will kill you dead B4 encasing you in hot tar .........and the heel thing .

Tracy BELIEVE ME when i say i am truly looking out for YOUR best interest here ,thats all .

i thought i might as well tell you that ...certain threats ...have been made....concerning your health .


'i thought it best to contact you right away'  ;D.....sorry mike ....... ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D






"I've seen too much not to stay in touch , With a world full of love and luck, I got a big suspicion 'bout ammunition I never forget to duck" J.B.

Offline Spuddy

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #92 on: July 12, 2009, 01:28:37 AM »
It is a good thing that I live in Maine.  If I lived closer to the "Seacoast World Headquarters", I wouldn't get anything done around the house.  I sure am tempted to (sorry for the interuption I was just called into action by the war department to assist in the garden) drive to Montana to see the Beast in action.  M&T thanks for sharing your project with us.  It gets kind of lonely being the only "cannon guy" around here.

Offline Double D

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #93 on: July 12, 2009, 02:40:48 AM »
It is a good thing that I live in Maine.  If I lived closer to the "Seacoast World Headquarters", I wouldn't get anything done around the house.  I sure am tempted to (sorry for the interuption I was just called into action by the war department to assist in the garden) drive to Montana to see the Beast in action.  M&T thanks for sharing your project with us.  It gets kind of lonely being the only "cannon guy" around here.

Don't for get to bring a cannon or two....

Offline RocklockI

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #94 on: July 12, 2009, 09:40:17 AM »
hey Tim did you ever get those mill balls?
"I've seen too much not to stay in touch , With a world full of love and luck, I got a big suspicion 'bout ammunition I never forget to duck" J.B.

Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #95 on: July 12, 2009, 09:58:04 AM »
     
When I read the initial discussion on this hoist then saw the pictures, I was immediately suspicious...that hoist has another ultimate use!!!


    OK DD, one more time, what was the ultimate use?  We are becoming curiouser and curiouser.  Gary,  don't forget to ask Tim if he is coming to Montana in August.  We don't see his name on the list.

Thanks!

Mike and Tracy
Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline Double D

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #96 on: July 12, 2009, 10:40:29 AM »
There is one last step for the rope splices...the finishing touch whichk will make them round and tighten them up. Put the on the floor and roll them with you foot.

Looks good, by the way.

Offline Spuddy

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #97 on: July 12, 2009, 03:11:41 PM »
hey Tim did you ever get those mill balls?

I searched online for Fox Industries but was not sucessful in finding the one that supplies mill balls.  I would love to come to MT to the cannon shoot. I just checked the distance again and the distance between Presque Isle, ME and Cut Bank, MT is 2038.0 miles(3279.0 km).  That is a three day drive each way.  I suggested it to my lovely bride today.  I told her to think of it as a road trip with fire works in the middle.  We will see.  She is a bit curious about seeing the flying concrete water jug. ;D

Offline RocklockI

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #98 on: July 12, 2009, 03:32:18 PM »
an old school road trip through the hinderlands . a regular 'family vacation' .

that can be good for the soul ...... i'm trying to help

you will find out if you should move out here ....OR she will say 'thank all that is holy we dont live out there .....' 

and of of course you agree with whatever way it goes . and reassure her ......i realize that as a man with a cannon you have some sway with your 'war dept' .

BTW the Mount Rushmore thing IS WAY worth the trip if you've never seen it B4 . That thing is as big and impressive as anything youve read about it .

You might even be able to make Sturgis SD  motercycle rally ...maybe not ......

DD any chance of 'the northern lights" showing up .


 
"I've seen too much not to stay in touch , With a world full of love and luck, I got a big suspicion 'bout ammunition I never forget to duck" J.B.

Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #99 on: July 12, 2009, 04:31:45 PM »
There is one last step for the rope splices...the finishing touch which will make them round and tighten them up. Put them on the floor and roll them with your foot.

Looks good, by the way.

     Thank you DD.  And thanks for that tip.  Sure works!  They look more even and the few lumpy areas of the rope end disappeared.  Now please tell us, what is the ultimate use of the shell hoist?


     Gary,   This is at least the second time I have noticed your halucinations.  Where did you ever get the idea that Mike doesn't just love the big French mortar?  Do you really think that I have to resort to subterfuge to get him to help me a little on it?  Hardly, Mike is as solid as I am on it.  Really enthused.........................really.

It is a good thing that I live in Maine.  If I lived closer to the "Seacoast World Headquarters", I wouldn't get anything done around the house.  I sure am tempted to (sorry for the interuption I was just called into action by the war department to assist in the garden) drive to Montana to see the Beast in action.  M&T thanks for sharing your project with us.  It gets kind of lonely being the only "cannon guy" around here.

    Spuddy,   We certainly enjoyed meeting you during your trip to Denver.  We are bringing a few more cannon to the shoot than we can possibly use, so if you show up, you will have a gun to shoot if hauling your field piece is not possible.  That trip to Bangor, ME and Fort Knox and on to Cape Cod, Newport, RI, Virginia, North Carolina and back was 6,242 miles, so don't complain too much.  Just remember, after the first 200 miles roll by, the rest is a piece of cake! 

Regards,

Tracy and Mike

P.S.  Douglas see RED highlighted words above.



     
   
Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline RocklockI

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #100 on: July 12, 2009, 04:41:41 PM »
http://www.foxindustries.com/

spuddy that is where i got them . ;)

42.8 mm IIRC
"I've seen too much not to stay in touch , With a world full of love and luck, I got a big suspicion 'bout ammunition I never forget to duck" J.B.

Offline Double D

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #101 on: July 12, 2009, 05:00:34 PM »
There is one last step for the rope splices...the finishing touch which will make them round and tighten them up. Put them on the floor and roll them with your foot.

Looks good, by the way.

     Thank you DD.  And thanks for that tip.  Sure works!  They look more even and the few lumpy areas of the rope end disappeared.  Now please tell us, what is the ultimate use of the shell hoist?


   

Tracy and Mike

P.S.  Douglas see RED highlighted words above.

   

Lets see it's a shell hoist.  Like one used to lift mortar balls in mortars or shells for seacoast guns.  So my guess lifting shells?  BIG shells.


Offline KABAR2

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #102 on: July 12, 2009, 10:45:16 PM »
There is one last step for the rope splices...the finishing touch which will make them round and tighten them up. Put them on the floor and roll them with your foot.

Looks good, by the way.

     Thank you DD.  And thanks for that tip.  Sure works!  They look more even and the few lumpy areas of the rope end disappeared.  Now please tell us, what is the ultimate use of the shell hoist?


   

Tracy and Mike

P.S.  Douglas see RED highlighted words above.

   

Lets see it's a shell hoist.  Like one used to lift mortar balls in mortars or shells for seacoast guns.  So my guess lifting shells?  BIG shells.



So what I think he has been saying without saying it is M&T's next project should be a full scale seacoast cannon.......rifled of course...........


Oh and great work on the splices everything is looking as expected as far as the usual quality of M&T's work!  ;D
Mr president I do not cling to either my gun or my Bible.... my gun is holstered on my side so I may carry my Bible and quote from it!

Sed tamen sal petrae LURO VOPO CAN UTRIET sulphuris; et sic facies tonituum et coruscationem si scias artficium

Offline Spuddy

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #103 on: July 13, 2009, 12:37:42 AM »
http://www.foxindustries.com/

spuddy that is where i got them . ;)

42.8 mm IIRC

Thanks Gary!

Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #104 on: July 23, 2009, 08:07:52 PM »
     The last of the woodwork was completed this week.  Here are a few pics of final detail operations.  The captions on the pics tell the story. 

Regards,

Tracy and Mike


A Milwaukee modified Fostner bit flat chews wood like a beaver!  It does 7" in about 30 seconds.




Here I cut the 30 degree bevel on the wedge assembly piece-parts.




The second layer of 30 degree beveled pieces are placed in the bed's "Core space".




The tube supporting wedges are complete and the back panel fits.




About two weeks ago, I thought about how heavy this thing was getting and how spindly the saw-horse legs were looking.  I built a timber crib.  Safety, safety, safety!




Now the big shuffle to get floor space for the beast so epoxy coated 1/2" all-thread can be driven through all the pieces which make up the wedges of the Core.




The auxillary glue-up table supports the wedge pieces as the sides are lowered to the floor.




The framing square shows the relationship of the leading edge of the cosmetic shroud to the mortar bed front end.




After placing a 24" dia. template on the edge of the front end panel at the same 30 degree angle as the wedges, a pencil line was drawn around it's edge.  Mike used this line to guide the ends of the cross-cut saw cuts.  The saw remains at the 60 degree angle of the mortar tube represented by the square's long end.




The pieces between the saws were removed with a chisel and smoothed with a wood rasp.




Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline KABAR2

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #105 on: July 23, 2009, 11:52:51 PM »
M&T,

As always great work, I do have a question though....... the angled part of the bed is flat would'nt it have been concave to help center the mortar?

I would think it would have for several reasons, but first and foremost keeping it in it's place, if recoil shifts it accuracy will suffer.
Mr president I do not cling to either my gun or my Bible.... my gun is holstered on my side so I may carry my Bible and quote from it!

Sed tamen sal petrae LURO VOPO CAN UTRIET sulphuris; et sic facies tonituum et coruscationem si scias artficium

Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #106 on: July 24, 2009, 03:41:52 AM »
     Good question, Allen.  From our reading of available material about Paixhans' Monster Mortar, we saw several mentions of it's shape which was described simply as a cylinder, or in one account, an ugly, unwieldy, unconventional, cylinder.  It's true, this pup won't be winning any beauty contests, but for throwing big mortar bombs, it's just the ticket!  So, since cylinders have flat ends that are square to the tube's axis, a flat surfaced elevation wedge is appropriate.  It may have been counterbored to prevent lateral shifting during recoil, but probably not as the mortar bed's sides would have done the same thing, just as our's do.  We will add eight 3/8" lag bolts 8" long through holes in the bottom plate we are continuing to machine today just as cautionary mechanical attachments to prevent "bounce-back" if our Monster compresses the timbers of the wedges and tries to rebound slightly upon vigorous recoil from a heavy charge.

     This is one question for you guys who are more savvy about engineering than we are.  Should we slather two or three buckets of lard on the planks of the platform under the mortar to facilitate this Monster's movement during recoil to lessen the strain on the bed?

Still having fun, but sore all over,

Mike and Tracy
Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline 1Southpaw

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #107 on: July 24, 2009, 05:07:32 AM »
Just now finished reading the 4 pages of this project . I am impressed and awed @ the project .  Glad I will be in Cut Bank to see this baby perform . Beautiful work . 8)
My puny Bowling ball mortar is really a runt compaired to this monster .
 Really looking forward to the Montana  event.
Left Handed people are in their right mind .

Offline KABAR2

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #108 on: July 24, 2009, 06:50:46 AM »


     This is one question for you guys who are more savvy about engineering than we are.  Should we slather two or three buckets of lard on the planks of the platform under the mortar to facilitate this Monster's movement during recoil to lessen the strain on the bed?

 
 

I would caution doing so, if it migrates out from under the mortar bed you have a slippery surface around the bed, I'd hate to hear of someone being squashed like a bug while trying to load one of those water bottles  :o
Mr president I do not cling to either my gun or my Bible.... my gun is holstered on my side so I may carry my Bible and quote from it!

Sed tamen sal petrae LURO VOPO CAN UTRIET sulphuris; et sic facies tonituum et coruscationem si scias artficium

Offline GGaskill

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #109 on: July 24, 2009, 08:11:14 AM »
Should we slather two or three buckets of lard on the planks of the platform under the mortar to facilitate this Monster's movement during recoil to lessen the strain on the bed?

I would say no.  The stuff will eventually go rancid and then you won't want to be anywhere near it.
GG
“If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.”
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Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #110 on: July 24, 2009, 06:11:22 PM »
     Southpaw,   We followed the build of your BB Mortar.  It is a surly beast.  Never badmouth it.  Even gussied up in patriotic colors, we are pretty sure you could fire it until the paint and decals pealed off and it would keep on going if you had a pair of those asbestos mittens the Army issued with the M-60 MG.  We look forward to seeing it in action.

     Allen and George,   You fellows point out two hazards of lard grease we just hadn't thought of.  I think we will leave the lard in the kitchen.  Don't laugh!  If you have not had green beans cooked in lard, you just haven't lived.  With the beams of the mortar bed at right angles to the platform planks, I don't believe we will have any problems with the bed sticking to the platform.  With a small bevel at the bottom back edge and bottom front edge of the mortar bed, there should be no sudden halts in recoil or in a return to battery.

     We are now machining the last few pieces for integration of the tube assembly.  The fabricator/welder we selected for the cosmetic shroud did a very fine job joining our muzzle plate to the 3/16" steel shroud which they rolled and butt welded.  The hole in our muzzle plate is just .080" larger in dia. to the functional tube's bore size at 11.080" dia.  Now that we have all the pieces, we must craft a very well thought out assembly plan and perform accurate machining of bolt circles in the base plate and bottom of the Chamber piece.

     We will show how all these last minute, critical operations are accomplished through pics over the next week.  We might have a few by Tuesday evening.  Now we will post the last few of the work done just a few days ago.

Regards,

Tracy and Mike


Usually my job, Mike took over bullet making as I bored holes and pounded all-thread into all those pesky mortar bed wedges to bind them together.  He made both Parrott and Brooke bolts of 7 oz. and 9 oz., respectively.




Hole boring 4 beams at a time here joining all those separate beams into wedge assemblies, light enough to carry around, but robust enough to take punishment under heavy recoil.




Epoxy and wood and steel, a combination that rarely fails in our experience.




Our 5 foot vernier caliper helps Mike measure a "not perfectly round" cosmetic shroud edge to plan the final trimming on the mating baseplate.  A little squeezing here and there with heavy steel Jorgensen bar clamps solved this problem swiftly. 




That used to be a Ruger 10-22 barrel.  Mike is machining it to be a portion of our big mortar vent that joins the shroud to the Chamber piece.  Today Gary stopped by briefly today with his latest 12" quills.  WOW....... :o :o......... the way they work is STARTLING!!  The whole 12" goes up in about 1/10th second along with a little pile of powder at the far end too!  The quill explosion even fuzzed out my 1/2" cotton rope linstock slow-match, almost blowing the hot coal off the end.



Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline RocklockI

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #111 on: July 24, 2009, 06:40:02 PM »
i was thinking that you should mill a bit of a powder tray onto /into . so the slow match would set it off more reliably .

the 'quill' is much like DD's idea and it is quick and loud .
"I've seen too much not to stay in touch , With a world full of love and luck, I got a big suspicion 'bout ammunition I never forget to duck" J.B.

Offline Victor3

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #112 on: July 24, 2009, 09:07:27 PM »
"Should we slather two or three buckets of lard on the planks of the platform under the mortar to facilitate this Monster's movement during recoil to lessen the strain on the bed?"

 When I had to move my gun safe, I slid it on some thin UHMW-PE (a slippery plastic) strips. I've used similar for moving all kinds of heavy stuff.
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

Sherlock Holmes

Offline Frank46

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #113 on: July 25, 2009, 08:59:53 AM »
Mike & Tracey, you can use ivory soap in bar form to lubricate the sliding surfaces when you move that huge carrage around. Back when I worked for a living had the time to watch transformers being moved when the old one went blooey. They greased the steel rails with bar soap and out went the old one and in went the new. Doesn't go rancid and eventually degrades. Squirrels play havoc when they make contact with the pot heads on high voltage transformers POOF!!. Frank

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #114 on: July 26, 2009, 06:14:22 AM »
    
i was thinking that you should mill a bit of a powder tray onto /into . so the slow match would set it off more reliably .

the 'quill' is much like DD's idea and it is quick and loud .

     Gary,   We both like your idea of making a little powder tray or raised vent field with a powder holding depression machined into it.  It will be done.

     Victor,   With the uneven surface we are dealing with, I think we will go with Frank's soap suggestion.  Thank you, and if I ever have a heavy object to move on concrete, I will keep UHMW-PE in mind.

     Frank,   Thank you.  Your description of the heavy transformers sliding on soaped steel rails reminds me of the tale my father used to tell about the bad thing he and his sister used to do on a gentle railroad grade behind their farm in Newington, Connecticut.  He soaped the rails for 50 feet or so when they were kids in the 20s and then hid in the woods until the 2 PM freight came along.  They squealed with delight when the large drivers spun on the soaped track before the engineer applied sand under them.  Bad kids, very bad!

          We had quite a busy day on Saturday.  We decided to remake the baseplate which supports the Chamber Piece, the Tube and the Cosmetic Shroud.  The old ½” thick steel plate was just too difficult to mill and unnecessarily heavy.  Mike spotted a ¾” aluminum tooling plate 24.25” X 24.5” at the scrap yard 3 months ago and grabbed it for $42.50 about half of the new cost.  We decided to use it as a very strong replacement for the rusty old steel baseplate.  So, our goal for yesterday’s work was to make the new baseplate and to align the Tube assy. upon it and layout corresponding  holes in the Chamber Piece to be drilled and threaded ½-13 UNC.

      We had some help early in the day when we were making the process plan, but none in the afternoon when we were executing it.  There were so many critical alignments to accomplish that our plan had 22 steps and the registration marks, which allow precise alignment upon re-assembly, were not forgotten.  We used the Monster’s shell hoist to good advantage and it allowed two people to do lifts where  4 would have been required without it.  Although we were still at it at 9 PM, we were satisfied that we had accomplished everything on the plan, and had not made one mistake in measurement or alignment.  We double and triple-checked every measurement and alignment before going on to the next step.  Today we are ready to drill the bottom of the Chamber Piece which is a milestone in this mortar’s construction.   See the story in photos below.

Regards,

Tracy and Mike



Here Mike scribes around the Shroud which has been squeezed repeatedly, but is still ¼” out-of-round and has a little hump where the butt-weld is.  With aluminum, you can cut, following the scribed line, with your wood cutting bandsaw at regular wood cutting speeds and then grind exactly to the line on the 12” Disk sander to match the profile of the Shroud’s bottom edge precisely.




The layout of the baseplate’s two bolt circles, first the 4 hole, 9” Dia. Chamber piece B.C. and then the 4 hole, (it will become 8 hole), 3/8” lag bolt, 18” Dia. B.C. ,for  Baseplate to wooden wedge holding bolts.




Holes drilled.





The 267 Lb. Chamber Piece rests on the 40 Lb. Baseplate after being hoisted up on a timber support to allow transfer punching of Chamber Piece securing Bolt Circle through the drilled Baseplate.  All Tube hardware must be assembled before the necessary alignment can occur.




The Tube is hoisted and then lowered over the Chamber Piece.  All twelve ½-13  bolts attach the two, making a 477 Lb. assembly.




Mike does the rigging after we figure out how to center the hook.  When your working with sisal rope, where gloves!





As we lowered the Shroud onto the Tube and Baseplate, we noticed that one edge kept digging into the aluminum, so we moved the hook over to provide more lift where required.





I handed the ½’ transfer punch and hammer to Mike, but he said, “Not me, buddy, that thing weighs 603 pounds now, you get under there!!”  And so, having lots of confidence in my pile of timber, I did.





Two prick-punch marks denote proper Shroud to Tube alignment for accurate re-assembly.




Mike uses an automatic center-punch to mark the vent’s location.  Half way between the handles and 5” from the Shroud’s bottom edge, he makes a dimple to guide the drill.  Remember that we want to fire charges as small as 6 oz., so knowing that the Chamber piece is 11” long and that the 4” Dia. Chamber is 8” long including the hemispherical end, we position the vent at the point where the hemi is tangential to the chamber walls 2” up from the chamber’s bottom, 5” up from the bottom of the Chamber Piece.




Mike drills a 1/8” pilot hole, then a ¼” hole with an 8” long aircraft drill bit to spot the vent location on the 12.5” O.D. of the Tube.  I aligned the long bit with a precision square for up and down and I crawled up on the muzzle to eyeball left and right alignment, then he drilled both holes.




As the light fades, the whole thing is disassembled and hauled into the shop for machining.

















    
Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline Double D

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #115 on: July 26, 2009, 06:27:02 AM »
Hold it!!! Stop right there guys, your pointing the wrong way!!!!  Now I will have to put you on the other end of the firing line!!!! Tough job this ramrodding the firing line!  ;D

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #116 on: July 27, 2009, 07:52:23 PM »
     Well we finally got the vent drilled through all the layers of the Paixhans Monster Mortar and we are glad the nail biter type work is over!!  The photos tell the story below.  We hope to completely disassemble the tube for the last time tomorrow and then re-assemble on the mortar bed, itself.  First we better install those two 7/8" recoil bolts clean through the bed so we don't run into any of the eight, 8" lag bolts which will hold the baseplate to the big green wedge.  See vent alignment and drilling below.

Regards,

Tracy and Mike


Remember how Mike and I marked the 3/4" thick tube with the long 1/4" pilot drill as square as we could to the Cosmetic Shroud surface?  Well our care paid off, because we hit the Tube right in the middle and left a nice circular dimple.  After pulling the opposing point called the bottom dead center under the dimple, we drilled 1/4", then 1/2", then 5/8" then we bored the final 3/4" hole with a two flute 3/4" end mill.  Finally we reamed it .004" oversize to fit our .744 dia. O.D. vent tube with only .010" clearance.




Mike is aligning the top-side vent dimple with the bottom dead center of the Chamber Piece so the vent hole goes straight down to the exact center of the chamber.




Forgot to get a picture of the Chamber piece inside the Tube getting marked by a shorter 1/4" pilot drill.  Here is a dumpy pic of the vent drilling through 3.5" of chamber piece steel with the marked spot at top dead center.




Remember when I took a hammer and a transfer punch under the 603 pound assembled weight of the mortar tube sitting perched up on top of a pile of loose timbers on the trailer?  Those dimples I made allowed us to precisely locate these Baseplate to Chamber Piece 1/2-13 UNC threaded holes. 




After drilling, down to the floor it goes for mating with the Tube.




The Tube is lowered over the Chamber Piece.




A quick check with a quill sized rod shows good alignment all the way though to the chamber. 




Gary helped us out by making sixteen, 12" long quills today, so he gets to pose with the Beast's tube.




Proof positive the vent is drilled correctly and that the vent piece is screwed via 1/2-20 UNF threads into the Chamber Piece. 




You can see that the vent piece is a little long, but it will be trimmed to length tomorrow to fit into the Cosmetic Shroud.




One of our leftover 4 X 6 beams is clamped to the milling machine table, overhanging the end by 2 feet and becomes a support for the Cosmetic shroud for final sizing to 3/4 inch by an end mill and reamed to .754" dia. like the Tube.  The vent piece is turned down to .744" and it fits all three pieces, so you can see that alignment was pretty fantastic, after all. 




Mike cranks the vent piece in to judge it's length and how much to leave for the 5/8" hexagon shape he wants to mill on the approx. .50" exposed end which will be hollowed out with a ball end mill to hold a little loose powder for easy lighting.


Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #117 on: August 01, 2009, 11:25:20 PM »
     We finished the last bit of reinforcing of the mortar bed today by adding 12,  3/4" steel rods, 18" long which join the center wedge-shaped core of the bed to the two 7" thick sides.  We did a final assembly on all the tube parts today and repainted all the scuffed up paint which resulted.  After a bit of rasping on the tube cradle area of the front transom, everything fits.  Mike added a bunch of hold-down rings to the trailer today and we used our brand new maneuvering hand spikes today to get the mortar and bed into the traveling position for a trip to the range on Sunday, weather permitting.  Our friend Bruce, the sculptor, made them and they are fine, indeed.  He said the laminated oak blanks my son made are solid through and through which made me happy.  The very last construction pics tell the story below.
Victor, we did not forget the high-temp silicone RTV application either.  A full 24 hour cure will occur before firing takes place.  We filled the entire 1/4 X 1/4 inch groove which should be enough.


Test Firing tomorrow!!

Mike and Tracy


We spotted locations for all bolts and bolt heads through the 3/4" aluminum plate. 




Baseplate and Chamber Piece Assy. is in position and the dynamic duo discusses how to rotate it so we can find the first hole.




After both approving final alignment, I drive 8, 6" long, 3/8" lags to hold the Baseplate in position.




Mike and I horse the 200 pound Tube into engagement with the Chamber piece.  With only minimal clearance, it ain't easy!




While my son wiggles the Tube, Mike drives the 12, grade 8, 1/2-13 bolts which lock the Chamber Piece and The Tube together.




Only one more bolt!  That bit of Douglas Fir lumber became a part of the Paixhans Monster Mortar, because there's no getting it out now!  A little green paint and, "Voila, it's invisible!".




We finally had enough people present to allow a pic of a lift.  The 156 pound Cosmetic shroud is a lightest component of the Tube.




While my son steadies the Shroud, Mike does some custom fitting with a wood rasp.




The 6, 1/4-20, muzzle bolts are secured and the assy is complete.  Sorry, no powder can in the pic!




This shot gives you a good idea of how big this thing is and what 60 degrees elevation looks like.



Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline Victor3

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #118 on: August 02, 2009, 01:13:01 AM »
"Test Firing tomorrow!!"

 (With organ music playing softly in the background, the Pastor says).....

 "Let us now bow our heads dear GBO cannon forum brethren, for M&T have set their minds to load and fire this creation they have worked so diligently on for these many months. Oh Lord, we pray your mighty hand of protection would be on M&T this day, for we know..................
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

Sherlock Holmes

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Re: Fabrication du Mortier de Monstre de Paixhans avec des Photos
« Reply #119 on: August 02, 2009, 01:45:08 AM »
 I've read every word,studied every photograph,been educated,amused,impressed,not just by your skill and ingenuity but stubborness to solve problems ' in the field ' while at the same time posting an excellent report on the build. thank you. 
                                Tam.
Scottish by birth and by heart.