This is one of those days you almost dread, and then feel great when it's over..... provided everything works the way it should.... The spacer between the two tubes is 10" long and concave on top and bottom to fit the 1-1/4" diameter tubes, and keep them parallel and 1/4" apart.... It could have been made from a piece of 3/4" x 1" aluminum bar stock, but the only piece I had long enough was 1-1/2" wide.... so the first thing I had to do was saw it lengthwise and then mill it to 1" wide.... Since it was 10" long and I can only machine a bit over 6" of length, that required two setups, and they were critical to match up parallel and exactly 1" wide.... Fortunately, that setup of the vice on the milling attachment on my lathe was also necessary for milling both sides to a radius using the 1-1/4" diameter router bit I just bought.... but again it meant two setups per side, critical that the part be square to the machine in both axis to end up with the same thickness at the center of the web from end to end, to end up with the tubes parallel in height.... and also with the grooves centered in the width of the part, to make sure the tubes end up parallel side to side.... I'm pleased to say that it went very well.... Here is the finished blank....It fits the tubes perfectly, in fact better than previous breeches where I have machined the bottom with a ball-end mill.... I would definitely use a carbide router bit for this job again, especially with them being a fraction of the cost of a high-speed steel ball-end mill.... It needs to be run fairly fast, with not too deep a cut.... I was running 1270 RPM and removing 0.020" per pass once the full width of the router was engaged.... and using the power cross-feed, that was smoother than going by hand.... Including shallower finishing passes, that meant for about 15-17 passes per setup, times 6 (including milling the width to 1"), so about 100 passes.... It took me 5 hours to produce the piece you see above.... There is a bit more machining to do to this part, it has to be drilled for the transfer port and the three bolts that fasten the upper and lower tubes together.... plus a recess in one end to hold the back of the Forestock in place.... However, that won't happen until the tubes are finished and this will be machined to match.... Besides, I've had enough for one day.... It's time to have a drink and relax.... It's been a very productive few days, and it's time for a break....Bob
On a 12+ lb. gun, with a 2.8 lb. scope, I would never notice the difference.... *LOL*.... Sliced my hand up today in the shop, so progess will be delayed a bit.... Bob
I wish I could afford a BIGGER one!!!Bob
Cost is not the issue in bigger machines, the big ones cost next to nothing in here, but wher the hec do you put a machine that is 3 meters tall 4m long and over 2 wide and weighs over 4.5 metric tons?