Bench rest

ShawnR

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Hi All

I am not too active here but thought I might post my latest project. It is a rest for benchrest shooting. I am just venturing into the sport. I have seen some simple ones and some pretty elaborate ones. Hoping mine is somewhere in between when done.
The main body is aluminum that I cast last year. It is not great quality. I am new at that too. I was just reducing aluminum into soup cans but the products have been used in a project for someone else, wheels in a 2x72 belt sander and now this rest body. But the casting would be another thread. I just wanted to explain that what you are seeing did not start as a nice aluminum block. I did not take photos early on in the process so kind of jumping in here part way. The larger block is the main body. The sleeve is for a coarse adjustment of height (moves up and down and locked into place to move elevator and disc up and down) and so that the "elevator"? does not spin in the aluminum block. I have not tackled internal threads yet so welded a 3/4" coupling nut into a disc. Unfortunately, the disc had deeper rust on it than I thought so I have some to address. I did not want to mill the disc any thinner. It will be the means of adjusting the height. Some used rods instead of a disc. I thought a knurled edge would be nice. We will see.

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My mill is a Sieg X3. I finally broke down and purchased a 4" rotary table for it. Never used one before. That was fun! To clamp the base down, I made a bushing to fit the hole at the bottom of the center of the rotary table and tapped it for 5/16 -18. I have not made any claps or t-nuts yet and it is too small for my regular clamps so I just clamped the rotary table down to my mill table. Not sure how it is usually done but this seems to have worked. I did not want the legs evenly spaced but rather kind of at 10, 2 and 6 o'clock.

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Next was the legs. I had a piece of 3/4" aluminum so made it work. Length of the legs was just a guess (like the rest of this project ;) ) but it did not allow me to cut threads. And I thought that the threads would be weak or weaken the rod so tapped threads in both the base and legs and will use stainless studs.

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Here it went south a bit on me. My cheap tap and die set that I have used for years calls for a 9/32 bit for 5/16" thread but an actual chart calls for a F drill. Knowing that I wanted it to be a tighter thread than what the 9/32 might yield, I tried an F bit but it was very tight to tap. Being Sunday, I could not go get a new tap. Long story short, I tried various bits and was able to get it done. I milled flats on the top of the legs when they were tight in the base so that the feet will be straight, but, somehow in the process of playing musical bits, extracting one that got stuck, etc, one leg, after the flat was milled, now screws in tighter than when I started so my flat is no longer horizontal and tight at the same time. :mad: I think I can resolve it with a small shim. I will wait till the project is done before worrying about it. Oh well, I am still at the bottom of the learning curve so all good!

So this is where I am at today. Legs are tapped and mounted. Couple more things to do to the base, and then I need to figure out the saddle. Again, some models are really elaborate in this area, remote adjustments for windage, etc. I might start simple to start using it (when it warms up....-37 C here today,with wind..... almost the same as -37) and then consider going Gucci on it later or make a more elaborate saddle once I see how it is used and what I like and don't like. All hardware is temporary just to test fit (and for the photo of course :) ) but I think I am heading in the right direction. :)

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I realized that I made a mistake in my design, or rather, did not look at commercial rests enough. The sleeve I am using for a coarse adjustment needs a wider top to accomodate the stop screw for making adjustments to the fine adjustment ("All thread" in these photos). So, I took the long route to get there. I, at first, welded a piece of pipe onto the top of the sleeve but it needs to be threaded and the .125" wall would not be enough thread so I welded a bushing inside of the top sleeve. I then added material to the assembly to give me enough material to do some cosmetic machining. Talk about taking the long way to get to a part...:rolleyes: .... Had I started with a larger piece of stock, it might have been eaiser, but I like welding and machining so all good.Should I make another one, I will have a better plan in place.

I then milled the keyway which will allow the sleeve to be elevated and held in place.
 

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One thing to keep in mind is the total height you have. If your target is downhill from your position it can be hard to get low enough on the front. Looks like a great project.

Joe
 
Thanks Joe. Good point. The building we shoot from has window inserts to close off most of the windows while shooting (ie -31 C here today! ) and these inserts need a bit of lift. I don't know the actual height so for now, have left the rod long but will probably be shortening it. Now that you mention it, on the center fire range, it is quite a bit down hill so I will need to be trialing them before final cuts. Blocks of wood can often be used to accomodate the indoor ranges too. No one size fits all probably.

Here is a photo of the use of it in our club, and a rest that a member made. He does very nice work.
 

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I have finally finished up the base, mostly. I have ordered a level to be installed somehow but won't know how till I have it in hand. It has been an interesting project so far. The little parts are the most time consuming but worth it I think for the end project. There has been lots of knurling and then parting off. The knurling went well. The parting off, not so well. I have watched videos and talked to people and read, but, I don't think I will ever be one to "just part it off". But other than that, it has been good, albeit time consuming. I wanted to ensure the base was complete before I tackled the top. I might have to request some input on that part but when I have enough figured out to start a discussion, I will post something.

Cheers,
Shawn
 

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Hey that's looking good.
Just noticed that your from Canada. What part? I shoot with the crowd from the Toronto area.

Joe
 
Hey Joe

Northern Ontario, top of Lake Superior. So you come over the border just to shoot with them? Nice! Long range stuff? What is "the crowd"? A club? I think there are a lot of clubs down there. We have a few up here but I am only just venturing into Benchrest. Hoping to get more into long range stuff.
Cheers,
Shawn
 
No they come over to the states to shoot. I am in Michigan, straight south of you.
We made a trip around Superior a few years ago. It is very nice up there.
I shoot short range benchrest around the Eastern part of the US.

Joe
 
A little more proress yesterday. Looks like the top will be more milling than lathe work. Nice cause I have not used a mill very much. Again, designing as I go. I got the post top done with a locking nut.

While googling for images of benchrest tops, I found this thread on this site! I guess I should have started the search here..:cool:

 

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