Chambering Fixture

epanzella

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I'm starting a rifle build that's too short to reach my outboard spider so a new tool was needed. My son had a hunk of 4 inch solid 6061 hangin' around so I was off to the races!


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So how do you set it up to chamber?

You indicate it the same way you would if you used the outboard spider and a 4 jaw. The bolts are all at 90 degree increments and lined up with each other. You don't use all 3 rows of bolts at the same time, you just pick any 2. For a rifle chamber you would use the front rom and the last row, essentially giving you a pair of 4 jaw chucks 7 inches apart. For a barrel stub I use the first 2 rows that are 2 1/2 inches apart. I don't have any long reach TI's so I use a long piece of music wire in a toolholder and indicate that. By running the carriage back and forth I can check the piece at any depth without changing the setup.
 
Have you tried it yet?
No, not yet. My barrel has shipped so I expect it any day. The real holdup is that I had my knee replaced this morning so I don't know how long it will be before I can get down to my shop. (one flight down). When I had my other knee done I think it was two weeks before I could get to my lathe for short periods and then go back up and ice my knee. I tried to get all my tools and materials prepared so I could build my next rifle while recuperating. I built my McSavage last year while my other knee was healing. This year's project is an H&R 12 ga to .458 sml. I can't think of a better cure for cabin fever. I'll post some pics when I get going.
 
It's amazing how everything I do requires making a tool and most of the time making THAT tool requires the making of yet another tool. To make the chambering fixture I needed a way to divide in the headstock. Two rows of the bolts needed to be spaced 90 degrees apart and the third row the goes into the 4 jaw needed to be divided into 45 degree increments because there were 4 bolts and 4 flats. The simplest setup I could come up with is using a steel sprocket and an arm with a pin machined to match the radius of the slot between the teeth. The arm is driven by a threaded rod with a handle on the end. Sprockets are cheap ($10-$20 bux on avg) and are available fro 10 to 72 teeth. I got the 72 and the 50 since they
meet the requirements for all the projects rattling around in my head right now!

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Well I wish you a speedy rebound from your surgery! Keep up with the physical therapy.
 
So how do you set it up to chamber?
Have you tried it yet?
It's been 2 weeks since my knee replacement and I"ve been able to get down to my shop for short periods between ice packs. I'm just dialing in a 3 1/4 inch stub barrel for conversion of a 12 ga break open to a .458 smokeless muzzle loader. There's some pictures using the chambering fixture on the thread below;

 
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