# Bench rest



## ShawnR (Jan 10, 2022)

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.




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.


----------



## ShawnR (Jan 10, 2022)

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.












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.  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.


----------



## ShawnR (Jan 14, 2022)

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... .... 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.


----------



## Liljoebrshooter (Jan 14, 2022)

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


----------



## ShawnR (Jan 15, 2022)

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.


----------



## ShawnR (Jan 20, 2022)

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


----------



## Liljoebrshooter (Jan 21, 2022)

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

Joe


----------



## ShawnR (Jan 21, 2022)

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


----------



## Liljoebrshooter (Jan 21, 2022)

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


----------



## ShawnR (Jan 23, 2022)

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..









						Show Me Your Bench Rests
					

Let me start out saying I really don't know if this is the right place to ask this, but it seems close.    I'm looking to build a nice front end rest for bench rest shooting.   I have one of these low-end Caldwell Front Rests, and making a new one seems like a nice shop project.  I can't use one...




					www.hobby-machinist.com


----------



## ShawnR (Feb 2, 2022)

Over the last week, I have made a bit more progress. Looking back, I really admire/am jealous of those that can design a project in CAD and then go build it. Despite the number of photos I have looked at, this is still an "on the fly/design as progress allows" project. Once the base was complete, I started on the top. I want a laterally adjustable top aka windage top. I initially started with dovetails on the piece that attaches to the post but then struggled with how to make the matching sliding top. I think my dovetail cutter was too small for the material I was working with. After a few hours of effort, I decided to scrap that direction and go start fresh. I welded over the dovetails on the post top and then milled them square. I then used 3/16" aluminum for the top and made rabbeted slides for it. The lateral guides were cut, milled and tapped today. With the welding on the post top, of course, it warped a bit so I spent sometime trying to finesse a workable part out of it. I think I am there now. The guides have 1/4" x 20 holes in them to accomodate the adjustment screw but that is as far as I have gotten. I need to figure out how to fix an adjustment screw to the post top to move the sliding top. Still working on that.


----------



## ShawnR (Feb 10, 2022)

After getting the top more or less done, I had to make it useful. Or maybe it is after making it useful, now to get it done....

This required the windage adjustment mentioned previously. And then the sides that need to be adjustable for various rifles. The next step is the stock stop. The felt is temporary, I think. Will have to see what bags I like for the front and after trying it with rifles, kind of what I want. 

The windage screw is one piece. That was kind of fun. But the stock I used was not large enough to give the knob size I wanted so I turned a knob out of some cast aluminum and pressed it on. I got over zealous with the knurling and mushed it a bit. That will be easy to fix but anxious to try it out and see how the whole thing works on the bench. I figure there will be some changes coming so this is Rev 1. 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to shine that aluminum up pretty? I have tried WD-40 with scotch pads and steel wool and also fine sandpaper but it all just looks like scratched aluminum, although better than what I started with. But not as nice as freshly milled aluminum. Would a buffer wheel and paste of some sort be best?


Thanks for checking in. It has been a fun project so far, and I learned a lot, although it took a lot more time than I anticipated. 50/40/10 head scratching/making chips/fixing mistakes I think...

Cheers, Shawn


----------



## IR-JEB (Feb 10, 2022)

I have utilized automotive rubbing compound of various grits by both hand and machine polishing for aluminum. However there are numerous aluminum specific polishes available if you want to go that route. Just Google it. Side note if using a wheel or orbital polisher go easy as aluminum is soft enough you may remove more base metal than desired. I also suggest a good protective coating to reduce future oxidation once you get the level of shine you want. Good luck, it sure looks great!

Should get the X ring now
Jamie


----------



## seasicksteve (Feb 10, 2022)

Get some aluminum wheel polish from the auto parts store. I use mothers aluminum and mag polish


----------



## mmcmdl (Feb 10, 2022)

seasicksteve said:


> Get some aluminum wheel polish from the auto parts store. I use mothers aluminum and mag polish


+ 1 on the Mother's polish . It also works wonders on dull headlights .


----------



## ShawnR (Feb 10, 2022)

Thanks for the replies guys. I will check into the rubbing compounds.

Jamie, I checked out what an X ring is. Looks pretty crazy!  But, then I would only have me to blame for poor shooting...... Right now, I can still blame the rest cause I know the builder.....

Cheers,


----------



## westerner (Feb 10, 2022)

ShawnR said:


> 50/40/10 head scratching/making chips/fixing mistakes


That seems like a good ratio to me. 40% on making the mistakes with only 10% to fixing them? 
That would up my productivity quite nicely, methinks.


----------

