Building the Stevens Favorite

[Tom Griffin]

Looking good, waiting to see the finished product.

You and me both.

All that is left to do is make the extractor assembly, drill, rifle, contour and chamber the barrel, make the tang site and front sight, make the front stock, make the butt plate, color case harden the receiver and harden all of the O1 parts, make the barrel lock screw, make the stock mounting screws, the screws for the butt plate and the screws for the front stock, inlet the stock for the mainspring, checker the stock and cut additional clearance in the receiver for the mainspring plunger assembly.

Thanks for inspiring me to make that list, I've been putting it off. :thinking:

Tom

 

[ScrapMetal]

Got most of the trigger finished tonight. It took longer than expected because I went back and made some changes on the model to make it easier to machine. The sear was the hardest part just because it was so darn small and hard to see.

I can loan you my 3x "readers"! :biggrin:

It's coming along beautifully.

-Ron

 

[Tom Griffin]

I can loan you my 3x "readers"! :biggrin:

It's coming along beautifully.

-Ron

Wise guy.

Just between you and me, I did break out the old eye loupe just to be sure the end mill was doing what the numbers said it was.

Tom

 

[Tom Griffin]

The trigger is finished. I milled a 3/8" radius on the front of the trigger with a form tool mounted in a fly cutter and milled the back of the trigger to size.



The 3/8" form tool was ground on a 5/16" tool bit and mounted in a fly cutter. Then the part was spun on the rotary against the spinning form tool to generate the radius on the front of the trigger.



The back side was milled to size with a 3/32" carbide end mill.



Ready for hand finishing.

 

[ScrapMetal]

Wise guy.

Guilty! :biggrin:

Nice job on the trigger. Looks like a complicated little piece to get set up on the mill. (and small, I'd have to hire elves to do it for me)

-Ron

 

[Tom Griffin]

Guilty! :biggrin:

Nice job on the trigger. Looks like a complicated little piece to get set up on the mill. (and small, I'd have to hire elves to do it for me)

-Ron

Thanks Ron.

The trigger was the smallest, most intricate part and I'm kind of glad it's done. It was a pain to hold because there was no room for clamps.

I hadn't thought about using elve's though. :thinking:

Tom

 

[Tom Griffin]

You are a true craftsman Tom, well done.

"Billy G" :biggrin:

Bill,

That is the ultimate compliment.

Thank you,

Tom

 

[Tom Griffin]

The weekend was pretty productive for the Steven's project. I played around with the action a bit and decided to re-design the connecting link a bit because it was binding a bit on the hammer after raising it to half cock. CAD is very helpful but it doesn't provide the feel you get by operating something mechanical with your hands. I also turned down the breech end of the barrel and machined the socket in it where the barrel screw seats. That allowed me to check the over center operation of the lever and breech block. It worked perfectly holding the lever tightly against the underside of the receiver. The barrel screw turned into quite a project with its convex straight knurl and a couple beads that I added on each side to dress it up a bit. I apologize for the lousy pics but the wife took the point and shoot camera up north and I was forced to use my son's Nikon D700. It's a GREAT camera but I haven't used it enough to know how to change things like shutter speed and aperture and it is ALL electronic. Consequently I have a bunch of pics with zero depth of field.




The homebrew convex knurl. It was made by plunge cutting 90 teeth in a piece of 5/8 drill rod with a 60º cutter and mounting it on a bar using a dowel pin as a shaft.




This is the barrel screw in progress. The area under the knurl was pre-cut with a form tool that had the same radius as the knurl. It produced a nice clean knurl although I noticed that some of the teeth chipped off along the edge of the knurl. Guess I left it too hard.




Form tools were also made for the beads on each side of the knurl and the radius relief under the head. The thread is a single point cut 5/16-24. The angled point seats in the barrel to index and hold it in place. I'll add some better pics of the screw when I get my camera back.



Still need to cut the coin slot in the head. I didn't have the right diameter cutter so it'll need to be cut on the rotary table.



I may shorten the barrel screw a bit so none of the threads are showing.



This is with the breech block open showing how it drops down to allow a cartridge to be chambered.

 

[Tom Griffin]

I've been watching this thread in near disbelief. As a complete newb I'm amazed at the knowledge and skill being applied here. I don't ever expect to reach this level of craftsmanship but it sure does make a fellow dream. Looking forward to the next installment.

Shawn

Thanks Shawn.

I decided to document this project to give new machinists like yourself a little taste of the kind of work that is possible with just a lathe and a milling machine. My plan is to make every part of this rifle from scratch, including all of the screws and springs, plus cover the heat treating process, finishing and bluing. Most of these parts require pretty standard machining techniques, but some require special tooling or fixtures to accomplish and that is the main point I'm trying to make. With creative tooling and fixturing it's possible to make pretty much anything you can dream up.

I'm glad you are enjoying the thread and hopefully you'll pick up a few techniques that you can apply to a project of your own. :thumbzup:

Tom

 

[Tom Griffin]

Tonight was a bit of a milestone. I broke out my trusty slotting tool and finished squaring up the corners in the receiver to make room for the trigger return spring. I didn't have any 1/32 spring steel on hand so I made a temporary spring out of phosphor bronze. Now with the extra material removed I was able to install the hammer, trigger and the return spring and check out the operation. The hammer now falls all the way to the breech block and the sear catches the half cock and full cock notches as the hammer is raised. The trigger pull is a little light for my liking but that will get heavier with a stronger steel trigger return spring.

I forgot to cut the clearance for the mainspring when I made the stock so that will be next, then on to the extractor.