Pictures Of the Factories

[mrerick]

Here's a complete article (from 1942) on the manufacture of the Colt M1911a1 Automatic Pistol:

http://www.gunlab.net/wp-content/upl...anufacture.pdf

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by mrerick

Here's a complete article (from 1942) on the manufacture of the Colt M1911a1 Automatic Pistol:

http://www.gunlab.net/wp-content/upl...anufacture.pdf

Thanks Marc,
super article- and amazine the number of machines, cutters , and steps needed!

[Wastoute]

Thanks, mrerick. What I woldn't give to see a similar article on the Luger...

IIRC, somewhere on the web there is a great presentation of a guy making a 1911 100% from SS billet. Can't seem to find it at the moment.

[SIGP2101]

Originally Posted by Wastoute

What I woldn't give to see a similar article on the Luger...

Here is the one:

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/vi...gotten-weapons

[Wastoute]

Think about this, chickenthief. In that photo, those machines are all sitting on wood floors and bolted down or even just screwed in. Can you imagine the chatter in the cutting? It must have been frustrating as can be to try to run one of those machines. And "letting up" and cutting lighter/smaller don't help chatter, it frequently makes it worse.

[Wastoute]

Something else to think about. We may have dreams of making "one" of something (1911, Luger, whatever). I remember my days as a machinist. When you are assigned to a new job doing one part of a multiple operation sequence, the first dozen or so you do are usually crap because you haven't figured out all the little intricacies. It ain't until you have done several hundred when you really start to get the hang of it. With respect to how many rough passes? What feed? Is a finish pass necessary? Are there factors that complicate getting a great finish (do you have to wait until the Bullard in the next bay is finished his rough cut?)

Think about it, some 53 pieces in a 1911, 162 individual operations on the frame alone. Almost all these operations an individual step, and each step has to be mastered by the operator with regard to all the little intricacies, many of which can't really be explained and taught verbally. Mind boggling.

[mrerick]

The floors of these machine shops were often formed with a surface of maple wood blocks placed vertically (with the grain running up and down) on top of a reinforced concrete base.

I worked for several years at IBM's factory site in Poughkeepsie, and the floors were built this way. They are remarkably stable.

I don't think that I've ever seen an article about Luger factory manufacturing engineering or machining similar to the Colt M1911 article. I believe that there is documentation of the process steps and labor costs. The new book on Mauser by Gerben (Vlim) and Mauro contains some of this material, but it's not for Lugers.

BTW, my grandfather was a Swedish machinist working around 1900 to 1950 in Chicago. He made industrial sewing machines for a company called "Union Special". We had a small machine shop in the basement where I grew up, so some of this is definitely in my genetic makeup...

He was rather clever in spacial conceptualization, and made a number of special tools that helped him improve the speed and quality of his production. As a result, he worked continuously through the American depression in the 1930's. The machines were still in demand, and he was simply better at producing them than his co-workers...

This is one of my favorite photographs...

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by mrerick

The floors of these machine shops were often formed with a surface of maple wood blocks placed vertically (with the grain running up and down) on top of a reinforced concrete base.

I worked for several years at IBM's factory site in Poughkeepsie, and the floors were built this way. They are remarkably stable.

End grain flooring is very stable in horizontal orientation, understandable if one recalls that a board will swell and shrink or crush in thickness/width, but not appreciably in length. There is one exception, though. The shop floor in my high school was constructed this way, but fell victim to a leak in the roof. This swelled up the pieces, which had nowhere to go but up, causing a giant hump in the matrix. I don't remember for sure, but I think it calmed down as the material dried out again. But then it would have been loose because the grain is crushed in the vulnerable orientations by the compression and does not recover its full dimension after that.

[Wastoute]

SIG, there truly is "nothing new under the sun..."

[Puretexan]

wow lots of things learned on one post. I never thought about drilling a hole and then broaching a slot out of it. Must have been the way they did the safety slot. Bet they were some serious machinists for the time.

Paul

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by Puretexan

wow lots of things learned on one post. I never thought about drilling a hole and then broaching a slot out of it. Must have been the way they did the safety slot. Bet they were some serious machinists for the time.

Paul

Broaching is about the only way to get a slot with a "square" end, or a square hole.

Of course now-a-days "they" do all kinds of neat stuff with a wire EDM cutter, or water , or a laser.

[Puretexan]

Nice , thanks!