doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com CNC Stock Duplicators? Maybe

I was searching the web for stock duplicators and broadened my search to just carving machines. I found several sites and forums that described CNC wood carvers, especially for the furniture and custom interior molding markets. Apparently the technology is now available to take a digital photo of the pattern, "map" it electronically, and then transfer it to code for the machine to follow. The technology and equipment is pricey, but like all this stuff, the costs will come down. Consider ramifications for easily duplicating that old Parker stock that's glued or screwed together in the wrist. Wish I had about $60k lying around.

I've seem industrial laser-based machines that captured 3-D images for duplicating items such as machine parts. I think one of those could easily copy and reproduce a stock.

My dentist even has a device to produce crowns from a series of x-rays.

Gentlemen;

The technology has been available since at least 1990 for CNC turning. Kimber of America used two CNC stock making lathes/routers. Kolar Arms has been using the 3-D method for years. It is fast...no argument... it really isn't going to cost less to the buyer for the service even though faster. All it will do is make MORE money for the owner of the machine. Being a stockmaker has allowed me to see some of the innovations to try and speed up the process. To date...speed yes...cost less to the consumer..NO. (Oh, Fajen, Inc. used CNC machines too. Both three axis and five axis. The guys in CAD/CAM knew their stuff but not enough about making gunstocks. We had a digitizer too for making the CNC programing. For every successful pattern developed, there were approximately 50 pieces of scrap wood due to the of lack of knowledge in this area. That is why the Custom Shop still used the hand operated NorthStar machines for all of their work. Production side made gunstocks from the cookie cutter mold of the CNC for Winchester, Savage, and Weatherby.

AK Steel, where I am retired from had a duplicating machine in the rigger shop and all you needed was an outline of the part and all you had to do was punch in how many you wanted. It would copy/cut any number you wanted as long as the plate of steel that you were cutting from was big enough to contain that many pieces. Then the torch would cut them all out to any thickness you wanted.......Norm Abrams on NEW YANKEE WORKSHOP has the woodcutting lathe that you are talking about. You just make a template of the table leg (or whatever) you want to duplicate and it traces the template and copies the part. Like a machine that copies keys at the hardware store. Good luck.

Many timber frame home builders use the same type of machine in a larger version to cut the mortises and tendons, etc. in the beams. They just type in the dimensions in the computer when the beam comes down the line it does the trick.

I know of one well known gunsmith, gun dealer, etc that has a CNC machine that he uses for turning gunstocks. He told me his investment was appx 600K, over half of which was for software. He also told me that if he had it to do over again he wouldn't do it.

How can a gunsmith possibly amortize six hundred grand?

I THINK Boyd Stocks out of South Dakota have CNC stockmaking machines. They toyed with the idea of replacement stocks for sxs guns, cut a replacement stock for my brother's Meriden and may have done others. I believe they've discontinued the project due to low volume of business. The job they did on the Meriden was good quality with a decent piece of walnut, likely looks like the original did when new. Bill is a friend of the Boyd family, the price they charged him was 15% of what one would expect for a hand cut stock and likely 50% of what Boyd should have charged.

Steve

The lathe duplicator is fairly simple, you are using it on a round piece and the stylus follows the curves of the template and the cutter goes where the stylus goes. Most of the cutters are 1/4" so you can see that it is not going to follow into tight corners and intricate designs less than 1/4".


There have been pantograph type duplicators that use a stylus also but use a router mounted to a plate is doing the cutting, bits can be changed to get closer but the outline of the stock and some of the inletting can be done, but there is also a lot of hand inletting to do and I'm sure that is the came with the CNC machines.

It is my understanding that Springfield Trapdoor rifles which were among the first with interchangable parts produced on a massive scale stocks were mechanically cut. Therefore the technology to do this must date back to right after the end of the Civil War or perhaps earlier. I not sure how the mechanics worked for turning stocks back then but I do know that one of the first "computer" punch card applications was for the Jaccard Loom used in the making of patterened cloth which also dates from the 19th century.
Perhaps someone on the forum can explain how mechanical stock duplication was done in the 19th century?
Jim