a frontstrap transformation...

[Guest Chad Kandros]

[Guest Chad Kandros]

[Guest Chad Kandros]

little easier on the eyes now...........

[Guest Scramasax]

Very satisfying to salvage something and at the same time make it better.

Cheers,

ts

[Guest Chad Kandros]

my thoughts exactly, sad thing is that someone paid good money for that stippling.......hmmm

[Guest bkelm18]

Not real clear in the original pic, but are those flowers?

[Guest Chad Kandros]

yes sir, my thoughts exactly. who calls their gunsmith and ask for this, and pays for it?? Out of respect i would have steered him slightly different............hehe

[durtyzulu]

Nice! I'm glad to see you working on the mill. Even more so that the flowered frame is officially deflowered! I've got a couple of bottles of cavarms pink Duracoat on the shelf, because I was paid to!

[Guest Chad Kandros]

part of the biz my boy! good to hear from you

[DMark]

Deleted.

Edited July 12, 2012 by DMark

[Guest Thug88]

Flowers ??....Seriously ??

Good rescue Chad, looks nice. As much as I admire a 1911 with "floral" adornments, I think I'll stick with 20-30 lpi checkering on my Commander. So my friend, once you get caught up and get my parts in hand, get ready to build mine. I can't wait ! If you can make an Officer's shoot 2" groups (you saw it yourself), I can't wait to see what this Commander will do. The guys at Gun's & Leather couldn't believe how tight you made the 3" gun shoot. I told them to just wait until you finished my custom Commander. I'm not sure if it's possible to put 1 box in 1 hole, but we'll see...hee hee

Keep up the good work and post a pic of "durtyzulu's" pistol when finished.

[Guest GunTroll]

Nice! I'd like to BS with you sometime face to face and swap battle stories .

[DMark]

Deleted.

Edited July 12, 2012 by DMark

[Guest Lester Weevils]

The After looks better than the Before fer sure. Looks great.

Chad I'm ignorant of machining, dumb question--

Is that a computer controlled mill?

Or did you do such precise machining manually steering each cut in three dimensions?

Or is there a way to set up a "curved mechanical template" to force the Z axis to track depth of cut across the curved frontstrap? So that you only have to manually steer the X and Y axes?

Or something else entirely?

Thanks.

[DMark]

Deleted.

Edited July 12, 2012 by DMark

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Thanks DMark

Its looking good.

That new picture you posted, looks like the pistol is mounted on some kind of rotary table. Maybe that is the trick.

Fascinating stuff for which I have no aptitude.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Thanks DMark

Its looking good.

That new picture you posted, looks like the pistol is mounted on some kind of rotary table. Maybe that is the trick.

Fascinating stuff for which I have no aptitude.

It generally is for work like this. The rotoary table has stops in it for the various degrees of turn based on how many LPI's and depth of cut. That way the cuts are evenly spaced and of a uniform depth.

This way above my skill level. I stand around and watch machinists in amazement in what they can do. In these days of CNC everything there is some sort of nostalgic wonder that goes into work like this. Nothing like old school craftsmanship that is going to be lost soon in the sea of CNC machines and programmers. You can't find many stock makers these days or at least those that do it full time. People don't wan't to pay for the time or effort that goes into taking a quality peice of walnut and turning it into a beautiful piece of art.

Dolomite

[Guest Chad Kandros]

Thanks Guys, i appreciate your kindness! Yes, i do it all on a manual mill. You guys are so right about the cnc machines. an 18 yr old, walks up and programs it, walks aways for a couple of hours and comes back to 20 frames all checkered and ready to go. I will always do it the old fasion way. Thats what a true custom is all about. You tell me what you want, i spend hours upon hours doing the machining, then hand fitting the rest of the parts. People underestimate what goes into a custom. Its a true work of art. Few people come over and watch every once in a while, they leave amazed.I hope you guys know what goes into fitting a barell, Its not some drop in part, they need the lugs cut,hood corrrected,chamber reamed, and so on. Now you have the grip saftey, thumb saftey, which are all blended by hand. Gone over several times to make sure its a perfect fit. I cant post anymore pics till i become a paying vendor, but once i do, i will be happy to take you guys through a entire build. Its a true hand crafted piece of art, that runs as good as it looks! Before i put a custom on the shelf, or send you yours back, i have tried seveal kinds of hollow points to make sure the gun is not ammo specific. Like i said, more goes into it than you think. To me its a true work of art.God bless,...

[Guest Chad Kandros]

Mr Weevils, its a jig that lets me works the x,y and z. Its all in the set up, the right jigs are a key tool, this is a 1200 dollar jig, you have to invest to hang with the big boys. And yes sir, its all manually done.Everything i do is manually done. Hours reading that dro makes you crazy! Thanks, anymore questions let me know, God bless

Edited August 27, 2011 by Chad Kandros

[durtyzulu]

I've seen the floral and a couple real nice colt frames he's milled on since this post. I'm glad this dude is building my gun!