i know that this board is mostly rifle related, but i am looking for some blueprints for a fixture to do 1911 frontstrap checkering on a mill. i am building one of my own design but would like to see other ideas also.any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks,mike

Front strap checkering is done by hand with a checkering file that can be pruchased from Brownells..It makes about 5 cuts at a time and you can do the whole thing in about 30 minutes..It would take you that long to set the frame up in a mill..also remember you are working on a convex surface!!! and thats not condusive to mill work...

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

30 MINUTES? man thats quick, i dont think im good enough to checker one by hand in that short of time. as for doing it on a mill, bill wilson,les baer and alot of other pistolsmiths do their checkering on mills. i have talked to one 'smith who says all the "big" boys checker on a mill.

Mike357,
All of the Big Boys checker on CNC MILLS not on manual mills. To handle the 3 dimensional aspect of a front strap you need at least one rotary function. To make the cuts from the trigger guard to the bottom of the strap is a single move rotated around the center of the diameter of the front strap. The hard moves are from left to right or vice versa at right angles to the vertical cuts. These have to be done continuously on the radius of the backstrap.

I suppose that you could set up a dividing head to help with this but your rotary ability with the dividing head would have to be pretty smooth. The fixture would have to be designed to fit into the magazine space and have centers at both ends.

It's easier to do this by hand with a file and guides from Brownells.

Bill

BILL, i do agree with you about the cnc mills they would be much easier and i could do it that way. i have access to some of the best cnc equipment on the market, but because others dont always have this access or i might not always have it, i am going to make this work. i have already built a fixture, although it did not work as planned on the short cuts it will work on the long cuts,i now have designed the second half of this fixture to do the short cuts,(short cuts=horiz.lines, long cuts= verti.lines) this fixture will allow me to do this on a bridgeport type mill. there is a fixture out there that allows this to be done on a manual machine, but because i am economically challenged i cannot afford it. it's drawbacks are : it does not allow for differences in frontstrap radius differences from different companies , colt, springfield, kimber etc. my fixture should be able to make even cuts no matter what radius is on the frontstrap. it will have three pieces, but you will only have to load the frame one time. it looks pretty cool, and i have alot of time invested in this thing.enough now where i have got to make it work to save face thanks ,mike

Mike,
The frames are very soft and the checkering file makes 5 cuts at one time, use the firt two as a guide to start with and get after it..I can checker a front strap faster than you can set up a mill.....You can either angle cut or stright cut them...even add a border if you like...

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

Mike,
Check out the 1911 forum http://www.1911forum.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi

Go to the gunsmithing category and ask your question over there. You will most likely get a lot of responses from the pros and maybe even a response from Pete Single who just happens to be the best damn machine checkerer on the planet.

Good luck!

Tony

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www.miltsparks.com
holster@ix.netcom.com

thanks guys for your input, Tony: i haven't tried 1911forum yet, but i have been on pistolsmith.com and had Dane Burns respond,he has one of the fixtures i talked about in a earlier post. Ray: i'm not doubting you can do all the things you say with you way of doing things, but i want to do it on a machine. in my opinion checkering by hand is more of an art form and people who do it well are few and far between.