Is anyone in the US doing shotgun toprib matting?

Aaron

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And you said to yourself: "Why would I ever need to have 30 inches of travel in a mill?"

And now you know.

Glenn Fewless

http://www.acgg.org/index.php/...file/Glenn%20Fewless

Aaron,

James Anderson has a multi-wave pattern that is very impressive. I'm not sure if he can do a full length rib. He answers emails promptly. Great guy. CB

Rob, wouldn't you know my mill does have 30"-31" of travel. I also have a fly cutter...if nobody can do it I have options!

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I have done the fly cutter checkering many times in guns which have had their ribs cranged or discombobulated. It works well.

What looks even better is the Perazzi dish type lines. Use a 3/4 inch or 1 inch two flute carbide end mill. If you are cutting from right to left as I do (silly habit for that sort of work.) You have to tilt your head to the right about 5 to 10 degrees so that the cutter makes a slight dish profile. You have to remember that the power feed establishes your line spacing so if the column is at zero your lines will advance left side forward. You have to turn your column a few degrees to the right so that if the table is not advancing it cuts a slight right side leading. When you turn on the feed the advance of the table coupled with the slightly angled cutter will give you perfectly straight, dished lines across the rib. I have actually cut a few with very deep dishes (.020 inch deep in the center) and they are incredibly cool to sight down. It sort of drags your eye down into the center of the rib. It's also a pain in the ass to set up. Best recommendation is get a couple of long pieces of 3/8ths key stock and run it a few dozen times in a double or triple vise setup.

ADD NOTE: Mechanical feed and speed is a definite advantage for this sort of work. Electric feeds and variable speed heads make it a nightmare because feeds and speeds can change (just because). It also makes it impossible to be able to write down what you did so that you can duplicate it a day later. I haven't tried this on the mill I have now and I suspect it would be a nightmare. When I get more space I have a big Lagun universal knee with a vertical head lined up for horizontal/vertical work like that.