I have read most of the posts on Stock Duplicators. I will try to get a word in on this topic so some of you will better understand the business end. First a gunsmith must be able to make a good living or hopes will be lost because of lack of money to buy better equipment. Time is the limiting factor for most young gunsmiths trying to get started. I have always had the opinion that if a person could not make money for the company, then the company doesn�t need you. Most shops don�t have the time to teach a beginning stock maker all the tricks, so go learn as much as possible in a couple of years in a gunsmith school. There are several schools that are good. I will not recommend just one as the best as this can cause a lot of uproar from the guys who attended their favorite one. I finished TSJC gunsmith school in 1963 and worked as a full time gunsmith until I retired. I went back and taught at TSJC in 1993-94. My instructor was Mr Mrace who worked for P.O. Ackley�s shop. Mr. Mrace and Red Keys both have recently passed away.
The guys working with stock machines all had good points in the discussion. Some of you are making a point of how much a machine will cost. This is where I differ in some of the answers. I have owned a 2 spindle North Star carver and have worked on a Don Allen duplicator. I made my own machine for about $500 in parts. The first model was made in 1981 and the current machine was made in 1983 with a couple of improvements. It will cut as well as most other machines. The problem I found was in the space required for these other machines and the control of the cutting heads. I designed a control for the carriage on my machine that will allow a person to operate the router with only ONE HAND. It is so simple after you see the setup to understand how this works. If you understand the dimensions needed for a certain stock than a pattern can be made for that particular design. I make the guides about .025 oversize to cause the router cutters to undercut the inletting. This will prevent having gaps in the final inletting. THE WEAK POINT IN ALL THESE MACHINES IS THE PATTERN ITSELF!!!! Maybe the weakest point is wrong. It could be the MAN BEHIND THE OPERATING HANDLE pushing the router.
DETAILS: original machine
1. Frame is hard maple with steel for reinforcement in areas of ware
2. No moving parts in carriage to get out of alignment
3. Control of carriage for straight cuts back and forth with one hand
4. Heavy duty Black & Decker router---the DeWalt router with � collet is used on the one built by the students at TSJC
5. Requires only 4 square ft of floor space to store in the shop with wheels to roll out when needed
6. Size--2 ft X 4 ft, weight=135 lbs designed to be portable
7. Chain driven spindles
8. Wheels are controlled for the carriage by aircraft cables
9. No bearings in this original for the spindles, but changed in the all steel model that we built for TSJC in 1994
I was offered a royalty for the machine to be made, but declined to except the offer and decided to give away the plans on a CD to help the ones wanting to make their own machine. I would only run my own stock blanks. I would not do checkering for any stock that I didn�t make myself. HOPE THIS HELPS . minigun17@yahoo.com

Les,
Their aren't many people around with out dollar signs in both eyes and both hands out covered with glue.
You are one of a rare breed.
It was a pleasure to read your post.

Uhhh, Les, how would I go about getting one of your CD's to build one of these machines? - Sheister

PM sent. Just in case you don't get the e-mail.
Your graciousness and that of many others on this forum is what make it the best.

Thanks
Shawn

gents,
I have les's cd in my pc this second... well worth the entry fee...

email him and get it.

I am going to be working on making one up...
if even just to make stocks for my own rifles
jeffe

Definatly let me know how it works out- My check went out to less today! He has been more than helpful as we email back and forth on my queast to be a gunsmith-

A true gem and stand up guy!!

Andrew