[TheForge] In a pickle now!

Tue Jul 22 20:05:01 2003

By the way, a stubby old machinist near me in Litchfield, MN built a scale
Civil War mortar cannon replica with 8" bore.  Machined the casting
patterns, the whole Chicago from the original prints.  Pretty impressive.

I was there the first time he shot it in public (after one trial in a gravel
pit).  It was a competition (with smaller cannons) to lob the ball into a
20' diameter fence ring about 300 yards or so away.  He hit the center post.
Wow.  He & his sons did a good job adjusting for the progressive sink of the
cannon platform into the ground after each shot.

He let me fire it off and, of course, I forgot my earplugs.  I couldn't pass
it up!  At least I could plug one ear (wrong one) with the free hand.

There were other cannons there, originals from the days of the Native
American battles in New Ulm.  I found it a little creepy but interesting.

If you take a leaf spring and curl the end a bit like a shovel, it helps get
the ball out of the deep hole in the soil.  I made sure he got a nice one!

Ed

----- Original Message -----
From: "WinnonaD" <[email protected]>
To: "Blacksmith's I-Forge" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2003 10:23 AM
Subject: [TheForge] In a pickle now!

> Well, the cannon project has run into a snag.
>
> The barrel is a 660 bronze tube (4" OD 2" ID 24" long)
> The barrel is to be sleeved with a steel tube (1018 2"
> OD 22" long).
>
> A machinist friend (used-to-be-friend?) told me to use
> "0.001 per inch" for a press fit, (but I don't think
> he considered the depth - it has to go in 22")
>
> The steel sleeve measures 2.000", so I reamed the
> bronze to 1.998" with an adjustable hand reamer (a
> considerable job!)
>
> I started running the sleeve into the bore this
> morning with my 6 ton jack and a chain. The sleeve has
> a very slight taper for about the first 1/2" to get it
> aligned and it pressed in fairly easy for the first
> couple of inches and slowly stared to tighten up. I
> drove it a couple of more inches with the sledge
> (first mistake!) before my stubbornness subsided and I
> said to myself "This is too tight!"
>
> Then I tried ta get the sleeve back out by driving it
> with a bar from the other end. It went a ways and kept
> getting tighter. Even heatin the bronze tube with the
> torch wouldn't get it free. (I may have mushroomed the
> end of the sleeve a bit driving it with the bar -
> second mistake!)
>
> In any event, I'm in a pickle now with the sleeve 6"
> into the bronze 'n' tight as he!!
>
> I left a message fer my friend who has a 50 ton shop
> press. When I get a hold of him, I'll see if we can't
> press the sleeve out.
>
> Got a real nice memento now to - a big triangular burn
> on me forearm from the hot bronze (third mistake).
>
> Somehow my enthusiasm fer cannon-buildin's at a low
> ebb right now - $400 worth of material (and a couple
> of weeks work) what ain't together the way it otta be!
>
> So, instead of getting stubborn again, I'll wait and
> see if the press will do the trick - that means
> staying away from temptation by staying out of the
> shop!
>
> Lawrdy I hate MONDAYS!
>
> Calamity (bordering on calamity) Jane
>
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