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Rifle stocks on a milling machine??

GummyMonster

GummyMonster

Ken
Evening,
Does anyone here have much knowledge about milling rifle stocks on a cnc mill.
I know things like the physical size would have to be big enough, but is it commonly done?
I searched YouTube, but only found some older videos and they all seem to be using dedicated stock making cnc equipment.
Trying to plan out our future business, and my wife has shown interest in the fine finishing work on stocks.
Wondering if we'll need a separate machine, or if a good sized milling machine can rough one out.
Thanks,
Ken
 
Janger said:
This thread might be relevant.

https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/new-member-in-central-alberta.737/post-6875

you could mill wood on a Cnc mill but I’m not sure that’s the right machine. It’s a wood working question really. The member posting above mentions some other pantograph type machine. I’m not too sure... maybe a cnc router might be a more productive choice.
Click to expand...

cnc or manual milling machines for metal tend to have slow spindles 6k or 10k whereas wood routers are 30k. Wood makes a hell of a mess - not good for ways and such. A cnc router would have vacuum attachments and a fast spindle.
 
When I was lurking cnc routers many moons ago a lot of guys were making those in what I'd call a mostly automated fashion. Load a blank of hardwood, press the green button. Most I recalled milled side A, flipped & milled side B, somehow indexed of course. Others had the stock on a rotary axis. (Propellers are made this way btw). But lots of people were using the classic manual mode 2.5D pantograph which is essentially a router on one end & stylus basically copying a master profile. Wood cutting is relatively high rpm, depth of cut & feed rate compared to most metalworking machines unless you have hopped up spindles. Woodworking is also very messy for metalworking machines that have oil & grease ways.
 
I've done some stock work in my mill. But only on the inletting aspect to accept some 6061 bedding blocks, bedding pillars and full length stiffener rails.
All the above wisdom applies, sage advice. I no longer am able to carve a stock or do the intricate inletting by hand so I turned to the mechanization I had, my mill/drill which becomes a precision router when the woods on the table. By using the top spindle speed and 4 flute end mills and ball end mills. Climb milling is a must for solid wood sometimes you can sneak by on laminated. A vacuum system is a must as well as a slow feed speed.
I think you'll find the stocks available from this site will fulfill your project needs at a very reasonable cost. They are available unfinished and judging from the many I've ordered they only need a bit to no fitting, but I choice to cut 60-70% of the inlet area away for my needs.
https://www.boydsgunstocks.com
 
On a side note, I've often wondered - do they get the cool zebra color stripe effect by staining the whole stock & different wood lamination just take on the color more or less?
1616769946079.webp
 
There's probably a bunch of similar videos out there but this shows the 4th axis mode & overall material removal rate (and the sawdust environment!). I don't know this field & could be very wrong, but it reminds me of other sorts of specialty businesses. Hard to compete with the early adopters because of upfront machine/tooling investment, power, consumables, even shipping a product if the predominant market is say USA... unless one can offer something unique like custom shapes or cosmetic bling or whatever. A few years back I went looking for CNC router shops to mill an MDF mold for me & the prices were pretty high. There are a lot more CNC router 'kits' out there now than 10-15 years ago when I was lurking. But I think still requires learning curve knowledge on both the CAD & CAM front.

 
Ken I mentioned them because they offer their stocks un-finished ( your Wife reference) also in blanks either walnut or laminate neither of these options I've had eyes on.

Peter T I agree the laminated stocks are striking in appearance and the pattern appears from the contouring of the stock profile which is a very close replication stock-stock with little variance in the pattern with 4 I've had side by side.
According to an earlier description on their site each layer of Birch is dyed then assembled alternating the grain in apposing directions.
 
GummyMonster said:
Evening,
Does anyone here have much knowledge about milling rifle stocks on a cnc mill.
I know things like the physical size would have to be big enough, but is it commonly done?
I searched YouTube, but only found some older videos and they all seem to be using dedicated stock making cnc equipment.
Trying to plan out our future business, and my wife has shown interest in the fine finishing work on stocks.
Wondering if we'll need a separate machine, or if a good sized milling machine can rough one out.
Thanks,
Ken
Click to expand...


Hi, i saw in the past small shop using custom make duplicator machine using a router. A VMC big enough to make a rifle stock are not the way to go, the best CNC option will be a CNC router with a 4 axis, AvidCNC make pretty nice package.
 
I think it's insects . I know when we export wood, it gets dipped in some nasty stuff. I asked about importing, I got a line on some black walnut from Washington state, and it was a no-go. A shame because it was a great price.

A good gunstock is fitted to the person. On shotguns, it's critical. Off the shelf components like fiberglass stocks don't make custom rifles . There is a market, and the checkering is an art form. My gunsmith friend used his RF-45 for inletting.
 
I'm not in the sport but I just like watching craftsmen make things. This is an interesting YouTube video.
He does some other factory tours. Seems like importing wood isn't an issue for other countries.

1676135655602.png
 
Unlike steel, with wood, each tree is an individual . The stock is then matched to the way the tree grew. The three walnuts used are best to least: French walnut, the best is found in the Balkan and Turkey; American Black Walnut and Claro. The Claro is by the showest . All of them are getting pretty scarce. That's why you get fiberglass and tupperware stocks.
 
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