piller bedding tool idea

[CMW]

i have an idea for a tool for piller bedding instead of buying one of the expensive drilling rigs for doing a piller bedding job or just trying to line up the bit on a drill press. My idea may have been thought of befor but im just putting it out there. This woulf be used for easy alignment of the drill bith and the action screww hole in the stock. First you would take the drill bit that you would normaly use to drill the screw hole to the correct size for the piller. then you would chuck the drill bit in a lathe(not in tail stock) then slightly face the front of the bit so that it take of the point of the drill which is not needed because of the hole already in the stock. Then with a 1/8" carbide drill bit chucked in the tail stock you would drill a 1" deep hole into the center of the large drill bit. The next step would be to cut a guide that fits in the 1/8 x 1" hole in the bit and the other end would be a cylinder the same size as the pre-existing hole in the stock. With the lack of better words to discribe it the insert for the drill bit would look like a case trimmer pilot.

I think this would work. How about anybody with a little more experiance then me, any opinions on my idea

[snake284-1]

i have an idea for a tool for piller bedding instead of buying one of the expensive drilling rigs for doing a piller bedding job or just trying to line up the bit on a drill press. My idea may have been thought of befor but im just putting it out there. This woulf be used for easy alignment of the drill bith and the action screww hole in the stock. First you would take the drill bit that you would normaly use to drill the screw hole to the correct size for the piller. then you would chuck the drill bit in a lathe(not in tail stock) then slightly face the front of the bit so that it take of the point of the drill which is not needed because of the hole already in the stock. Then with a 1/8" carbide drill bit chucked in the tail stock you would drill a 1" deep hole into the center of the large drill bit. The next step would be to cut a guide that fits in the 1/8 x 1" hole in the bit and the other end would be a cylinder the same size as the pre-existing hole in the stock. With the lack of better words to discribe it the insert for the drill bit would look like a case trimmer pilot.

I think this would work. How about anybody with a little more experiance then me, any opinions on my idea

All I ever did was chuck up a 3/4 inch wood bit. Then centering that bit in the existing bolt hole I drilled it out to 3/4 inches for the front hole and 1/2 inches for the rear hole. Then I filled these holes with Steel Bed or AcraGlas with Atomized Stainless Steel in it. Let it cure 24 hours. Then drill the holes out with a drill bit that is a little bigger than the bolts. You don't want the bolts to touch the sides of the hole. These epoxy filled holes are your pillars. Then you tie this front pillar in with the bedding of the Recoil lug.. I've got one rifle left that is done like that. It still shoots good after about 25 years and it's solid as a rock. This was an old procedure the bench rest crowd used back in the 60s thru the 80s and longer probably. It is more than strong enough for pillars.

[CMW]

Hadnt thought of that. thats a really good idea. This drill bit guide would be for the premaid and home lathe turned aluminum pillers. But i do like the acraglas method alot

[Fisheadgib]

Piloted drill bits have been around for a long time and there's a gizmo called a forstner bit that has a little pilot tip and drills a fairly flat bottom hole. That's what I use and to add, I don't even own a drill bit that I could drill a hole through.

[Teach]

Just chuck a drill bit into the headstock, whatever diameter you plan to use for your bedding pillar, plus 1/16" for AcraGlas to flow around, and use a tool post grinder to reduce the first inch of the bit to pilot hole size. Simple, easy, and it's been done for years. I do it all the time when I'm making spot-facing bits to prepare racing engine cylinder heads for studs and hardened steel washers instead of bolts. There's no point in going to absurdly complicated lengths to do simple stuff. Sometime when you're feeling really intelligent from thinking up a complicated solution to a problem, look up the term "Occam's razor" before you break an arm trying to pat yourself on the back!
Jerry

[Teach]

I filled these holes with Steel Bed or AcraGlas with Atomized Stainless Steel in it. Let it cure 24 hours. Then drill the holes out with a drill bit that is a little bigger than the bolts.

Snake, here's a suggestion if you do that again. Fit a couple of wooden dowel rods into the action screw holes in the receiver, a little larger than the screws. Pour the Steel-bed around the dowels, let it cure, and then drill the dowels out. You'll get a perfectly-centered screw hole in the pillar, and the pillar will mold itself to the exact shape of the recoil lug in the process of hardening. Just be sure to use plenty of grease or other release compound on the bottom of the receiver.
Jerry

[Diver43]

Teach you make this kind of stuff sound so simple and easy. Me, I pay people with skills like you naturally have to do the job. Its much less expensive than trying it myself and paying three times as much for them to fix what I screwed up.

[snake284-1]

Snake, here's a suggestion if you do that again. Fit a couple of wooden dowel rods into the action screw holes in the receiver, a little larger than the screws. Pour the Steel-bed around the dowels, let it cure, and then drill the dowels out. You'll get a perfectly-centered screw hole in the pillar, and the pillar will mold itself to the exact shape of the recoil lug in the process of hardening. Just be sure to use plenty of grease or other release compound on the bottom of the receiver.
Jerry

Thanks Teach, that's a really good idea. That wood dowl will drill a lot easier than that hard epoxy. I tell you, that atomized steel really makes a strong mix with the regular AcraGlass, since you can vary the amount of steel. With a good mix of that stuff it will make pillars stronger than they would ever need to be. One thing about making the pillars out of the epoxy is that it really becomes one with the rest of the bedding.

[snake284-1]

Teach you make this kind of stuff sound so simple and easy. Me, I pay people with skills like you naturally have to do the job. Its much less expensive than trying it myself and paying three times as much for them to fix what I screwed up.

You got that right Diver43. There's a lot of things I'll do, but some things I won't even attempt, such as reaming a chamber, even if I had the tools, which I don't. You're never too old to achieve a new skill, but why bother at my age when there's such people as Teach, Tennmike, Big Al, and others out there that got past that point many years younger in life(Also, I do have a pretty good gun smith). I was too busy doing other things to get into a lot of things I so love nowdays.

[CMW]

This was just an I dea I had and wow you guys have some good thoughts on this. Just grinding the bit down is a much better idea then the interchangable pilot idea that I had. I also really like the idea with the dowl rod and the acraglass. I think i'm going to have to do that on my current mauser project when I get my stock from Richards microfit. The way with the seel bed and the dowl is also alot easier because then I dont have to machine custom pillers. Thanks guys.