WWA Info Exchange

I have been gluing for four days now. Trying to make 2" thick wood into 4" thick wood.
Got it done now except the 11' long X 9.5" wide pieces. If I glue them, the piece will weigh 120 lbs.
I'll cut them to final size separately before gluing.










Look at this picture. Note how the cheeks are wrapped with flat bar. I will be using 3/8" X 4" wide flat bar.
Note the very end of the trail cheek where it touches the ground. This is the hardest part of the bend.



I have a friend that has a CNC wood carving machine. He cut out my wood template to exactly the size I wanted in 5 pieces.
He sent me a DXF format file of the end piece of the cheek. I sent it to another friend with a Plasmacam CNC. He was able to cut two of the end cheek pieces out of 1/4" plate and weld them together with a 4" spread. I intend to use this jig to bend the 3/8" X 4" flat bar around so it will match my cheek tail.

All the holes in the plate will allow C-Clamps to be used to hold everything in place as the bending progresses.
I think I will have a modern blacksmith shop help me with this.
I think this effort will help ensure a good metal to wood fit.
That is important to me.
The rest of the flat bars are straight pieces and can be cut and welded.

I am facing challenges that I never faced before but it is fun.
One thing at a time.

Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Just AMAZING Zulu! What an undertaking! You got me checking in every day to see what you've done....and you do it without any HELP! Like this post today....I have to imagine how you got those boards glued up...I've had difficult builds before but nothing that even compares to this! Please keep the pics coming!!

D

Don,
Those boards I glued up were 5' and 7' long. The ones I'm worried about are the 11 footers!
Gluing two 2" X 9.5" X 11' oak boards together will weigh 120 lbs.
After everything is laminated, the 7' long laminations will join on top of the 11 footers and the 5' laminations will join underneath the 11 footers.

Then the total weight will be 220 lbs. I have weighed the boards.
After cutting away the excess on the band saw in order to make the cheeks, I might shed 20 lbs.

I plan to make the band saw cuts on the three pieces before I join them together vertically.
The three pieces of wood are the ones you see in these pictures. 220 lbs.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

I foresee some considerable hand work coming up after the pieces are joined.

_________________
I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

I see a heavy duty brad nailer to hold them together while placing the clamps! AND an engine hoist...or 2...AND . right, Gene, a drawknife ( maybe a hatchet)

Don

The boards are not as bad as they look. The very unlevel floor of my shop makes them look that way.

Here is what I got done today.
Glued the axle housing.
Cut both trail cheeks out.
Some cuts on the band saw, but the 11 footer had to be cut with a skill saw, a jig saw, and an angle grinder with a sanding disc. Worked out well. The 11 footer is still two pieces of 2" thick boards so that was possible to do.

I had 74 lbs. of drops. I think each trail cheek now weighs around 170 lbs

Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

The beast is starting to wake up. This thing is huge!
Still gluing.
Glued both 11 footers together, They now weigh 105 lbs. each. They are the center board of each cheek.
I won't join them vertically until I have drilled all the holes in them.

Cut the channel for the axle.
Got the axle center line set at 33" and the cheeks set on top.
It's really tall in the pictures but the cheeks have not been inset yet to slide over the axle. That will bring it down some.

My friend has started turning the trunnions. The 6" round blanks were 80 lbs, each.

As it stands right now, the two cheeks, the axle and axle housing weigh just over 500 lbs.
Moving along.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Some more progress.

Trunnion turned down to 4" diameter.



Drilling vertical holes in the 11' long trail cheeks.





More gluing. I have used over 1/2 gallon of glue so far and I'm not done.





Boring the trunnion pockets.
The trunnions will be 4" diameter. They will sit in a trunnion pocket lined with 3/8" flat bar bent to shape.
That means the pocket needs to be 4 3/4" diameter. I decided to use a hole saw this time instead of a Frostner bit. The biggest Forstner bit I have is 4" and my big drill press works pretty hard to drive it. And there is 4" of oak to drive it through.

This is how I did it with a hole saw.

















The trunnion pockets were drilled at a 1.25 degree angle. The front of the carriage is narrower than the rear just like a naval carriage.

Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Today's progress.

The 3/8" X 4" flat bar bent around the trail end jig.
It took two rose buds. I had to get help with this.







Cutting the axle insets into the trail cheeks.











Had to get help to set the trails on to the floor. Way too heavy for me to do it by myself.





I can't do any of the transom pieces that go between the cheeks until I know the exact width of the trunnion collar. I am getting help with that from a friend and his lathe.
I suspect that will take another two weeks or more and will require another trip to the Alamo to be sure it is going to work.
In the meantime, working on anything I can.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Starting iron work.
Zulu

Capsquare half rounds and pockets. 4" I.D.





Axle bands and axle straps.

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

This is probably the most ambitious WEEKEND project ever posted at WWA.

Zulu it like being there, thanks for all the pictures.

Did you get to take it to the range and try it out?

_________________
Mango
The land some where in the middle
20 47 00N -156 26 00W

Mango,
Won't be shooting this one. It will be in the Alamo museum.

This thing is so big, I'm not calling it a carriage anymore. It is a monument!!
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

More progress. Slowly but surely.

Still working on the trunnions. One ready for profiling to the 12" pipe. One still on the lathe.

The 12" pipe.



This single trunnion probably weighs 50 or 60 lbs.










Wrapping 4" X 3/8" flat bar around the cheeks is really, really hard!





This thing is huge!



Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Wrapping the 4" X 3/8" flat bar around the cheeks.
By far, the hardest part of the carriage so far.
One cheek almost finished. One more to go.

Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

OH! MY! GOD! Don't know how I could sleep with something as big as that in my shop
Zulu, this is one that will Define you as the King of Canons. I really appreciate the progress pics.....very very inspiring...not to build canons...but to tackle projects that seem out of bounds. I'm amazed and impressed with how readily you took this project on...and then commenced accomplish the impossible!

WTG my friend.

Keep the pics coming please.

Don

Don,
Thanks for the comments.
Actually, I am overwhelmed.
The single cheek you see in the pictures above with the ironwork weighs about 280 lbs.
I have to take it apart just to move it so I can get to the other cheek.
The flat iron alone weighs 110 lbs.

My shop is way past it's limits.
So is the weight of the parts that have to be moved.

I will persevere.

One step at a time.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

I've been wondering, Zulu, ever since you started this project...How the heck did those Texans come up with the expertise to produce such a piece? Even to transport one would be an act of ingenuity....over the Texas terrain. I know the Mexicans brought a lot of canon with them...but one that big?? They would have needed 3 alternating teams of 2 mules to pull it for a day...on OPEN ground. One helluva struggle back then, huh? And the axels....They didn't have any machines shops Almost makes me want to break out the old research glasses to put the pieces together!

good luck, my friend,

Don

Don,
The barrel I am building the carriage for is 8' 9" long and weighs 2240 lbs.
The historians at the Alamo say the barrel was made in Spain in the early 1700's so it was well over 100 years old at the famous battle.

It was used by the Texas side, not the Mexicans.

It is my opinion only, that the barrel was never mounted on a field carriage. I suspect it was mounted on a naval carriage.
That is my speculation only.
2240 lb. barrels just weren't meant for transport.

Ship guns, however, were that heavy and more.

I am building what the folks at the Alamo want me to build. I'm staying out of the argument.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

The trunnions are turned.
Now comes the hard part. They have to be contoured on the Bridgeport mill to fit against the 12" ID pipe.
Remember that these are below center trunnions so that only complicates the whole process.
I bet this collar will weigh 150 lbs.

Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Heavy Metal!!!

Stepping the contour in the trunnion to fit the 12" I.D. pipe on the Bridgeport.



You are looking at over 200 lbs. of iron. A 20' stick of 3/8" X 4" flat bar weighs 102 lbs.
There is about 42' in these pictures. That weight does not count the 1/4" X 2" vertical cheek straps.



















The transom pieces ready for final sizing when I know the exact spread of the trunnion collar.

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com