Talk me into it...(FNG introduction)

[cdhknives]

Howdy. New to the forums...and looking for help. Beware, I'm an engineer (electrical, in the instrumentation, power, and control system industry for refineries and chemical plants) so I think too much.

I own a YHM Phantom 30 cal. Love it. Hate the price. Hated the long wait to get one made and then stamped a couple of years ago. I'd like to have a lightweight 22lr can for hearing protection while training the kids to shoot. Range commands are much easier when they can hear and I don't like yelling at them. Plus, it's a challenge, and I love learning machining and making stuff myself. Any fool can sign a check . If my new can was suitable for 5.56 so much the better, but maybe that's another build later. I am NOT dead set on the latest and greatest, super efficient, get the last dB possible design...proven and buildable 25dB beats a hard to make, CnC mill required 33 dB design for my current needs.

I own an old but decently solid Atlas 10x36 lathe and have been upgrading it (mostly cleanup, wiring, belts, and installing a Phase II quick change tool post) and learning on it for a couple of years. I can cut good external threads and have bult custom reloading dies to turn cut off 308 brass into 45ACP snakeshot cases...just to give you an example of my skill level. I've never tried internal threads. I have a milling attachment that replaces the tool post, but no easy access to a mill. I have a decent drill press, a good 2x72 belt grinder (other hobbies include making a few custom knives a year), and similar projects. I can cut anything from alumuinum to W1 (annealed) to 316 SS (slow and heavily lubed) decently. I am not about to try Ti or similar.

Now I come to this forum to start researching designs.

I had mentally thought about a simple 6061 aluminum cylinder with flat baffles (precision washers essentially, first 1-2 SS for erosion resistance the rest AL) and spacers to hold them. All I see here are far more complex...and I question my ability to reproduce a half dozen K baffles tight enough to function properly.

Also, the last thing I want to do is send my $200 in with a design sketch I can't build myself.

Anyone have a proven, relatively simple to build, Aluminum friendly design with machininst quality plans I can buy that y'all recommend?

[mhidpa]

If you have a lathe and you are going to go through the hassle of a form1. I would highly recommended making K Baffles. They aren't really that hard and Aluminum is cheap. If you want to get better as a machinist, you have to push yourself. If you kill some parts, so be it. I made a .30 cal can out of SS and inconel, it was a bitch at times but worth it to me. YMMV

[missilemantdi]

Don't be scared of machining titanium, especially grade 5 and 9. just learn how to do it. I learned a ton of machining practices when making my K-baffles. Washers are simple, k baffles are not quite as simple. Internal threading is not magical either, might as well learn. I don't plan to buy another suppressor, just more tax stamps.

[curtistactical]

You can make a clipped cone suppressor for a rimfire while not as quiet as K baffles they are much easier to make IMO. If you are going to use aluminum use 7075 instead of 6061 then you can anodize them yourself(its actually easy). Use either 17-4 or 416 ss for the rear end cap so the suppressor has ss threads for barrel attachment. With a cone design just make it longer I would say 1" OD x 7" long should net you pretty good sound reduction and don't be scared of the internal threading just make an undercut inside the tube for the threader to run off in and you will be fine.

[srs]

Also, the last thing I want to do is send my $200 in with a design sketch I can't build myself.

There is no need to send plans in for a form 1. In fact, it might cause problems for you. The ATF only needs caliber, length, and engraving info. Diameter and internal specs are not needed for a form 1.

[Historian]

CDHknives, welcome.

" ... I own an old but decently solid Atlas 10x36 lathe ".

Congratulations on owning a most wonderful old work horse American Iron.

Tubalcain* has many YouTube videos using this Atlas. I have
scaled down his lectures over the years to my Atlas 618
'door stop'.

If you do not have a milling attachment for it there are some on eBay,
or even better videos available for making a heavy duty monster one.

E.g., << https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVUK-h-0iWQ >>

Lathes and mills are magic.

Best.







*"Tubal-cain. He became an expert
in forging tools of bronze and iron."

[plodder]

[quote="cdhknives"]
...and I question my ability to reproduce a half dozen K baffles tight enough to function properly.

Also, the last thing I want to do is send my $200 in with a design sketch I can't build myself.
quote]

Don't fear the K baffles. Your equipment and experience sound much more advanced than mine when I first ventured into this compulsion, yet I was able to precisely (enough) machine K baffles and thread internal and external end caps for both aluminum and stainless. Just machine away everything that doesn't look like a K baffle. Now comes the Ti

And for heaven's sake, don't send in any sketches or plans with your Form 1. Don't want to give the BATFE any ideas that is should be required in the future. Just length and caliber.

[whiterussian1974]

And for heaven's sake, don't send in any sketches or plans with your Form 1. Don't want to give the BATFE any ideas that is should be required in the future. Just length and caliber.

Amen!!! Next they'll require us to send in the supressor that we wish to make. Just like some Kansas law where you must bring you're murijuana to the Statehouse Bldg in the Capitol to get Tax Stamps. Yet, you must violate the law in order to comply w the law.
USSupCrt upheld the law allowing Police to arrest those attempting to comply w the law.
And failure to purchase Marijuana Tax Stamps results in extra yrs added to Prison Sentence when arrested.

[plodder]

Oh, and by way. Welcome to the forum, FNG ("fresh" new guy?)! There are some real experts who participate and advise here, and fortunately they are often in agreement about best practices and safety considerations. As you will learn, on the non-essential, personal preference type details it is a lot like bodily exit orifices, everybody has one.

[Slow Hand]

I have only had my old lathe 9x18 Atlas for a few months now and I am failry happy with my first K baffles....



I am not set up to turn internal threads at all, and have only cut one external thread so far. If a fellow can't so internal threads, how would that fellow go about doing an Aluminum can? I can see a welded stainless can as I've got buddies who can TiG stainless. I'd like to build an integral 10/22 can but dont see how I could do it with my current set up.

[Morgan]

If a fellow can't so internal threads, how would that fellow go about doing an Aluminum can?

I've always used a tap for my monocore internal threads, no troubles so far. If you need to just thread the inside of a tube, you can grind a tool from a hss blank...

[cdhknives]

Thanks for the welcome!

Historian, yeah, I stumbled into TubalCain's videos over on the Hobby Machinist's forum. I post there occasionally, and lurk a lot. I do like my old Atlas, especially since it belonged to my grandfather! I have yet to reach the limits of the machine...

I guess I need to read up on anodizing. I saw some home anodizing setups and could easily replicate them, but I didn't realize the alloy was particularly critical.

I thought about a tap, but that can get pricey. I already bought a 1/2-28 tap for the barrel mount...that one was just too tight to try threading.

"Fresh" new guy. Always fun joining a forum. No matter what your background, a single digit post count is going to draw attention!

Also, is there a forum thread where I can read a little about the theory on baffle design? For the life of me I can't understand what the offset hole on the center bore is doing in all these baffle pictures I see floating around. Bleed holes around the perimeter, sure, but dead concentric center bores seems necessary for accuracy...so the off center extra hole would seem to tip the bullet. The air/gases would push unevenly as the 'ground effect' on one side would be higher than the other. That would tip the bullet slightly...but I'm likely reading it wrong.

[T-Rex]

[curtistactical]

Thanks for the welcome!

Historian, yeah, I stumbled into TubalCain's videos over on the Hobby Machinist's forum. I post there occasionally, and lurk a lot. I do like my old Atlas, especially since it belonged to my grandfather! I have yet to reach the limits of the machine...

I guess I need to read up on anodizing. I saw some home anodizing setups and could easily replicate them, but I didn't realize the alloy was particularly critical.

I thought about a tap, but that can get pricey. I already bought a 1/2-28 tap for the barrel mount...that one was just too tight to try threading.

"Fresh" new guy. Always fun joining a forum. No matter what your background, a single digit post count is going to draw attention!

Also, is there a forum thread where I can read a little about the theory on baffle design? For the life of me I can't understand what the offset hole on the center bore is doing in all these baffle pictures I see floating around. Bleed holes around the perimeter, sure, but dead concentric center bores seems necessary for accuracy...so the off center extra hole would seem to tip the bullet. The air/gases would push unevenly as the 'ground effect' on one side would be higher than the other. That would tip the bullet slightly...but I'm likely reading it wrong.

You are on the right thought process with the "mouse holes" on K baffles except the gas does not have that huge of an effect on accuracy, not saying it doesn't have some but what you are trying to do inside the suppressor is to create turbulence to slow down the gas coming out.