Gunsmithing nasty little trick

hero's machine

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Aug 2, 2011
781
345
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E. WA
One of my pals thought it would be funny to swap a gear on my lathe transmission. One of my gears has 120 on one side, and 127 on the other. I tried to cut a thread today and for the life of me could not hit it twice...super close, but no cigar. I chased every bit of slack out of my lathe. I built new tight fitting keys, added set screws to the leadscrew to remove the micro slack....still nothing. I was about to tear the gearbox down when he called and asked what I was working on....he fessed up. I have never noticed that gear was there, its not even used on the charts.....argh!

He got me good. And now my lathe is better than new tight...lol.
 
Re: nasty little trick

That's dirty lol. Like pulling the boot on a friends spark plug on the 4 wheeler when everyone is eating lunch at the bar. Gee why doesn't it start..
 
Re: nasty little trick

We had that talk. Funny is one thing. Wiping out a few hours of work and a $450 hunk of stainless, not so funny. Luckily I just bought a new tool holder and was getting it dialed in on some scrap.
 
Re: nasty little trick

Lucky for you, you weren't trying to true and action or thread a barrel. That would've been a costly prank. I'd be beatin' somebody. It's one thing to play a prank, it's another to mess someone's product up.
 
Re: nasty little trick

If this was an intentional act and not that he was cutting a metric thread and just forgot to put things back he would be banned from ever stepping into my shop. And would not be trusted near anything I owned or used. This would not be considered funny at all. I have enough strugles in my life without some A-hole making things harder.
 
Re: nasty little trick

I cannot politely describe what I think of people who do stuff like this. There is no telling the lost production these LOSERS cost us.
He should go straight to the excrement list and stay there.
 
Re: nasty little trick

As much as I (and many others here) would appreciate that sentiment, things can/will only get worse from there.

Either that, you ya'll have a totally different definition of 'friendship' than I can imagine.
 
Re: nasty little trick

It was supposed to manifest itself on a project I was doing for him, but for some reason I hit the lottery and it nailed the pitch each pass. We got pretty involved in the rebuild and he spaced telling me, till the next day on the phone. I could see the potential for the humor when it was on his stock, but when he failed to tell me about it....epic error. We have had a long history of pranks, but this one had serious potential for trouble. He feels like a total fool, and rightly so....but I am still going to steal the fuse out of his trolling motor during the walleye tournament.
 
Re: nasty little trick

A good friendship has great value, and is quite often worth some effort at preserving. But this definitely deserves a serious "coming to Jessus" talking to. We all know what the accidental mistake on a high end barrel blank can cost, this sort of "prank" is unacceptable and should never be allowed to happen again.

Jim modifies the standards rule: 1st time is an accident, 2nd time is a coincedence, 3rd time is enemy action. We return fire on the 2nd go round. No sense getting burned an extra time.
 
Re: nasty little trick

I think its pretty clear. I asked how I would explain to him if it were his grandads m 70 that had been through 3 generations. I am pretty sure he would mow my lawn no questions asked right now....and I have 5 acres of grass under a foot of snow.
 
Re: nasty little trick

Yeah a not so thought out prank that luckily did not go wrong.
But yeah, for sure FYI to him,unless a enemy, or play dirty competitor, not the right kind of prank to pull.
 
Re: nasty little trick

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Varmint Slayer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Man what's next from your buddy, switching around your gunpowders so you blow your face off? That's a pretty shiity "joke" if you ask me. </div></div>

Exactly. Sprinkle some Titegroup in his VARGET and see how funny he thinks it is. Same level