Cannon Trunnions

by John

I am unsure whether the trunnions are the semi circular holes in the carriage, or the cylindrical bits of the metal barrel which support the barrel.   I am going to assume that the trunnions are the part of the barrel.  (I checked.  The trunnions are the cylindrical parts of the barrel which support the barrel.)

So, today I made some trunnions and silver soldered them to the barrel.  In the full size original version they would have been part of the barrel casting.

But before that, I polished the barrel with a Scotchbrite type pad, impregnated with some polishing compound.  And it made the barrel sparkle!

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Then I attached the knob at the breech end, M4 threaded rod attachment.

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Looks OK, Yes?  This protrusion would also have been part of the cannon casting.  It was used to attach the huge ropes which limited the recoil movement when the cannon was fired.  

 

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Turned some brass for the trunnion.  It was later cut into two pieces.

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Drilled the holes with an endmill in the barrel for the trunnions.  Stopped short of the bore by 3mm.  Jerry Howell specified threaded trunnions, but I decided to silver solder them in place.

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This is my silver soldering forge, for this project. (actually a hearth).   The barrel is still a hefty lump of brass, and I predicted that a lot of heat would be required to raise it to a suitable temperature.  The base is steel, and the bricks are fire bricks.  I used oxyacetylene as my heat source.

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After the silver soldering.  Not quite so pretty now.  I waited an hour before I could handle the hot item.  Note that the spigot in the bore which was Loctited in place, has come out.  Eventually, I became impatient, and applied wet rags to speed up the cooling process.

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Then a soak in dilute sulphuric acid for 15-30 minutes, to remove the flux.