Milling a Pietta Pistol Grip on a Bridgeport Tracer Mill

I got to say I really like these old tracer mills. Here it's milling out a black walnut grip for a replica 1860 Colt revolver. The grip on the paper towel is one I did the other day of white oak, and the pattern is the original one piece grip.
Using a 1/4" four fluke ball nose end mill, with a .320 stylist so it will be slightly larger for fitting it to the grip frame. The step-over is about .050 or so for rough milling and .010 to .015 for the finish pass. Once it's fit to the frame a light sanding with some 220 is really all it needs to clean it up. Finish is with Minwax Antique oil finish.
I raised the pattern a 1/8" to compensate for the radius on the cutter. The walnut is attached to a piece of hardboard with double sided carpet tape, then taped to the table.
If you happen to end up with one of these tracer mills, I encourage you to get it running and try it out. They're fairly easy to work on, a lot of fun, will copy almost anything, and for me... a hell of a lot easier than writing code.

Видео Milling a Pietta Pistol Grip on a Bridgeport Tracer Mill канала Ivan4171